Camera Bags & Cases
About Camera Bags & Cases
The best way to shop for a camera bag is to gather up all of the gear that you think you'll be likely to use on a typical project and walk into a well-stocked camera store. Budget at least an hour to find the bag that best fits the gear collection.
Camera bags are one of those things that if you ask 10 photographers, you'll get 20 opinions. It's a very personal decision about what you choose to use. Many pros have closets full of bags that they bought, tried out, and then decided they didn't like. The best is to go to a well stocked camera store and try everything and buy what seems to work best for you. Ideally you should bring the equipment you want to carry so that you can see how the bag handles under load. And get it from somewhere with a liberal return policy! You definitely want to test things out in the field too
Camera Bags
The great thing about camera bags is that no matter how much you spend, you will never be at peace with one camera bag. It will always be too big, too small, not padded enough to check through, not slim enough to carry on, ... . You may be sure only of the following:
Majid Naghdi +98 912 204 3001
For small, more compact cameras, the design will be slimmer and more pouch-like. The top flap could close with a solid velcro, or a zipper - it is entirely up to you!
All camera bags will be doubled with two layers of thick interfacing, for added durability and protective padding.
Ideal Shopping Procedure
The best way to shop for a camera bag is to gather up all of the gear that you think you'll be likely to use on a typical project and walk into a well-stocked camera store. Budget at least an hour to find the bag that best fits the gear collection.
www.majidart.com
The holster
A holster-style bag is sized precisely for one camera body attached to a particular lens. The ThinkTank web site is a good illustration of the possibilities. Tamrac is an alternative high quality supplier and publishes a useful fit chart. The holster is not used in between photographs; the camera needs to be kept out and ready. The holster is used to protect the camera/lens between projects and when the camera/lens is tossed into a standard backpack or duffel bag.
The big bag
Once a shoulder bag becomes large enough to hold enough equipment to cover a wedding or an entire medium format system, it becomes awkward to carry and difficult to dig through. Consider a backpack. The best big camera bags that the author has used is the LowePro SuperTrekker AW backpack.
The SuperTrekker is a big frameless backpack divided up with foam. It has only one level so you don't have to figure out what goes on top of what, as with big shoulder bags. I've stuffed this one bag with two Canon EOS bodies, five EOS lenses (including a big telephoto L zoom), plus a Fuji 617 monster, lots of accessories, a tripod and film (it was that long ago!). The bag was not quite full. You can configure the case to hold a 600/4, a 300/2.8, a folding view camera, or maybe even all three.
The small bag
A small bag holds a camera body, three lenses, and maybe a flash. Typically these are rectangular bags with a shoulder strap. Perhaps the classic example is Domke, the perennial favorite of photojournalists. I find this kind of bag good for leaving under a table at a wedding reception, but not great for access to gear while I'm in motion.
The bag that stays at home
For about $130 you can get a waterproof, dustproof, indestructible plastic hard case. It will hold a moderate array of equipment and look very nice sitting in your basement.
If you're going to be spending a long time in a hostile environment, e.g., a sailboat, one of these might be worthwhile, but they are very user-unfriendly. If you can't get to your equipment, you probably can't take a very good picture. A Pelican or Zero Halliburton case is nice if you are collecting cameras but not very practical if you want to use them.
You might imagine that a hard case like this would be ideal for check-through airline travel. However, the last thing that you want is a rigid case transmitting all the shock directly to your equipment.
The photo backpack
The SuperTrekker is too big and heavy to carry while taking pictures and, even if you force an assistant to wear it, getting lenses out while the backpack is in a vertical position is not easy. LowePro makes some smaller backpacks that are worth investigating. The Rotation 360 from ThinkTank is perhaps the most interesting idea in photo backpacks. The lower part of the pack can be swiveled around to your front temporarily. It opens at the top so that you can conveniently change lenses while standing and wearing the rest of the pack on your back.
General Comments on Camera bags - Whether to use a waist pouch, backpack, or shoulder bag is entirely up to you and your back.
- Inconspicuous bags are best. Avoid anything with a big bright logo or that shouts "camera bag." The worst would be one with a huge NIKON or CANON logo. That being said, duct tape is remarkably handy in these circumstances. Tape over the label and write your initials on the duct tape in fat magic marker. It makes a difference when you're trying to find your bag among many.
- Unpadded shoulder bags such as Domkes are surprisingly capacious. Padding is pretty superfluous and just makes things bulky.
- The only thing I don't like about shoulder bags is that they tend to throw my back out. I'm using backpacks much more often these days.
- I'm also a big fan of diaper bags for my day bags. They're cheap, capacious, have tons of pockets, have fold out changing sheets, and thieves seem to avoid them like the plague.
- Regardless of the bag, do not leave it on a table or chair at an outside cafe or bus stop. There are professional motor scooter thieves who will grab it and split before you know what has happened. Always loop the main strap around something solid (like your leg). Professional photographers carry a small rockclimber's carabiner and always carabiner their bags to something (like the table) before setting it down.
- Just like one cannot have too many shoes, one cannot own too many camera bags. You need one for each occasion and in every color variation.
LowePro Micro Trekker
This is an excellent small day-bag for urban and mountain photographers. This is my favorite day-bag because of its minimalism. It's compact enough to easily fit under the seat of airplanes and doesn't tempt to you to carry everything and the kitchen sink. I'm now using it for most of my fieldwork photography where I can return to base each night and don't need to carry a laptop.
- Whether to use a waist pouch, backpack, or shoulder bag is entirely up to you and your back.
- Inconspicuous bags are best. Avoid anything with a big bright logo or that shouts "camera bag." The worst would be one with a huge NIKON or CANON logo. That being said, duct tape is remarkably handy in these circumstances. Tape over the label and write your initials on the duct tape in fat magic marker. It makes a difference when you're trying to find your bag among many.
- Unpadded shoulder bags such as Domkes are surprisingly capacious. Padding is pretty superfluous and just makes things bulky.
- The only thing I don't like about shoulder bags is that they tend to throw my back out. I'm using backpacks much more often these days.
- I'm also a big fan of diaper bags for my day bags. They're cheap, capacious, have tons of pockets, have fold out changing sheets, and thieves seem to avoid them like the plague.
- Regardless of the bag, do not leave it on a table or chair at an outside cafe or bus stop. There are professional motor scooter thieves who will grab it and split before you know what has happened. Always loop the main strap around something solid (like your leg). Professional photographers carry a small rockclimber's carabiner and always carabiner their bags to something (like the table) before setting it down.
- Just like one cannot have too many shoes, one cannot own too many camera bags. You need one for each occasion and in every color variation.
The bag that is at home in the belly of an airliner
Suppose that you need to check or FEDEX lighting equipment and larger cameras/lenses and then, once you've arrived on location, work out of the shipping container. You need an "air case". These are made with a rigid plastic core, strong enough to support this 200 lb. photographer. The core is made of shock-absorbing foam and then it is wrapped inside and out with more shock-absorbing foam. A final boon of an air case system is that all of this foam functions much as the foam around a picnic cooler. This protects gear from temperature extremes (though remember not to put film in checked luggage; airports use much higher strength X-rays on checked bags than carry-on). If you don't want airport baggage handlers opening your case, you can use a TSA-approved luggage lock on the zippers. Each case comes with a wrapped-foam divider system that is adjustable with Velcro. You have to budget a couple of hours to cut up the dividers to suit your goals.
Shoulder Bags
I used to swear by my Domke F-3X as my standard day-bag. It's tough, very water resistant, and the top panel allows easy access to the equipment you need. I prefer relatively unpadded bags because of the flexibility and compactness they offer. The Domke only has padding where you need it most, on the bottom - where it protects against rough landings
There are three major brands of air cases: Lightware, Tamrac, and Tenba. I've had good experiences with six or seven different Tamrac bags, but have never tried their "protective hard cases." I have a Tenba case and the dividers come from the factory with sewn-in Velcro. It works perfectly. My experience with the Lightware case:
Camera Backpacks
Backpacks allow you to carry much heavier loads while sparing your lower back. But they have one major inconvenience - you have to take the pack off in order to access the innards.
The LowePro Rover AW is a moderate-large size pack that I use on longer day-trips or overnight stays when I need to carry a maximum equipment load. It is a split-pack design with a padded camera/gear compartment on the bottom and a personal items compartment on top. The lower compartment can hold an SLR and three lenses and flash. The top compartment can hold a windbreaker and small pack lunch, or change of clothes for an overnighter. The outside pockets are perfect for holding film.
There's a tripod mounting system which holds the tripod vertically. This is not that convenient since mounting a tripod makes accessing the lower-compartment very difficult. It also throws the pack off balance and makes you a menace on crowded streets.
I like the mesh pockets mounted on the left and right sides. I use these to carry bottled water or a lens or flash that I'm not using. I'm flexible enough to be able to reach them without taking the pack off. When carrying the pack and changing lenses, I find it handiest to have a lens-pouch attached to the waist belt via the module Slip-Lock system. This lets me change lenses on the fly.
