Before going out for the day, I usually begin my camera bag pack the evening before: battery charging, lens choices, camera body choices, camera bag choices. Sometimes, it gets a bit tiresome. And at the centre of it all, my search for the perfect camera bag ~ not so big that it becomes a heavy burden to carry, but not so small that I can’t pack at least two cameras inside comfortably. This cognitive load has led to me seeking the perfect shoulder camera bag. Oh, and after the bag was finally packed, we went for a lengthy drive to the Eyre Peninsula.
Qualities of a great shoulder camera bag
Here’s what I look for in a shoulder-carry camera bag:
- Spacious internal dimensions: A lot of people are happy to have a smallish bag that slides comfortably around the hips and carries a single camera, with maybe a small lens or two. I don’t want to sound greedy, but I often like to carry more than one camera, and those cameras are not always small and svelte. I have some bags that are comfortable and seem as though they should carry plenty, but there’s too much vertical space wasted for my needs. I also have to think about how I orient my cameras inside a bag. Lots of bags encourage a lens-facing-down approach, which I really dislike. Not only is it harder to grab a camera quickly from the bag in this position, but I don’t especially like having the camera upside down like this for long periods.
- Reverse opening lid: When I open the top flap of a camera bag to get my gear, it should open away from my body so that I can easily reach inside without fumbling over the lip of the lid. The zippers should also be smooth enough that it opens quickly.
- Side pockets: Lowepro are great at including expandable side pockets on many of their bags that are elasticated. I can slip lens covers in there, but if they’re expandable, I can also carry a water bottle on a hike. If they’re not expandable, I want the side pockets big enough to carry meaningful stuff.
- Outside front pocket: An easy to reach outside front pocket that’s spacious enough for spare batteries or my Sony RX100.
- Outside back pocket: It’s not essential to have a slim pocket on the reverse side of the bag, but any additional space for documents, SD Cards and small flat things is welcome. A lot of bags also feature a slide-through section for wheeling it around with luggage, but I’d rather have the pocket.
- Weatherproof: This is not really a big deal for me as I don’t usually get out during downpours, but it’s definitely a nice to have feature on any bag. Not essential, but bonus points, I guess.
- Easy to reach lenses: There’s one thing that lots of camera bag makers have a tendency to do – say that their bag can hold 3 or 4 or 5 lenses or whatever, and then you see that the lenses are being stacked atop one another, with padding in between them to maximise space. How is that functional in the field? If I pack 4 prime lenses in my shoulder bag, 2 stacked either side of my camera body, how can I quickly access the bottom lens without fiddling and rummaging and ripping out the velcro padding as I miss a photo opportunity? Maybe I’m not maximising all of the space in a bag by not doing this, but storing lenses like a pancake stack isn’t my idea of fast and functional.
Trying something new
Last year, I bought myself a Lowepro AW Nova 200 shoulder bag. It carries a lot of gear and even has a raincover in a hidden pocket. The problem is that it’s just too big to carry around for a day. It’s more of a portable gear storage solution that can be carried short distances before you have to sit down and recover. And this illustrates the central conundrum: the more gear you carry, the bigger the bag and the heavier the burden. There’s just no way around this.
I recently purchased a new bag from a brand I’d not yet tried: the Tenba Skyline V2 12 Shoulder bag. It’s not going to be big enough to carry everything plus the kitchen sink, but it’s well-made and feels comfortable when carried in cross-shoulder fashion. I didn’t have it on this day-trip, sadly – opting instead for the cheap, thin, boxy, and oddly spacious Vanguard Vesta Aspire 25. The Vanguard carries a lot internally, but has tight side pockets and netting under the top flap that’s not zippered, so stuff you slide in there has a tendency to fall out when you flip it open with any vigor – goodbye spare batteries!
I think the Tenba is a handsome looking bag from a company that has a long history in camera bag design. It may not hold quite as much as the Vanguard, but it’s more durable, has a molded and curved top lid, and has functional pockets that have smooth zippers. I think I have to make better decisions about what and how much gear I carry!
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Beautiful and sharp images. The camera and lens combo really delivers. Camera bags, one of my obsessions. The quest for “the one”. When I started shooting seriously about 15 years ago I purchased a Lowepro Nova 160 bag. I have tried all manner of other shoulder bags, but that is the one I still use the most. It is suffering a bit from wear and tear but fits the bill as being light and able to hold a body and a few lenses and accessories. Another one I owned, sold and recently repurchased is a vintage Lowepro waist bag. The name does not come to mind and is not on the bag, but it is the 200 size. It’s a great light bag that serves the same purpose. The waist bag comes in handy in situations where I don’t want the bag swinging around. The waist straps are comfortable and can be used in conjunction with the bag strap to alleviate weight.
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I used to carry my ThinkTank sling bag (they no longer make the exact model, but I still have mine and shows no sign of giving way to many years of use and travel).
If you want to be bored to tears, here’s a post about the equipment in the bag.
D’Alise Photography – The Equipment – Disperser Tracks
With the camera, lenses, and assorted stuff, it came in at about 15LB. I used to hike with it all the time. The D7000 was upgraded to the D7500 and I now use the kit lens to save on weight . . . old age, and all that.
I use straps from Peak Design for the camera (very nice, especially their snap-connection system), and their Propads, which I use to either carry extra lenses, or to also carry the P900. I still use the sling bag to carry the stuff on airplanes or when driving somewhere, but I then carry the D7500 (my current camera) with a 70-300mm zoom on a strap, and the 17-50mm clipped to my belt. Actually, these days I rarely carry the extra lens because the phone images are good enough for wide-angle shots.
That said, I’d like a smaller bag, but I also like having my 70-300mm mounted on the camera and ready to go, and not many small bags let me do that. I’m looking at the ThinkTank PressPass sling or the PressPass 10 as a possibility.
. . . I could go smaller if I switch to a Micro Four Thirds camera, but I’m not sure I want to spend the money on a new system (same argument for Nikon’s Z offerings like the Z50II).
Bottom line, I’m currently a one camera, one lens, plus phone shooter.
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Oh, will have a read about your gear. Thank you 🙂 I know what you mean. I always want to trake more than I can realistically carry. And often, I don’t end up using everything I have anyway! I have a smaller Thinktank Mirrorless Mover, and it’s well-designed for smaller mirrorless cameras but isn’t a good fit for some of the stuff I want to carry. Last year, I even ended up with two bags slung -one over eacb shoulder – just to carry gear to locations on the road-trip. It really wasn’t great. The problem, as you allude to, with many camera bags is that they are really designed either for camera bodies with lenses unattached, or for cameras with a small-mid sized lens attached. If I want to keep my 70-300 on the Nikon, for example, I’d have to remove it to put it back in the bag, and what’s the point? A lot of those bags have vertical space for long lense storage but they are just not big enough to have them attached to camera bodies.
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I get it. If I can’t easily comment on another blog, I move on. WP isn’t my favourite platform, honestly.
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It’s the only platform I know. I used to prefer forums as they made it easier to connect and have longer conversations. but most forums went defunct once Facebook came on the scene.
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There are lots of similar, but smaller, platforms like WordPress but obviously WP is the most well-known. Bear Blog, Ghost, Pika, Micro.blog are all technically much better. I’m only here because of the built-in community, but some days I’m not even sure there’s much of a community! At some point I’ll probably explore one of the alternatives, though smaller, as they are certainly technically better and easier than WP.
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I’m replying to a comment I no longer see, dealing with different platforms and commenting one the ‘community’ issue, so this won’t make sense to some readers.
There used to be a time when the blog was very active with lots of interaction with readers. Now, I have some 2K+ subscribers and a core group of people (I think the current number is 5) who regularly or semi-regularly engage.
Some of the people who used to interact stopped blogging years ago (although I’m still subscribed), and some, sadly, passed away. And, of course, a large number of current subscribers are people trying to generate traffic for themselves or trying to sell something.
I’m also ill-suited to new bloggers due to their short attention span. I also don’t neatly fit into any of the categories people like to slot others in.
So, while there may be other platforms, I would expect that to be the same on any platform. The technical aspect of new platforms might be better than WP’s, but I don’t expect the interaction of its members to be any different since we live in the age of closed groups governed by absolute agreement and conformity of opinions.
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I know what you mean. I suspect it’s the same for many such blogs out there. And not just blogs – online media generally is very marketing, subscription, and follow focussed. It makes sense, of course. Over the years, tech companies have tapped into the natural dopamine reward systems in our own brains and have consistently built apps and platforms that take advantage of this system. We get a Like and it gives us the dopamine hit – the little feelgood reward. That goes on and on and on. It leads to superficial engagement. Those old enough to remember a time without the dopamine hijack also remember that life wasn’t always like this. Everything changes though.
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