Stealthy camera bag recommendations...

Any recommendations for a smallish camera bag that doesn't look too much like a camera bag? Prefer a

more satchel bag look, and something that can be accessed while being worn. Would need to hold a D70s

w/ the 18-70, the Tamron 70-300, the Nikkor 50/1.8, possibly an old rangefinder, and a few filters.

Baby bag. Looks nothing like a camera bag and works surprisingly well.

I'm seeing something pink... a child's purse... with Hello Kitty stickers. That will work.

 

Army surplus bag. The one called the Alpha One Medic's pack is ideal. Seriously. Just the right size, one zipper opens the top which is two more zippered pouches and the reveals the main bag in the center. Can hold four cameras. Compact. A long time ago they were copied in leather and called The Bag. Sold for big bucks.

Pico ... how did you know? Pink with Hello Kitty stickers is the bomb ;-)

The medic bag might just be the ticket. Something tells me that a pink Hello Kitty bag would

be far from stealthy when paired with someone that looks and dresses the way I do when I'm

out being urban...

I would also consider avoiding bright colors, reflective tape/trim, and bags that make you look like a tourist.

Very true... The EMS kit bag look might not be optimal.

If you haul a camera out of a diaper bag, anyone who sees you will assume the rest of the bag is filled with diapers and stuff. Yeah, you bet;-)

You could always complete the illusion by making an "ever-ready" case out of a pair of

Huggies...

Simple answer: Look around what kind of bag ordinary people dressed comparable to you use to carry around. Grab such a thing and cobble your own interior together. A thermal mat, tape and e few stitches should do the job. BTW if you happen to be EMO, a punk, whatever give it a few comparably hot turns in your washing machine, don't forget to add curtain white wash; mint army surplus stock can sometimes be still way too shiny.

 

My favourite solution is buying photo bags, which look like they never held anything as flashy hightech as a AE1, at flea markets. 70s' style rocks.

I use 6-pack-size lunch bags. But, then, I carry less equipment: DSLR and maybe an extra lens. The insulation sort of acts as padding. If you want a choice of sizes and industrial strength, go to DuluthTrading.com and check out Louie's Lunchbox.

The Domke F-803 would likely be perfect.

Any lightweight canvas messenger bag.

 

Line the bottom with a cheap rubber keyboard pad, and buy a few Domke inserts.

I have used a reasonably well padded rucksack, but the gear rattled around.

 

Also, Lowepro have produced some "stealth" bags.

 

Pink sounds good though, I could get my wife to carry the stuff.

 

P

I have a very nice Lowepro case for my camera and accessories. I throw this in a ratty old backpack and I still have the protection of the Lowepro.

Jochen had a great idea, blend in, making one is easy

 

I'm going to give my stock response: thieves are worldwide, all contries, all climates, and they study their craft same as we all do. Camera thieves are looking for someone with a camera, not a camera bag. General-purpose thieves are sizing up your apparent wealth status , not so much your bag (why steal a poor man's bag?). Amateur thieves are going to grab anything easy and hope for the best.

 

Get anything that doesn't have a logo on it and be careful

I agree with Pico, military surplus makes for great stealthy camera bags. They aren't obvious

and people all over the world use them for a million different purposes. I have a dark green

canvas military bag that looks small and unassuming, I've taken it all over the world and not

had any problems. It's got one flap over the top, 2 straps to buckle it. Best camera bag I've

ever had.

 

If you're concerned about theives, wear the strap across your body not on your shoulder.

Make it appear hard to snatch, theives go for easy targets.

Lady I know just returned from Brazil. Most of the time she carried a baby in back harness. Guess what the thieves stole? . . . the diaper bag!

I love the trick used by Karen Nakamura of http://www.photoethnography.com - she has found or made some

PAKON brand stickers which she puts over her camera,

making it look like a non floggable clone copy...

 

That plus an old/cheap/dull looking old bag might just

make a thief look elsewhere.

If a thief is intelligent enough to know the value of a camera he is also smart enough to know if you are using a decoy bag. Thieves will steal anything if they think they are depriving you of something!

In all honesty, I wasn't really thinking of it as an anti-theft measure, just a way to carry

around a camera bag and not look quite so much like I was carrying around a camera bag.

Have you checked out Crumpler? One thing they've got going for them is that their camera bags, whether shoulder bags or backpacks, don't look like camera bags. And they provide a little better protection for your gear than the army rucksack would.

I'm into street/pj style photography, so I'm big on stealthiness like you too. I've been using shoulder bags from MEC:

 

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_listing.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302699955&bmUID=1166343875192

 

and then stuffing them with:

 

1. A thinly padded, no-frills pouch like the ones from LowePro:

 

http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Accessories/sliplock_cases/SlipLockTM_Pouch_50_AW.aspx

 

2. As many lens bags (which for me is usually one) from Think Tank (the ones they make are thinly padded and collpasable, whereas the Lowepros are pretty thick) as needed:

 

http://www.thinktankphoto.com/ttp_product_LnsDrpIn.php

 

I remove/"unstitch" or paint over all labels where I can. I use black electrical tape over all white writing on my black rangefinder body. I use a hand strap from:

 

http://www.prostrap.com/

 

so that there is nothing hanging upfront. I hold my camera in my right hand just in front of my right thigh where it is not fully visible from behind, and following the motion of my leg. Sometimes I wear fingerless black gloves on cold winter days.

 

Besides the professional PJs I've bumped into in NYC, no one really knows what I'm up to.

 

This has been working great. Tough, regular-looking, durable nylon, zippered shoulder bag with pockets to hold maps, etc, while the inside is customized and flexible to your gear.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Best regards,

Sam