If your camera bag doesn't look like a camera bag, what does it look like?

[Dante_Stella]

I'm a little curious. If every bag tries not to look like a camera bag, then doesn't that make everything look like a camera bag?

 

[Dante_Stella]

And I will adjoin this question - at what point for you does the importance of "not looking like a camera bag" override the function of a camera bag? Most "non-camera-bag-looking" bags have other, serious dysfunctions.

• Some are noisy (like Crumplers);
• Some look like other kinds of theft targets (c.f. the Tenbas that look like laptop cases);
• Some have strange reach-in angles or inconvenient access (LowePro Classified, Kata, any flap-over messenger-style case, some newer Tamracs);
• Some are utterly dysfunctional unless your travel pattern is hike, stop for a long time and set the bag on the ground, carefully open it, reverse, repeat (backpack bags);
• Some seriously accelerate abrasion wear and banging around (Domke); and
• Some look like you stole your bag from a 13-year-old schoolgirl (Kipling).

And ironically, some functional bag substitutes are actually not supposed to be camera bags at all. Like when in Salvador, Brazil - where I threw my Fuji GA into a vinyl beach bag that came for free with a bottle of sunscreen....

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

None of the above. I have several bags that look just like camera bags and one (Domke F-803) that looks like the bags that a lot of businessmen carry instead of briefcases these days.

 

[Film dino]

Mine is a British army S10 respirator haversack http://cgi.ebay.com/British-Army-S10-Respirator-gas-mask-Bag-/160517344778?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item255f944e0a

 

[maddoc]

"any flap-over messenger-style case"

I use only these ... the flap-over type provides a little protection against drizzle / spilled drinks and in Japan every student carries one so it does not necessarily stick out from the crowd.

About specifically designed camera-bags, I have yet to find one with a long enough strap ...

 

[fixbones]

Mine looks like a camera bag and I don't have any real problems with that.

 

[back alley]

i use domkes for the most part.
nothing bangs around and the plastic zipper has never scratched a thing going in or out.

i use a really cheap messenger express when i want my ipad to travel with me.

 

[kxl]

Mine... not because it doesn't look like a camera bag, but because I just happen to like it. Works great with Domke inserts.

 

[ampguy]

hmmm

hmmm

Yeah, if Japanese school kids use them, they must be good for camera bags

"any flap-over messenger-style case"

I use only these ... the flap-over type provides a little protection against drizzle / spilled drinks and in Japan every student carries one so it does not necessarily stick out from the crowd.

About specifically designed camera-bags, I have yet to find one with a long enough strap ...

 

[nikon_sam]

This is the bag I use for the Mamiya m645...It holds my film, meter, five lenses, filters and a few other important items...

 

[maddoc]

I wrote "student" not "school kids" ...

Yeah, if Japanese school kids use them, they must be good for camera bags

 

[jonmanjiro]

Yeah, if Japanese school kids use them, they must be good for camera bags

テッドさんは本当の日本人じゃなくて、なんちゃって日本人だね（笑）。 It's pretty clear to me what maddoc meant, and he certainly didn't mean those rucksacks　

 

[ampguy]

ah sou desu ka, naruhodo nee, omoshiroiikata ... gomenasaii, moshiwaki arimasen deshiita...

 

[ampguy]

here is a touching story about anonymously donated randoseru to orphans in Japan.

http://afufu.net/freewill/tiger-mask-donation-phenomenon/

It is interesting that Japanese kids are started off with ~USD $300 backpacks that they use for 6 years, while in America, the kids use $30 Jansport lead-laden Chinese backpacks, and replace them every year ... The Hondas and Toyota cars I've had lasted many years, but the Fords and Chevy's friends of mine have owned sometimes last just a year or two...

 

[deirdre]

Yeah, if Japanese school kids use them, they must be good for camera bags

Now I'm going to have a Randoseru fixation until I have a purple one.

Thanks. :bang:

 

[funkpilz]

My Domke looks like a camera bag to anyone who has owned a camera. To anyone else, it looks like something a hobo would wear. Goes well with my camera, which looks like a hobo threw up on it.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Mine is a Crumpler bag. Only photographers seem to know it's a camera bag, and others think it's my "man purse" (and it is very good for carrying various essential things).

 

[skibeerr]

Green Hadly Large Billingham bag. It's my everyday walkaround bag with or without a camera. Holds everything I need.

W

 

[ampguy]

well

well

they are expensive, and I don't know about purple, standard issue is red or black. Watch out for henna gaijin trying to rip it off for a camera bag

Now I'm going to have a Randoseru fixation until I have a purple one.

Thanks. :bang:

 

[Lss]

What is a "European shoulder bag"? I think my bags must fall into that category. Typically I use a gas mask bag or some other military surplus.