Collin85
17th of July 2008 (Thu), 04:29
After procrastinating for 6 months over getting a larger shoulder bag, I finally got myself a Compact AW. It was either this, the Magnum AW or the Commercial AW. The Commercial AW is massive, the Magnum AW was out of stock and the Compact AW is very similar to the Magnum, so I settled for that.
First impressions is that the body padding is excellent, with an extra thick removable pad at the bottom. All the main compartment padding is removable, as expected. Besides the main compartment, there also exists two removable pockets on both sides of the bags, which one can replace with say, lens cases for telephotos if they wished. At the front there is a fairly roomy compartment designed to hold accessories, such as memory cards, batteries, passports, pens etc. At the back of the bag, there is a zipped sleeve which holds the weather-proof 'wrap' which one can stretch around the entire bag during rainy conditions. There are two further pockets attached to the top flap of the bag, one on the inside and one of the outside. The outside pocket is useful for storing lens caps during shooting.
As for what the bag can carry, Lowepro claims 1-2 bodies with 3-4 lenses. I've found this to be pretty accurate, and my main travel setup (I'm in Beijing right now) consists of: 2 bodies, 10-22, 17-55, 70-200, a mini-tripod and a 580EX. This is for the main compartment. For the removable side pockets, I store an IXUS 80IS P&S, batteries and memory cards. At the front compartment, I store full cards and batteries, passports etc.
Comfort-wise, it is a fairly comfortable shoulder bag, although like most large shoulder bags, it can cause some shoulder and neck discomfort if you're trekking over a fair distance. For that, I would still prefer my Slingshot 200.
Comfort: 4/5 (if not trekking)
Durability: 5/5
Versatility: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Here are some pics:
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443723_8Sw34-L.jpg
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443733_Adm7G-X2.jpg
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443719_ePWqC-S.jpg
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443809_wdDTQ-S.jpg
First impressions is that the body padding is excellent, with an extra thick removable pad at the bottom. All the main compartment padding is removable, as expected. Besides the main compartment, there also exists two removable pockets on both sides of the bags, which one can replace with say, lens cases for telephotos if they wished. At the front there is a fairly roomy compartment designed to hold accessories, such as memory cards, batteries, passports, pens etc. At the back of the bag, there is a zipped sleeve which holds the weather-proof 'wrap' which one can stretch around the entire bag during rainy conditions. There are two further pockets attached to the top flap of the bag, one on the inside and one of the outside. The outside pocket is useful for storing lens caps during shooting.
As for what the bag can carry, Lowepro claims 1-2 bodies with 3-4 lenses. I've found this to be pretty accurate, and my main travel setup (I'm in Beijing right now) consists of: 2 bodies, 10-22, 17-55, 70-200, a mini-tripod and a 580EX. This is for the main compartment. For the removable side pockets, I store an IXUS 80IS P&S, batteries and memory cards. At the front compartment, I store full cards and batteries, passports etc.
Comfort-wise, it is a fairly comfortable shoulder bag, although like most large shoulder bags, it can cause some shoulder and neck discomfort if you're trekking over a fair distance. For that, I would still prefer my Slingshot 200.
Comfort: 4/5 (if not trekking)
Durability: 5/5
Versatility: 4/5
Value: 4/5
Here are some pics:
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443723_8Sw34-L.jpg
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443733_Adm7G-X2.jpg
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443719_ePWqC-S.jpg
http://collin85.smugmug.com/photos/333443809_wdDTQ-S.jpg