It's been a while since we had a bag thread

[jeremy_tok]

I'm looking for a bag with the following properties:

<p>

<b>Holds</b><br>

A rangefinder with mounted lens (brand may vary depending on season)<br>

An SLR with short telephoto<br>

Small Manfrotto aluminium table tripod<br>

A 0.5l water bottle<br>

Two sandwiches<br>

At least 5 rolls of film<br>

A city map<br>

A book<br>

Wallet, mobile, coin pouch, knitted gloves, wooly cap, house keys,

passport, train tickets, aspirin<br>

<p>

<b>No no's</b><br>

Mustn't be made of nylon. I hate nylon bags.<br>

Mustn't use velcro to secure flaps. RRrrrRRRPP!<br>

Mustn't have a full-length main flap that flops about and gets in the

way of content retrival. If it has a flap, the lower edge must be

unweighted. If it uses plastic snap locks, these must be operable with

one hand only within 2 seconds<br>

Mustn't weigh more than 500g. Some of them Domkes weight over 2kg!<br>

Mustn't bulge outwards. It should have as flat a profile as possible.<br>

Mustn't even try to lift the bag from the ground via pathetic little

studs and cardboard in the base of the bag. Kids, cardboard doesn't

hold up over 6kg of content, geddit?<br>

<p>

<b>Features</b><br>

Waterproof in heavy rain up to 15 min.<br>

Pliant (as opposed to thick and stiff) shoulder strap; non-nylon;

anti-slip<br>

With handle (like ANY briefcase out there. I don't understand why any

bagmaker would omit such an inexpensive thing as a handle which by

itself doubles the carrying mode of the bag. It makes lifting the bag

to the overhead compartment in trains and planes easier. It

dramatically improves the maneuverability of the bag.)

<br>

Shoulder strap removable; connection to bag must be metallic not

plastic; self-pivoting. Please do not varnish metallic parts nor use

unattractive metals plated with titanium compounds which wears off

patchily by Week 2.<br>

[peter_silvia1]

Take a look @ M-Classics bag. http://www.mclassics.com/homepage.html

[andrewlamb]

"Two sandwiches"

 

What kind of bread? Sorry! Couldn't resist.

 

On a less flippant note, Billinghams might be worth looking at.

[harry_zet]

ever thought of an ammunition-box for 0.50 rounds?

[jeremy_tok]

Oh yeah, must hold iPod with Sennheiser PX 200 foldable headphones. BUT WITHOUT holes for earphone cable.

[andrew1]

Yeah, you've basically described the holy grail of camera bags. While you're at it, it

should come with the cameras, the film, and the sandwiches. Make mine peanut

butter and strawberry jam on whole wheat. I think we should get together and make

these things- the bags, not the sandwiches. I suspect it's the only way we'll see

it.<p> To try to hit a more helpful note, I got a Billingham small hadley INSERT, (very

nice quality) and use it in a cheap, beat up canvas shoulder bag I got for $8 from an

army/navy store a few years ago. Had to sew on a good shoulder strap, but it has the

handle you mention, and weighs little until I put in the Billingham insert and gear.

[vivek iyer]

Request Huw to custom make one for you.

[blakley]

Luigi could undoubtedly make this, but you'd have to sell the M and the SLR to pay for it....

[mattalofs]

"Mustn't weigh more than 500g. Some of them Domkes weight over 2kg!"

 

That's going to be the killer especially if you are anti nylon.

[subpopstar]

Wow! Spent some time thinking about this, huh Jeremy?! I do like my Domke 802 Reporter's Satchel. It would meet many of your requirements, but certainly not all:<br>

<bl>

<li>holds rangefinder with lens

<li>holds SLR with lens

<li>sandwiches and water bottle with ease

<li>map, book, wallet, other pocket items

<li>canvas construction

<li>does have full length flap, unweighted, with metal clasp

<li>fairly flat profile

<li>no studs for 'feet'

<li>has briefcase handle

</bl>

<br>

It certainly isn't perfect. I wish the shoulder strap was detachable. It might be heavier than you prefer, though I don't find the weight disagreeable.<br><br>

I concur with Vivek: Huw should custom make one for you. (Then sell to the rest of us too, though it will probably cost too much!)

[jim_a]

I don't like a bag on my shoulder for long periods. I had been using a fanny pack, but I'm going to try out a small daypack on an upcoming trip. It's the Delsey Gopix 85 Medium. It was only $44 plus shipping from B&H and it's a nice pack. It's small yet easily holdes my E-1 with the 14-54, a few M bodies, lenses and room for some extras.

[terry_rory]

I use a black Billingham Hadley. It would hold everything you describe except the sandwiches and water bottle and it would be rain proof for much more than 15 minutes.

 

I would never mix food and cameras and definitely never risk a water bottle in the same space. Instead I eat at country pubs.

 

If you have no pubs on your trip then you could...

 

No I can't imagine a photographic day out without pubs. Cannot go there. What would be the point?

[michael s.]

It must hold all of that, have metal hardware, cannot be nylon, and still weigh only 1 lb. ?

 

A challenge, even for the inestimable Huw Finney.

 

Now Jeremy, if you'd be willing to consider taking out that wooly cap, or at least give me one of the sandwiches ... :)

[GlennS]

When I need to carry a full kit my favorite bag is an old leather Leica case. It has bayonet holders for three M lenses and a place for something longer (like a 135mm Elmar).

Got it used many years ago, so chances of finding one today are probably slim to nil. Nothing rattles and everything is easy to get at.

If you find one grab it. Weight of empty bag = 1kg.<div></div>

[darryl_scanlan]

That looks like the one my Leicas came in, except it's black and I think probably bigger because both bodies and 4 lenses and some other sundries fit in it. I may be a newcomer to Leica but I've been a shooter for a long time and am resigned to the fact that a bag is always going to be at least a bit of a compromise. I'd recommend looking through Tamrac and Lowe-Pro catalogs or their websites. Between them they make a huge amount of bags that seem to differ in subtle ways from one another, maybe one will satistfy at least most of your requests. Some of the smaller bag makers have only a dozen or less models so probably you'll have less chance of hitting the jackpot.

[35mmdelux]

Domke rangefinder satchel. There isn't anything better at this price point.

[jja]

I agree with Darryl in many respects. Although I'm not crazy about nylon either, I keep

returning to the Tamrac bags for their functionality, selection, and value. Look at their

"Superlight" series. I have one of the smaller ones--model 5401--and fits a camera w/

lens attached, two more lenses, at least 10 rolls of film, and small extras; it has metal

strap rings, plastic snap closures, very little velcro, and a handle on top (they may not all

have the extra handle, and I'm not sure where the tripod would go). Mine is olive and the

material is not too shiny, so it does not have an overly nylon look.

 

The Tamrac MAS series looks super functional. You get the bag in the size you want, then

you can add external add-ons, like extra lens pouches, a water bottle carrier, etc.

[jake_tauber]

What happened to that one body one lens thread? With all that stuff you need a Sherpa!!<div></div>

[jja]

Is the Domke rangefinder satchel the same as the F-5XB? I have that one too, and I like it a

little bit more than my Tamrac 5401, it seems to provide a little better protection, though it's

not as easy to get in and out of. The Domke is a recent purchase, and I was surprised that it

was so well padded, having read in this forum that it was a bare bones bag.

 

Jeremy, from your requirements, you might need something bigger than the bags I have

described, but if you want to get an idea of some of the different bags that have been

suggested, do a search for the f-5xb, and you will find a thread in which several people

posted photos of various bags and the kinds of gear they stuffed into them.

[joshroot]

I have actually been thinking about bags again recently.

 

The Domke 803 didn't work for me very well when I had it. Not a bad setup, but I couldn't get over how "purse-like" it looked and felt in use. But that's just me, and is odd since I rarely care about junk like that. My putter has a bright pink powdercoated shaft for heaven's sake.

 

I've been using a Timbuk 2 messenger bag recently, with a few random Domke inserts thrown in. If I were smart, I would line parts of the bag with velcro so that the inserts stayed in place. But I haven't gotten around to it.

 

My Domke F-6 has stayed with me for years now. The size is perfect for a small kit. My only gripe is that it sticks out a little farther from my body than I like. And since it is just about as thick as it is tall, it can be a little twisty and upended easier than the messenger bag. But the buckle system is fast and reasonably quiet. And unlike my Domke "J" bag, the F-6 is to small for me to overload and kill my shoulder.

 

In general, I like to use a backpack style bag for all day trips with lots of walking. The Lowepro Orion Trekker I have is great for a dayhike, but not easy to work out of.

 

I've been thinking of trying to find some sort of soft sided beat up looking leather bag to add inserts to. Soemthing that is a bit taller than it is wide, and isn't too stiff or structured. I like a bag that will wrap around my hip a little more. Especially if I am shooting with a small kit.

 

But hey, this is all just rambling. In my opinion, bags are even harder to agree on than "bokeh" for most photographers.

[scott_mcloughlin]

I've been using the Domke 803 and F-6 as well. 803 holds Leica kit and the F-6 holds a D70 kit. I find the 803 smaller satchel a little tight to work out of when carrying two M bodies, but I love it's small size and vertical distribution of the weight. The F-6 is a really versatile bag, just about the right size for lots of purposes.

 

Unfortunately neither bag meets the above criteria exactly, although I've crammed a water bottle into the F-6 more than once.

 

Scott

[jeremy_tok]

Hey what d'ya know. The <A HREF="http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CAMERA-SATCHEL-like-DOMKE-JOURNALIST-F-803-F-802_W0QQitemZ7578722182QQcategoryZ50504QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">Domke 802</A> as Steve mentioned looks pretty close, except it weighs 1.7 kg (that's more than the heaviest camera with the heaviest lens I own) and has a pretty subtantial flap. I suppose this is the best approximation to the ideal for now. It'll even fit my laptop, so it could even function as my day bag. I may try it out.

[frederick_muller]

I use a laptop carrying bag that I have "specially modified". Which means that I took a knife and gutted it, took out all the laptop padding, leaving me with a main compartment that has lots of room ... big enough to hold a small camera bag. The modified laptop bag still has a secondary compartment for books, lenses, umbrella, back-up Olympus XA, and other stuff. And a tertiary compartment for papers and miscellany.

 

In the main compartment I can stick a small camera bag with the folding cover lopped off or folded back. This serves as a liner or cradle for two bodies each with a lens mounted. Even with this padded cradle in there, I have room in the main compartment for a third body, lenses, travel book, spot meter, sandwiches, or what have you. In a pinch, another cradle with room for maybe four rangefinder lenses, and more stuff on top.

 

A nice plus is that it doesn't look like a camera bag. I routinely use it as a briefcase and take it to work. It can carry a change of clothes for a weekend trip. It'll fit under an airline seat or stow in the overhead bin as carry-on luggage.

[Rich B NYC]

Juan,

 

I also have the F5XB but it's too small for what Jeremy intends to pack. It also has a velcro closure which I removed the first day that I got it. Nice bag for a small kit though.

 

The F803 is nice too, but I find it a bit awkward to work from.

 

I don't recall who mentioned it, but I second the warning about packing food/drink in a camera bag. I had a scare not too long ago and will never do that again.

 

Picked up a jar of honey on the way home and put it in an empty compartment in my camera bag. It leaked about 1/4 of the contents but the mess was contained by the plastic bag it was in. Very fortunate for my M2 and my sanity.

[huw_finney]

I made a backpack case for my LF kit, the whole thing weighs only 5 pounds (without kit). Constructed from 3/32" balsa wood, covered in one skin of 165g/sqm glass cloth and epoxy, saw in half and cover the inside with the same. Or the same construction could be used for an insert for an off the shelf handbag or such.<div></div>