Bag buying advice

I am going for the Kata 3N1-30 myself.

I have the biggest Lowepro AW trekker roller something and it's a sturdy, voluminous great bag with many gimmicks but it's too big and heavy for a daytrip.

Then I have a Canon rucksack. that one is too smal, too fragile and bad karma.


It will not be until September-october before I buy the Kata bag.
But I made up my mind.
However, for style, my wife and I agree on the National Geographic bags are cool.

Try check up on it and see if some of that could tempt you.

Niklas

Hi,

I have been a shoulder bag man for 30 yrs and tried them all. Suggestions:

Check out Billingham (English, from the West Mids, great but expensive new..try a used one), Artisan & Artist (my current bag, cult bags made in Japan and get from ebay or US dealers), Domke (fantastic simple USA photojournalists bags), Think Tank (USA discreet bags), Fogg, Tamrac. Try googling them, try used ones on ebay, try Ffordes website, who sell used bags.

cheers Steve.M.

On Sunday I purchased a shoulder bag from a Reeboc outlet. It's lightweight and holds a K10D and grip with DA*50-135mm lens with room for even the largest of my lenses. It also has a large zipped pocket for any extras. There was 50% off the ticket price, so for £7 I have a bag that can carry my camera discretely. So look in one of the outlet stores you should be lucky. I have since fitted some closed cell foam for added protection.

I had purchased a Crumpler Pretty Boy 3000, which was nice, however it developed a problem with the clip so I got a refund. Since then I had a look at the National Geographic Explorer bags (after their mention on this thread) and have ordered the Midi Shoulder Explorer bag, which I receive tomorrow.

I shall post up my thoughts when I've had a play with it.

Incidentally, the National Geographic bags are available at a much more reasonable price on Amazon than virtually anywhere I've seen.

Nice spot, even paying for Express Delivery they're still cheaper than pretty much everywhere else.

I have a medium World Explorer Shoulder Bag winging its way here (looked at the midi in a shop, it's not quite big enough for the camera with grip). I'll report back when it's arrived, looks like it should fit everything I need plus some space for other bits and pieces (lunch?).

Thanks for all the suggestions, they gave me a lot more of a clue as to where to start when looking at the masses of bags in various shops.

The one thing that surprised me was the range than Currys (of all places) had in stock, they were all rather on the expensive side but at least there was plenty to look at to aid in decision making.

That suprised me too. The Currys Superstores are also good for trying out just about every camera (from the major manufacturers) under the sun.

I'm a Tamrac man!.....build quality is brilliant and no where near the price of "low" whats it's name!....only trouble is, I need to go up a couple of sizes, as my lens collection seems to be getting bigger!..

I'm with you Ken I'm starting to have the same problem

What a dilemma

I'm there too though, and I'm trying to decide whether to upsize, or just be more selective about which lenses to take with me... It's nice to have them all, but realistically, I almost never use more than 1 or 2 of them on any given day. (and if I keep satisfying my LBA, restricting myself with a smaller bag just may save my back someday... )

I like your thinking, Mr. Mellow. Not only a cheap solution, but you have a camera bag which doesn't announce the presence of expensive contents to would-be thieves...

That was one of the things I liked about the National Geographic bags, they're set up inside to house camera gear but don't look too obviously like a camera bag to those not in the know.

It's not arrived yet and my wife's already started referring to it as my "man bag" though

She probably secretly wants one too.....

Well, the National Geographic bag arrived this morning, first impressions are positive, all the gear I need to take away with me this afternoon fits inside with space over for a waterproof and snack.

The fastenings are a little more fiddly than the standard plastic clips a lot of bags have but still not exactly awkward, it's just a case of passing a strap through a loop and then presstudding(sp?) it to back onto itself. The metal instead of platic loops and clips definitely give a feeling that it's going to stand up to plenty of punishment.

I wonder how long it'll be before there's no longer room in it for things like waterproofs and the camera equipment expands to fill the space?

When I outgrow my old bag, I decided that actual camera bags are heavily over priced for what they are.

Looking around online I found and bought one of these http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-3-POCKET-TACKLE-GLUG-POT-BAG-FOR-CARP-FISHING_W0QQitem...

Weather sealed, good sized pockets and adjustable internal compartments. Actually very well made and feels very secure. Currently fits my body with lens and grip fitted, three other lenses, chrager, SD/SDHC USB adapter, lens cleaning stuff etc. and space for another lens and/or flash with other pockets still not used. With the lens off the body and some re-arranging, I could easily fit more in.

I just need a patch to stick over the Carp Fishing embroidery