Bag for street photography

[ralf_strandell]

Hi

 

I'm looking for a new bag for street and travel photography. I currently carry a

Nikon D70 with 35mm f/2 attached and either a 50mm f/1.8 or a 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5

in a Domke F-5XB canvas shoulder bag. A few filters, batteries etc. is included,

of course.

 

I love that bag because canvas bags feel good, have a look that please my eye,

they are unobtrusive and comfortable to carry. It has a flap that allows

reasonably simple operation, too. I have tried the ballistic nylon cubes by Lowe

Pro and Tamrac and while functional, they never felt as good.

 

I have a problem, though. The F-5XB is a little to small. I would like to have

more room in it to fit all three lenses comfortably. I would also like to carry

a water bottle, a few maps, tickets, keys, money, phone in the bag. Maybe a

fleece, too.

 

The F-5XB is nice because it is thin enough not to feel like a cube. I would

thus like to have a similar small bag - only longer. Do you have any ideas? Do

you have any experiences from Domke F6 or F2 or any other non-cube canvas bags?

[brambor]

the solution is: no bag.

[dg1]

I'm sure Domke must publish dimensions for their bag. Why not do a search and a few calculations and buy another larger domke bag as long as you like them.

[brambor]

I carry my camera over the shoulder or wrist wrapped, a spare battery and a spare CF card in my pocket. I have a plastic bag and a rubber band in my pocket in case of inclement weather. In the city one isn't far away from a roof at any time.

 

go light!

[evan_goulet]

I think you're taking too much. By the time you change the lenses and zip your bag, the shot is gone.

[justin - httpjustinlow.]

A Billingham Hadley would hold all that, plus more. As a bonus, it looks great too.

[sknowles]

Check <a href="http://www.tiffen.com/products.html?tablename=domke">Domke's

Website</a> for information on their bags. Except for the fleece, and F-3 or F-4 will handle

your equipment and a F-2 would hold the fleece. I've had a F-3 bag for ~20 years and it

holds two bodies with attachable motordrives and 4 lenses with film, filters, and stuff. Good

luck.

[Brad_]

I've gone to not using a bag anymore. Much simpler.

[aeiffel]

I like the new Slingshot bags made by Lowepro, very handy. I use their 200 model when a low profile is preferable, I think it could be worth a try for street photographers.

[matt_chamberlain]

I'm with Brad and Rene on this. No bag. If you want, take a nice compact backpack to hold your stuff, maps, fleeces, etc, and put your lenses in there too. Use one of the OpTech neoprene Hat Hoods on each lens.<br><br>Nearly everything can be shot with the 35mm lens, but if you get bored, switch out for your other prime or put the zoom on there. Don't try to switch lenses at the action is happening. Well you can if you like, but you'll probably miss your shot and have to settle for a sub-par outtake.<br><br> With your camera in hand and a small backpack you have total freedom of motion and your back won't hurt at the end of the day.

[brambor]

a bag is an equivalent of coming to a shootout at the O.K.Coral with a zipped holster.

[acidity]

Backpack.

[sprouty]

Come on guys do you really carry all your gear around your neck or stuffed in your pockets? What about when you're done shooting? Do you just set it all down where ever you are?

[ralf_strandell]

Thanks. No bag... I had not thought about that. It is true that I have missed shots because of not beeing able to reach my camera fast enough. So, keeping the camera allways in hand would probably be a good thing to do.

 

On the other hand, I have a bad habit of sometimes ending up in places where showing a camera is not a wise thing to do - streets at night for example... in less wealthy areas... That plastic bag is not that bad an idea after all... But maybe I will still look at canvas bags too - not necessarily branded camera bags, though :)

[ralf_strandell]

I can see the dimensions in brochures, but translating those numbers into carrying capacity is not always that simple. I might need to buy by post order, so the comments on the Domke bags were very helpfull.

 

I'll also study the Billingham bags and others more closely, although that LowePro SlingShot might be a little too technical for me ;)

[sknowles]

Ralf, in response to, "Thanks. No bag... I had not thought about that. It is true that I have

missed shots because of not beeing able to reach my camera fast enough. So, keeping the

camera allways in hand would probably be a good thing to do.". I carry a Domke F3 bag but

carry both cameras, one on the other shoulder and one in my hand or around my neck. The

bag carries everything to/from the event, but then during the event carries film, filters, other

lenses, snacks, etc. The only shots I miss are when I'm not looking, it's not the camera's fault

for not being ready, it's mine for not being prepared. I don't have to put anything down to

change film or lenses, the bag is well designed to accommodate that unless you want to rest.

[bljkasfdljkasfdljskfa]

I know one awesome photographer that neither carries a bag, nor anything that people usually carry in their pockets.

[sknowles]

"I know one awesome photographer that neither carries a bag, nor anything that people

usually carry in their pockets."

 

Didn't Galen Rowell just use a camera-lens for a lot of his photography? He often had too

much to do than carry gear. Minimalism at its best. I remember watching an interview with

a fashion photographer who shot street scenes with a rangefinder and a few rolls of film.

He said it's also one assignment for his students, be creative with the minimum of gear. I

shoot public events and it's interesting to watch the photojournalist rarely going into their

camera bags. I only carry a bag because I hate carrying photo stuff and gear in my

pockets, so for me, the bag works like a big pocket. I tend to use all four lenses during the

event and go through quite a bit of film, so pockets are out of the question and I hate

wearing a photo vest - I keep forgetting where I put everything and the bag is easier. To

each their own.

[Brad_]

<I>Come on guys do you really carry all your gear around your neck or stuffed in your

pockets?</I><P>

 

Two extra CF cards - that's it. Don't even carry a spare battery anymore knowing I get more

than 1K pix on a charge.

[sprouty]

<I>"Two extra CF cards...</I>

<P>

I keep forgetting the context...Nikon D70 - no rolls film, no extra camera for B&W, no filters for light tempurature compensation, etc...

<P>

Why was it I don't shoot digital?

[sprouty]

BTW if dimensions are not what you want try this site:

 

http://www.cambags.com/camera_bag_mainpage.htm

 

Pictures of bags loaded with gear.

[sprouty]

<I>tempurature</I>

<P>

Ugh, Ihatenotspellingstuffright

[thomas_sullivan]

I own the Domke F-5XB and the F-6B. So I know exactly what you are going thru. Sometimes I wish I'd bought the F-2B instead of the 6....as they are essentially the same inside size but the 2 has two more outside pocket I could put stuff in. But, when I come to my senses and realize that's even more weight than I don't even want to carry now.....I feel very happy with the F-6B. It holds a lot of crap...too much actually. But, of late I have been keeping the hardware to cam, zoom, and one fast prime. zoom on cam most of the time......and the fast prime when I need it.

 

So, 99% of the time the bag has one lens in it with all kinds of little crap.

 

I wear it backwards......with the flap opening away from me. faster access, plus it opens TO ME not everybody else. So, I put a 0.5 L bottle of water in the outside pouch, along with a "sweat rag" and small umbrella. Besides the shoulder strap it also has a handle strap and if I need to take off my jacket or fleece I hang it over the handle strap and let it just hang.

 

As far as the "bagless" conversation...........there is no way I could do that. I HATE shit in my pockets. Most of the time I actually take everything out of my pockets and put it in one of the pockets in the bag.......especially the change and cell phone.

 

I will say this though.......I don't live IN a city. I always have to travel to get to one. So, the bag is also handy for all that other stuff you need on a days outing to the city. BUT, if I lived in the city........yeah, I think I could go bagless.......would actually make sense then.

[jon_noble]

I use a bag for all of my cameras except my fed with collapsible 50mm lens.

 

However, nothing fancy, just a crappy courier-type bag which now has lots of holes which led to me losing my green hoya and bronica lens cap. It also has lots of burn holes from my motorbike exhaust which led to my Cokin P adaptor and cap to join itself by heat welding. Need to get round and cut it apart. Thankfully my ETRS was untouched.

 

A proper camera bag to me screams "expensive camera is in here so please steal!"

[thomas_sullivan]

hey SP.....that's a cool website. Hmmmmmmmmm......nah........last thing I need is another bag. I only mentioned 2 of the 5 I own. Like I said once before.....there is no one right bag. Some need to be bigger when you carry everything for a long trip........some have to be deeper for those 70-200 f/2.8 on the cam sports rigs. So Ralf, be forewarned, this is NOT the last bag you will buy.