My "big kit" bag search has proven to be very successful. I didn't want to just shoot pictures and say how much I liked the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home after I received it. I wanted to work with it for a few days at least and figure out how best to configure it, see how it did in the field. I've done that now and, let me tell you, I'm very happy with this one.
A set of pictures of the bag set up as I use it for my equipment is available at http://homepage.mac.com/godders/7MillionDollarHome/ As you can see from pictures 1 and 2, it's not a small bag but it remains trim and tidy looking. The top handle is handy for hefting it in and out of the car, into the closet, and the accessory loops on front and side are just right to take both my Lowepro and Tamrac accessory pouches and stuff if I should feel I need to carry even more junk. I bought the bag specifically to fit what I consider a large kit. And, on top of that, I wanted a bag that could carry all I wanted and still be configured to work out of with ease in the field. Another requirement was that it MUST be able to have the camera in it with any one of my lenses fitted, and that there must be an individual spot for each lens, minus the one on the camera, to make lens changing easy and smooth. The 7Mill is deep enough that I configured it to hold the lenses in individual compartments on the bottom, underneath where I normally rest the camera with one lens fitted for carrying. This leaves a pretty big compartment to the side of that which fits my notebooks and other junk. The front bellows pocket is easily able to hold all the small miscellanea of blowers/card case/remotes/batteries and has an inside security pocket as well. The mesh pocket in the top I'm only using minimally at present for a microfiber lens cloth, there's a lot more room up there for other small things (spare lens caps, filter wallet, etc.) A full load in the bag, for me, includes the following as you see it in these pictures: K10D body with one lens on it. DA14, DA21, FA28, FA43, DA70 lenses two spare batteries wired remote Card wallet with IR remote, six 2G SD cards Blower bulb lens cloth Notebook, paperback novel, one-two magazines Epson P2000 cell phone and journal in externally accessible pockets The strap is threaded to put the adjusting ladder in front of me so I can easily re-set how the bag hangs for walking vs working. I wear it bandolier style on the left and shove it around to my back when walking, pull it forward to work out of for lens changes and such. I've taken it on four 1-2 hour shooting walks and I'm amazed. Despite its much larger size, it does not feel substantially heavier or bulkier than the Domke F803 Camera Satchel but it holds at least twice as much ... and I still have space to jam more junk in as needed. It's better padded too and protects the gear better. Working out of it is a joy. Hope that this info is useful to someone else looking for a similar bag. best, Godfrey -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
