I bought the Crumpler 7 million dollar home from Midwest Bags. I wanted something to fit my expanding collection of gear. Sadly the Budgie Smuggler that I was very fond of could no longer fit what I wanted to carry around.

The 7 million dollar home comes with 8 different sized velcro dividers allowing you to create almost any configuration you want (see picture with included 12" ruler for reference). It also has a much needed handle on the top. The shoulder strap is lighter and more flexible than the one on my Budgie Smuggler, and it is also detachable.

There's also a front pocket that is covered by a flap. Its big enough to slide various things into. I have it shown with an 8x10 inch grey card.

The 7 million dollar home is big enough for what I like to carry around and still sits nicely on my back. I can fit a Nikon D70  with kit lens, 70-200mm VR f/2.8, SB-600, 50mm, and various other little things with plenty of room to spare. I can put the camera in the bag in nearly any orientation. The bag is deep enough to fit the 70-200 standing up when it's not attached to the body.

If I want to carry around the D70 with the 70-200 attached, it will allow me to close the flap, but it doesn't seal properly (when inserted vertically). I use it as a temporary thing when I just want to set down my gear, etc. You can also store the 70-200 attached to the body horizontally without any problems. It just becomes a game of finding the best layout of all the velcro inserts to allow access to your other equipment.

Overall I like this bag. I would like it a bit more if there was a way to seal the bag all the way to prevent any water from getting in. Right now the flap closes over, but if I suddenly found myself in a hurricane with water spraying in every odd direction, some of it might be able to make its way in the little holes on the side of the flap. The picture shows the hole. It's a bit exaggerated because the bag is empty and I pushed the little flap down to demonstrate the worst case scenario.

Thanks to Yatish for photos and comments

Review #2

Photos contain:

Nikon D100 with 70-200mm VR f/2.8

Crumpler is an Australian company that manufactures all kinds of bags, from camera bags to laptop bags to the regular messenger bags. Their innovative designs and “hip & trendy” outlook to their products make their bags very appealing to the younger generation.

Street Price: USD$130 shipped
Ebay Average: USD$110 shipped
Available Colors: Black, Brown, Blue and Red.

Introduction:
I was really attracted to the design of the Crumpler bags which looked like messenger bags instead of the traditional gear bag. Crumpler’s main selling point the appearance of their bags which reduces the chance of theft.

So I offloaded my aging Tamrac and went on to search for a replacement. In the end, I got myself the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home which was adequately large enough to house my Nikon 70-200mm AFS VR with my D100 and vertical grip attached. The slightly smaller option which was the Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home didn’t make the cut in terms of capacity although it is identical to the 7 Million Dollar Home in terms of design.

The 7 Million Dollar home comes with a whole set of Velcro dividers, which enables you to configure how you want your gear to be arranged. The possibilities are endless, really.

The Space Between:
The main cavity of the bag is where all the good stuff goes in. The inner dimensions of the 7 Million Dollar home measures 38x28x18cm with a volume of 15 litres. This probably doesn’t mean much to some people, so look at the images to get an idea of what can be done with this bag.

The Crumpler website states that you can fit a digital SLR with vertical grip w/ kit lens attached, about 3 lenses, external flash unit and additional odds and ends. I find this to be a pretty accurate description of the bag’s capacity.

The top of the camera bag has a fishnet insert which can house some additional accessories like cable releases, memory cards or instruction manuals. It’s pretty large too.

The front part of the bag also has space to slot in slightly thicker objects, like (a Bible) a book or maybe a small bag of chips. There’s also a fishnet zipper compartment in there to house smaller and flatter objects.

The carrying strap of the bag is wide and comfortable. It’s adjustable, so you can change the length of the strap. The strap comes with a sliding pad which makes the load a lot more bearable. It’s also helps keep the strap from sliding around too much.

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 Bag fully loaded....

Loading up:
I was however a little disappointed that my 70-200mm could only be loaded in vertically only if the camera body wasn’t mounted (see pic). The same goes for my 300mm f/4 AFS which is about the same size.

When mounted on a F100 body as shown, the camera body sticks out of the bag’s cavity. You can close the camera bag, and snap on the lock, but I would only recommend this arrangement as a short term solution as it’s awkward and not very secure.

The other option would be to remove all the dividers and place the lens and body combination in a horizontal position (see pic). You’ll get some access space on the sides, but it’s not large enough to fit another lens in. Maybe an additional flash unit. But you’re wasting a lot of space above the body. This may be a good solution if you only intend to bring the 70-200mm and F100 w/ grip.

The 70-200mm just fits nicely inside the main compartment.....

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Combo fits horizontally with room to spare....

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Front pocket for additional stuff....

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