Large Shoulder Bag.. or similar... hunt!

[Damian Brown]

The realisation is sinking in that i´ll need a bigger bag to work with. It will need to hold the following:

Two nikon flashguns
two dslr bodies - 1 with 17-55 2.8 attached and 1 with 70-200 2.8 attached.

ideally also holding -
at least two other lenses, 50 1.8 and 10-22

Room for cards, stofen diffusers, batteries, other odds and ends.

Of course the biggest space users are the cameras with the lenses attached. That's just a preference for ease and speed.

What bags would you consider?

The bag i use is not big enough to deal with the two bodies with lenses attached, at a squeeze i could do it with the 70-200 attached and the other unattached. But I'd like to find a solution like the above. Cost effective too. :bonk:

 

[CT]

Over the years I've had two complete medium format systems and two complete SLR systems of various sorts, and it's always been a big shoulder bag which holds the gear and also gives ease of access.

It sounds to me like you need something like a large Billingham or Tamrac shoulder bag which is deep enough to take the body and the long lens - lens downwards in one of those adjustable padded compartments. Any other arrangement just takes up too much room. There are plenty of rucksack type bags big enough to do the job and they're far more comfortable in use, but getting at your gear in a hurry is a pain.

I'm not sure about the cost effective bit. Bags capable of holding your gear and protecting it from knocks don't come cheap.

 

[dougdarter]

I'm with CT here.

I too use only shoulder bags - Rucksacks are for me, at least, a complete and utter pain. If you need to get anything out, it's difficult, and changing a lens becomes a real problem. You almost always end up having to put the rucksack down.

Like CT, I too always carry my cameras with the lenses attached, but I put the body at the bottom of the bag, lens upwards. I dind it more stable this way, and the C of G of the bag is a lot lower, making it, for me at least, more stable.

I have now settled on 3 bags:

For a body and one lens - a Lowepro Toploader 75AW. It's a holster bag, very light and comfortable.

For a body, and more than one lens - a Lowepro Stelth 600AW.

For two bodies, two or more lenses, and for a day or three out, a Billingham 550.

A shoulder bag gives you instant access to your kit, and as you never have to take it off, there's less chance of it being stolen.

 

[Damian Brown]

Excellent advice.

I currently carry two dslrs with lenses attached for the same reasons as you guys, it's just so much easier and more efficient not to mention reduces dust intake caused by removing and replacing lenses frequently, but once i get the 70-200 2.8VR that will replace the 50mm that is on one of the bodies and therefore take up a lot more space, hence the need.

 

[trebs]

I use similar kit and after much searching, I've settled on 3 options that I can choose from:

A Tenba ProTraveller II P695.

Used for day to day use.Big enough for all the gear, weighty by balanced bag.
I compared the Tenba to the Lowepro commercial, it was a lot cheaper and still looks/protects well after a year of heavy use.

A Lowepro Specialist 85AW.

That's handy for close-quarters work in packed areas, festivals, parties. It's a waist bag but can be hooked up to the Lowepro shoulder straps too. In fact, I fit it around my waist and use a single shoulder strap too, spreading the weight nicely. The whole thing can be slide around my waist quickly. The thing I love with it, the top opens away from my body, more protection when getting gear out.

A Lowepro Computrekker.

I can get all the gear in there too, handy and safe on the bike, less handy in getting stuf fin and out. Plus.. you will forget to zip it up one day, grab it and run, spilling stuff. It hurts.

I tried a toploader 75 but the D2X was a serious squeeze in there. The large diameter 17-55mm was ok in there, just the space around the body itself was seriously tight.