Bag Roundup

Once upon a time I used to mock my wife for her handbag habit. "Why," I would ask, "does one woman need so many handbags?" Until one day I took an inventory of my own collection of bags. For shame. It was at that moment I realized: I'm a Bag Man. And damn proud of it.

Bags for cameras, bags for computers, bags for shortwave and ham radio gear, bags to keep other bags in. My B&H wish list has no less than 5 more bags flagged as "need" items. This bag thing is completely out of control...

My Top 5 bags of all time:

Tamrac 517 Holster: Got this one for Christmas a few years back, and it's the one I keep coming back to for carrying an SLR with a small zoom lens without having to pack a laptop along for the journey. It lets you add a couple of side bags for additional storage -- I have the lens case (5378) and accessory pocket (5384) for it, which I attach when needed.

The 517 works well for lenses up 7.5" long, such as my EF-S 10-22mm or EF 28-135mm IS. It's just a bit too short for my 70-200 f2.8L IS, though; since that's my favorite lens du jour, I'm considering the Tenba Shootout as it's the only such bag that will let me carry the 40D and 70-200mm with the lens hood attached (not reversed), which means something approx. 14.5" in depth; unfortunately Tamrac does not appear to have anything that deep. Nevertheless, I love my 517 -- it's been all over creation with me without a single zipper mishap or any other trouble.

LowePro FastPack 350: This is the bag I will usually grab for any extended trip and/or any time I need to haul my MacBook Pro along with me. Holds my 40D with 70-200mm attached (lens hood reversed. Bah!), plus every other lens I might want to bring -- typically speaking, my 10-22mm, 28-135mm, 100mm macro, and (in the upper compartment, if I plan on shooting birds or race cars) my EF 300 f4L IS.

The laptop compartment is well padded and keeps my overpriced MacBook Pro safe and sound, and it also makes a nice pocket for carrying magazines or a book or two when the computer stays home. Wish it had a tripod holder but it's kind of small for that anyway, so no biggy.

Nicely built, not too big like some other camera backpacks I've seen, and fairly lightweight. It's not especially built for extreme weather conditions, but that hasn't been a problem for me since it apparently never rains in Texas... There are plenty of backpacks I'd rather have (and will likely have in the future) but most of them cost a hell of a lot more and are typically much bigger than the FastPack. At the time I bought this, it was both the smallest and most economical backpack that would carry a 17" laptop. All in all, no regrets.

Tamrac Super Pro 14: The mother of all camera bags. This one holds everything I own, with room leftover for a few things I don't own yet: two DSLR bodies, both my big L lenses, all of my smaller lenses, a point-and-shoot, flash, 17" MacBook Pro, Kindle, spare batteries, filters, CF cards, and every charger and adapter I would need to keep all of this shit charged. Only things it's missing are wheels and a solar panel. When I want to take it all with me, it goes in here; when not on the road with me, it's where I keep all the stuff I don't need to take.

Ridiculously expensive, but all quality camera bags fall into that category, don't they? It has loops along the bottom front edge to which a tripod or monopod may be attached but I don't like to use that -- the tripod is too exposed and I don't relish the thought of my not-inexpensive tripod and head getting knocked around on the ground every time I set it down. It's supposed to be within airline size limitations for carry-on, but I'm not going to chance taking it with me when I fly; nothing scares me more than the prospect of being forced to turn over $8K worth of camera and computer equipment to the airport monkeys who handle the checked luggage. I have no doubt the bag would survive the punishment, but have no confidence that it would arrive at my final destination. So this bag's travel is limited to the back of the car only. When it's loaded with cameras and glass and a laptop, it is fucking heavy! This is not something I want to be lugging around an airport with my lower back problems...

Gilfer Bag: These were custom built for Gilfer Shortwave by Tenba, and I have two of these left from my days there and has been my man-purse of choice since, like, forever. It was sold as a carry bag for larger shortwave portables like the Sony 2010 and Grunding Satellit 700, all Cordura, interior dimensions around 11.5 x 5.5 x 7.5 in, with a zippered pocket in front and an unzippered compartment in back. One of mine is used as a radio "go bag" with VHF/UHF handhelds, spare batteries, an HF QRP rig and some antenna wire... all the crap one might need for the Apocalypse when cell phone service and the Internet has ended. The other one is kept empty, sometimes used for the 40D + 70-200mm combo, other times to carry lenses and stuff that won't fit in the 517 holster. Both of these bags are over 20 years old with barely any sign of wear other than dirt. I'm a Tenba fanboy for life because of these bags. Universal Radio still sells their version for around $30. Superb quality. Gilfer also sold a smaller sized model back in the day; sure wish I had one or three of them...

NewtBoot: Another old favorite of mine, the NewtBoot is a small (3x5x8 in.), double-sided Cordra case originally designed for the Apple Newton. My Newton days have long since passed, but the NewtBoot is still in use as it holds a point and shoot camera, wallet, smokes (well, not those anymore...), and assorted small goods nicely. Incredibly, it seems they are still available for $15 from the original seller! I may have to buy a couple more as I have no idea where mine might be packed away since the move to Texas.

So that's the lowdown, the bag obsession is clearly not gender-specific. I still don't get the whole shoe thing, though. Don't expect I ever will.

posted by Paul @ 10:34 PM