Which Camera Bag For Leisure Travelling?

Come this Apr’09, I’ll be celebrating my first year as a DSLR user. If you’ve seen my Flickr, I probably have nothing much to shout. But one thing that I can share after a year of lugging 3kgs of DSLR equipments around, I’ve finally found the PERFECT camera bag for leisure traveling.

But before sharing, let’s level-set the definitions. Leisure travel, for me is, going somewhere far for anything BUT a photography outing. E.g. vacation, business or visit. For these reasons, luggage space is usually limited and prioritized for the missus’ shopping runs or souvenirs. Meaning, photography equipments need to be minimized. So, the usual equipment for me is: a camera body with a lens attached to it. A mini tripod. And a flash unit (for that just-in-case moment). Since Apr’08, I’ve had 4 camera bags. Bought, tried, tested; on 4 traveling occasions.

First up is a Bagman Snapshot Trekka (I think). For my 6-day Hong Kong trip, this bag protected my gears very well. It has so much space; I could easily bring along 4 additional lenses if I had them in the first place. Side pockets meant that the tripod gets to follow me everywhere. And if I’m a workaholic, I could even slot in my laptop into it, adding a further 10kg to lug around. Fortunately, I’m not a workaholic. In short, this is one versatile bag. But it’s not perfect. The bag’s compartment config slows down the in-out camera movement. It’s big and looks like a laptop bag, which is bad, coz laptops are quite a popular among snatching-scumbags. Verdict: It fits all of your gears. And at RM250, it’s super value! But major turn-off: Taking out the camera is too much work for me. So, bye-bye Bagman.

Second bag is a Crumpler 2 Million Home; a sling bag that fits nothing else but a DLSR with a lens attached. I took this little piggy to my 5-day Krabi vacation. This is a uni-purpose destination, where most of your living moments, you’re wet. So, I had to keep my back available for a multi-purpose knapsack, for all those towels, extra baju and wet stuff. Though I was limited to be going around with just 1 lens (which is OK, coz I only have 1 lens anyway), this bag was superb. When you spend most of your time in the sea, you don’t’ really miss your tripod or flash unit. Verdict: This is a keeper.

Third bag is also a Crumpler. This time, it’s for my 20-day Oregon trip and due to the lengthy duration, I needed a bag that could fit more gears, along with my passport. So, I brought along a Crumpler 5 Million Home; a sling bag that fits a lens-attached camera with a vertical grip, a flash unit and an extra lens. It has compartments for filters and extra memory cards too. By now, I think it’s quite obvious that I’m into funky looking camera bags that DON’T look like a camera bag. And nothing is funkier than a Crumpler. Anyway, if you have a huge camera, likes to be discreet and prefers to travel light; this bag is the right one for you. So, verdict: A keeper, especially if you're into sling bags.

And lastly, the last draw. After much researching for the ‘perfect’ bag, I decided to try on Lowepro’s Fastpack 100 for my 10-day Indonesian trip. It was a tough decision between this and Fastpack 250, but I was adamant not wanting to look like I’m carrying a laptop, especially in Indonesia. So, Fastpack 100 it was. This is a very small back-pack bag that only carries a lens-attached camera and an extra lens. It has a top compartment big enough for a flash unit or a Gorilla-pod, among other stuffs like tickets, passports, hand-blower, cleaning solutions, extra batteries or memory cards. But of course, with my back occupied, I could not carry a knapsack. The biggest selling point is that, the fact that I can draw out my SLR in a matter of seconds, means I rarely miss out shooting opportunities. Verdict: A keeper.

So, there you have it. 1 year, 4 bags, tested on 4 different travels. And in the end: 2 is a keeper.