Thanks Christine! I was in SF yesterday and found that Discount Camera had both sizes of the "Flipside" bag in stock so I had some hands-on time.
Even the large one is nicely tidy and compact: I like how it centers the weight on your back and stays put. The tripod carrier is a godsend ... I NEED a tripod for a lot of the shooting I want to do and getting there with a tripod on my hand or slung across my back or strapped across the bottom of a bag is just awkward as all heck by comparison. The water bottle/stretchy pocket and accessory pocket on the sides are nicely arranged and carry just enough to not overload but be practical and useful. The handle on top is very robust which makes the bag easy to handle when it's NOT on your back, ie: getting it in and out of the car, or off the seat on the subway, etc. Access to the bags' interior is secure and not prone to my usual fear with photo backpacks ... that some joker (or myself) will unzip the bag while I'm waiting in a queue somewhere and either rip off the contents or just let it all fall out onto the floor. The access flap is securely closed both by its zipper and by being flat against your back. This implies, as you say, removal of the backpack to get to the gear ... not great if your the kind of person who swaps lenses often (I'm not). The notion of using the belt strap to swing the pack around to your belly and not having to put it down does work, however: it's a little easier for those without my shoulders (or belly!) but I found I could do it with just a little awkwardness. Another thing I noticed that wasn't obvious at first glance is that the shoulder straps have loops for the Lowepro slip-lock pouches. I have two of these pouches that would work well as easily accessed carry space if I wanted to have 'the other lens' out of the bag where I could get to it easily without taking the bag off to get to the interior. The important thing to realize is that this is not a "one bag carry it all" kind of solution. Even the larger version is tight for a four lens plus camera kit if you use bulky lenses (although either would carry the DA*16-50 + DA*50-135 plus K10D w grip ... what else do you really need? ;-). There's not a lot of spare room for carrying a scazillion other things although there's enough for my usual complement of notebook, pad, battery, memory cards, cables, phone, filters, etc etc. The larger version has a nice biggish zippered pocket on the closing flap, the smaller one has too little space for that, and the larger one has room that could fit an AF360/540FGZ which would not fit inside the smaller one without cutting into the lens capacity. I see this design as a streamlined bag that will allow me to carry tripod/long lens/usual small junk along with my typical one to two modest sized lenses around a city or on a field hike. I don't swap lenses very often so the security and slow access isn't a problem ... The ability to get there at all walking/bussing/train/plane, etc with tripod and long lens, then walk with camera in hand or on a neckstrap for my ordinary hand-held shooting and stop, setup for the tripod etc for the more studied work, is why I'm excited about it. This could be the right equipment carry kit for my trip to Ireland/IoM/UK in three weeks where mobility is a premium priority... A local buddy and I have been looking for something like this for a bit. I've tried a lot of other solutions with no joy. I *think* the smaller one will suit me best, where he *thinks* the larger one is the answer for his needs. I hope it works but I've been disappointed many times before. I've ordered one of each and we'll sort them out with our intended carry stuff and see how it works. Happily, neither of them is horrendously expensive. Bagmelda On Aug 8, 2008, at 8:15 AM, Christine Aguila wrote: > Nice fun shot, Bagmelda :-). Took a look at the Lowepro too. Looks > interesting; thanks for posting, but in Chicago I don't want to take > a bag > off & set it down somewhere to get to gear. When I was using my 1st > bag, > which was a little backpack, everytime I went for gear, I had too > much eye > off of my surroundings--not all areas in Chicago are equal in terms of > safety. Shoulder bags help with safety in that sense. But like you > say, > could be good for day treks. I like the composition in The Clown--& > like > you I find the happy expressiveness is very palatable. Cheers, > Christine > > > ----- Original Message ----- >> http://homepage.mac.com/godders/125-clown.jpg -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
