What would you recommend?

[Niall]

I'm in need of a small bag for my camera. I've had a lowepro bag that my sister half inched with my 300D, and find it frustrating to carry my Mini trekker with about 20kilo of equipment in it!

Basically what I'm after is a bag that will hold a small amount. To be exact:

Canon 30D with battery grip attached and the nifty fifty attached.
Sigma 105 macro
Sigma 12-24

With the obvious other bits (cards, etc), nothing that won't fit in a pouch basically.

I realise it's easy to find bags these days, but what I'm after is peoples experience here, rather than generic recommendations based on reviews. Price isn't really an issue as these bags are generally reasonable value anyway, but lets not go nuts eh?

Thanks in advance!

[Jon]

If you were in the US, I'd say a Domke F-803 or F-3X, but they aren't the easiest things, I gather, to get hold of in Blighty.

[amfoto1]

I'm not certain your equipment will fit, but for my "minimal" bag, I like LowePro Off-Road. It's somewhat modular, too, if one of the included lens cases is too small or if you only need to use one of them.

One of my 550EX fits in one of the lens cases, too. I carry 2 to 5 lenses in it, with my camera on it's strap over my shoulder. With few lenses in it, I think I could fit the camera (w/grip) in on end, without any a lens mounted.

My 70-200/2.8 will fit in the Off-Road's main compartment, along with one or two other lenses. 85/1.8 w/hood is about the largest diameter that will fit into the supplied lens cases, bu there's room for a 50/1.4 w/hood or a 28/1.8 w/hood, too, stacked on top.

Front pocket has plenty of room for an off-camera shoe cord, handful of SF memory cards, extra batteries, bulb blower, and more. There's a pocket in the lid, where I usually keep a batch of AA alkalines for the flash, Allen wrenches and maybe a few other small things.

I've had it for years and eventually replaced the strap with one from Op/Tech that's more comfortable (wider), after the original one seemed to get stiffer and harder with age.

It's got a belt, too, which is really nice toward the end of a 10 hour day!

There are places on the bottom for straps to attach a small tripod or monopod, too.

[Chiva]

The crumpler 5 million dollar home would be perfect.

Here's a POTN review of it.
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=118449

[_aravena]

No, here's a review

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=4024764&postcount=43

That other has been gone for awhile now. Aniwho, yeah, it maye work. Not sure on the size of the 105 but it should. Although unless I could try it out to make sure, I'd stay away.

Um...oh, you don't even need to worry about those anyhow. Not to familiar with all the UK's Crumpler bags. Very different and yet to see some good reviews on a diversity of them.

[Niall]

I do like the look of that bag, and it's not obvious you've got a couple of grands worth of equipment with you. The only trouble with the crumpler is that I need it to fit the 30D with the battery grip attached.

Still, I've got until the end of the week to find the perfect companion.

Thanks for the help so far, by the way :)

[_aravena]

There's another review of someone with their 1d in it.