Benchista
Which Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 42234
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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I wanted a new shoulder bag to hold one or two bodies, with about 5 lenses and a flashgun, various bits and pieces such as spare batteries, cards, filters etc, and also space for a small laptop. It must be as small as possible, with decent protection, fast access and be waterproof. Impossible, perhaps?
This bag looked good, so after a lot of research, I bought one - and it appears to do exactly what it says on the tin. It holds the right amount of kit. It even comes with a memory card case and a charger pouch. It has a top access zip, which makes getting a lens in a hurry child’s play. It has an all-weather cover. Attention to detail is excellent, and although it’s fairly big on the outside, it’s even more so inside. Even the strap is comfortable.
Bad points:
It’s quite bulky
Strap has to be removed to fit the all-weather cover
Perhaps too many places to hide things?
Good points:
It fits a lot of gear in
Comfortable to use
Quick access to lenses
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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Barney
Baht 'at
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 11487
Loc: Harrogate, North Yorks
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I've got the Stealth AW650, primarily because I needed a bag whihc would take a laptop and my 200mm f:2.
At first I thought it fine, but I've gone off it in some ways over the couple of years I've used it.
When fllled it's heavy. Not so bad if you're turning up for a shoot in your car and able to put it down, but carrying it from gig to gig over a week during the Edinburgh Festival taugt me that I'd have been better off with a rucksack.
Also I find it too deep at times, so although it is caverous, smaller lenses such as a 50mm 1.4 or a 20mm 2.8 have to be stacked and are hard to get to unless they're the ones on top.
I'd say that the 650 is an ideal bag for transporting gear to a single location, but as a general bag for walking any distance with your kit it's just too big. Aport from that, it's certainy well made and will hold a ridiculous amount of gear.
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"Wrong on so many different levels."
Blog - Contre Dour - Capturing the ordinary for posterity.
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Benchista
Which Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 42234
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Yeah, must admit that I thought the 650 was just too big. The 550 isn't much different in size than my old Nova 5, but has much better features. It is still heavy when fully loaded, but in general, it's only likely to be stuffed full when actually travelling. No bag is perfect, and I've got quite a few: an ancient LowePro Mini Trekker, which is indeed the best way to actually carry about that much gear; the aforementioned Nova 5, which will now be retired to storage; a Rover Plus AW, which is good for a smaller amount of photo gear, but lots of other bits and pieces such as a waterproof and lunch - it's my photo walking daypack; and a small Kata thing that gets used most, as it holds camera and three lenses fairly comfortably, yet is pretty compact. Oh, and I've got a Tamrac backpack that gets occasional use as it's fairly small. Having used the 550 every day for a week, it certainly does the jobs I want it to - transporting lots of kit from one base to another, and then carrying a more reasonable amount of it round for the day.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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Mark_Norton
Reged: 29/06/2002
Posts: 1334
Loc: London, UK
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Agree with all of that; I have the 650 which is great for getting there but I do offload to leave just what I need once I get to my location.
Anyone had trouble with the 650 on a plane? It is slightly larger in one dimension that the jobsworth's are meant to allow.
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Mark
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Barney
Baht 'at
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 11487
Loc: Harrogate, North Yorks
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Quote:
Anyone had trouble with the 650 on a plane? It is slightly larger in one dimension that the jobsworth's are meant to allow.
I've never flown with mine so no, alough I can tell you that it doesn't fit in the overhead store on a Virgin Pendalino, but then you're lucky if anything does.
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"Wrong on so many different levels."
Blog - Contre Dour - Capturing the ordinary for posterity.
Flickr
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Mat Gallagher
WDC Deputy Editor
Reged: 02/04/2009
Posts: 27
Loc: London
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I usually take the LowePro Computrekker when flying with lots of kit - it fits easily into the dimensions and it can hold tons of kit, including a 15in laptop.
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Burgy
Grateful not to have one
Reged: 13/04/2001
Posts: 5438
Loc: This far, from beating 7 shade...
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I have flown with my 650 many times and never had a problem. Although it usually massively over the weight limit for hand luggage.
Any bag will be heavy, if you but lots of heavy things in it. I usually use mine with a couple of extra pouches as not all of the gear I need will fit. Usually an extra pouch for the Quantum, another for 2 extenders another for spare AA batts. Full kit in the bag usually consists of 2 pro bodies, 16-35,24-70, 70-200, 2 580EX, 4 batteries, Apple Laptop, Card reader x2, mains Lead for Laptop. Then yep it is heavy, but so would any other bag be. Back Packs I find much harder to work out of, but are better for transporting kit, failing that if all my kit need to travel then a Peli Case does the job
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Cheers
Burgy BSRIPN, BSc, DSO and Bar (now open 24/7).
it's not what you've got, its who you do it to
http://togsblog.wordpress.com
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