This bag is not designed to carry every piece of camera equipment you own or ever will own; it is designed to carry what you need for most wildlife photo trips. It easily carries by Canon 1Ds Mark iii, 100-400IS lens, two other lenses, extra batteries, rain cover, a few filters, and sundry other small items. The bag is beautifully configured when you get it, but you can change it anyway you need for your uses. Three external pockets let you carry things you need immediately and because the cover is on the inside against your back when the pack is carried, it is both secure from theft and perfectly arranged so that, when you lay it down to get what you need out of it, the sand and dirt is on the outside not against your back when you put the pack back on. The waist band is a bit narrow, but it works well and the pack is comfortable. Arrangement of the tripod straps is very good. It has a handy pocket that pulls out when needed, into which yuu place the tripod legs, and then a conventional strap to secure the upper part of the tripod against the pack. And, remember, since the opening is on the back, you don't have to remove the tripod to open the bag.
I needed a backpack that would carry my camera, standard zoom lens, large lens and accessories, as well as the tripod. I recently went to Alaska with this backpack, and it worked out great; fit well into the carry-on spaces on planes, buses, and trains. I would highly recommend this pack.
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I've been looking for a camera bag for quite some time and have been very picky. I wanted something versatile, comfortable and capable of carrying just what I needed and all for a decent price. I go hiking with my family a lot and it's always a pain carrying a shoulder style camera bag. However, all that's changed and, after just one use, I'd recommend this backpack to anyone.
I'm not a professional photographer; however, I do want a bag to carry my essentials which include a Canon 30D, 2 lenses, a tripod, a small video camera, a small digital camera for my 8 year old, as well as batteries, extra flashcards, and other small items. Yes, all this fit with room to spare as I didn't use any of the outside pockets except for the water bottle netting... but the best is yet to come!
Hiking with a camera backpack is fantastic! You don't have to deal with shoulder straps slipping and your hands are totally free to use as you will. But the best part (it's really fantastic) was to just swing the pack around to access my camera 'stuff' with a mimimum of fuss. The pack never touched the ground until we stopped to wade in a mountain pool with very, very, cold water... brrrrr.
The one thing about the bag I was hesitant about, before purchasing, was how the bag was going to hold the weight of all my equipment and still stay horizontal when used. No worries! The bag did not falter and performed as advertised. This is one of those purchases that gives you that "I'm glad I bought this" feeling. It's padded well, looks good, works as designed and, with the opening against your back, it's safe to take anywhere where crowds may hide those individuals looking for an opportunity to avail themselves of your equipment.
If you're like me and looking for something that's not too expensive and can carry the essentials then this Lowepro 300 Flipside backpack should be highly considered.
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First of all, this is a great product and does what it is supposed to. But if falls short of true greatness in several areas. I know secure packing is a priority, but none of my issues would affect the protection of the equipment except for clipped on components. I wanted a case like this (I have many others as well) and the security and form factor are what I needed. But this is a photography bag and thus should be designed for photography, not permanent storage.
First, as anyone knows whose shooting action whether sports, news or animals, being able to open a bag while juggling lenses, bodies, etc. speed is of the essence. The problem here is not access, but the size and reach of the zippers. The zipper teeth are on the small size and I fear as the zippers go screaming around the corners, their life will be short, especially since they hang up rounding the top corners. They have not jammed or broken yet, but these are zippers are only human. I think a pair of #10 YKKs are in order instead of wimpy small teeth zips with big pulls.
My second gripe is with the reach of the zippers. I carry an 80-200 2.8 across the bottom of the pack (it allows me several lens/body choices so I can carry any lens on my D300 with MB-D10 grip (upsidedown from the usual pictures, by the way). The zippers don't quite reach the bottom of the pack so I have to wedge the lens out at unrealistic effort. In fact, much of the diameter of the lens falls below the reach of the zippers. I'm sure there's some reason for this design, but whatever it is escapes me.
Oh, I use the small dividers in a way that can flip them sideways or down when not needed and close like a door when needed. This allows me to reconfigure the compartments on the fly (Lowe should pursue this concept since a good design would allow almost anything anywhere in the pack).
Anyway, if the zippers went down one inch more (but two would be great) on both sides, the pack would allow rapid access to all areas. This same problem appears with the removable pouch. The pouch just happens to be the same length as a SB-600 flash with diffuser. But again, the zipper does not reach the ends of the pouch and I have to force the flash in and wedge it out. I don't zip the pouch all that much so I might just use a knife to cut the opening a little larger.
The zip side pocket is almost unusable. Great effort was engineered into it and its special CF card slots, but the rest of the stitched in slots are oddly sized. I cannot even fit a Nikon lens pen into the pen slots, and barely get a regular sharpie into the pen slot. Pretty much nothing fits anywhere else and in my mind, is an expensive (materials and workmanship) waste of space. Maybe it's size is a security feature as well since you cannot get anything of value in there (except maybe an ipod). In fact, now that I think of it, a pocket accessible when wearing the pack would really be useful. Further, the design of the pocket makes it easy to dump what ever contents when opening it. Be careful when opening it on a crowded subway.
The net pocket on the other side is useful, but should have been made with heavier material if it going to last, especially with a water bottle stuffed in there. The material is more of a silky nylon stocking thickness. At least a reinforced bottom would make sense since the stretch around anything in it would rip open like a water balloon the moment it rubbed on a brick wall.
The carry handle is a great idea and I find myself grabbing it quite often, but it is often the only tie-on point when needing to clip something to the bag in the heat of the battle. A webbing ladder would be useful since the exterior has been stripped of not only conventional openings, but also attachment points. This is true also on the shoulder straps. I so badly wanted to clip my GPS and/or cell phone to a webbing point on the shoulder strap, but everything has been sewn down tight except for two loose flapping loops that are more suited for a hydration tube than a digital device.
I think the back panel could have been better served with a thicker or firmer padding. I place my camera body base toward my back because the hotshoe is quite poky, especially while climbing or mountain biking with the pack cinched tight. After a couple hours on the road or in the saddle, this the contents of the pack make themselves known.
Overall, this is a great direction for a camera bag, but for serious outdoor (whether city or mountain) use, this has some holes. I have no regrets, but it is frustrating when a product comes so close to perfection but has unnecessary flaw in its design that should have been fixed during the field trials.
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I've now used this pack much more and find that my above review was, while still accurate, likely a little harsh given that other advantages of this pack design are really nice. In short, I really like it and highly recommend it.
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As a college student, i purchased this bag to accomodate my canon 5d, 16-35 mk 1 lens, 85mm 1.8, 580 ex II, gary fong diffuser, batteries, cf cards, white balance cards, and also a mini aluminum tripod.
The purpose of choosing this bag and choosing say a fastpack 350 or 250, was the fact of price and value. This bag offers great value with a very clean/non-bloated design that will also accomodate a tripod, useful for night-time urban street biking. I also bought this knowing that a netbook could be squeezed in between the zipper bag in which it did close without much effort at all! major plus. so now i can effectively use my camera bag to school without missing much (well maybe my textbooks). Probably the only downside of this bag is that it will slow your shooting down if you like to put your camera back into the bag after every shot. (sometimes)
PROS: great value for the price.
THE perfect camera bag for hiking/day use,
clean design,
tripod mount is a plus (can support a full blown tripod, however.... see cons below)
CONS: when carrying a tripod, the tripod strap is placed too low and should have been designed into the handle on top. the effect is that the tripod "rocks" back and forth when hiking. this is especially noticable when walking long distances. one way to remedy this is to attach an additional velcro strap at the handle to add stability.
Second major con: when using the bag in "flip" mode, the strap that goes around your waist effectively CUTS INTO your lowerback. lowepro dropped the ball by not adding padded straps. this is a HUGE deal, especially when carrying 10lbs of camera equipment in the bag. I remedied this by finding a laptop strap that had a removable padding piece. i slid this into the waist area and whala, i can literally hold the bag in flip mode for 30 minutes and not feel any lower back pain!
so aside from the key minor issues, this is a great camera bag. Highly recommended for traveling on the go and more comfortable to carry than having a sidebag such as a crumpler to walk around with all day.
Edit**
I have now picked up a 70-200 2.8 IS and some ND filters used with the cokin mount which are stored in CD sleeves (to save space) and some flash triggers as well. This bag is absolutely maxed out now and I couldn't have been any happier with this purchase. Best affordable bag on the market for hiking, biking and urban shooting. Love it!!
My son's School requires each student have a mesh or clear backpack... The Jansport Antics is not up to task, it is not constructed well enough to take the abuse of everyday school use...
