I have a lot of equipment..... OK, that's a bit of an understatement, but everything is relative you know! Since I switched from film, I've cut down. I really have! It's gone from 2 bodies-plus motor drives (and sometimes with a digital camera along as well), 10-12 lenses, flash, filters and of course, film. At the moment, I'm down to one body (no need for seperate color and B&W film bodies), 1 to 4 lenses, and 1 or 2 flashes. It's awesome!
However, there's still the issue of hauling it around, and the whole bag/case issue is an easily overlooked piece of equipment. Well; I don't really mean "overlooked", but more like, not well thought out. The vast majority of amateur photographers typically just go over to the accessories aisle of Wal-Mart or Best Buy and pick up the (relatively) inexpensive shoulder bag that the manufacturer sells as the "Kit" for their camera. This "Kit" usually consist of a small shoulder bag that has a few small compartments and one large one, a filter, a cleaning pen, and a small tripod that probably won't be useful for even the smallest DSLR. On top of that, these "Kits" cost somewhere in the $80-100 range! So lets look at what you get for the money.
Let's start with what's inside. No, let's look at what's outside first! So, what's the big deal, it's a pretty generic black camera bag with a nice manufacturer's logo on it? Actually; no, not so much...that's not a logo, that's a neon sign advertising the contents and it has the added benefit of being an invitation to be stolen. One sure side-effect of carrying a "shoulder" style bag is that you'll regularly take it off of your shoulder and set it down since the are always slipping off of there anyway! The next issue is that the majority of them are not big enough for a serious photographer who is adding equipment and needs to carry it, but never fear, the manufacturer will have much bigger versions of the same bag that cost 2 to 3 times as much (with the their logo emblazoned on it as well). As for what's it come's with, you can buy better quality versions of those items (the ones that you really need or would use) for less so let's just move on.
OK, so what's a better course of action on bag's/cases then? Well...... that's a little complex, so bear with me on this. There's really 2 distinctly different sets of requirements (of which only one apply to you). The first is "Field Use" bag, basically meaning the bag that just carries what you need when you are out and about taking pictures; could be a day out with the family, vacation destination, kids' activity/ball games, etc. In this case, the bag needs to have just enough size and compartments (DO NOT count ones that are under each other) to carry only the stuff you need while shooting pictures! I'm a big proponent of sling-style bags for this....why? First of all, they stay on the back and out of the way when not needed, but easily slides around to the front when necessary. I use a Tamrac Velocity 8x. There are of course, a range of sizes, so you just need to find what'll fit you and your equipment. Mine carries my D200 (with or w/o grip) with the 18-200mm lens mounted, any combination of 2 medium sized lenses or flashes and the various other necessities such as extra batteries, memory cards, lens pen, etc. It also has a hide-away waist belt if you need more security on the move and Tamrac's S.A.S./M.A.S. mounting points in case you need to attach other stuff to the outside. It's easy to carry, doesn't hold enough to get overly heavy as well as small enough on the back where I'm not knocking over stuff when I turn around!
The other bag/case requirement is "Transport". I arrived at this issue when I started looking at the issues posed by my needs for our Alaska trip this summer. I'm sure, most everyone is aware of the increasing restrictions imposed by the airlines and TSA on size and weight for carry-on luggage. So, unless you're a woman, and can get away with a "purse" along with a "carry-on", then you are pretty much down to one item. And with the needs of the modern world of a notebook computer, along with the needs of a digital photographer's equipment, you have 2 (or more) sets of equipment which NEEDS (really, I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone why you don't want to hand either your laptop or camera over to "checked" luggage) be hand carried. So....what to do..... 2 equipment sets....one bag. If you want to try and cram your DSLR and lenses into a computer bag or your laptop into a camera bag....well... good luck with that!
Your other option is to look for a bag designed to hold both. Yes Virginia, they make those. Furthermore, I had other requirements. One, it needed to be a backpack style bag, if you've tried to get through big crowded airports with something big and heavy (remember-camera-lenses-flash-laptop-in one bag) from one shoulder, again; good luck with that. Secondly, it needed a compartment to store other "can't risk lost through airline luggage" items such as important meds, contacts/glasses, extra underwear (you never know), book, iPod, whatever. If you've ever had a piece of luggage even temporarily "lost", you understand this need. And for those who have had luggage lost and didn't have those important items with you..... You were an idiot and now you know why I have this requirement. Also, after arriving at my destination and I unload that stuff and have a long "day-trip", then that compartment carries things like snacks and that extra windbreaker, cap or whatever. For this, I did a ton of research and it was resolved by old "standbye", Tamrac, although most of the big outfits (Lowe, Kata) have something that does something similar. I bought the Tamrac Adventure 9 which is the right size for me (see pics).
No, I'm not stuck on Tamrac, I did the research (online) and found what was in my budget and fit my needs, then added those factors to my long-standing experience with Tamrac going back to shuoulder bags that held my film SLR rigs. To added onto this, I've NEVER bought a Tamrac bag new, they've come from eBay (of course), photo swap meet, and Amazon (bet some of you didn't know you can get used stuff there). None of them cost me more than $50! I am the Frugal Propellerhead after all. The other thing; the vast majority of thieves out there have no idea what Tamrac (or Lowe, or Kata) is, so they really aren't sure that they are going to score a nice DSLR or a bunch of diapers, lotions and candy bars!
It's not cool like a "new" flash, and won't make your BP go up like openning up the box to pull out a camera, lens or laptop, but the right bag will ABSOLUTELY repay your investment (both monetary and time) for years to comes.
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