Backpack for DSLR & Laptop

The Kata gets some great reviews, I almost bought one but opted for a Crumpler (without laptop compartment) since I wouldn't be doing enough traveling to make full use of it. I will be picking one up next summer though for my backpacking, so the Kata gets my vote :thumbs:

I seen it on WHE for £50 today, possibly one of their Christmas deals.
 
I have a Lowepro Fastpack 350 which is an excellent bag. It can take my MacBook Pro (15") in the laptop section with plenty of room to spare (handy for papers/books) and in the main section, I can fit in my 40D with grip and 18-50mm f2.8 (with hood attached), 50mm f1.8 and 55-200mm lenses, plus a flashgun, wireless triggers, wired & wireless shutter releases, CPL filter, Panasonic LX1 compact camera (plus spare battery and cards) and space for random accessories in the bottom compartment with room to spare.

The top section has plenty of room to store a lunchbox, pens, business cards etc, which is handy for a day out. I usually attach my monopod in the drinks net thing on the side (and tie it to the top of the strap for security also.)

The best part is the quick access side panel, simply take off one strap, unzip the side hatch and pull out your camera for quick shooting!
 
I bought a Tamrac Cyberpack 6 several years ago when I was in the US and absolutely love it.

Happily fits 2 Nikon DSLR bodies + grips (or 2 pro bodies), 50mm f/1.8D, 300mm f/4 AF-S, Nikon 28-80 f/3.5-5.6D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6, an SB-900 flash in its pouch underneath the 300/4, an SB-600, MC-20 remote + MC-21 extension cable, a few Lumiquest accessories and some spare 77mm filters in the main body.

It has a separate compartment in the front with several memory card pouches (with little red flaps that you can pull out over the tops to denote full cards), elasticated pouches for spare batteries, charger, cables, and many transparent zippable pockets for more filters, reversing rings, cleaning cloths, snoots & grids for the speedlights and clippable straps to attach a tripod.

It also has four connectors on the sides to add some of Tamrac's M.A.S. accessories (to add side pockets, lens pouches, flash pouches, water bottle holders, etc), and a couple more connectors on the straps for their S.A.S. accessories (more memory card holders, cellphone pouch, etc).

Oh yes, and it has a laptop (up to 15") pouch in the back. :)

They do a bigger "Cyberpack 8" version (holds up to 17" laptops), but to be honest, once it's all loaded up with camera gear, laptop, chargers & AC adapters, even the Cyberpack 6 gets REALLY heavy, especially if you add a couple of large lens pouches on the side, so I don't think I'm going to be upgrading any time in the near future.

Without MAS/SAS accessories added, it fits perfectly in the size limitations for carry-on luggage.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Looking to buy a bag for flying up and down to London each week but I need a laptop compartment also.
I have seen the Lowepro Fastpack 350 and Kata DR466/467 just looking for some thoughts on the bags if anyone has either.

Chris
Click to expand...

I have the Kata 467 back pack and I find it extremely good. It's a nice large ruck sack, but unlike the Lowepro offerings it's slim so I won't seem like you're a space man with a thruster pack on your back. The laptop compartment is large and well padded, althought I wouldnt like to carry it for a pro-longed period on your back.

The main compartment for the camera is a good size. I can fit my A300 (With grip) and 4 lens/flashes around it. Alternatively you can rip out the camera padded compartment and increase the capacity of the bag. There is a weather cover (in garish yellow!) included.

The upper compartment is spacious and the carrying capacity of the bag cannot be underestimated. At the extreme I was able to carry the following:

A300+Grip+ short lens
3 lens
1 flash gun
1 bridge camera
Small bottle of water
Wind jacket
17in laptop
Tri-pod
Mono-pod

3 zipped pockets allowed me to carry spare batteries, filters and caps.
My only gripe is I wished the waist belt was slightly thicker or padded.
Take a look at this review- it will give you an idea of the sizing etc..

http://www.yamiya.SPAM/blog/?p=191
 
Cheers guy's I like all those bags!!!
To be honest though I think due to price it will come down to the Kata or Lowepro one as they're both in the price range I've been looking at, around £50.00.
I've seen the Fastpack 350 in Jessops and was impressed but was a bit worried about no raincover, is the Kata as big a bag?
 
Yeah, I don't blame you. The cyberpack is a bit pricey. I was looking at prices of similar Tamrac bags online today, and I couldn't believe it. I think I paid about US$169 for mine when I was over there (equivalent to a hair under £100 at the time), now I see they're about double that if I order from a UK-based online store.
 
Dadooron said:
I have one of these from Redsnapper. Good price, very roomy.
Click to expand...

I was wondering about these, I already have a Redsnapper Verso and I'm very impressed with the quality of that, didn't know anyone who had one!
Just wondered if the Kata for the same price was a better bet.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Cheers guy's I like all those bags!!!
To be honest though I think due to price it will come down to the Kata or Lowepro one as they're both in the price range I've been looking at, around £50.00.
I've seen the Fastpack 350 in Jessops and was impressed but was a bit worried about no raincover, is the Kata as big a bag?
Click to expand...

Do you actually have a 17" laptop or are you looking for a larger bag?

I have the Lowepro 250 which can hold a 15" laptop and I think the camera compartment is the same as the 350.

You say you need to fly frequently, so I wouldn't go for a bag that was too large as different airlines have different size restrictions for carry on luggage and you don't want to find yourself having to check in your equipment because the dimensions are too large. Having said that, I haven't had any problems so far on long haul flights all over the place, but I don't know how it is with the 350.
 
nuttyboy78 said:
Do you actually have a 17" laptop or are you looking for a larger bag?

I have the Lowepro 250 which can hold a 15" laptop and I think the camera compartment is the same as the 350.

You say you need to fly frequently, so I wouldn't go for a bag that was too large as different airlines have different size restrictions for carry on luggage and you don't want to find yourself having to check in your equipment because the dimensions are too large. Having said that, I haven't had any problems so far on long haul flights all over the place, but I don't know how it is with the 350.
Click to expand...

I currently have a 14" laptop for work, its a Dell business type but I am planning on buying my own laptop soon so mine would be larger.
Luckily I fly bmi, Edinburgh to Heathrow every week on basically a Business Ticket! so for hand luggage I would get away with a suitcase depending on size!

I would like a bag with room to grow and some space for personal items like my wallet, MP3 player, etc.
 
chrism_scotland said:
I currently have a 14" laptop for work, its a Dell business type but I am planning on buying my own laptop soon so mine would be larger.
Luckily I fly bmi, Edinburgh to Heathrow every week on basically a Business Ticket! so for hand luggage I would get away with a suitcase depending on size!

I would like a bag with room to grow and some space for personal items like my wallet, MP3 player, etc.
Click to expand...

As far as I know, the only differences between the 250 and the 350 are the sizes of the laptop compartment and the top compartment.

Even with the 250 on my back when I'm on holiday, I often wonder why I have such a large, heavy load on me. :)

I think you should check out the sizes in a shop before you buy.
 
Ive got a Lowepro CompuDayPack.
Super comfortable, one of the only ones that fits my 16" HP (takes up to 17"), not huge amount of camera space, maybe SLR and 4/5 lenses, but extra pocket for flashes and anything else.
Was great price, £40 @ PC World.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Cheers guy's I like all those bags!!!
To be honest though I think due to price it will come down to the Kata or Lowepro one as they're both in the price range I've been looking at, around £50.00.
I've seen the Fastpack 350 in Jessops and was impressed but was a bit worried about no raincover, is the Kata as big a bag?
Click to expand...

Fastpack has a more spacious camera compartment, Kata has much more space in the upper compartment. If buying the Kata there is a slightly newer version denoted by an 'i' after the model number. As far as I can tell hit has an extra strapping point for tripod.

Both will do the job, i personally prefer the slimmer profile and the not so obvious 'I have a lowepro/expensive camera inside' look of the Kata.
 
has anyone done longer-term travelling with their kit?
I'm going to be spending about 6 months backpacking round asia, and this time i want to take my digital SLR and my 15.6" laptop - i realise that this will be a right pain in the proverbials but some of these bags are looking idea for me, especially the kata.

I'll be taking a large backpack, and was hoping to use the camera backpack as my daypack and carry-on, so putting important necessities in there too (spare underpants and the blessed toiletroll of salvation included)
Not planning on too much trekking in jungles this time, but there will be a fair bit of boat travel and i only prefer taking local transport, so does anyone know if they will they be up to the rigors of a laos chicken bus?
 
Insomniast said:
has anyone done longer-term travelling with their kit?
I'm going to be spending about 6 months backpacking round asia, and this time i want to take my digital SLR and my 15.6" laptop - i realise that this will be a right pain in the proverbials but some of these bags are looking idea for me, especially the kata.

I'll be taking a large backpack, and was hoping to use the camera backpack as my daypack and carry-on, so putting important necessities in there too (spare underpants and the blessed toiletroll of salvation included)
Not planning on too much trekking in jungles this time, but there will be a fair bit of boat travel and i only prefer taking local transport, so does anyone know if they will they be up to the rigors of a laos chicken bus?
Click to expand...

you want one that packs the smallest, that you can remove the padding from, otherwise it wont fit in the other back pack.
 
Insomniast said:
has anyone done longer-term travelling with their kit?
I'm going to be spending about 6 months backpacking round asia, and this time i want to take my digital SLR and my 15.6" laptop
Click to expand...
To be honest, if it were me, I wouldn't use a camera backpack for this kind of thing. I'd use a regular looking backpack and just make sure the camera was padded with clean T-Shirts. For an extended period of time like that, with words like "Tamrac" and "Lowepro" and big logos that make it obvious what's in your bag, you're just asking to be mugged.

I have a smaller Swissgear backpack I use for light travel (similar to this one, but it only cost me about 15 quid) that I got from WHSmith about a year or so ago. It has a slot inside it for my laptop, and fits my D300s with grip + 50mm f/1.8D or Sigma 10-20mm attached, 70-200mm VR or 300mm f/4 AF-S and a couple of SB-900 flashes, with room in between to pad with T-Shirts.

It has a couple of holder pouches on the sides for water bottles, and zip pockets on the front for memory, spare batteries, charger, cellphone, ID, etc.
 
I have a Lowepro Fastpack 250 and you can get a 17" laptop in the back. In the camera part you can fit a D300 with 80-200 attached plus much more. Then there is the part above the camera area for all leads, cards etc.

Have a look here for more info http://www.cambags.com/

Mick.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Hiya mate,

How much gear can you fit in the Redsnapper bag? Trying to pick between this or the Kata DR467 which is the same price (£50) at WHE.
Click to expand...

I take a camera body with lens attached (for example an 18-200mm) plus a couple of other lenses and flashgun in the lower compartment. Can stick in a few other items there too as it's pretty deep such as rocket blower, battery charger and spare battery.

Top compartment can take quite a few odds and ends plus small waterproof jacket and any laptop essentials. The laptop compartment is pretty roomy too and will accommodate something much larger than the Dell Latitude 610 I have.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top