Gadget Bag for Rebel

[mack_bray]

Hi,

I just ordered a Canon Rebel with a couple of lenses. I didn't

order a gadget bag. Is there any recommendations. One minor issue

is a bag with a side pocket for my manual. Any comments I'd

appreciate greatly.

Thanx

Mack

[bilomal]

Mack, I got the Lowepro Nova 4. It has mesh side pockets, and a zippered compartment in the back which is perfect for the rebel manual. I am able to carry in the bag: Rebel, 75-300mm zoom, kit lens, 105mm macro 550EX flash. In the front compartment, I can store extra batteries, charger, CF cards, etc.. Excellent bag for the price, about 75.00 CAD. Hope this helps.

[lee_shively]

I totally agree with the Lowepro Nova bags. Excellent bags, great prices.

[Greg M]

I'll second that bag. Mine is the Nova 4 AW (all weather). It has a built-in pull out rain cover. I use this bag to tote my Digital Rebel with accessory battery pack, 17-40, 70-200 f4L, 550EX flash, extra batteries and cards. It comes with a few too many compartments so I had to do some re-configuring in order to be able to store the camera & mounted 17-40.

[michael_peters1]

Originally I purchased a Lowepro Compact AW bag and a Tamrac Expedition 3. The thought was for more gear, and gear storage - the Lowepro, for bringing a few lenses on a day hike - the Tamrac backpack.

 

Now both bags sit empty - and I keep my photo gear in a set of plastic drawers. I have big drawers for bodies, lenses, flash - and a set of smaller drawers for manuals, filters, spare lens caps, cleaning cloths, remote shutter switches, etc.

 

When i want to go somewhere - I decide what equipment I will need, and from that list - decide which bag best suits my needs. I then populate the bag from the list, putting a check by each item as it goes into the bag - that list goes in camera bag, another identical list stays with other camera gear at home.

 

Then when I get home - I clean every component and put them away, this time putting a check by the item on the list that stayed home as it is cleaned and put away.

[wolver]

Ditto for the Lowepro Nova 4. An excellent bag with lots of room for your camera, multi lenses and accessoroes and many zippered compartments for manuals, model releases etc. Can't beat it for the price.

[johnrwoods]

I love my Lowepro stealth reporter 300. Works nicely with my 10D (plus grip), a few lenses and a flash. You can store a lot of stuff in it and it has some neat little features.

[yakim_peled1]

To me, bags and tripods belong to a category of their own in a sense that they require very personal fitting and what's good for me may well not be good for you. Thus I will - personally - never recommend a specific model. For example, I once saw on the web a bag that I really liked. However, when I got to the store and tried it out I found that it wasn't very comfortable. I tried another and - surprise - it was excellent. Thus I suggest you do the same. Go to the store and try them out yourself.

 

Suggesting a brand is a different thing and I (like many) find Lowepro bags to be excellent. HTH.

 

Happy shooting ,

Yakim.

[mack_bray]

Thanx for all the input.

I've been away from SLR shooting for nearly 20 years. So I'm just getting back into it. I just didn't want to order over the net without any info on the bag. Where I'm located isn't that many places to see gadget bags. So ordering over the net is a way of life unless you want to take a day to drive to city and back.

I wish I would have found this site prior to my ordering of the equipment I did. I woudn't have ordered one of the lenses so I guess I will see what their return policy is like.

Thanx again and be assured I'll be asking elementary questions learning this new technology of an old passion.

thanx

mack

[rob_murray]

I have the Tamrac Exploer 2 and it holds:

Rebel TI, 22-55mm, 50mm, 75-300, 200e flash, flash cord,

6 rolls film, 5 filters, camera manual, spare batteries,

remote cord, and has room for more small stuff too.

It has a retractable waist strap and when shooting I never

have to put it down and can work out of the top of it

easily.

[panos_voudouris]

With the Rebel being such an easy to use camera, you'll find that after a week the manual will hardly be anything more than dead weight in your back.

 

I had a Lowepro Nova 4 AW. Excellent bag, but that would be a big for your needs. I once managed to fit in there a EOS 30E, EOS 300, 28-90, 50, 135, 28, 10 rolls of film, cloths, filters and other stuff.

 

A smaller one (Nova 2/3) would be more suitable for you. Since then, I replaced the Nova 4 with a Crumpler Budgie Smuggler, which just about fits the 30E, the 50, 135 and a Tamron 17-35 plus 4 rolls of film, remote release, blowbrush, and a pen torch and spare batteries. It is indeed very tight in there and there no more room for any more lenses or whatever, but I is much smaller and things sit vertically in it, instead of the square layout of the Nova, so I find it easier to carry.

[wilfred_m_rand]

Lowe, Tamrac and Tembo are the names most people trust. They offer a lot of configurations and I found that I actually had to a go a well-stocked store and investigate them. I wound up with a Tamrac for various reasons, but these three companies all make equivalent products of very high quality. It's probably more important to determine what format you want - sling, shoulder, backpack, waistpack, gearbag.

 

I was happy to pay a little extra from a camera pro shop for the priviege of trying a few out before I made my choice. Only cost me $5 over internet prices - less than the shipping charge would have cost.

[theoldmoose]

Another advantage of a local shop -- I actually took a Tamrac home and spend some amount of time reconguring the interior, etc. and trying to fit all my various accessories -- and finally realized it wasn't going to work out.

 

I took it back to the store (along with all my accessories), and started going through all the LowePro bags. After about an hour or so, I had finally found one that suited me (and my accessories), and had some room to accomodate my planned lens acquisitions for the near future.

 

Not having removed any labels, etc. from the Tamrac, the staff happily gave me full credit for the old bag in trade for the LowePro (which cost a bit more).

 

So, when I went to get a flash bracket, I brought all my junk with me (inluding tripod and head) and spent a morning in the store, going through all the various flash brackets and trying everything out, until I found something I could live with.

 

For those kinds of situations, I'm glad to pay a bit more for retail. Mail order simply would have wasted far too much of my time to be useful, and I always would have wondered if I might have been a bit happier with that bag or flash bracket, but not wanting to spend any more time on it, would just have to pass it by.

[jon_austin]

I started with a LowePro Nova 3, and with a little creative configuration (trial & error), could fit in my 10D with 17-40 mounted, 70-200 f/4, 420EX flash, 50mm f/2.5 compact macro and 24-85; plus spare camera and flash batteries, spare CF cards, bulb blower, microfiber cloth, a couple of spare filters and all hoods.

 

A hiking trip to the Grand Canyon a year ago taught me that I don't want or need to lug all my gear around with me all the time, so I got a LowePro Topload Zoom 1 bag, which is ideal for carrying just the body with a lens mounted, maybe a spare lens or the flash (unattached), plus batteries and CF cards.

 

I've since added a teleconverter and another prime, and it no longer all fits in the Nova 3, so I got a Lowepro Mini Trekker AW backpack. This small but very versatile backpack holds all the gear I own, provides a means for attaching a tripod (and other, clip-on accessories, if desired), and is great for hand carrying, slinging over one shoulder or mounting in true backpack fashion, as desired.