Crumpler Bags

When going out for a day I just toss my Panasonic into a medium sized shoulder bag with whatever else I happen to need at the time. Probably not such a good idea with a DSLR. I used to find my old camera bag when full, besides weighting too much, was too big and cumbersome to carry around all day so it often got left behind, so a new bag is in order. The camera together with an additional zoom and a fast prime is probably as much as I would want to carry all day.

I have read various good things about Crumpler bags in non-photo forums and wondered what their camera bags are like. One of the Pretty Boy Maxi Bags would seem to fit the bill for general use with the advantage of not looking like a camera bag stuffed full of expensive goodies.

The other ones in a similar vein are Think Tanks Urban disguise bags, any opinions on these bags?

I have no personal experience of Crumpler bags, i don't like the look of them personally, but I know people who have them - some swear by them, others at them.
As for them not screaming camera bag - don't you think any self respecting thief knows the entire Crumpler range by heart by now and recognises a camera bag just as easily as if it had Pentax emblazoned on the side? When you take your camera out it will become obvious any way.

But then I admit to happily putting my Ds into a tote bag for a day out, or even carrying it in a bumbag (horror of horrors ) when walking the dogs.
Only when I am travelling do I tend to take a camera bag, then it tends to be the full Tamrac rucksack, or maybe the smaller older Lowepro Nova, both of which are obviously camera bags.

I would suggest you take yourself and your kit down to a camera shop and look at bags before committing yourself. And remember that when LBA strikes you need room for those too! Also consider whether you likely to want to carry a laptop with you in the same bag for instance.

The crunpler bags I have seen have had huge gaps around the cover flap that would do nothing to keep the rain out. Personally I don't think they are a good design.

For good construction, good protection and ease of access I use the Billinghma Hadley and Alice bags.

Trouble is where I live taking myself to a camera shop to look at all the various ranges would take a lot of research and travelling.

When out for the day I carry the miminum amount of stuff that I can get away with so the cameras and maybe a small bottle of water is all I would be carrying when out for the day. I may get a backpack later for when I am travelling and I will bear in mind your advise about a laptop.

I hadn't thought about the Billingham range, the Hadley is the size and style I was thinking about. Are there any good stockists in the North-West?

I've carried most of my camera gear around in a Crumpler Harry Palmer Device for about four or five years. The bag itself is very well padded so a bit of an inverse Tardis effect ensues - smaller on the inside than the outside would suggest. But it swallows a couple of bodies, three lenses and an old Pentax Spotmeter with no trouble at all.

It's also a lot more water protective than you might think with an internal baffle over the camera compartment to keep out any weather you might reasonably expect. The oversize strap makes it really comfortable to carry but the most important thing is it looks really cool!

Adrian

Jacobs and Jessops are both stockists. The thing about the Hadley type design is that the bags are quite slim and tuck well into the body. This makes them less obtrusive and more secure when travelling.

I have 2 Lowepro shoulder bags, an AW300 and an AW500. I find both of them to be very spacious but also very painful to carry around for a day. They are now demoted to being storage bags.

I much prefer the Lowepro Slingshot 200AW for a small kit - camera, flash, a couple of lenses, bottle of water.
For a longer day and more varied shooting opportunities I prefer my Lowepro Mini-Trekker AW backpack.

I've considered buying a bigger pack to take more gear, but I decided not to as the fully loaded Mini-Trekker is about as much as I can carry for a day anyway. I might consider replacing it with a Tamrac Expedition 7, it's a little bigger and has some handy and acccesible pockets.

The one criticism I have of the Mini-Trekker is the drop-down flap to house the tripod legs. When carrying a tripod, you can't easily sit with the pack on, and with the pack off, it won't stand upright, it needs to be laid down. Minor points, but irritating sometimes.

They may be stockists, but Jacobs Manchester doesn't carry them in stock. I have only found a couple of places so far that do, Camera World and Jacobs, both in London.

Jessops would get you one in to look at, or at least they used to, don't know if they still will!

I will hopefully be going down to SRS soon , and see some of the Crumpler and Tamrac bags.

I will have to have a look at the mini-trekker and slingshots as I have seen a lot of recommendations for them and they are fairly easy to find.

Yes I expect they would, but it does put you under a bit of pressure to buy it. As I expect to go down to Watford, I may just go into London at the same time and check out Camera World and Jacobs.

If you want to see lots of bags side-by-side then the showroom at Morris Photo in Chipping Norton (www.morrisphoto.co.uk) is a veritable Aladdin's Cave of camera accessories - I spent over an hour trying different bags in there before buying my last one. Might be worth a little detour off the M40 on your way south?

I can 2nd that one! SRS are great, but they are limited for space, therefore choice of bags on display. Same with tripods too.

Thanks for the heads up, I checked out the Morris Photo website and they certainly look worth a visit. I am sure the OH would like a short break in the Cotswolds sometime.