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Kaza Deluxe is one of those unique one-of-a-kind brands that nails this particular leather accessory niche perfectly.
Not only do they make great products, but they are also priced incredibly fair and this is why I always recommend them as a great option for leather cases, straps, or half cases.
Before we get into this review, full disclaimer: Kaza Deluxe did send me their leather half-case combo set for the Fujifilm X100V for review. Not that this has really changed my opinion about their products. I’ve had their cases in the past and was planning on buying this case anyway.
I usually never buy the full Combo Set but having it is pretty cool because it has allowed me to try out and get used to the leather cover case that I didn’t think I would care for, but actually like a lot.
Kaza makes a lot of cases for a lot of different cameras so be sure to see if they’ve made a case for your camera.
Check out all their products and cases: KazaDeluxe
The combo set includes a leather strap, a leather camera carrying case, and a leather half case as well as a lens cap fastener and an accessory pouch.
I’ll be reviewing more accessories as they come in for the X100V and I finally found a UV filter adapter kit that works with the original lens cap and works with this case so check out my X100V accessory guide to see what that is.
My History With Kaza
I’ve owned a few of their cases, one for my X100T and another for my X-Pro2. Today I still use one of their cases and strap on my Fujifilm X-Pro2, but I sold my X100T years ago.
I always keep the Kaza case on my X-Pro2 unless I’m doing lens review shots and honestly, I can say that their case/strap combo that I have, is outlasting my camera which is now beaten up, banged up, missing parts, etc. I could only imagine what kind of condition it would be in if I didn’t have the case.
I’ve also tried Gariz cases, Lim’s cases, I messed around with Luigi cases that friends have had, and those cheap MegaGear cases you can find on Amazon.
I have to say the Kaza cases without a doubt are the best value, especially if you’re looking to get a leather strap, which by itself can cost $50-$100 depending on the type of leather.
The Half-Case
Type Of Leather | Build Quality
The Kaza-Deluxe uses genuine leather with a fiber lining for added durability.
There is no clear-cut standard on what genuine leather is. It’s essentially just leather that is below the Top or Full-grain leather, but not suede either. It could be as cheap as ground-up pieces of leather scrap from different animals all mixed in some type of adhesive, like a hot dog, or it could be just leftover leather repurposed and treated from when the top grain was cut.
Kaza says they are using Cow Hide leather which likely means it’s of higher quality leather probably scrap from doing the Full Grain cuts.
Judging by the history and durability of my Kaza X-Pro2 case, I can say the leather does hold up very well and is very durable. It feels more like a Top Grain than genuine leather but doesn’t cost you $300 as a Top Grain or Full Grain leather case would. Which I think is a perfectly practical compromise.
The Stitching
The stitching on cases like these is usually the first thing to go. But so far I haven’t had any problems with the stitching on any of my Kaza cases yet. I have had problems with the stitching coming loose on my Lim’s case in the past, so Kazas might have some great way of doing it.
It does look like they pre-groove out the stitching lines in the areas that will have a lot of contacts which is super important. This allows the stitching to sit a little recessed into the leather so it’s not taking the brunt force of contact when handling or hitting surfaces. This does take some extra work and you have to do this by hand.
Did I mention these cases are handmade?
The Hardware
There isn’t much hardware to the case and combo set. Just the buckles and rivet buttons.
On the bottom of the case, the screw that attaches the case to the camera also functions as a tripod mount.
You CAN attach this case to a tripod.
Form & Function
The case adds some extra grip and protection along the front and bottom of the camera. The little leather loops that clip over the strap lugs are also a really nice touch in keeping your camera protected from the camera strap attachment ring. This is a nice touch since so often those strap protectors like Fujifilm and other brands use are ugly and difficult to use.
On the bottom there is plenty of room to access the battery door and memory card, they’ve even cut out a little area for the mic, or speaker. I don’t know what that little open is exactly.
On the side, there is a nice opening for the focus switch. You can still easily access the focus switch and the case does protect it a little so you’re less likely to switch it by accident – something I do very often with these little X100 cameras when not using cases and it drives me nuts.
Now that the Fujifilm X100V has a flip screen, you will also notice they’ve cut out a little groove to make access to this easy.
One important note about charging your batteries: you will not have access to the side door where you find the USB-C port or the HDMI port. You will not be able to charge your camera with USB-C when the case is on. I use my vertical grips from my X-T2 or X-T3 cameras as chargers so this isn’t a problem for me. But you will likely need to buy a battery wall charger and charge your batteries that way, so you don’t always have to take off the case to get a charge. This is technically a better way to charge your batteries anyway so you’re not sending all that voltage over your mainboard all the time to charge those batteries. I’ve personally had two smartphones die from charging surges.
The Strap
You can order the case as a combo with the strap, or with a full camera cover.
The strap is a bit different than the actual case because it’s double-layered and stitched together which really helps with durability.
What I like about this strap is that it is easy to adjust the length both at the lug and close to the neck protector. I always like straps that come up with clever ways of doing this. This is important to me because I like to adjust my strap height depending on how I’m using my camera.
Is this my favorite camera strap in the world?
Honestly, not really, but not because of the quality or anything, it’s a good-quality strap. I just don’t personally love the smaller lightweight straps like this. I like thicker Beefer straps – just a personal preference.
That’s not to say I don’t use these straps. I own quite a few straps and still have used my original Kaza strap quite a bit. I like to keep it on my smaller travel cameras that I don’t use as often so if I ever run out and want to grab small and light cameras, the strap is also small and light.
For my daily drivers, I like thicker, bigger straps – I kinda wish Kaza made one. Like a nice Horween or Full Grain leather strap. It’d be expensive, but I’d buy it. I’m not exactly sure if they could get access to Horween Leather though, it is hard to get when you’re not ordering it in bulk, let alone being in Hong Kong.
The Camera Cover
I never thought the cover would be something I would be interested and I already have many camera cases. However, it’s pretty simple and easy to use so when I’m driving in the car or going to the beach I find it super easy to just throw the camera in there because it still uses the same strap as the camera. I’ll be using it regularly.
What else is cool it still works with the filter lens hood combo that I have from JJC.
There is a buckle loop on the back if you need to attach your case to something. It could be used to attach to your belt loop if that’s your thing. Maybe you can hook it to a backpack or another bag or something.
The only problem is if you just bring your camera and this case, once you take the camera out of the case you would have nowhere to put the cover. I guess that’s what the belt attachment loop is for.
What I’ve been doing is attaching it to the camera strap. It’s a little clunky but it works when I’m out and about with no other bags.
With the combo set, you also get a battery memory card case that also has a belt loop, but you would have to use a pretty thin belt. You can again attach this to your camera strap as I do.
If you’re using the original Fujifilm lens cap, you can also get this leather attachment for it. It comes with 3M tape on the backside that you would use to secure the leather to the cap, then you loop the threading through the camera strap ring or lug.
I haven’t tried this yet because I use a UV filter with the filter adapter, and you can’t use lens caps with the adapter unless you use that special UV filter adapter kit I’ve listed on my X100 accessories page.
It’s the only UV filter kit that I know of that will allow you to use your original lens cap, so this will also allow you to use this Kaza cap fastener with a UV filter.
Kaza Deluxe X100V Combo Case | Bottom Line
The price to value on this combo set or even the individual components is pretty tough to beat. The craftsmanship and care really shine through and you can definitely see that Kaza has skill with leather since they are doing all the proper tricks to make things last.
There are several options for color and finish. I’ve only ever had this vintage aged color which in my opinion is the best one, but black looks cool too and maybe one day I’ll try out the olive color.
While Kaza did send me this sample to review, that doesn’t change my opinion of Kaza Deluxe. I have ordered two of their cases in the past and continue to recommend them to this day. They are a great brand and make great products. I can’t imagine not being happy with their products.
1 comment
Have you got planned a half case for the new Sony A7 Rv camera