Looking for a new bag and want some outside views

<p>So I'm tired of using a backpack for the reason is that I want to be more flexible when running and shooting sports, spot news, ect. I'm a college student on mild funds but have 2 camera bodies and 5 lenses. I am just here to ask you.. What bag do you have or have had and would you vogue on it's flexibility when shooting on the run? Thanks for any help.</p>

<p>-Nathan</p>

<p>most people undoubtedly have bought many bags before they found the one that suits them best point being it's worth to save up for the right one. <a href="http://www.billingham.co.uk/acatalog/The_Classic_550_Camera_Bag.html"><strong>This surely would fit your needs and last you a lifetime.</strong></a></p>

<p>Suggesting a Billingham to a <em>"college student on mild funds"</em> is not the most helpful advice. Yes they are beautifully made but the pricing certainly puts it in the luxury segment of gear, and they are nowhere near as innovative as many other camera bag companies.</p>

<p>Nathan, </p>

<p>Look at the ThinkTank range of gear, I have several of their bags, the Retrospective range is superb but they do other systems that might suit you better, like the modular belt systems, take a look at their site, they are designed by photographers and it really shows.</p>

<p>My first bag was a domke F2. I now have 3 of them. It was, and is, perfect for me. Plenty of room for all sorts of equipment.</p>

<p>Decide first how much gear you really need on these occasions-- two bodies and 5 lenses may weigh you down too much no matter what type of bag. For less gear and quick access, a shoulder bag is better. For more gear, this gets too heavy for my taste, and I use a camera backpack. But I have to take it off to get to the content which will slow you down. ThinkTank makes good bags, as does Tamrac. I don't like Lowepro for their bag design although they are good quality. Best to go to a local store to check out the quality and size.</p>

<p>I use a backpack for travel but carry a bag for working on location. I agree that five lenses is too much, standard for PJ/sports (except for sports requiring longer lenses) is two bodies, one with 24-70 and the other 70-200, along with flash. If you carry one camera out, you don't need a big bag.<br>

<br />I use an old Domke most of the time, but I take out all the padding. I put a camera with lens in and then put other equipment into foam bags. That way, there's no need to re-configure foam/walls in the bag if the equipment needs change.</p>

<p>A not too large shoulder bag with a waist belt will permit you to move about fairly rapidly. One camera in the hand and another in the bag makes sense.</p>

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<p>I use an old Domke most of the time, but I take out all the padding. I put a camera with lens in and then put other equipment into foam bags.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I don't use the foam bags, but that's what I do. My shooting bag is a Domke F6. If I have a need for more equipment, I pay an assistant to carry around a backpack full of gear. :)</p>

<p>Eric</p>

<p>I don't want to count how many different bags I have, although the one kind I have never got is an actual back pack. Early on I settled on "shoulder bags" where I could access the bag on my side while swapping lenses, etc.<br /> I found the perfect shoulder bag for everything, including your laptop, from Tenba (mine is a PD-17 but there are newer corresponding models). It will take many lenses, two or more bodies, a 17" laptop. And, yes, the hernia was easily fixed with surgery. It is good for getting all the gear you could want to carry from one place to another. As a daily shooting bag - never. If you need this sort of transporter bag, B&H and some others still had some older models for substantial discounts until quite recently anyhow. I have consistently been able to squeeze it though carry-on, but how is totally beyond me except that I try to stand so it looks like it doesn't weigh anything. I can do that for upwards of 15 minutes or so ever since I reached 210lbs on the lateral pulldown at the gym.</p>

<p>I use a Domke canvas bag for daily shooting, mostly - transfer the daily gear from the Tenba.</p>

<p>BTW, some of these expensive bags are sold used on eBay (and even on occasion from the stores) at very much less than the new prices. Besides you don't want a bag that looks too good so that it screams "steal me!"</p>

I tried the Domke F6. Normally I carry only 2 of my 5 lenses. Sometimes 3. Always carry 2 bodies, one with a winder, and an incident light meter. Plus film, filters, etc.

http://www.tiffen.com/displayproduct.html?tablename=domke&itemnum=700-60B

 

There are pockets in front, back, and in the cover. I like the steel snap hooks.

 

I liked the F6 enough, that I bought a second. to hold the other stuff that stays at home, or just in case.

 

I'm thinking of getting a third bag, the F-803

http://www.tiffen.com/displayproduct.html?tablename=domke&itemnum=701-83S

Not to add a laptop, but a plain-old kid-type 99-cent composition book.

 

And they're Made in the USA.

How much and kind of gear are you regularly working with? What is the largest lens you work with regularly? Shoulder

bags like the Domke are good when you are young but not so much when you're older and eve when you're young,

carry enough gear in them will help make your back and shoulders age faster than if you are carrying a more balanced

load. Sling style bags - I've tried several and the newish ThinkTank Photo versions are the bet because you can switch

which shoulder carries the weight - are an option to consider but I am not overly fond of them. A belt and pouch

approach works well and once again ThinkTank Photo's designs work best as you can the weight on your hips and

don't force your spine, back and shoulders to do the job camels, donkeys and llamas were domesticated for. The

ThinkTank Modular belt system I like the most because it is the most comfortable over a long day's work and gives

the option to either lock the pouches into place or slide them around to redistribute the weight which keeps you a bit

fresher.

 

If you haven't noticed a theme in my post developing already let me be plain in my meaning. You simply have to take

into account the wear and tear on your body of carrying lots of gear around. See if you can get by with packing less.

The less energy you have to spend fighting gravity (lugging gear) the more you have to devote to working on making

better photos. And if you can't cut down on the amount of gear you need to do your job as a photographer then find a

way to carry it to minimize the stress it puts on your body.

 

The best bet of course is to get someone else to carry most of it for you - but that has it's own set of problems!

<p>Inserts are cheap (about $10 - $20 a piece on ebay); get some and put them in your favourite bag. If you want a backpack, an internal frame helps.</p>

<p>Personally I use hip packs, backpacks and shoulder bags.<br /><br />I have been beating the heck out of a lowe-pro shoulder bag, and the thing still looks new. Highly recommend. Not sure which it is, but it easily fits two bodies (D200 w/ grip and D7000, no grip, but would fit it if it did), flash or lightmeter, and a fair amount of lenses. I usually carry 1 long lens (70-200 f2.8 or 70-300 f4.5-5.6) and a set of primes (20mm, 35mm and 50mm). It isn't too bad, and shoulder bags work well.</p>

<p>That said, I now carry larger loads due to video and have switched to a Burton F-Stop as my primary bag. It may be a bit slower, but it is a lot better for covering long distances with larger amounts of gear. And if I switch out some of the primes and go to a single zoom, even better.<br /><br />The best thing you can do, learn to edit what gear you take. Why are you carrying 5 lenses (unless you only shoot primes) into a PJ situation? Usually you would carry 1 long (70-200), 1 regualr to wide (28-80 on Full Frame), and one fast prime (50mm f1.4 on Full Frame). Redundant focal lengths without reason is just increasing your fatigue.</p>

<p>Oh, I should add, another strategy is to transport your gear in one bag, then switch to smaller bags at location. So carry the backpack in your car, then switch to a belt pack for the lenses and carry the bodies on your shoulders. Makes you much lighter and more agile at the location.</p>

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<p>Suggesting a Billingham to a <em>"college student on mild funds"</em> is not the most helpful advice</p>

</blockquote>

<p>depends how you look at it. Most photographers I know have a lot of bags that they bought over the years often without finding the "perfect" one, something that is often mirrored on this site as well. That I consider a real waste of money. Like I said, better to save up for the right one. In that sense the Billingham would seem to suit his needs.</p>

<p>Ton,</p>

<p>I look at it from the point of view of practicality, helpfulness, functionality and fulfilling the OP's needs and budget. A $500 bag when you don't have $500 for a bag is not the same as buying a <a href="http://bythom.com/support.htm">cheap tripod</a>, cheap bags do their jobs very well, in fact I'd suggest getting cheap bags is the way to go until you firm up on the way that you work and the gear you end up actually using, I know over the years my needs have fluctuated enormously.</p>

<p>One expensive bag bought at the beginning of my photo interests would not have worked, as it is I currently use four true camera bags and four custom cases for my gear. I could easily add another large one or two for lighting.</p>

<p>You can guarantee that whatever works for you this year will not be quite so perfect in a couple of years time, unless you have already gone through the process of various options of kit, bags and workload.</p>

<p>However even if you don't subscribe to any of that, why would you think that the Billingham 550, a bag from the last century from a company that relies on wealthy amateurs and lacks the innovation shown by so many other bag manufacturers, would be the perfect bag that Nathan could settle with?</p>

<p>I have tried several, including Tamrac Velocity 8, Velocity 9 (Velocity's are great for short day trips) and Expedition4; Tamrac 5788 (my favorite because of the side access), and PhotoSafari (Todd Gustafson) which is great for holding all my gear (DSLR and dive camera etc). The Photosafari bag is a roll along with removable camera divider section and removable "briefcase" front making it ideal for a carry-on on planes. The Expedition4 is great for hiking with a DSLR and 3-4 lenses, flash, filters etc. I also just purchased a Clik Elite that has a structure for attaching a ballhead and DSLR with large telephoto. Like previous posts, you'll find that there is no one perfect bag for everything, however if I was just starting out I'd lean to the Tamrac 5788 series with side access and multiple configurations for ease of use, or the Photosafari for carrying "everything".</p>

<p>There's aspects of your question I don't understand- for example are you physically running or are you managing sports? Does "on the run" mean "on the move " or whilst running? </p>

<p> I don't use backpacks because I want to be able to photograph without putting the bag down- not only in cities but also on wet sand, after rain and so on. One of the beauties of moving from a 6 prime lens medium format system to a dslr is the ability to do that. I use a padded but not extensively so Tamrac 8 shoulder bag which is bigger than I need for my 3 zoom system. Its a bit bigger than I need but then I have room left to carry a tripod head through air journeys, and make my filter holders, spirit levels etc really accessible. I can erect and fit a camera to a tripod with the bag on my shoulder, and change lenses, cards, batteries, filters, or filter systems without putting the bag down</p>

<p>I've always liked the look of Billingham bags but I just don't get along with the way they fasten. Unless I was being paid to cover an event- which isn't what I do, I wouldn't carry two bodies- I'd have a backup in the car or at my hotel . That means I need to change lenses, and thats why I settle for zooms with overlap on their range. </p>