Which camera bag?

[inkista]

This is just me, but the best resource I've found for getting a feel for what a bag can hold is to look it up on http://cambags.com. This is not a commercial website selling you anything, but is a crowd-source review site for camera bags, and folks will post pics of the bag fully loaded. Since nobody loads their bag the same way as anybody else, you get more of a feel as to whether the bag might fit your needs. It may not contain reviews on the latest bags, but it's got a pretty fair sampling.

The main thing to understand is that the "perfect" camera bag is an endless quest, that often ends in moving from one bag to another as your needs change and your pile of gear grows, or to have multiple bags for different situations. Keep in mind that the gear you have now may not be all the gear you want to lug around over the next year or two. Give yourself a little room to grow if you're just starting out.

Figure out the style of bag you want: shoulder bag, backpack, sling, etc. and whether you'd prefer a dedicated bag or throwing an insert into a bag you already own. The 1100D+battery grip isn't particularly large, so if you plan to upgrade bodies in the future, make sure you don't get something that fits your current gear too tightly. If you end up moving up to a 7DmkII+grip, you might wish you had a little more room. Also figure out if you plan on carrying the camera with a lens attached or not. If I put my 40/2.8 STM pancake on my 5DMkII, it can fit in one of the lens slots. If I put my 24-105 on it, not so much. Two lenses and a flash will mean at least three lens compartments, so those three-chamber shoulder bags may or may not be enough, depending on whether you plan to stack the lenses on top of each other in one compartment, and how the body compartment is configured.

I currently use five bags. A Kata (Manfrotto) DR-466i to hold a laptop, a camera, and a few lenses/flash (more or less my office briefcase or travel bag) [main bag 80% of the time], a cheap Canon backpack for those times I'm out in dusty back canyons looking for birds and need something that can hold my 50D/400 f/5.6L combo or just wanna lug a ton of gear about, a ThinkTank Retospective 5 or Timbuktu XS classic messenger w/Snoop insert for those times I want to travel with just one extra lens/flash or mirrorless-only, and a Hakuba PSTC 100 tripod bag for my off-camera lighting gear.

[Dave Humphries]

Bags slipping off? Wouldn't touch one with a barge pole unless the strap can go across my chest and fit round the shoulder opposite the side the bag is on - my neck then stops it from slipping off - might be a clearer way of putting it. I can also then push it behind me if it gets in the way.

I agree - and that's how I wear it too, but when shooting, I push it around behind me, so it is resting on my lower back - the problem is that if I lean forward to take a shot, say while bracing myself against a fence, wall or tree, it often decides to slide round in front of me at the most inopportune moment

So the issue is not it slipping off altogether - just sliding round and unbalancing me, or possibly colliding with whatever I am leaning against.

UPDATE:
Thanks for that link to Cambags Kathy,
It has allowed me to locate what I think is my bag; a LowePro Inverse 200AW

Cheers, Dave

[inkista]

... the problem is that if I lean forward to take a shot, say while bracing myself against a fence, wall or tree, it often decides to slide round in front of me at the most inopportune moment ...

Ah, see. This is why I like using a Timbuk2 messenger bag, and why I paid extra to get a "customized" one off the website and the insert, rather than the run-of-the-mill Snoop--I wanted the left-hand strap. I'm right-handed, but I prefer having a bag at my left hip. The right/left handedness means which side of the bag the cam buckle for adjusting the strap length is on. [youtube video demoing the strap] Then again, I use it mostly as a purse without the insert.

...Thanks for that link to Cambags Kathy,
It has allowed me to locate what I think is my bag; a LowePro Inverse 200AW

You're welcome!

[Kronos]

This is just me, but the best resource I've found for getting a feel for what a bag can hold is to look it up on http://cambags.com. This is not a commercial website selling you anything, but is a crowd-source review site for camera bags, and folks will post pics of the bag fully loaded. Since nobody loads their bag the same way as anybody else, you get more of a feel as to whether the bag might fit your needs. It may not contain reviews on the latest bags, but it's got a pretty fair sampling.

The main thing to understand is that the "perfect" camera bag is an endless quest, that often ends in moving from one bag to another as your needs change and your pile of gear grows, or to have multiple bags for different situations. Keep in mind that the gear you have now may not be all the gear you want to lug around over the next year or two. Give yourself a little room to grow if you're just starting out.

Figure out the style of bag you want: shoulder bag, backpack, sling, etc. and whether you'd prefer a dedicated bag or throwing an insert into a bag you already own. The 1100D+battery grip isn't particularly large, so if you plan to upgrade bodies in the future, make sure you don't get something that fits your current gear too tightly. If you end up moving up to a 7DmkII+grip, you might wish you had a little more room. Also figure out if you plan on carrying the camera with a lens attached or not. If I put my 40/2.8 STM pancake on my 5DMkII, it can fit in one of the lens slots. If I put my 24-105 on it, not so much. Two lenses and a flash will mean at least three lens compartments, so those three-chamber shoulder bags may or may not be enough, depending on whether you plan to stack the lenses on top of each other in one compartment, and how the body compartment is configured.

Useful info and link. Thank you.

Think I have settled on a Lowepro Nova 180 AW or the Lowepro Event Messenger 250 as being suitable and can be had for a relatively reasonable amount of cash.

Thanks all for your help. May well return with questions now that I know newbies are welcome.LOL.