Cambags

for Canon 350D / 400D XT / 1000D / 450D

The Keystone is Crumpler's midsize backpack-style bag with provisions for carrying not only your camera gear, but also a laptop. Overall, I think it's an excellent bag of high quality.

As with most camera bags, the Keystone is easily reconfigurable using padded inserts with velcro-backed tabs. Crumpler's backpack design is unique in that the REAR panel opens, there is no front-panel access. I liked this concept, and so far it seems to work nicely. On the exterior of the bag are zip pouches on either side, but aside from the main rear panel, there is no exterior access to the main compartment.

The laptop sleeve is a separate padded pouch, mounted in a pretty ingenious fashion inside the backpack. It's removable (again) by releasing some clever velcro tabs. The sleeve has a number of "organizer" type slots and holders on the exterior face for pens/pencils, etc, as well as a flat (but expanding) zip pouch for additional storage. For reference, my laptop is 12x10x1.5 (I know, a clunky old dog) and fits this sleeve perfectly.

The main camera equipment compartment will pretty easily hold three small primes/zooms, my 28-75 mounted on the XT with BG-E3 Grip , and a medium zoom like the 75-300mm  or 70-200/4L. Those with big L-glass will probably need to reconfigure from where I have my bag set currently, as my lenses are all relatively small in diameter. There are a number of dividers included, I have one spare vs. what is shown in the pics. Because of the shape of this bag, the dividers are shaped somewhat oddly, so it may require a little "creativity" to configure to your tastes/gear. One minor annoyance is the lack of any small contained compartments inside the main section. It would be handy to have some small-item (CF cards, light, tools, blower, etc) storage that was self-contained but attached internally.

Covering the equipment section is a rubber-mesh type material that zips around the perimeter. There is a single stretch/velcro retention strap included, although I'd personally like to have one or two more. The main equipment section is actually a self-contained sub-bag of the larger backpack. This was a surprise to me, and I think it's a good feature. Velcro around is used around the entire perimeter to hold the equipment compartment (very) securely inside the main backpack shell. Between the removable main compartment and quickly detachable laptop sleeve, this bag could be used for most any purpose within several seconds.

The overall construction of the Keystone seems to be of very high quality. The materials are mostly heavy thickness/grade fabrics, and the zippers are heavy-duty stuff as well. All of the zippers have large metal pulls attached, which I find to be a nice touch. This makes them quickly and easily accessible, and gives a nice quality feel. Cosmetically, I really like the bag. I chose plain black, but there is also a tan/brown version available. The Crumpler "stick guy" logo abounds, it's pretty much everywhere. Some may or may not like this, but I don't mind - it makes the bag look that much less "camera-ish." At first I wasn't keen on the funky sky-blue interior color, but I can say that small items are easily spotted against this color material.

Padding in the Keystone is good. The interior dividers are "typical" in their pad level, and the exterior padding is somewhere between reasonable and substantial. The shoulder straps are thickly padded as well, making it a comfortable bag to wear. One item to note: The laptop sleeve acts as "filler" inside the bag, between the back panel and the top mesh surface of the equipment compartment. The back panel itself is very thickly padded, so this isn't necessary from a purely protective standpoint. However, there appears to be a potential for lenses and other items to move around in the equipment section without the laptop sleeve in place to fill potential space in between panel and compartment. I've carried the bag a couple times without the laptop sleeve in place (I've taken to using the sleeve with my laptop in my daily briefcase/messenger bag!), and have not noticed any significant movement of the camera gear. That said, for the utmost in security of your items, it looks like the best option is to leave the sleeve (even if empty) mounted inside the Keystone for heavier-duty transport.

Likes:
-Padding
-Materials
-Flexibility
-Appearance (personal taste)
-Comfort in use

Dislikes:
-Potential requirement for laptop sleeve
-Laptop sleeve requires minor "tucking" when zipping rear panel
-No small-item containment in equipment compartment

The Crumpler Keystone is probably just about right for my gear. I'm a newbie with not nearly the level of equipment (quality nor quantity) as many others, but so far it appears that it will suit my fledgling shutterbug needs for the moment. I would not hesitate to buy another Crumpler based on my experiences so far. Aside from a few minor issues as mentioned above, it appears to be a good bag for my needs. Time will tell, I'm hopeful it's reliable and of good construction for the long haul. I would like to also try one of Crumpler's "Million Dollar Home" messenger-style bags. Based on the Keystone, I have high expectations.

Exterior Shots with measure

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Internal Shots

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Main Mesh

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Laptop

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Crumpler pulls

thanks to Mark Stheiner for pics and comments.

Reviews for Nikon D70 / D100 / D200 / D300 / D700

i finally found one i like that fits my gear and is comfy!

the crumpler keystone!!!

my review of the crumpler keystone
pros: very comfy, great protection inside, great design, very secure bag, can take out camera section and use as regular backpack, stylish, looks like a normal backpack and not a the usual ugly camera bag
cons: cannot open it fast to swap lens/gear, the top handle doesn't seem useful and it also falls down so it gets stuck between my back and the bag, expensive

overall, i'm very impressed with this bag...it has everything i want and most of all it's stylish

Photo contains:
Nikon D200 + Nikon 18-200mm VR F/3.5-5.6G IF-ED
Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8 fisheye
Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8
18-200mm hood
sony vaio laptop

Thanks to Nick (Iamblueone) for review

Review #2

(Added 18th Feb 2007)

Equipment list in bag :
Nikon D70s
Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX
Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G
Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Nikon SB-800
Digimate II Plus (portable storage)
Nikon EN-EL3e (x2)
Lowepro PixelPak V2 (with CF cards)
67mm C-PL in case, Cokin wide-angle holder, Cokin adaptors 62mm/67mm/77mm, lens cloth, 4 x ND grad filters (in outer pocket)


Review text:
I was looking for a smaller backpack for travel.  My Computrekker looks (and feels) enormous, and I wasn't looking forward to taking it on a 3 week international holiday.  The bag had to meet the (highly restrictive) regulations for flights at my local airport, preferably not look like a camera bag and hold everything I wanted to take.  I ended up deciding on The Keystone, which was had to be ordered in, so I was shopping blind.

Likes about the bag:
Small - just what I wanted - I won't be tempted to take everything I own on holiday.  Opening is against the back while being worn, so difficult to steal stuff out of it.

Dislikes about the bag:
Small size made it difficult to pack, but I finally found a combination that worked.  No upper clip for the tripod holder like the larger models - I've discovered that a short luggage strap (~20cm) can be used to secure the top of the tripod to the top loop of the bag, making it much more stable to carry.  Chest strap is in a good position for women (most are too low to wear comfortably.)

Thanks to Christine for review.

Reviews for Nikon D40 / D60

Review #1

Photos contain:
Nikon D40 w/ Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX
Nikon SB-600 Speedlight (centre)
Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (bottom left)
Sigma 55-200mm f/4-5.6 DC Zoom (bottom right)
Closeup filter kit (top right)
Nikon SB-400 Speedlight (top left)

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Asus eeePC takes up the left  space of the notebook sleeve but will fit a 12" macbook.
Holga fits in the top half of the sleeve (right pocket). Misc cards, cables and remotes in the pockets here too.

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Size comparison with other crumplers

Keystone (left)
4 million Dollar Home (bottom)
2 Million Dollar Home (centre)
Treo650 Case (small green case)
Medium Skivvy (right)

Thanks to RetroCactus for review.

for Sony A700

Review #1

(Added 17th Oct 2008)

Equipment list in bag :
Sony A700
Sony 70-200mm G f/2.8
Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8
Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1.4
Sony 11-18mm
Sony 56AM flashgun
spare batteries etc, MacBook Air.

This bag has been extensively reviewed on this site, so I'll just add a couple of updates.

Firstly, the bag now has an upper tripod clasp. Nice improvement. Secondly, the inside of the bag is quite angular. If you look at the outside front, the grey part is the base of the cavity. Thus, it is much wider at the back (the opening) than it is at the front (the base of the internal cavity). This surprised me. It means you can't fit as much as you might think from looking at a photo of the cavity. Nevertheless, with careful arrangement it holds a surprisingly large amount. I haven't worked out how to have the 70-200G mounted with all of the other lenses packed. It may be possible by rearranging the partitions each time, but that seems more hassle than it's worth. So, I have it setup so I can have any of the other 3 lenses mounted, but have to unmount the 70-200G before packing everything away. Apart from the 11-18mm, these lenses are big, heavy metal muthas. After buying the bag, I was afraid they wouldn't fit, but they did (just).

As ever with Crumpler, this bag is VERY robust and supremely comfortable. It's heavy duty and weighs about 2kg when empty. It looks like a normal backpack, a stylish one, but you would never guess that it's holding a small fortune in camera gear.  The gear is very secure because no one can open it while it's on your back. It hangs nicely off one shoulder too; the straps are wide and strong. I appreciate the way the straps are integral to the framework; they're not sewn on like other backpacks. With other designs, it's usually the straps that give way when there's a lot of weight in the bag.

The bag sits nicely when you put it on the ground. I hate it when a bag overbalances when on the ground.

In conclusion, I love this bag. I'd recommend checking if all your gear fits before you buy it. I didn't, but got lucky.

Likes about the bag: Very strong, beautiful looking, discrete.

Dislikes about the bag: None

Thanks to Rick Evertsz for review.