Camera bags, cases, housings, armour and straps......................................

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Camera bags, cases, housings, armour and straps......................................

Choosebary: Oct 23, 2003

Shannow posted:

I have 2 bags that I use most often.

My main one is the might Lowepro Vertex 200 AW which is an absolute loving beast of a bag. Holds most of my kit including laptop, power leads, a fuckton of batteries, a portable hard drive, assortment of lenses, etc.
The shoulder straps are nicely padded, and when you do up the waist strap and chest fastener it's surprising how much weight it seems to take off, which is just as well as fully loaded with kit this fucker weighs about quarter of what I do (I'm about 130 pounds), and i constantly fear I'll fall backward and lay there kicking my limbs about like an upturned turtle.
Only real grip I've had with it is the runners that the chest fasteners are attached to kept popping off at the top, which was fairly simple solved by putting a large safety pin at the top of the runner to stop it being able to come away. The laptop pouch holds my 16"asus nice and snug, and the little pouches on the back hold a multitude of memory cards, filters, flash batteries etc.
Also comes with a tripod holder that you can fit on the back or either side, allowing you to kiss goodbye to any form of spacial awareness you may have once had. Good luck trying to get on a crowded subway with it ( I got a lot of dirty looks).
In the bottom is a super secret compartment that contains a monsoon/blizzard/sandstorm/ground zero resistant cover that pulls out and slips over the whole thing should you find yourself in an action movie.

I got it a LOT cheaper from calumet than any of the high street stores, but amazon seems to have em for about �105 just now.

My second is the Hama track pack which can be had for a mere 20 of your british pounds form 7dayshop.com just now - http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=101013

It's a bit flimsier, but holds a decent amount of gear, is light, small, and my go to bag when I'm doing a gig or nightclub shoot. The board that stiffens the base of it can rub the small of your back a wee bit but isn't difficult to deal with if you don't mind performing minor surgery on it. Has a super handy carry handle on the top as well.

Here's some rubbish pics.

Yes that's a nail file, I get ocd about hangnails.

I very much enjoy the OCD neatness of your camera packing in contrast to the poo poo covered room I really hope you don't live in :p

# ¿ Sep 23, 2010 16:09

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 02:29

Choosebary: Oct 23, 2003

I see there's a lot of love for the blackrapid straps in here but I don't remember seeing people talking about the spider holster very much. I just spent a week walking/semi-hiking for up to 5 miles a day carrying a 1d mk iv with either a 70-200 or a 100-400 using the spider belt and holster and it was awesome.

I had to readjust it every few miles as you can obviously feel it drag you down to one side with around 3kg on it but compared to any other strap/system I've ever used it was amazing. Being able to grab it easily whilst also knowing it was rock solidly attached to your hip was great, and it not swaying around on a strap felt really good walking through rocky/potentially damaging areas. Although having that rock solid connection was not so great when deciding to sit on rocks and there's not much give, I have some severely scratched up lens hoods from repeated mistakes there.

Combining it with a Domke F-3X shoulder bag for other lenses and general stuff also worked great as the domke is so low key and low weight.

I'm sure I looked like a bit of a tit but I didn't give a gently caress, it felt great.

Speaking of looking like a tit I've also just gotten a black rapid double strap for event work but haven't had a chance to use it yet.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2011 17:10

Choosebary: Oct 23, 2003

I forgot to mention that I had a canon hand strap on the 1D the whole time and without that would have felt very much less secure. You also do have a point with lens changes, it took even more juggling than usual.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2011 22:23

Choosebary: Oct 23, 2003

This is just random support for the Lowepro flipside 400aw, I've been using it as a go to smaller scale travel bag for probably a year now and it feels so incredibly secure when zipped up and strapped on. The waist straps feel pretty pointless though and the idea that you can strap it around your waist then just swing it around and use it like a little table for your kit feels really insecure the two times I tried it. You also look like a cock.

# ¿ May 16, 2013 16:25

Choosebary: Oct 23, 2003

mclifford82 posted:

I think this is genius: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043D2L6Q

Lens 'holster' that expands when open to two compartments for swapping caps/filters one-handed or when there's no solid surface around.

I got one of those because I thought it was a great idea, unfortunately it's just too tight to hold something like a canon 24-70 or 70-200 and be able to comfortably swap lenses without the bag getting all bunched (especially if you leave the hood on) and screwing up the whole process.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2013 12:00

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The Dorkroom > Camera bags, cases, housings, armour and straps......................................