New Bag

went out for the holy week. had a blast. got to field test the new bag. it was a pretty tough field test, but the new toy got me through.

Okay, first off, this is my first canvas camera bag. Coming from a LowePro Nature Trekker II I wasn’t really sure about this bag’s resistance to the elements. On the other hand, I needed something that I could move around with while carrying a considerable amount of equipment. While I’d been on the lookout for something on the Domke line for a while, I’ve had experience with similar bags and have had the accompanying lower back pains that inevitably follow their use.

I needed something that would carry for extended periods without sacrificing protection or comfort. My previous bag, the Nature Trekker did a really good job but was too massive to move around with.

Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to get a National Geographic Medium Backpack, the subject of this review. At first glance the bag doesn’t seem able to carry as much equipment as my trusty Lowe but to my surprise after stuffing some essentials in, I had space left over for more.

The product literature says the bag is good for a day or two worth of living space and shooting gear.

Here’s how I fill mine up. two digital bodies, a D100 and D200 both with grips go in the top compartment along with an Epson P-2000. The two cameras are separated with a makeshift foam divider. One camera always has a lens mounted, usually the Tamron 24-135. The space left over from these items may be filled with an extra shirt or a light jacket.

The padded compartment below holds a Nikon F80, Sigma 70-200 F2.8, Tokina 28-70 F2.8, MC 28 F2.8, Nikon 50 F1.8, and a Sigma 1.4 teleconverter.

This setup allows for one lens to be on the camera all the time. If I know that I won’t need a body hand and if I REALLY need the space, I can make more room for extra stuff in the main compartment by transferring the mounted lens down to the padded compartment and squeezing the 28, 50, and TC into one divider section.

The outer compartments hold a whole lot than you might think. The top flap compartment on mine holds a pen, notebook, ipod shuffle, cleaning clothes, multi tool, and pocket knife. The lower velcro pockets hold batteries, a flash foot, adapter jack for the ipod, facial wash, and a comb. Under these are a SB-600, CD marker, and a small roll of duck tape in the right side pocket and chargers for the P-2000, camera batteries, ipod, and mobile phone along with a USB cable for the cameras and P-2000 in the left side pocket.

The laptop compartment holds a set of portable speakers, AA charger, and a ziplock bag with a set of CTO and 216 filters, and a white sheet of paper for white balance setting.

With everything pulled out of the bag and laid out, you'd be surprised what can go into this "medium" backpack.

I haven’t really put the thing on a scale yet but it does get pretty heavy. The straps are built pretty well, in fact better than I expected coming from a hi-tech LowePro harness. The entire bag carries extremely well, while some would lament the absence of a waist belt I don’t think its really necessary for the kind of use this bag was intended for. The brass implements seem to work really well at keeping closed and are very convenient under shooting conditions when you need to pull equipment out in a hurry.