Zaidmade film case review (and other photography paraphernalia)

Zaid who makes the Zaidmade leather goods contacted me a few months ago asking me if I’d like to try one of his leather film cases. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I bit his hand off! This is a brief run down of my experiences with said case…

When the case first I arrived, I must admit I was a little surprised by the size; it’s a fair bit bigger than I expected. Rather than snugly fitting 5 rolls next to each other, there is room for 6 rolls stood upright, with a further 3 on their sides on top. I was initially a little disappointed by this, though I quite quickly overcame this sense of disappointment when I realised what this extra space allowed me.

I’d recently started using a Lumu light meter (review coming soon), and have been using a little 28mm viewfinder with my M3 more than I had been. On top of this I often find myself carrying little bits of sticky paper for recoding the DX codes of my film, a little pen knife with scissors for cutting the stick paper, a little lens cloth, the odd battery, business cards… You know the sort of stuff – trinkets, paraphernalia, photography ancillaries; all the stuff that usually rattles around in the pocket of a bigger bag, but never feels like it quite has a home.

Well now – it least in my life – it feels like it does. The Zaid made case has become a pocket for all such stuffs. A pocket that I can chuck in my bag or pocket when I go out that keeps all these things more readily to hand. And for that reason alone I really like it!

A quality hand made thing

Of course, aside from its function, it’s also a very nice thing in itself. I like leather, I have a leather wallet, leather shoes, leather camera strap. It’s a tactile material that feels quite often like there couldn’t be a more durable or suitable material for the purpose. My leather belt – though somewhat tatty – shows no real sign of breaking, and that’s something I wear every day, have done for a decade, and that’s no exaggeration. This leather case feels quite like it could last just as long without any trouble. The material feels good quality, and the construction shows no sign of weakness, despite me pulling at it. Even the little fastener is nice. It would have probably been cheaper to just use a little chrome fastener, but instead the choice was made to use a faux-aged fastener instead. It’s a small detail, but it’s those sorts of choices that make hand made products like this for me!

So that’s that, a lovely thing that’s become 100% useful to me. If you’re a carrier of paraphernalia like me, I can without reservation recommend one! If I only have one reservation, it would still be the slightly large size – but of course the beauty of hand made products like this is that you can always ask the maker if they will make a half size one? Zaid?

If you are interested in Zaid’s products, check out Zaid’s instagram, and if you want to order one of your own – just drop him an email!

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