Bags

Shoulderbag: You don't need to put that down to get something.

I have a Billingham 445 and an older 335. Best bags there are IMO.

Shoulderbag. I have the Tamrac Pro 12 that currently (for instance) fits all my 8 lenses, a body with grip and a flash. I somehow can justify lugging all the lenses with me, and soon I'll be needing something even bigger. Insanity.

Anyhow, I often leave the bag somewhere in the press pit when I photograph therefrom. By the way, a valuable tip for some heavy metal concerts: make sure you don't leave the bag anywhere where somebody can land (a performer or a surfing audience members).

When choosing a (shoulder) bag, pay attenetion on how it holds its form when there is weight on it and it's on your shoulder, and will the equipment survive somebody stumbling over the bag...

I have a shoulderbag. Tamrac Digital, that's all it says on the badge. I have not found any reference to this bag on the internet (all the digital-series bags on Tamrac's site are more or less different...). The bag consists of three compartments, separated by movable padded walls. One compartment holds flash on one side of the bag, the second holds Canon 70-300 IS USM on the other side. In the middle compartment I have usually 50/1.4 in the bottom, 10-22 mounted to body on top. Body rests half on top of 50 + 10-20 pile, half on 70-300. There's still plenty of room for "extra stuff" like memory cards, another flash, remote radio triggerin system, extra batteries, hard drive image bank etc.

Kalle Björklid wrote:
Anyhow, I often leave the bag somewhere in the press pit when I photograph therefrom.

What kind of insurance do you have? At least my insurance company does not have any insurance that would compensate for stolen camera gear if it is just left laying around, unguarded. Or do you just hope people are respectful enough not to steal?

Markus Lehto wrote:
What kind of insurance do you have? At least my insurance company does not have any insurance that would compensate for stolen camera gear if it is just left laying around, unguarded. Or do you just hope people are respectful enough not to steal?

In most venues, It'd be kind of hard to reach the bag from the audience (when it's in the press pit) - many times impossible without climbing into the press pit. And then there's me and the security people typically on both sides on the stage.
On many club gigs, there is no space to keep a bag on my shoulder so I sort of push it forward on the floor when I swich positions. It's another thing when I'm in the audience.

I find the LowePro Slingshot 200 to be an excellent bag shooting gigs. The only downside is it could be a little larger - I see that a Slingshot 300 is now out and I will be investigating it in the future.

The Slingshot series are a sort of cross between a shoulder bag and a pack, they allow you to swivel the bag around to your side to access lenses and other gear without removing the bag - pretty handy when you need to change lenses etc in a pit or crowd situation.

blackshadow wrote:
I see that a Slingshot 300 is now out and I will be investigating it in the future.

That's the one I just picked up. I've used it my last couple of shoots and love it. Very handy.

I'm thinking of getting a slingshot for gigs and a pakuma choroka k2 for travel and everyday use. All other bags I've looked at are either too expensive or too big to go as carry on.

Tamrac Adventure 9 for me so I can carry my laptop.

Lowepro Stealth Reporter 400 AW (older model) is my shoulder bag of choice when lugging around more gear than just the body and a couple of lenses; the quick access zipper on the top is fantastic, the bag is well padded but still 'soft' enough so it hugs your body when not fully loaded. But since I'm usually shooting at smaller venues where that big a bag makes moving around in the crowd a bit difficult, I'm currently looking for an alternative with slightly slimmer profile (perhaps a Domke or a Safrotto satchel?)

Ben's Pizza XXXL by Crumpler is a nice bag that can fit my D80 with a 30mm, 12-24mm and 28-70 or a 85mm prime but is nowhere near as comfortable as the stealth reporter.

Mikko Aaltonen wrote:
Lowepro Stealth Reporter 400 AW (older model) is my shoulder bag of choice when lugging around more gear than just the body and a couple of lenses; the quick access zipper on the top is fantastic, the bag is well padded but still 'soft' enough so it hugs your body when not fully loaded.

I found that a poor choice for my needs and equipment. Camera with battery grip and 50/1.4 lens (the shortest one by length I had at that time) consume half the space, the bag isn't padded well enough for me to be comfortable in situations where it basically gets kicked, and when using it from shoulder with all my equipment in it, I needed to use one hand to "open it up" (it compressed against me because the padding is so soft that it does not keep its form) and the other hand to access it. And when changing lenses I had one in my hand when accessing the bag, which results into slow lens changes and dangerous situations. And when I put my camera away, I had to change a particular lens (the smallest one) to the camera so that it would fit into the bag. With the Tamrac Pro 12, I can have any lens (including the 70-200/2.8 ) on my camera and put it away - that's really great.

But of course, this depends on how much/what kind of equipment you have etc. The 400AW might be a nice bag if I did not use battery grips (and had suitable equipment for it to hold its form).

Kalle Björklid wrote:
I found that a poor choice for my needs and equipment. Camera with battery grip and 50/1.4 lens (the shortest one by length I had at that time) consume half the space,

Kalle, are we talking about the same model? I can fit six 0,75l wine bottles in that bag (yep, tried and tested ;)) by just removing the smaller inserts..

Kalle Björklid wrote:
the bag isn't padded well enough for me to be comfortable in situations where it basically gets kicked, and when using it from shoulder with all my equipment in it, I needed to use one hand to "open it up" (it compressed against me because the padding is so soft that it does not keep its form) and the other hand to access it. And when changing lenses I had one in my hand when accessing the bag, which results into slow lens changes and dangerous situations. And when I put my camera away, I had to change a particular lens (the smallest one) to the camera so that it would fit into the bag.

Granted, camera gear wise I've only ever had to stuff it with two relatively compact Nikon F80 bodies with lenses attached and two extra lenses and several rolls of film . The only lens that ever caused problems was the 80-200/f2.8 when attached to a body (to use the quick access opening required that I reserve space for the longest lens in the 'busy' middle section of the bag, effectively blocking access to the side compartments). Currently I use it with the D80+grip and at most four lenses (only very rarely the 80-200mm) and still have enough space inside the bag to not necessitate juggling lenses :) . .

But like you said, it all depends on one's needs and preferences; I always carry the bag on my shoulder when shooting from amidst the crowd and especially like that the bag conforms to my hip as much as possible when moving around between people. It's definitely not padded well enough to be left around the floor where it might get kicked..

Mikko Aaltonen wrote:

Kalle, are we talking about the same model? I can fit six 0,75l wine bottles in that bag (yep, tried and tested ;)) by just removing the smaller inserts..

But a camera with a lens and a battery grip is nothing like a wine bottle... Since the bag does not have a "cradle" for the lens+camera combination, it sort of takes a cube-like space to fit the camera+lens+grip combination, since all the dimensions are sort of equally long (if you don't use grips, then there is one dimension which is shorter than the others so the camera + lens will reserve only a much smaller space.

Anyway, here's a pic I found on the net (not my gear/bag) that shows a bit how the Tamrac Pro 12 is desinged:
http://www.cambags.com/nikon/d70/shoulder/images/tamrac_5612/08_37_12_tamrac%20pro12%202.jpg
Not the best configuration in that picture, IMHO, since it seems there's not enough room for lens hoods. My configuration basically haves 2x3 lenses at the bottom, camera with grip on the one end and any lens attached to the camera. Most of the lenses have their hoods in the use-position. Granted, there is some plastic vs plastic contact there (for instance the inverted hood of the 70-200 hitting the back caps of other lenses when the 70-200 is attached to the camera and rides above the other lenses), but that doesn't bother me too much. I also have one more lens at one of the (padded) side pockets and the 580EX flash in another side pocket.

Well, my €0.02:

That's way overpadded.
I prefer Billigham. After that Domke, after that: dunno.

My bags:

That's a 1D2 with Sigma 20/1.8. Canon EF 28/1.8; 50/1.4 and 100/2.0 and a 550 EX
Bag is over 8 years old in this image I think.

Same stuff, and a bit more ;)

rené, those billingham's look real nice but the price is :o

i've have a lowpro minitrecker backpack but i find that it is often too much. i'm looking for a good shoulder bag that can hold my camera (with grip) a 70-200 and a 17-35. maybe a speedlite too. i like the looks for the crumpler 6 million dollar home. i've heard a couple of good things, but have never seen one outside of the internet. anyone have any experience?

thelightofsound wrote:
i'm looking for a good shoulder bag that can hold my camera (with grip) a 70-200 and a 17-35. maybe a speedlite too. i like the looks for the crumpler 6 million dollar home. i've heard a couple of good things, but have never seen one outside of the internet. anyone have any experience?

Not the exact same model, but I've been lugging the Ben's Pizza XXXL around daily for six months now. I'm not sure whether the Ben's Pizza models are predecessors to Dollar Homes or just their European versions, but the Pizza XXXL should be very close to the 7 Million Dollar Home. It took me a long time make a decision between the Pizza XXL (~6 million dollar home) and the XXXL, but now I'm really glad I went for the slightly bigger one. Those couple of centimeters in all dimensions really make a difference when loading the bag as in the pictures below; 80-200/2.8, 12-24/4 (with hood) and the D80 with grip and the 30/1.4 attached all fit nicely and there still room for the flash (+wallet, keys and a cellphone in the front pocket) without being too tight. With the 80-200 attached to the body and inserted in the bag in upright position, I can still close the top flap but having the camera body above the gray outer lining does not feel very comfortable.

The vertical grip is not touching the hood of the Tokina, the top flip part of the divider is in between..