there is no perfect bag,

are we all done talking about bags?

Sure, until I can afford to buy a Domke or Billingham to see what I'm missing...

Seriously, I have one of those National Geographic bags, which look great but are woefully unusable that I take on some local trips, plus a Tenba messenger bag that I can use when I fly to put the cameras and laptop in one bag, plus two sizes of LowePro bags.

And, I'm STILL looking for the "perfect" bag...
 
If there is no perfect bag, then perhaps the PERFECT BAG IS NO BAG... I mean, maybe try to carry one camera, one lens and no bag for a while; it might be liberating. Personally, I've been carrying my M2 or M8 all summer in a 3 Million Dollar Crumpler while riding my bike. Bought the bag used for $29 on ebay. Can't be happier. At 8 miles an hour it's good; at 35 miles an hour (downhill of course) it's good. And, it's good at every speed in between.

Bag on my shoulder/back and M8 in hand at 19 or 20mph (a little tailwind assist to be honest)...
4810609870_a617d844fd_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
I use the Domke F3X a lot. Right now it contains a 5D, 70-200 f4L 17-35 f2.8L, 24-85, and 50mm macro lenses, a flash, batteries, flash cards, etc. In fact, even though it's a compact bag it holds more than I want to carry unless I'm actually working.

I've read this thread with interest, because I'm looking for a bag for the E-PL1 outfit I'm putting together as a travel kit. Eventually it will include two bodies and about four lenses, two of which will be OM lenses with adapters.

In many ways, my all-time most useful bag is the Tundra Chameleon. I don't think it's made any longer, but in the 80s and 90s when photojournalism assignments took me to 27 countries on five continents, the Chameleon carried my complete Olympus OM system. The bag is expandable. via a zipper, to twice its size, so I could carry everything to my location, then close the zipper and carry only what I needed for the day's shooting. My Chameleon is still in good shape, is used occasionally, and will probably outlast me. If you find one on ebay or somewhere, grab it if the price is right.
 
I USE NO BAG... The thing is, there is no perfect strap :D

Ain't that the truth!

Even if it's a one-lens-one-camera day, I always use a bag. Often it's just a simple sling-bag that's identical to the type that every fourth person in this city carries. A personal rule is that I won't have a camera in my hand within sight of my apartment building. I've heard too many stories of photographer's homes being broken into to let people get used to seeing me with a parade of expensive gear. Paranoid, no doubt, but I prefer it that way.
 
Even when I go to a park, I want my m3 or 4 or 6 with a BW film in it AND I might also want an F100 to use with films with narrow latitude like a velvia 50. Of course I carry a nikon d300 as well. And on certain occasions, I want my graflex crown... and a bag full of fidelity elites. I am not carrying all of these at the same time but a minimum of two of the above. Exclusions are based on things like, no crown on a narrow dark heavily forested trail, no D300 at 10.30 pm in a spooky neighborhood etc. etc. I do not even want to talk of going on trips abroad... or those nikon lenses... I want to carry my 15" laptop too. Do I have the guts to just go anywhere with my M3 and 5 Tri-xs? Yep, possible and impossible. I almost did just that when I went to an air show (happens once every 4 years at this location) with an M6, a 90mm and a few reala. When I was at the air show I wished I had this and that. But looking back at it today and the photographs from the occasion, I am glad I travelled without the pain on my shoulders.

There are always bags to suit a camera and its lens and another body, it is just that there are no bags to suit our whims and fearful expectations of missing our goals and doing all at the same time. Of course we expect to carry lots of cameras and lenses, each suited to a particular situation. No bag maker or even a fellow photographer can comprehend those individual preferences. Now a days, I just buy inserts to go into my back pack or a shoulder bag. And now that the weekend is upon us, and my petty trips over this weekend will involve a 1964 nikon F (took me 3 months to clean it and service it all by myself) and a nikon F100 and just one lens - 25mm distagon ZF. Oops, just forgot that there will be a fishing rod too. Hey, I got two hands and hence two shoulders.

-Arun
 
I just need to win the lottery and start a huge studio/company. The perfect bag is some temporary intern/assistant. Who cares how much the gear weighs? Take everything! You can finally be prepared for all photographic eventualities, and without -your- shoulders and back aching at the end of the day!
 
serendipity...

today, my nokton 50/1.1 arrived in the mail AND my second domke 5xb also arrived in the mail. i immediately mated the big 50 on my rd1s and put it into the new bag, along with the 35/1.2 and 28/1.9...my 3 biggest lenses.
and it all fit!!

it is noticeably heavier than the other 5xb, the one with the rd1, 28/3.5, 40 rollei and the 50/2.5.
i may need to join a gym but for now i think i can handle the extra weight ;)

the only negative is that the cv 15 might have to ride in a pouch double decker style with the 28/1.9.

one item of note...the newer bag has a strap that is about 6 inches shorter than the older bag. if this is cost cutting then it sucks! big time, 6 inches shorter is not gonna work for me so i will have to swap straps for the bag in use.
 
I use a version of the small and large Godspeed 619 bag, like them both for their versatility, padding, comfort of carrying, and their hip looks ;)

sy-619.jpg

sy-619m.jpg

AKS619ML.jpg
 
I use a cheap promaster bag. Right now it carries my M5 with my summarit attached (usually), my Bessa with a 35/2.5, my ultron 35/1.7, 2 jupiter 8's, a flash, a meter, and an industar 61, as well as a couple small filter and some kim wipes and rolls of film. It's about half the size of a messenger back and slings over the shoulder. I have a big lowepro bag I used for my slr's when I had several slr lenses etc, but the thing is as big as a backpack and I don't like to travel that heavy, though it could easily carry my leica gear, my dslr, and my netbook easily

Edit: Here's my promaster bag. I have some more inserts to divide up the lenses, but they're in my attic, too hot to go up there until winter. Besides, I have caps on all my lenses and 3 of them are russian. Once I get my M2 back it's going on the left side where the lenses are, the lenses will move to the middle, and the pancro into a side zipper. Works better than bags 5x the price for me. I just tried reorganizing my lowepro bag for my leica gear and it is just way too deep to be useful.

Edit 2: Woops, forgot the mention, all my filters I use (yellow, red, infrared, neutral density) are all in the bag as well, along with my meter, and the hood for the summarit and a couple extra ltm->m adapters, as well as about 15' of white nylon rope
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3705.jpg
    IMG_3705.jpg
    42 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom