Reviews for Nikon D70 / D100 / D200 / D300 / D700
Here's my Lowepro Off Road. It has remove able padded side pods, a padded shoulder strap, and hide-away hip belt for fanny pack use. I sometimes carry a water bottle or bug juice in the pods.
thanks to Ernest for photos and comments.
Review #2
The Lowepro Off Road - this is a 'beltpack' style bag from Lowepro. Build quality is as you would expect from Lowepro, and I'd have no trouble recommending this bag. I have also got a Micro-Trekker200, but I find this a better carry-round bag. The main bag has two seperate main compartments, and a further two detachable lens cases on the sides.
Opening up the zips reveals the main compartment (at top) - big enough for filters, the Nikon D70 kit lens, an SB-800 flash and the camera itself. If you have a 50mm mounted, you can put the kit lens in and there is still room for the camera. If the kit lens is mounted, then the 50mm doesn't quite have enough room at the bottom of the bag. The front pouch has heaps of room for batteries, more filters, and other bits and pieces....
Camera shown in place, with SB-800 to the right....
Kit lens at base of main compartment - it's a tight fit, but it does go in - this way, you can have the 50mm on the camera and everything fits...
Cokin filters in the left section of the main compartment. These fit nicely under the camera..
The bag comes with two lots of straps - one for your waist, and the other goes over your shoulder for extra support. I have found this to work really well, and had no worries carrying this setup around the Jenolan caves for a day..
With the two extra lens bags detached, the bag becomes quite inobtrusive, and makes for an ideal day bag for a trip to the city.
Side view without the lens cases. The waist belt is tucked away nicely in the back section to make this bag a shoulder-style
The complete kit (minus the D70 and SB-800, which were used to take the pic). It amazing how much you can get in there!
thanks to sheepie for the photos and comments.
Reviews for Canon 300D / 10D / 20D / 30D / 40D / 50D / 5D / 7D
Review #1
I wanted a waist pack/belt pack that had room for my 300D plus...for hiking and to just throw in the car... So far, I like the bag a lot...
There are additional comments under each picture. This is the kind of information I wished were available when I was comparing bags and trying to make up my mind - I hope they help you.
Here you see the kit lens waaay down in the bottom of the bag.
----
Canon 300D Digital Rebel with Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM attached (like the slippers?)
"Daddy, make a picture for me!", my 3-year-old models her Clifford the Big Red Dog slippers.
Oh, yeah, back to the camera bag. The kit lens is on the left as in the previous picture. The 28-135 IS lens is attached to the Rebel - when I stick my hand down on the right, I can feel about an inch of clearance between the lens and the bottom of the bag. I tried extending the lens all the way, and it fits just fine - just in case you have to shove in the camera in a hurry.
Note the compact flash card and lens cleaning cloth in the top of the flap.
----
Swapped lenses...
Here you see the 28-135 on the left, and the kit lens is on the camera. The camera is supported by the divider, and the grip does not actually touch the lens. Plenty of room...
----
Front pouch
LOTS of room in the front pouch, the camera manual fits easily in the zippered compartment. The only thing I'm not real crazy about on this bag - I wish the small pouches had elastic on the top to keep the batteries or whatever from sliding around.
Like the silver battery? $26 at Wal-Mart, 1300 Mah (the Canon battery is only 1100 Mah).
Kodak DC4800
----
Belt
Sturdy belt, solid clasp, batwing compression straps... Note the straps for tripod/jacket/etc on the bottom.
----
Underside
Detail on the tripod straps - you can take them off if you want. Note the rubber diamods that they're attached to - good solid construction just like the rest of the bag.
----
NOT a professional fashion model...
One of the reasons I bought this bag is because it's only about 4" deep - this looks fatter than it really is since it's not an exact 'side-on' shot. For comparison, I'm 6'2" tall.
----
Rear view
DARN those jeans look baggy! OK, back to the review... The bag isn't huge, doesn't get in the way of arm-swing motions such as when you're walking.
----
Top and Belt
One if the features I was looking for was a simple but comfortable handle on top, for when I wasn't going to be wearing it.
----
Cushion
Notice the very nice cushion built into the back, so you don't get jabbed by sharp camera parts - it's supposed to "breath", also, to cut down on the sweat. Don't know how well that works yet, but it sounds good...
----
Belt Stowed
Here's the "toss in the car" mode, with the belt tucked in under the cushion.
----
Side
Just the side of the bag - under the D ring you can see a strip of fabric that runs down about 2/3 of the side, this is where the external lens cases attach - they have a long piece of stiff fabric that slides under this, and fastens with Velcro at the bottom (detail coming in the next pic).
----
Extras
OK, here are the 2 lens cases that come with it, along with the shoulder strap. You can see the flap I was talking about is flipped up on the bottom case.
The case on the right has the 28-135 lens sticking out of it - width wise, it fits easily, not too snug. I measured with a ruler, and figure that any lens up to 8" will fit just fine.
----
Shoulder strap
The underside of the shoulder strap is well-padded rubber, I guess to prevent it from sliding off your shoulder - looks like it ought to work pretty well. The snaps on the end are solid, well made, and the springs are tight enough without being too hard to work.
----
External lens pouch
Here it is with one of the external lens pouches attached.
thanks to Dan Schmitt for photos & info.
