[Rabid Penguin]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a camera bag that fits my criteria, and so far have come up empty. Does anyone know of any bag that can fit an SLR plus 4 lenses, 2 strobes, plus spare batteries and charger, filters, cleaning kit, cables etc; and still allows me to wear a backpack? A preference but not a requirement is being able to access it while wearing it.

Cheers,

Cam

[Pavel]

I have a backpack, which comes close to what you are looking for. It has an equipment compartment where most if not all your equipment would fit and a general compartment above, which is not padded, but which accomodates some modest amount of clothes. A waterproff shell is stored in one of the pockets and there is a slot for a portable. It is comfortable to wear and it does not look like a camera bag. It is a "National Geographic" line of backpacks, and I bought them at Henry's. They also retail online, so you can check it out there. I also have a shoulder bag, which has 2 pouches which can be added (locked in) and removed. It is modest in size without the pockets but big with one or 2 pockets added. It is a Kata brand. This shoulder bag has uncomonly comfortable shoulder strap it is extremely well padded and it has a nice selection of convenient compartments. I love this bag and use it all the time. My understanding is that the origin of the line comes from the requirements of Israeli army. The combination of the 2 bags would shurely be enough and would be quite comfortable. The shoulder bag would certainly be accessible, so you could put the most often needed things there. Hope this helps. Pavel

[Zig]

Agreed. A backpack is generally better bang per buck..you could always sew some velcro into it too, and still have change from what a camera bag would cost(they seem to tax photographers but not walkers, so kiddem you're one of the latter!

[matthew]

There are two groups that pack like armies and need to plan for every contingency: photographers and people with young children. You might have some luck looking at diaper bags. Otherwise there should be plenty of jumbo camera bags that fit what you're looking for; crumpler and lowepro come to mind, and domke bags hold an amazing amount of stuff compared to their size.