Sling Bag for Travel

I am thinking in getting a sling bag for travel. I have four choices, ThinkTank TurnStyle 20, Mindshift Photocross 13, Tenba Solstice 10L, and the Peak Design Every Day sling 10L. My equipment: Canon 60D, Tamron 28-75, Tamron 70-300 VC and Canon 580EX. Any recommendation which bag could fit my equipment and which one is more comfortable.

Thanks,

Alberto Ayala

ThinkTank and MindShift are parent/daughter companies. MindShift products are more outdoor/adventure oriented. The Photocross is larger than the mid-sized Turnstile, and has waterproof seams and zippers. Both products have wide straps for comfort, but the MindShift strap is even wider. You need a waist belt for stabilization when moving, especially climbing up or down. That might be a minor inconvenience when using the bag.

The Tenba is a light-duty backpack. You need to dismount it to retrieve or store any gear. You can carry it by one strap, but that might prove painful.

I prefer backpacks, but I use both straps if I'm walking more than 50 feet. I am also a huge fan of ThinkTank and MindShift. I don't have these particular products, but many others accumulated over the last 10 years or so. Their zippers and overall construction are unequaled.

I am somewhat concerned that there might not be enough depth to hold a mounted 24-70/2.8, lens-down. IMO, that lens, whatever the make, is the ultimate travel lens. I'd call the company and ask. You don't have one now, but you (probably) will in the future.

I am also a huge fan of ThinkTank and MindShift. I don't have these particular products, but many others accumulated over the last 10 years or so. Their zippers and overall construction are unequaled.

Completely agree! Just got a killer bargain on an Urban disguise 30 - eagerly waiting for it to arrive!

After buying my last used gem (K10d with Sigma 18-70 & 70-300) in a Lowepro slingbag, (we are talking about small or medium backpacks with a single across your chest strap here, right?) I was shocked how inconvenient it turned out to carry that bag. I previously sunk pairs of DSLRs in simple, i.e. no hip strap to get weight off your shoulders, backpacks and felt no reason to complain. The single strap puts an inconvenient pressure, which I perceive as breath taking, on my chest. If you aren't the military's athletic dream, I recommend staying away from such bags with your substantial kit or at least try carrying weight in such a bag before you buy.

Sorry, no clue about the stuff you are pondering.

At my age, serious schlepping makes me tired just to read about it. I disagree about diagonal straps, however. they don't put much strain on your chest, other than to restrict air flow to a minimum degree.I have a small cross strap bag which holds two or three lenses, and a cross strap (RRS/Magpul) for the camera. I find them comfortable for extended wear, even with heavy lenses, like a 70-200 or 100-400.

The furthest I wear a backpack is in an airport, where my usual fortune is to have connecting flights in opposite corners of the facility. I use two straps, add the chest strap, and waist belt, in order of necessity. I find a tall, narrow bag carries better on a shoulder strap (or sling) than a wide bag - I don't bump into things as much. The ThinkTank bag seems to fit with this concept. You don't want the bag to swing in front of you when climbing or descending, hence the need for an optional waistband. Backpacks are much better in that regard. A narrow bag is much easier to hold on your lap when riding a crowded bus or train. (In New York and Chicago, you can get a ticket for putting it on a seat next to you.)

I carry my gear in a backpack, because it keeps everything together and in one layer. It's easier to carry than a shoulder bag, but harder than a roller (except on rough ground or gravel). When I step out of the car, I carry an extra lens or two in large pockets, whie the backpack stays in the car. A small "day" bag is ideal around town or on a trip by car, but too bulky to carry on a plane (unless it's your "personal" carry-on).

I carried a large shoulder bag on my first trip to Europe - never again. A backpack is much easier to carry on foot, especially on trains, stairs, cobblestones and buses.

I recently acquired a hatstand, and am using it to hang all my camera bags off. I'm hoping it doesn't fall over. (My latest acquisition is a bigger toploader when I'm really only expecting to use 1-2 lenses, but that barely counts; with the touchscreen on the D850, it's annoying that the non-grip-sized ones in Lowepro's range don't have padded lid liners.)

I've never seen the point of shoulder/sling bags. But then I generally don't understand the concept of "travelling light", so even on trips I've usually found myself taking a Think Tank Airport Acceleration (approximately the biggest thing that's cabin baggage safe). Whatever space isn't full of camera kit and laptops tends to get filled with chargers and anything else that it would be really annoying to lose. I've been known to take a Think Tank ShapeShifter (which folds down to a slightly thick laptop backpack), but I've usually got stuff in the main compartment even if I'm not using it for camera gear.

While most of my lenses are now bulky enough that I can't stack them (which didn't used to be the case), my latest substantial acquisition was a LowePro ProTactic 450 AW. Partly it's at least fairly rigid, and I was getting a bit worried about things being put on top of my Airport Acceleration and relying on the strength of lenses to avoid damage (I do usually leave the lens hoods reversed, which adds a bit of padding). Partly, the side access ports ought to mean that I can "stack" - have something in the base of the bag, put a divider in horizontally, then have something above it. With a conventional bag this has meant that I had to remove the upper items to get at the lower, whereas side ports (as I requested of Think Tank) mean you can get at the lower item directly. That might be useful for very small lenses (the 450AW is quite deep, so I can probably sit some small primes vertically), but mostly for things like flash guns. It's deeper than official airline carry-on size, though, which is annoying - so my Think Tank will probably still go on trips with me. Plus I can fit more laptops in the Think Tank (a typical load for a business trip is three...), and its separate laptop bag is convenient.

Carrying as much as I do (as an example, D810, 70-200, 14-24, 24-70 Tamron, 200-500, 150mm Sigma macro - that's an average selection for a trip, and the 200/2 goes in sometimes) one strap would hurt me rapidly. Indeed, I've used one strap of a backpack and it doesn't take long for my shoulder to suffer. It does take me a minute to get stuff out, but I usually just hang things around my neck (and support them by hand, for a longer lens), and I rarely need to go from walking to shooting fast enough that this is a problem. My long-suffering wife may disagree. I do cut down a little bit when actually walking any significant distance, though.

Part of my problem carrying anything is that the backpacks usually have waist straps that are intended to take the weight on the hips. I don't really have a waist, and my hips are already carrying plenty, so the shoulders and however much leaning forward I do take the strain. It's not quite crippled me yet. Although now I think about it, I could try using the waist strap as a belly bra and see whether it helps my figure...