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Anonymous
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Review Date: Sat October 28, 2006
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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All kinds of room, padding is really nice, shoulder strap very comfortable, the abililty to have the bag *not* look like a camera bag, lots of extra storage for smaller items like cards, pens, caps, etc
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Cons:
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the large netted area on the inside flap could perhaps have a few sections to it, rather than one large holding area. Not a major issue, but it would help seperate items like lens caps and things.
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I finally decided to treat myself to a nice camera bag - I've always used smaller, older bags that I've bought used or at swap meets, and I decided that now was the time to treat myself good.
What I had originally become obsessed over was the Crumpler "Geekstar" bag, but they are only available in the United Kingdom, and if I had ordered one, it would have cost me almost double the costs because of shipping, and while I did want to treat myself to a nice bag, spending 60+ dollars just on shipping on top of the price fo the bag simply didn't make sense. So I decided I'd visit my local Cameraland and see what the models in stock where.
I was instantly drawn to the 7 Million Dollar Home as soon as I saw it. Some of the other "Million Home" bags just looked too small, and there was only a small price difference between the "6 Million Dollar Home" and thie 7 Million, so I figured for the extra fifteen bucks, I'd get more space.
To start with, this is one swank looking bag. In fact, it looks just like a messenger bag, which is fantastic, because it doesn't look like I'm carting around expensive photography equipment. It simply appears to be a messenger bag. I like that feature.
Color wise, I really love the brownish "domke" flavor of the exterior. The interior is a lime-colored green, which really works with the outside brown color. Great for fans of earth-tone colors. The bag *is* available in other colors as well for those who like black, or blue, or red.
Once you open the outter flap, it exposes the innards of the bag. lime-colored padded velcro camera sections are aplenty and if desired can be completely taken out to form a empty shell messenger bag. The inside of the bag is completely lined with soft velcro, so I wouldn't put alot of stuff inside that could rip or mess the velcro up. But if one wanted to use it as an empty bag, its possible to do so.
With so many pads, it can take you awhile trying to figure out how you want to set the bag up. It took me about an hour of moving pads all over the place before i decided that I wanted to store the camera vertically pointing down with a lens attached, and that leaves both sides for lenses and extra gadgets. I tried to arrange the bag so that I would use every pad included. There are also these nice long horizontal pads that act as "covers" for stuff, so that they fold down and cover things up. Very nice and clean looking.
The bag also features a pocket large enough for everyday items; papers, notebooks, memory cards, lip balm, cell phones, wallets, business cards, etc. Its very roomy, and features a netted velcro pocket as well as a larger pocket.
the outside of the bag has little material strips that I'm guessing can hold other smaller Crumpler add-ons like iPod holders and stuff. It also is good for holding pens and things with "hooks" on them.
The bag features a nice comfortable neck pad for the strap. its big, and has good coverage, and when wearing the strap across the chest, is comfy. Even when having everything inside the bag.
The depth of the bag is really nice too. I don't have any HUGE lenses, but I do have a 70-300 that fits nice and snug with enough headroom that I could add a pad above it and store another, smaller lens. if you had a big honkin' lens, like the 70-200L, you could store the camera horizontally with the lens on, but you'd have to remove alot of the padded dividers. But its completely possible to carry the lens like that if so desired.
The top flap features a really HUGE netted pocket that stores just about everything including a small woodland creature. If I had to come up with any complaint on ths bag, it would be that this large netted pocket could possibly be split up into smaller sections, so that everything doesn't jostle around so much. Sometimes it seems akward opening up the top cover, and it doesn't fold over perfectly because things like lens caps get caught on the "fold" making it rigid. Still, minor complaint, and only there because I *have* to come up with one.
Overall, I absolutely love this bag. I feel that my camera loves me back for giving it a sexy bag to sleep in. I always felt before that my camera would get mad because I was putting it in smaller, used, older bags. Now he dosen't have anything to complain about - he's in the Rolls Royce of camera bags.
And, again, I LOVE that it doesn't scream "camera bag". Its a messenger bag on the outside, but all camera bag on the inside. Genius. I don't get stopped as often as I did before because people don't think I have camera gear inside. Its very nice.
I'd say if you really want to treat yourself, and your camera, with a nice bag, go check out the crumpler line. The 7 Million Dollar Home is the nicest bag I've ever owned, and I know it will give me years and years of loving use.
and my camera loves me more.
Likes about the bag: All kinds of room, padding is really nice, shoulder strap very comfortable, the abililty to have the bag *not* look like a camera bag, lots of extra storage for smaller items like cards, pens, caps, etc
Dislikes about the bag: the large netted area on the inside flap could perhaps have a few sections to it, rather than one large holding area. Not a major issue, but it would help seperate items like lens caps and things.
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;)
Registered: November 2005