First off, this is a great backpack all around. I travel a lot and was looking for something to protect my gear and this does the job. Here are the pros and cons.
Pros:
* Very Sturdy
* Rugged Material
* Lots of space
* Great straps
* Nice features that are thought out with a few exceptions
Cons:
* Sometimes a little too stiff
* Side compartments are small and access to main pack is awkward/useless
* Internal dividers are set up nice but can waste some space
* Some features are not too thought out while others are (a pro and con)
* TIGHT laptop storage
The material is very sturdy. This backpack doesn't feel like it will ever rip and I am sure it is cut resistant. Anybody trying to get at your gear will have a tough time, sometimes even you! I have a Canon 7d that I leave a EF 24-70mm F2.8 L lens attached and at first, I wanted to make it accessible through the side compartment. That is not going to happen, especially with the lens hood stored as Canon suggests. There is a flap that separates the side compartment from the main compartment that has Velcro which makes it so things do not fall into the side compartment but also makes it almost impossible to use as a quick camera access. In addition, the side zippers only open half way so there is no way you will get a bigger SLR out fast. You have to put it in so it can be accessed by the main zipper. It is still tight because the top of the bag is so thick and the zippers are tight due to the weatherproofing. A pro and a con.
I also store a 70-200mm f4.0 is L lens in the bag. The bag is pretty deep so you naturally end up stacking stuff which makes it a little hard to get to stuff but the lens is protected very well. It is not deep enough to put the lens in upright so again, it lays down with either a flash or a computer power cord on it. Not exactly a fast access to either because as the laws of the universe dictate, the thing you need will always be on the bottom.
As far as a laptop, it looks like you could store two in the compartment but don't be fooled. Again, the bag stiffness prevents two and almost makes it hard to get in one. The zipper on the compartment does not open to access the entire top so the laptop is hard in and hard out. It is very tight. I don't consider my laptop to be very big but if it were any thicker or wider, there is no way it would fit. The nice thing is, once it is in there, it is protected like you had armor around it, which is the positive theme of the bag.
A really cool thing is the cover that goes over the straps when you are not using the backpack portion. They are entirely enclosed under the zipper cover which is great for the overhead on planes. There are no straps to tuck in the overhead compartment and close in the compartment door on the plane. The cover then tucks up under a back flap to expose the straps which are very comfortable. Again, an issue is, when the backpack is loaded, it is so tight that it is actually hard to slide the cover up under the pack in its proper position. One nice thing would be to have the cover start zipping up over the bottom of the strap so you could keep one strap out to use it as a sling for carrying it in situations where you want to use one strap for fast carrying. With my previous bag, I used the one shoulder carry a lot.
The inside zipper compartments are nice but again, tight. You can't fit too much in them. Temba should have allowed a little more material but it may be so stuff does not slide around. B+W filters in cases are actually tight in the compartments. They do have a great feature which is they zipper open/closed from both sides, left and right so there is no digging around in them.
I don't want to sound negative on the pack, it is an incredible bag. Like I mentioned in the pros, it is super tough. You can tell they spared no expense with the water proofing. I would have no problem caught in a downpour with this thing. Your gear is VERY well protected which is most important to me. When you have over 5k sitting in a bag, you don't want it to be unprotected. I am sure the gear inside could survive small falls.
Would I recommend the bag. Simply put, yes. I don't think the "perfect" bag exists. It can't because if you are like me, you want something magical that defies the laws of physics. I want to be able to put 50 pounds of gear including a tripod in a very small pack and in the end, have it weigh 10 pounds. It is not going to happen. With no magical pack available, this is the closest you will come if you want to carry a lot of stuff and have it well protected from the elements, the occasional drop, the elements and the opportunistic person that wants your gear. Overall, good job Temba for trying to satisfy us semi-pros that want it all. I would buy this again.
Just like the previous review, I considered going with the large bag but definitely changed my mind when I got this one. It's the perfect size to hold all my gear, laptop and still have room.
As far as laptops go, it will hold some 17" laptops. My toshiba satellite 17" fits (tight, but I like that because it feels secure). My girlfriends 17" Dell doesn't quite make it because it has the 9 cell battery that sticks out an extra half inch on the bottom baking it too thick to fit.
Camera gear and accessories inside the bag:
* Nikon D90 (usually configured with the 18-105 f3.5-5.6 attached)
* Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 vr
* Nikon 50mm f1.8 + soft hood
* Tokina 12-24mm f4 (w/ 77mm hood)
* Nikon SB-600
* Camera battery charger
* AA battery charger
* Laptop charger
* 3.5" external hard drive
... And there's still room for either a couple more small lenses or an extra flash.
Without the laptop in it, I'm comfortable carrying the bag for quite a while. Would be a great bag to take hiking. For me, I don't use the "shoot-out" zips on the side, just because I find it awkward reaching behind me for a lens; and the last thing I want to do is drop any of my precious lenses.
The weather resistant zippers are a little tight at first use, but they get easier to use without any noticeable reduction in water resistance. For rainy days, the built in all weather cover is great, completely covering the bag. And another thing I didn't realize before I got the bag, it has a flap (tucks away when not in use) that completely zips around the backpack straps making the entire bag slick without straps dangling everywhere. I find this particularly useful when moving moving the bag to the car (so the buckles don't scratch up the paint) and storing the bag at home (so the straps aren't there to trip over.
All in all an excellent bag and I'd highly recommend it to anybody looking for one that can hold as much gear as it does.
Buy Tenba ShootoutTM Backpack - Medium Now
I purchased this bag to hold all of my camera gear for college and couldn't be happier with it! I was a little worried while waiting for it to arrive that I should have went with the large model but as soon as it got here I changed my mind. This bag is VERY well built and sturdy with loads of storage space. To give you an idea on how much it holds I can store my Canon 5D, 16-35mm f/2.8L II, 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, my 580EX flash, multiple filters, cords, brushes, and my laptop supplies and I still have about half the bag left to fill. It is also very comfortable to carry around and distributes the weight very well, all in all I would definitely buy this product again and I highly recommend it!
Read Best Reviews of Tenba ShootoutTM Backpack - Medium Here
I just picked up my first really long lens 70-200 2.8 nikkor and have woken up in a new world as far as storage goes. Between air travel and enjoying outdoor photography I want a backpack no reason to have a tack sharp lens to walk around town you want to take little photo-safari's.
So I'm reading about a lot of packs some from naneau pro look nice but they're not in stock and not carried at local dealers. Lowe pro has some good ones too but the ones they have big enough for a longer lens are either too big or don't have a laptop sleeve.
The Tenba bag is a big bag you watch the video and it looks pretty small. The thing that hits me is that the insert is equally tall all the way around obvious if you want to carry two bodies, but I only have one body and would like to carry something besides camera stuff in my bag for travel I like to go light and carry everything on. This thing won't go under the seat and I'm concerned about being tagged with two carry on items as large as this thing is.
It's going to be a challenge to fit this in a turbo-prop overhead but you can use the compression straps to slim down the top of the bag if you remove one of the vertical ribs and turn that horizontal. The point is that this bag is so wide that I can turn my camera with 20-700 mounted horizontally and make the top of the bag mine for stuff. Hopefully that will help me fit it in the overhead. Fingers crossed, cause I'm not about to check $$$$$ worth of camera and computer equipment.
You know, there is no perfect backpack that I've seen. It seems like at this size, everyone assumes you are going to have so much crap that you're going to dedicate your bag to photography alone. For those of you like me that want something non-descript to avoid the watchful eye of thieves, have enough space for gear and more, have some weather proofing options and some really nice waist belt padding (which as a long-time hiker is really appreciated) you're going to have a hard time finding a better option.
Four stars for matching my needs, but five stars when compared with what else is out there.
Good luck!
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I was searching for a backpack that matched my specs. -specs I had developed before starting my hunt. I wanted a simple and balanced tripod attachment system. Also preferred having a removeable insert and definitely needed the hip belt. I needed to support a two camera system with lenses and flashes.
When I reviewed each of the major brands none of them had all my requirements. Most seemed a little too small, few had removeable inserts and a number of them did not have good enough padded hip belts.
Then, I came across the Tenba range of bags and they are just about perfect for my needs. There are however a couple minor complaints.
1. The insert allows access via the side pockets. I can see no real practical purpose for this "feature" as I'm not going to feel my way through retrieving a valuable lens that way. As a result of this feature, the bottom section cannot be divided up using the velcro dividers as there is no outer wall of the insert in this location. This means for me the space remains about right for a 70-200 2.8 lens but cannot be further divided to take a couple flashes or smaller lenses.
2. I wasn't happy with the lack of practical media/power management. I continue to use a couple tamrac battery/media wallets to keep those items organised.
3. Lack of D rings on the backpack straps. They should have allowed a way to attach an SLR to these straps to keep one camera locked and loaded during lighter hikes.
Having said all that, this bag is as close to perfection as if I'd designed it exactly to my own specification. I also have Tamrac shoulder bags so using their battery management wallets is practical for me.
The removeable raincover is great and the fact that the straps can be hidden behind a smooth cover is very practical for keeping the straps clean and out of the way when packed into airplane overhead lockers and even in the trunk of the car.
The laptop compartment hold the laptop safely and snugly. I've fitted Acer and Dell 15" units with no problem but I feel it's a better fit for Dell 14" models.
I'd recommend this to anyone and I may even get the small unit for lighter use.
I work in a marine environment. Durability, resistance to environmental stresses such as direct sunlight, moisture, corrosion, and incidental physical abuse on my part are always part of my criteria when purchasing anything I might bring on a boat. When I first started buying bags I was a lot younger and didn't mind carrying around 50 pounds of gear on one shoulder but as I got older I started buying duffle bags with wheels. I used to buy Samsonite wheeled duffle bags thinking they were of higher end quality, and this is partly true. However, all the Samsonite bags I've owned so far have lost most of their functionality due to the rigid frame where the wheels are set snapping because the rods stop before they can offer any support and the wheel base has no extra support molded in.
