Countless hours spent researching blogs and reviews, measuring different configurations of the camera and lenses; and pulling together a table with measures of different bags; sending a friend a shop to play with different bags and finally looking at the option of making my own made-to-measure padding for some high-street (or even better low street) bag...
Result: there is no perfect bag (as mentioned by many) but this should not stop you from trying to get the best option for the job - or jobs...
So far I owned quite a few backpacks and shoulder bags - and they come irreplaceable. Contrary to the Ken Rothwell's comment, they are damn useful if you hiking for the whole day - they are the best choice for your back and and mobility. I can't really see much pleasure in climbing munros with a belt made of holster-like pouches around my waist. It may give you a quicker access - but out there it's quite useless - there is no rush most of the time, you have plenty of time to prepare, get your shot, swig some single malt from the flask. Wild Wild West doesn't quite do it for me...
So after a few years of walking and shooting and owning a number of bags (they keep shrinking I think as every year I just need more space!) I learnt that a comfy camera bag that can also take some of your walking gear (waterproof, small stove and a flask) is just the perfect option. You can walk for hours, some scrambling is not a problem and your back would be grateful at the end of the day... I ended up using LowePro Fastpack 350. If need more space for walking gear or even more comfort I would take my Berghause bag and put a photo shoulder bag inside it. Works perfect...
Shooting cities with the Fastpack becomes a bit more of an issue: it screams "camera inside", you can't really put it on the ground whilst shooting (no problem when you hiking!) and sometimes you may need a faster access just not to miss one of the opportunities... add if you are using one of the f2.8 80-200 lenses you probably are already wondering what bag would do the job...
The task: D300 + 80-200mm f2.8 + 16-85mm VR + flash + all the accessories for a short city break to fit into a bag that will not attract too much attention from the local pinchers (handy if you in Rome), is comfy enough to keep you going for the whole day, would give you enough protection for the gear and, finally, fast access when needed. Sounds like a cross of Mission Impossible and Tetris?
Many of the bags I looked at seem always either too small in one of the dimensions (around 10cm wide seemed bit pointless - unless you want to end up dismounting the lens all the time), far too big, or still too photo-bag like. Carrying Billingham sounded like screaming: look I have really posh bag here and guess what's inside?
I watched local students to see what "normal" bags looked like and made you not want to pinch them... finally found one that had the right dimensions, didn't look like camera or laptop bag (still can't understand what's the point of the City Disguise bags - they don't look like camera bags - just like a laptop bag!). LowePro Classified series. And the 160 seemed just right: would take camera with mounted 80-200mm, offered good protection (something that Crumpler Muffin lacked considering crazy Scottish weather), quick access and it did not look like a camera bag...
OK - not cheap but I decided to give it a go and see how it performs.
The verdict: it's great. Takes hell lot of gear; top access is fantastic and allows you very quickly move in the crowd; well padded with plenty of configuration options; the front pocket is just the right size for a set of Lee filters. It can also be easily mounted on a bike rack (if you cycling) or slipped into a larger backpack if you hiking for a wee longer.
Things that could be improved?
the padding on the shoulder strap is fixed - which makes it a bit tricky if you try to carry the bag "messenger" style - I will probably end up replacing it with a different strap...
It would add so much more flexibility if the padding could be removed (like an insert) - so you could use it as a normal bag but also use the insert with e.g. panniers or a backpack.
Other than that - it was worth all the research and trouble. If you considering the bag - just get it! Well worth the money (and with a bit of research you can get it 20% cheaper than the RRP).
Photos of the bag in action will follow...
FILTERS, FILTERS: WHAT DO I REALLY NEED TO GET?
Lee, Formatt, Cokin??? Soft or Hard? ND or ND Grad? 1, 2, 3, or 10 steps? 0.4? 0.6? 0.9?Although this was, and is, one of the secret tools of trade for landscape photographers, not many ventured that far in their photographic endeavours. The truth is they can make the difference between great and crap photo. If you not convinced - try and see for yourself. Soon you will be buying your filters, wondering how could you do landscape before...
My first encounter with filters was during a photo workshop with Jeremy Walker up north in Scotland and since then I got hooked: how could I take landscape photos without them before? So after the workshop I spend countless hours looking for the "perfect" filter set for my needs. Jeremy is a big advocate of Lee filters - and although they felt good during my initiation, the price tag and the huge choice of filters made it rather difficult to decide. Plus there were others: Cokin, Formatt or a countless number of no-name filters on eBay. So what do you really need and what would be the value for money?
Jeremy's famous saying during the workshop was that if he was to go on a trip with just one filter, it would be 2-stops hard graduated ND. But what would be the other filters you will need? I learnt it the hard way by getting a number of filters, than realising that I never use some of them. Thanks God for ebay as I actually made a bit of a profit through that lesson...
So what are the filters that you definitely should have in your bag? And which brads would perform the best?
I tried Lee (ND, hard ND Grads and Circular Polariser), Cokin (2 stop soft ND Grad), Formatt (ND) and happily skipped any "no-name" stuff shipped from China. After a chat with somebody at Lee I got convinced to buy the Lee Digital Starter Kit which contains holder, 2 stops hard ND Grad and 2 stops ND filter. This still is the core of the set I keep, however, as every curious novice, I needed to try for myself what the other filters were offering. So I soon got myself Lee circular polariser and, wondering about the hard / soft differences, Cokin soft 2 stops ND grad.
Cokin was first to be out from the bag and back on eBay: the material it is made from felt plastic compared to Lee, there was quite obvious colour cast and, as I soon found out, I hardly ever used soft grad filter. I still may give soft grad another go in the future but for sure it will not be Cokin... Although they are slightly cheaper than Lee, I found them inferior in both the performance and built quality.
So I was back to Lee and happily snapping away. However, I soon realised two things: I was not entirely happy with the circ polariser (having been using them before it seemed that Lee had somehow weaker effect than I was expecting). The other thing that became apparent was that 2 stops ND was just not enough in bright daylight. Although I could always use polariser and ND filter, this still was not always enough. I decided that would be happier with 1 stronger glass at the font so could keep the aperture at reasonable level without too much diffraction.
That's when I came across Formatt filters, as they offer 4 stops ND as standard (although you can order stronger one as well). The built quality is great, there is no colour cast and being about 1/3 cheaper than Lee, they are a definitely worth considering. The extra stop gives you that extra little bit flexibility when it is really needed - so if you tend to shoot in bright light and want to get some more blur into your photos, that's what you need.
Lee circular polariser ended up on eBay being replaced by Sigma 105mm polariser. Being about half the price of Lee it is much better value for money. The built quality and performance are great and again, this is one of the most useful filters to have in your bag.
So if you wandering what to invest into this is a free piece of advice I can give you:
Digital Starter kit by Lee offers superb quality and flexibility: whatever lenses you are using this is the only set you would need. Forget about screw-on filters as you would end up spending and carrying more in the future. This would also give you the two most useful filters you'd ever need: 2 stop ND and 2 stops ND Grad.Cokin Z-Pro series costs almost the same but the quality is far inferior compared with Lee or Formatt.
Circular Polarisers are not cheap. The best value for money I found was SIGMA 105mm (from Bristol Cameras). Great built, great performance.
If 2 stops ND is not enough - have a look at the superb Formatt 4 stops ND. Great for shooting in bright light when you need to introduce some more blur.
It is probably worth having a look at Formatt filters before you invest into Lee set as they may come cheaper but the quality is equally good. But since I never used their holders I can't say much about them.
nother handy gadget for your filters is the Lee 3-filter pouch as it just makes your life so much easier!
The Perfect combination: Lee Digital Starter Kit (Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard; Lee 0.6 ND, holder, pouch); Formatt 1.25 ND; Sigma Circular Polariser, 67mm Wide angle adapter and Lee soft cloth pouch for 3 filters.
From the top: Formatt 1.25 ND; Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard; Lee 0.6 ND.
From the left: Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard; Lee 0.6 ND, Formatt 1.25ND
Cokin 2 stops ND grad, Medium (soft) transition. It feels thinner, more plasticky than the rest. Gone on eBay...
Lee 0.6ND Grad Hard + Sigma Circular Polariser coupled with the Lee holder.
LIVE VIEV (LV) & D300: WHEN IS IT REALLY REALLY HANDY?
Upgrading from D200 to D300 inevitably means that the first thing you'd look for is where the £500 has gone...Few more pixels - great; sensor cleaning - great; D-lightning - great; higher ISO - great.
Then you'd stumble to LV (LiveView) function on your dial and, if you used to viewfinder, probably would start wondering why... The screen does not swivel so pretty much useless at the time you cannot see through the viewfinder. In Olympus you can make a use of LV as the screen flips and swivels - so when low or high it makes your life just a wee easier.
Unless you a big fan of compacts I could not really find any value for that.
I fired it up numerous times whilst having the camera on tripod - but then got quickly annoyed with it and always ended up looking through the viewfinder to check the composition, settings, sharpness.
so what's the point of having it? so far I found it useless...
Until the D300 ended up attached to a massive Nikon 2000mm f11 reflex lens pointed at a couple of nesting Peregrine Falcons(see previous posts). Looking through the viewfinder and trying to focus makes you dizzy as every slightest move of the lens is magnified to 7 in Richter scale - your subject jumps up and down every time you touch the focus dial.
If your subject is not that big it becomes nearly mission impossible. And this is when LV comes handy for the first time: switch to LV, zoom on (yes, you can actually zoom in LV mode) onto your subject and voilà - you can actually see if your subject is sharp.
It gets better though... you got your subject sharp but now comes the wait. wildlife is not easy or quick: it can take hours (that's as far as I ever went!) to get your little friend to appear or do something worth shooting.
After 3 hours of looking through your viewfinder you'd probably get a job in Notre Dame (nice, round hutch, one eye bigger from the constant staring into the tiny light-hole and twisted fingers from pressing the remote).
Now imagine that instead of all that you are sitting on a nice, comfy chair watching TV with a beer in one hand and a remote in the other. Which one sounds like more fun? well, they the same! with LV and remote (preferably wireless) release you can put up a chair behind your camera, get a beer in one hand, remote in the other and just wait watching 3" screen with life NG channel on... could it be better?
This is where LV seems the best inventions since beer!
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