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

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

  • ... a man purse.

    Votes: 18 9.1%

  • ... a "European shoulder bag."

    Votes: 79 40.1%

  • ... a fanny pack (or codpiece).

    Votes: 6 3.0%

  • ... the bag that homeless-smelling bike messenger carries.

    Votes: 70 35.5%

  • ... a diaper bag.

    Votes: 24 12.2%
  • Total voters
    197
Lowepro Slingshot 202. Looks like a camera bag and it is a camera bag. I love it. It's easy to sling around your chest and change out lenses if you need to and holds all I need. It also protects my gear if I get caught in the rain or if I drop the bag, plus it is very comfortable to carry and not too big.
 
This has been a very interesting exercise in semantics and semiotics.

Aside from the Seinfeld joke (i.e., "European shoulder bag" being used to sell a handbag to an American male), I will point out that in at least two regions in Italy, the same word (borsa) is used for a backpack, a woman's purse, and a camera bag. There are, of course, more specific terms available in the standard language for each of those things, but the regional variants often dispense with such fine distinctions.

I have used many, many things to carry cameras, mostly coat pockets. My favorite other container (other than the vinyl Sundown beach bag) was the velveteen bag that Crown Royal comes in. Fits a Fuji folder perfectly. The 4x6" (10x15cm) zip-close plastic bags sold at office supply stores make excellent dust-proof containers for the GR Digital. At one point, I had an Israeli map case that looks like a black Domke (and actually worked better than one) - held two Hexars and a GA645.

But what I miss most is the old-school hard case - like my father's old "ALPS" bag from Japan. Hard black leather, curved slightly to sit at your hip when on its shoulder strap, with a hard flip-up lid. This thing would never require digging or sticking your hand through a zippered slot to get at things. It's all there. And in the 1970s, you would have been a man's man, able to repel attackers.

I think that if people ever wear suits to work again, the briefcase will come back. Bags with shoulder straps do tremendous damage to tailored, dry-clean-only clothes.

Dante
 
Couierware bag for me. Pick your size from small to huge. In NYC half the people are carrying similar messenger type bags, so that it doesn't stand out.
 
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LOL

For the M system a cheap unomat-made "European shoulder bag" :p with a removable padded insert. It's rather small (exterior 23x21x14cm including a front pocket), does not "scream camera bag", is not much elegant, but I find it practical for daily carrying. For a longer walk I sometimes just put its insert into a standard backpack and I am ready to go. :cool:

And for the DSLR (+ of course the film stuff smuggled in as well) the Lowepro Fastpack 100, IMO the best compromise between the standard backpacks and these things like Slingshot. When hiking it sits comfortable on both shoulders but when I shift it to my waist/chest - the fast access to the gear is possible, that all without the necessity of putting the bag on the ground.
 
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I got a nice little Crumpler "Five Million Dollar Home" bag from a fellow RFFer for a small carry-around bag and I really have grown to really like it. Problem...it's definitely reminding me of a Murse.

For some reason my Domke 803's just don't scream Murse like the Crumpler. Oh well, it probably let's me get in touch with my feminine side ;-)
 
kdemas said:
For some reason my Domke 803's just don't scream Murse like the Crumpler. Oh well, it probably let's me get in touch with my feminine side ;-)
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While your 'on the line to her' could you just check to see if 'she' has as much trouble with the hard plastic top strip as I do? or is the pelvic area different? Just a thought....

Al
 
snoop camera messenger bag from timbuk2 looks like messenger bag as it is one that they just added an insert to, it does pretty well.
 
Blue Rollei said:
While your 'on the line to her' could you just check to see if 'she' has as much trouble with the hard plastic top strip as I do? or is the pelvic area different? Just a thought....

Al
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Easily fixed. Just carefully cut the underside of the flap at one end, pull the plastic strip out and seal up with a bit of ordinary woodworking glue (the water soluble type).

Makes carrying a great bag very comfortable
 
Forgive me for possible thread hijacking, but what sort of bag would people suggest to carry a small camera (fm2 or leica) plus a macbook laptop plus bits and bobs? I'd like something I can use as carry on for aircraft and then also day to day...
 
My bag(s) have multi-use functions and therefore not specifically built to be a camera bag. One day they might tote a set of binocs, field guide, and a camera. Next day it might be a couple of fly boxes, some tippet spools, snacks for a day on a trout stream, and a camera. They double as carry on bags, haversacks, field bags, etc, etc. Never have they just held camera gear. My current favorite is a North Face Sport Hiker which can go from being a waist pack to being a shoulder strap bag. Can get a Perkeo, Bessa II, film, filters, and a G-10 in it or the Bessa II, film, and a couple of flyboxes and necessaries for the stream. If it's just photos only then the tripod straps on.

I think some of the best do-everything plus carry camera gear bagss are made buy these folks in Minnesota:

http://duluthpack.com/outdoor-gear/hunt-fish/shoulder-ammo-bags/double-shell-bags.html

And this small Mom & Pop company in Maine:
http://alderstream.wcha.org/bagstotesetc.html

Ken
 
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Tipton said:
None of the above. Mine's a Filson field bag:

http://www.filson.com/products/fiel...sProduct=luggage/field-bags&fmetaProduct=1019
Once they start getting nice and dirty and broken in, so nice!

Tenba digital insert from BH fits it like a glove, like it was made for it. 2 M's with lenses, ton of film, extra glass, other misc. things.
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I run with one of these too. It's now about 7 yrs old and I'd like to wash it because it's looking disgusting. I've been in abandoned quarries, steel plants, battery plants, meat packing plants and it's got a lot of 'residue' on it. The user instructions are "do not wash" so I haven't. I'll put a shot up in due course.
 
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