Reasonable offering in a hard to fit niche
Written: Jul 26 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good construction, slightly more space than anticipated.
Cons: No accommodation for non-camera gear, compartment and straps could be better engineered.
The Bottom Line: Reasonable solution if you understand the limitations
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| djsepinions's Full Review: Lowepro Slingshot 200AW Camera Bag |
My Epinions Philosophy
When I make a purchase, epinions is one of my most valuable resources for non-biased experiences and information. When I come here to research a product I read all of the reviews and the product specifications and details on other sites as well. You will find that my reviews try to focus on my personal experiences and research discoveries that I think are not easy to discover through pre-purchase research. I will also highlight any differences between actual product features and performance and what the vendor's marketing states or implies. This means that my review will not spend a lot of time on basic specifications, procedures or stock commentary that you can read in other places.
Vendor and Product Info Links
http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Sling_Bags/Designed_for_Digital/SlingShot_200_AW.aspx
My Purchase
Adorama for $79.95 in February of 2006. The equipment I originally started with for this bag is the Canon Digital Rebel Body, Canon EF 70-300 IS USM zoom (6.75"), Canon EF 50 f/1.4 and Canon EFS 18-55 Kit lens. I also have a Canon 420 EX flash. I have recently invested in a 24-70 f/2.8 lens. I bought this bag long before the AW 300 came out.
My Relevant Product Background
I carry a lot of technical equipment for work and recognize when a bag is well designed for it's intended purpose. I try to travel compact - so space wasting designs really tend to get on my nerves.
What I Like
I have been able to cram more than expected into this bag when traveling on the airplane. I guess I really use two modes of packing the bag - one is for the airplane to get to a location. Once at a location I can repack the back for daily use. The former allows me to cram the bag much fuller than would be practical for daily use. The compartment at the top of the bag can hold more than it seems and the compartment where I lay down my long zoom can accommodate my video camera. Another trick for packing it for travel is to put a short lens on the body and put items below the short lens - I put my compact Canon S410 in that spot.
The flat outside front pocket has much more room for filters and accessories that it first appears.
What I Don't Like
Secondary Strap
The primary strap works fairly well, however the secondary strap that you can fasten for longer traveling does not really pull the pack into a comfortable position for long hikes - especially if you've got it full. Though I don't expect it to sit like a full scale pack, this strap seems to have had minimal engineering. It should be a little wider to prevent cutting in too hard.
Utility Space and Place for Maps / Guide Books
It is not practical to carry two backpacks and I generally don't have only my camera equipment with me. It would be helpful to have had at least some space for guidebooks / maps and possibly some additional snack or small clothing space in the price range.
Waste of space
With a 6.75" lens you use up essentially the space for two 5" lenses. So for a long zoom prime combination, the space for lenses was relatively limited. If you're invested in some of the 5" lenses, the case depth could allow for up to four.
The SLR compartment is the most challenging to work with. I know there are a lot of body configurations out there, but more thought could have been given here.
Tripod carrying
There is not a built in place to carry a tripod. If one was mounted using the Lowe Pro SlipLock attachments down the center of the bag, it would inhibit use of all pockets unless removed. Would have been nice to build this into the right side of the bag. In any case, there doesn't appear to be a tripod SlipLock attachment.
Handling
The bag "quick access" works reasonably well when you just wish to pull out your camera - but if you need to change lens you are now in a much more complicated situation where you have to put down the bag. There is no strap to hold the bag in the rotated position - would help this situation immensely. Without special configuration, you cannot reach an additional lens without fully opening the bag - but the bag won't easily rotate into a position to keep the compartment upright if you have the main strap tight enough to hike comfortably. See tip below on getting quick access to at least one additional lens.
Aging
I've had the bag for over a year and the area where the main strap attaches near the zipper to the quick access part of the bag has softened. This inhibits getting the zipper open do to the softness and obstruction of the zipper path.
Hidden Gems and Tips
The little elastics for holding unused strap length for the adjustable straps have saved a lot of frustration and been a bigger plus than expected.
Quick Camera Access and Maximum Bag Loading
Since this was my first quick access bag, I learned this the hard way with some disappointment. Keep in mind you are not going to want to HAVE to change lens to quickly stow the camera when it has a long lens attached (because it would defeat "quick camera access and stowage" - one of the primary engineering points of this bag). So the space on the lens end of the camera space must remain allocated when determining what the maximum loading of the bag is for daily use. If you happen to have all prime lenses shorter than 3" then you might be able to use this space more efficiently with a divider.
Creative Configurations - Additional lens access from quick position.
Many times you are changing between two main lenses. I have a 24-70 and 70-300 - so a lot of quick switching happens between these two. To configure the bag lenses for this, do the following.
*) Open the bag wide with the door opening away from you and examine it from the top. In the compartment to the left of the camera compartment detach the velcro that attaches it to the far left wall.
*) Fold this divider back on itself and attach it to itself. You now have two compartments that can be seen into when the bag is in it's quick open position.
*) Gaffer tape two rear lens caps together and always have this "modified" cap on the stored lens of your "two most used lenses" pair.
*) When switching, have the camera on your neck. Detach the current lens. Grab the stored lens by the gaffer cap and attach the removed lens, flip the assembly and detach the stored lens. Drop the unused lens back into the case and attach the retrieved lens to the camera.
*) Be very careful to ensure the additional safety buckles for the compartment door are fastened so that a heavy lens does not sudden unzip the zipper and hit the ground. You must also ALWAYS close the bag before releasing it or swinging it to your back - otherwise a lens hits the ground.
Creative Configuration - better use of SLR storage
If you have successfully done the above configuration, try your SLR in the left hand compartment. My Canon Digital Rebel has almost zero body width to the left of the lens (when viewed from the rear) and so it fits perfectly in this left compartment and makes more of the right side of the bag usable in when opened for quick access.
Strap Bag into Rotated Position
As I mentioned earlier there is no strap configuration to hold the bag in the rotated position - I haven't tried it yet, but it seems if I attached a strap that could mate with the secondary strap to the top carrying handle and set it at the proper length, I could modify the bag to do this.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
djsepinions
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Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 3 members
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