tenba messenger mini vs. domke 803

The Tenba is a new one to me Joe. I just searched the net and think its much bigger than the Domke. Watched the video review and it looks massive. All the tenba bags seem too bulky for me. I still think it's the insert that makes so many bags boxy and uncomfortable. Even my new Shibata, which I carried all day yesterday is the same. I'm gonna try it with a slimmer insert. Best bag for its flat profile and carrying comfort is the BBBe.

Paul
 
back alley said:
these look very close to me...
anyone out there have experience with both?
how do you compare them?
Click to expand...

I have/had both.

There's no comparison between them ... totally different size and design bags. The Domke F803 is a slim satchel type bag, best for medium sized equipment. My best use with the F803 was for two Leica M cameras and two additional lenses. No way to fit a laptop in it, and it's not set up for even an iPad.

The Tenba Messenger Mini is big enough to fit a full size DSLR rig with 3 to 6 lenses. AND a 13" laptop. All the while being a remarkably light, protective, reasonably sized bag that you can work out of easily.

I took the Tenba to the Isle of Man in April with laptop. Sony A7 and three lenses, and could even sneak my travel tripod inside the bag. It was great for traveling and working out of.

G
 
i have an older regular size tenba messenger and it's a fantastic bag to carry stuff, but not necessarily the best camera bag. part of that stems from the fact the insert is very short and therefore doesn't offer the greatest protection. i usually use it on travel as my personal item and i can stick a smaller camera bag / ipad / and lots of other stuff.

i have also found the newer iterations to be very stiff and boxy.
 
I haven't used both but my daily carry is the Domke f803.
I can carry 2xM bodies and lens on each in the two front pockets.
The main area can handle a 13-15" labtop while the rear pocket can easily handle iPad.

Godfrey said:
There's no comparison between them ... totally different size and design bags. The Domke F803 is a slim satchel type bag, best for medium sized equipment. My best use with the F803 was for two Leica M cameras and two additional lenses. No way to fit a laptop in it, and it's not set up for even an iPad.

The Tenba Messenger Mini is big enough to fit a full size DSLR rig with 3 to 6 lenses. AND a 13" laptop. All the while being a remarkably light, protective, reasonably sized bag that you can work out of easily.

I took the Tenba to the Isle of Man in April with laptop. Sony A7 and three lenses, and could even sneak my travel tripod inside the bag. It was great for traveling and working out of.

G
Click to expand...
 
Joe, based upon your having drawn my attention the Tenba, I ordered one yesterday. Hopefully it will be a worthy successor to my F803.

Being tired of having yet another black bag, I ordered one in burnt orange. We'll see how it looks soon enough!
 
filmtwit said:
I haven't used both but my daily carry is the Domke f803.
I can carry 2xM bodies and lens on each in the two front pockets.
The main area can handle a 13-15" labtop while the rear pocket can easily handle iPad.
Click to expand...

There's absolutely no way my F803 could fit a 15" laptop in the main compartment. At all. A 13" can be squeezed in if you distort the bag somewhat. And two Ms, one each in the front pockets, with lenses on? Only pancake shaped lenses, and there's no protection there at all.

Not the way I'd use this bag.

G
 
Godfrey said:
There's absolutely no way my F803 could fit a 15" laptop in the main compartment. At all. A 13" can be squeezed in if you distort the bag somewhat. And two Ms, one each in the front pockets, with lenses on? Only pancake shaped lenses, and there's no protection there at all.

Not the way I'd use this bag.

G
Click to expand...

The 802, my daily carry, is the laptop-capable Domke Reporter's Satchel. Its a big bag, but narrow. I'll carry my MacBook Pro, a Nikon F3 or D200 with mounted lens and another lens-or-two, or both. But it gets heavy real quick.
 
back alley said:
i look forward to hearing your impressions of the bag…burnt orange eh?
Click to expand...

Yeah burnt orange -- had to maintain some degree fashion sense with my wife around (just be thankful I didn't choose the purple).

The bag arrived yesterday and I quite like it. It definitely has more room than the F803, but it doesn't feel like a big 'massive' bag at all. Actually 'fits' my body quite well, and the strap seems to be particularly good for wearing cross-body.

I'm going to road test it this weekend in NYC, so I'll have more to report next week. But right off the bat, I like it.

And the burnt orange looks good.
 
So Vince, what do you think about the Tenba a few month later?

Just ordered one to replace my Tenba DNA8. A great bag, but to small for my camera plus my smoking pipe + tin of baccy.

@Joe
Also ordered in Burnt Orange! :angel:
 
Five years later, I remain delighted with my Tenba Messenger Mini. When I need a largish bag, it holds a lot and is very comfortable to use. It's best for my use with SLRs and their bulky lenses (that includes the Sony A9 and Leica R lenses).

G
 
TKH said:
So Vince, what do you think about the Tenba a few month later?

Just ordered one to replace my Tenba DNA8. A great bag, but to small for my camera plus my smoking pipe + tin of baccy.

@Joe
Also ordered in Burnt Orange! :angel:
Click to expand...

Overall it's a nice bag that's well-made, but when it's loaded it's not particularly comfortable to carry (at least for me). I don't like the strap, and it's not really designed to be worn on one shoulder (tends to want to slide off). It's more of a cross-body strap, and personally I feel like I'm being strangled when I carry a camera bag that way. I did end up buying Tenba's 'low profile' strap (available only in black), and it was a bit of an improvement, but not by much. That strap is a bit wide (2") for my liking -- it's like they took a seatbelt and made a camera strap out of it. Might be okay in theory, but too wide for me to be used off the shoulder. Here again, another strap that's more suited to cross-body use. However, I do like the removable pad that came with it.

I actually used the bag and the 'low profile' strap this past Saturday -- had my Monochrom with Noctilux attached, plus 4 other lenses. Mind you, it's probably my own fault that I was carrying so much stuff in it (and the Noctilux is a bit of a lump), but I wasn't having a good time carrying this bag. I would not want to carry that much stuff if I was on vacation and walking around all day with this bag. Would become very painful, very quickly.

The bag is generally well-designed -- I like that zippered access on the top, and the bag is nicely padded. I do find that carrying a rocket blower is a bit of a problem with this bag -- I have to put it in the inside back pocket (the one that could accommodate a small laptop etc), as it intrudes too much when it's in the zippered front pocket. Like having a small balloon in the front pocket. I don't really get that sense when carrying a rocket blower in the front pocket of the Domke F803.

If I chose to carry less equipment in the bag - say two extra lenses rather than four - the bag would be too big for me. So honestly, I've gone back to the Domke F803. I'm heading to New Mexico for 10 days next month, and that's the bag I'll likely be taking.
 
Vince Lupo said:
Overall it's a nice bag that's well-made, but when it's loaded it's not particularly comfortable to carry (at least for me). I don't like the strap, and it's not really designed to be worn on one shoulder (tends to want to slide off). It's more of a cross-body strap ...
Click to expand...

This sounds like a different bag from what I have. Mine is this one:

http://www.tenba.com/Products/Messenger-Photo-Laptop-Bag-Mini-Black.aspx

The strap on my bag is removable and has a large, heavily padded center section which is fixed in position. It's shaped to be worn off one shoulder ... totally unsuited for bandolier style carrying. The underside of the pad is gripp. It's one of the ONLY single-shoulder bag straps I've found that sits perfectly on my shoulder with a heavy load, doesn't want to slide off, and is totally comfortable to carry with even a bulky DSLR (Olympus E-1 or E-5) and four largish lenses in the bag (Summilux-D 25/1.4 ASPH, ZD 11-22/2.8-3.5, ZD 50-200/2.8-3.5, and ZD 35/3.5 Macro + EC-14 teleconverter). Even with all that stuff in there, there space for lots of other small bits.

Yes, the front pockets are slim compared to the F803. There's enough room inside with the above DSLR kit in it that I just stuff the Rocket blower in a corner of the main compartment. It doesn't get in the way.

Very curious that we have such different impressions if we are indeed talking about the same bag!

G
 
Different impressions of the same bag? Oh I'm sure it's been known to have occurred on more than a few occasions in the annals of bag history....

Yes that is the same bag. I don't like the padded strap - I'm personally more of an 'over the shoulder' bag carrier, rather than a 'cross body' bag carrier, and for me the strap does not work 'over the shoulder'. I think it's the curvature of the pad that doesn't work for my shoulder. Tenba offers a separate 'low profile' strap with a removable pad (secured by Velcro), so I ordered it in the hopes that it might be better than the padded strap that came with the bag. It's okay, and it is better for me than the original strap (and there is the option to remove the pad if so desired), but I'm still preferring the F803. Here again, I may have just been carrying too much equipment in the bag for my own comfort, but if I were to only carry the camera with lens attached plus two extra lenses, I may as well use my 803. Maybe I'm just getting older, or perhaps it's just that I carry a lot of camera equipment in my business as a commercial photographer, and I'm looking for something completely opposite to that when it comes to my personal kit, so it's likely just my own personal weirdness. As I say, it is a nice bag and generally well thought out. But it just isn't comfortable for me as a 'carry around all day' bag.
 
Thanks for all your interesting opinions.

I saw that in the net the messenger mini is often mixed with other messengers.
My ordered mini is the #638-364.
The other one is the #638-234, large.
Or the #638-224, small.

Personly I prefer the bandolier style.
On friday I receive the bag and will show you pics.

Rainer
 
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