Bag recommendations/comments?

I use a Lowepro Stealth Reporter D100 AW. The good thing about this bag is that you have space for three or four extra lenses (if you use old primes) and you can also strap extra lens cases onto the ends of the bag using the webbing loops. There's a weather cover in the base which seems big enough to cover the bag and anything attached to the ends.

Best bit? It was on special offer at Amazon - £33 rather than £80!

In my 550 i have a K7 with grip and DA*16-55 attached,DA* 50-135,100mm macro, 20mm f4,200mmf4,300mm f4,18-50 mk2 kit lens,2x converter, Vivitar telescope eyepiece (For converting any lens into a telescope),Pentax 540 flash, Vivitar 283 flash,Spare cards, In the pockets i have Pentax cleaning kit, Glass filters, Cokin Filters and associated bits, Ring Power ring backup power source, Zigview mk2, Reflectors, Rode Stereo Mic, Wind up torch, Spare AA batteries, Cleaning cloth,Baseball cap, Flaxh off camera cable, Mini extra flash,Lens cloth and cleaning fluid, Aircrew inner cape leather gloves, Cable release, I R release, Maps, Additionally i also sometimes carry a Vivitar Flash bracket and a Kaiser rifle grip.or a 1m Candlepower torch.
If i added another layer of dividers i could probably get more in but i value my health!
Unfortunately the harness is not suitable for the 550 so i am unable to carry it like a backpack.
Regards - Pete

I have a Billingham 307 and find it a very roomy, yet extremely comfortable, bag. It can hold my K20D + DA17-70, DA*60-250, DA 12-24, FA 50 and Samsung 100 macros (all with hoods reversed), Metz 54 flash, blower, cloths, straps, batteries, car charger, notebook+pens, some Cokin grads and P holder, cable release and some other bits.

If I'm looking to have a lighter walk around kit, I just leave out what I don't want, the bag size and weight is not a major issue.

Unfortunately the Billinghams do look expensive, especially when new, thereby advertising potentially precious contents!

As I rarely tramp around in the wet, I've never really tested how weatherproof it is.

I must admit that I also do use a cheap Lowepro CompuDaypack quite alot, as I find it very convenient and easy to just chuck stuff into. It has orange panels and looks like so many of the usual hiking backpacks so popular these days.

Hmm quite possibly - but most (at the moment all) of my photography is in urban environments which for both security and accessibility reasons makes a backpack impractical. I'll take a look at those Crumplers - I certainly love the build quality of my 4000 even if it is very small.

Yeah I know and that's why I went for one, black with green highlights so not all too obvious. My has a Y-strap that secure it a bit more on my back and place the weight more over my chest instead of the shoulders... not perfect but I can hold it out a bit longer and when the camera is out with a lens the bag becomes more comfortable to carry just over your shoulder.

I even use it as a weekend bag, I can fit pieces of clothing, my shaving machine and toothbrush also in it besides my camera gear plus a tripod secured on it.
Oh yeah for the tripod, i secure it between the main "buckels" on the front, it sits there quite nicely and while shooting you can hinge one of the tripods leg in this loop.

How much gear does it hold? A few reviews I've come across comment on the relatively low amount of space inside (smaller bags from other brands have more internal space for example). They certainly look great but with my 4000 turning out to hold half of what Crumpler claimed it could I'm slightly wary!

Here is a photo, I hope you can read what i wrote
[IMG]http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk244/Anvh/_IGP7067.jpg[/IMG]

Photo was taken with the DA40 & K10D.
Normally I've the DA*50-135 on my camera and this is simply place with the lens down at the place the DFA100 is now.
DFA100 would then be where the DA*50-135 is but just showing what can be done.
I could take out the part with the batteries and place a flash/lens there as well and with some luck I might be able to put somthing next to the af540fgz.

Battery chargers are the one for the battery of the K10D and a AA charger.

ps. my bag is a Crumpler sixhundred daily (XL)
Outside 43x30x20 cm (BxHxD)
Photo inside: 32x24x14 cm (BxHxD), 2 SLR bodies 6 lenses & accessories
Laptop: 39x25x4 cm (BxTxD)

6 Lenses is highly pending on how big they are and if you use the accessories (where my batteries are in) or not.

I'm using a Lowepro Slignshot 200AW and I can fit a vast amount of stuff into it! If I'm not walking great distances it will contain my K20D, 3 large lenses, 2 large flashes, 4 small lenses, and the last two partitions and front pocket full of all the other crap - 3 hard filter cases (77mm), Raynox 150, Cactus v4 set, rocket blower, omnibounce, remotes, mini tripod, gels, cloths, lens pen, batteries, SD cards, etc. The default layout is a bit wasteful in my opinion, I've added a couple of extra partitions from an old Lowepro bag.

The rain cover looks pretty good but I've never tested it. It is fairly comfortable to wear, but not incredibly so. If I have it fully loaded my right shoulder can ache a bit after a couple of hours. As I'm just discovering at the moment, in hot climates the strap across your chest can be a bit warm! Having said that the quick access swivel action and side access for the camera are brilliant and easily outweigh the negatives for me.

Oddly enough I'm actually looking at Lowepros atm - though the Stealth Reporter series (messenger-style) rather than the Slingshots. To decide between the D300AW and D400AW is my latest challenge-of-the-hour, no doubt to be replace by some other bag model I come across!

Isn't there a shop around with the bags, it's far easier to choose if you see them for real you know

Just to say I ended going for the Lowepro 400 - arrived today and it's just the right size. Takes everything in my sig, isn't TOO big (although I wouldn't want to carry anything much bigger!) and has some space left over if I reorganise things a bit. Thanks for all the help folks!

Being in the state where I am just going to buy one, and listening to all your comments, then I have just decided to design my own!!!!!!!!

Regards



Paul