for Canon 300D / 10D / 20D / 30D / 40D / 50D / 5D / 7D
Review #1
(Added 27th Feb 2008)
Equipment list in bag :
Canon EOS 5D
BG-E4 Grip
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM
530EXII strobe
Canon Extender EF 1.4x
Pentax SMC 55/2, cables, batteries, cleaners, wrenches, etc
I've always been a Domke fan. The bags are lightweight, mouldable, configurable, easy to pack, and seem to be designed for quick access to gear that is ready to shoot. My first stab at a new walk around bag is the Domke J3. The J3 is from the "journalist" line -- done in the black ballistic nylon and with their own style of inserts. I wanted the ballistic to avoid the dust of the traditional canvas and also the J line has 'subdued' logos and patches (The logo on my J3 is olive on black; hardly noticeable)
The J3 is comparable to the popular F4-AF bag designed for a digital camera with grip. The difference is that the J3 isn't as tall but is has similar width and length. To me, the height is a wasted dimension as I don't carry any long zooms in my walkaround kit. So for my lenses and gear, the J3 seemed like it would be a good fit. Here is the gear list for this configuration though by no means is the bag stuffed. I occasionally carry a big Mir 28mm lens and if I don't have the body/lens combo in ready to shoot mode I could easily get another full size lens in with the following...
Any of the above can be mounted on the camera and ready to shoot with the other two lenses in the dividers. With a 70-200, I'm not sure if you could have it mounted on the camera and pointing down the way I carry the bag. I prefer the 200/2.8 for stealthiness and size compared to the big white zooms. My two main requirements for a small walking bag are that it be plain-looking and not obviously a camera bag at first glance and that it offer easy access to the camera, ready-to-use. The J3 has room to spare for the big 5D with grip; with these photos I even left the Kirk L-bracket on and it never feels over packed.
Also in...
SMC Tak 55/2
Canon 1.4x
530EX + cord
+ lots of batteries, cleaning kit, lens hoods, cables, tripod wrenches, etc
The bag has special side pockets -- rather large and with a very handy removable padding system. You can pre-load the padded pockets for different configurations or simply remove one if not needed. In this configuration, I've removed the padding that holds the cleaning supplies and batteries to give it more room but I left the padding in the pocket that holds the strobe, 55mm, and 1.4x.
And here it is, packed up and compared to a 4-cup Bodum for scale (hey, it was handy).
Likes about the bag: size, durability, stealthiness
Dislikes about the bag: the side pockets should have the same metal clasps, other than that, none
thanks to Alex F / merged.ca for review.
