Review: Domke F-3x

[Jim G]

Domke F-3x review! (aka Domke F3x review)



Firstly, a bit of background:

This is a bag I bought with the intention of replacing my Domke F-803 once I bought a 1D as the 1D would not happily fit in a F-803 with lens attached. I like a relatively low-key bag for walking around urban areas, biking around town, covering gigs in pubs and just for casual usage. I wanted something which would hold a body with lens attached as well as a couple of other lenses and a flash + accessories.







Specs, as taken from here are 12.5" long, 7.25" wide and 9.6" deep (~32x18x25cm). Dry weight 907gm so fairly light as far as bags of this carrying capacity go.


Side view:







The Domke canvas is very hard-wearing and washes very easily - in the first week of owning this particular bag it got covered in pink paint at a gig. No worries - chucked it in the wash the next day and it looked good as new. The sand bags get a worn look very quickly that doesn't come out easily in the wash, though - I personally quite like the worn in look. I like my gear to get used.




In the side view you can see the strap - featuring something that as I've seen is unique to Domke, namely rubber threads sewn into the webbing.







Gives it just the right amount of grippiness so as to make it not slide around a great deal when you're walking irrespective of what you've got in it. The Domke F-3x has a much broader strap than the F-803 which makes it quite a bit more comfortable to wear when heavily laden with gear.


The strap is a shade under 5cm wide.


I chose sand because of its less-camera-bag-like colour and the fact that I just like sand. I saw a new black one the other day and it's quite nice, too, definitely more camera-bag esque and more "pro" in look - were I to be using one as a formal wedding bag I know I wouldn't be taking sand along.





Detail of clasps & connections:





Here you can see the connectors for the shoulder strap which are made of polycarbonate and feel very sturdy. I have no qualms whatsoever about carting around a heavy amount of kit in my bag with these things holding it up. They handle having the metal handstrap clasp clipped and unclipped quite well without marking.


The handstrap clasps are the same as the single front clasp:







The rubbish on this clasp is some gaffer tape I attached to stop it rattling as I walked. Works a treat. I accidentally left the gaffer tape on when the bag went through the wash and dryer, hence the slightly tatty look. The ring gets silvered quite a bit over time. I can't imagine that being a big issue.


I personally find that these types of clasps are possible to operate one-handed with a little bit of practice - the actual technique is hard to describe but it involves having your thumb against the opposite side to that which opens, hooking your index finger against the underside of the opening part of the clasp, pulling the whole lot taut against the ring, pushing the clasp in using thumb and index finger then slide up and away from the ring. Works in a second.









Here you can see the handstrap attached, sitting over the front of the bag - the handstrap slides freely across the top of the shoulder strap connectors and can sit at the front or rear of the bag as desired. I don't find that it gets in the way and if you did you could just remove it. I quite like having a handstrap, though.

[Jim G]

Onto the inside!



There are two roundish compartments on either end of the interior. As you can see here:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3071/...30091947_o.jpg (linked to reduce the sheer volume of pics in this review...)

these compartments aren't actually sewn to the base. They are sewn to the sides quite firmly.

The base is padded where you can see green in the above photo.




The top flap as seen from the back of the bag. You can see the "Made in USA" tag above the zipper, a sturdy YKK zipper, a line of velcro and the clasp. There is no compartment on the very top of the bag, only the part of the flap that fits over the front of the bag. This compartment happily fits small accessories such as batteries, a small notepad, pens, business card holders etc. As you can see in the linked photo above I put a piece of velcro over the strip here to stop it from working; I don't feel that I need the extra grip the velcro gives and the noise draws too much attention for my liking. Sticking some velcro over it is a more elegant solution than unpicking it, imho, and is much more easily reversible.




The only divider that comes with the bag. There is a divider (or multiple dividers, perhaps) that fit this bag - Domke FA-240 does, at least. Don't own one, can't comment! This little sucker has velcro on either end and a couple of mm of padding inside. Ample for keeping gear off other gear. Canon lens cap provided for scale.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3214/...22b47b49_o.jpg

The above link shows the two strips of velcro going horizontally across the end interior compartments that the above divider attaches to. Note that there is no velcro on the front or back of the interior compartment. Wouldn't be hard to add should you feel the need, though.



Divider in place.


Righto, enough of the interior now...



Exterior pocket showing that you can fit a 580 II in it quite comfortably. Slight caveat to that, coming later.



With it in its padded case the 580 just allows the pocket to close. Take it out of its casing and the velcro closes a lot further as seen on the below link:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/...00be265f_o.jpg (looks different because I had to take one of my flashes out of the setup to get this shot )



Alright, onto the main bit - what it holds. I use this bag in several configurations but the most common ones are:

1. Gig bag - 1d3 w/24-70L, 85 1.8, 135L, 580EX II.
2. Walkaround bag - 1d3 w/17-40L, 85 1.8, 135L, MF 50mm f/1.4

I've done photos of 1 here because if 1 fits 2 will definitely fit with a lot of room to spare. Firstly, let's see how the lenses fit into the compartments:



Hrm, well fancy that. Both fit with their hoods reversed. This is of major importance to me as I don't want to be messing around finding hoods in a bag when I'm in a hurry.

Top-down view: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/...92f7b450_o.jpg

The 24-70L fits just snug, the 135L has a tiny bit of wiggle room. You wouldn't be able to fit anything in there with a wider diameter than the 24-70L's hood, or at least not without a fight.

[Jim G]

The longest lens I would want to fit in one of these would be around 17cm total length, which is the height of the bag proper. I think you could happily have a little bit of protrusion and have the top flap cover it no worries but if you try to stick something 25cm long like my Sigma 100-300, for example...




Not happy Jan. Sticks out like a bit of a sore thumb. If I had a 70-200 or a 100-400L of any sort I'd stick them in here to show how they fit - or don't. Once I get my hands on a friend's copy I'll post some pics up here. Expect an update.


Now, without further ado, the way I've set up the bag to take the gear I need it to:




Image is fairly self-explanatory. 1D III sits happily on top just flush with the top of the bag with the 24-70L mounted against the base. Both end pockets are currently empty. All gear is happily protected from everything else. The 580 II is folded into an L pointing upwards with the head to the right of the pic. If you wanted to jam pack the bag there's a bunch of empty space in there that you could fit small things like batteries or a couple of small accessory bags. Front pocket is empty other than the padding, flap pocket is empty.

Top view of same: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/...f43da61f_o.jpg





Here you can see the eyepiece protrudes above the lip of the bag the tiniest bit - totally unnoticeable when you fold the flap over. Perfect fit. Another angle: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/...28f5a484_o.jpg





Bag with the interior full of the above. Looks remarkably like the first photo.


Same w/ another 580EX in the left pocket.





Now, what's the blue stuff? 5mm rubber camping sleeping mat. When I'm pushing through crowds and don't have the front pocket jam packed with accessories I stick a little bit of extra padding there to stop the 580 getting bashed too much. Works great. $5 for a 2mx50cm sheet to sleep on from any camping store and as a bonus you get enough to sleep on in a tent after hacking it up to use on your camera bags. I also use little squares/circles to keep lenses from bouncing on top of one another when I stack them. Bloody useful stuff.



Fits in just as you can see above. You could even do the same to the back pocket if you liked, ditto the end pockets.

[Jim G]

Once I can get someone else to take some photos of what it looks like on I'll post those up along with the above promised lenses-I-don't-have-in-the-bag photos. Oh, and the backpack strap. And the postal shoulder thing.


Bottom Line:

For me this is just about the perfect urban bag - as discreet as you can reasonably expect, weather resistant, as comfortable as you could expect, lightweight yet easily paddable should you require it and with a good broad strap. I really like the fact that whenever it gets dirty or messed up from beer (drunken patrons, yay)/paint/mud I can just take out what's in it, chuck it in the washing machine and it comes out looking great again. Not something I can do with my Lowepros and have them dry out anytime this century... If you're worried about the lack of padding... don't be. I add a little bit extra in because I'm paranoid and end up having drunken patrons bash into my bag on a regular basis - I've never yet had something damaged in the bag. The only reason I sold my F-803 is because it no longer fitted what I need size-wise and if you're looking for something with the above qualities that will fit a body and a couple of spare lenses and flash then I would highly recommend looking into this bag.



Goes for around $95US at the major American camera houses at the moment (07/09)



Suggestions also welcome, if you find that the thread is too cumbersome due to the number of photos let me know and I can convert more of them to links. All photos linked from Flickr - http://www.flickr.com.

[Pinto]

Very thorough review. Well done, thanks.

[Jon]

Yep. It's an ideal bag for a body and a couple of lenses + flash.

[ANGUS]

Great review! I can get a 70-200 f2.8 IS L to fit easily it gives about 2cm of room above it in the bag but no hood, i use a generic metal hood which i prefer anyway. Ill take a photo with it in to post up here if you want?

[Jon]

OBTW -
F-3X with 5D/100-400 (hood reversed):




One of the end pockets has a 580EX in it. The other bag's an F-2 with 20D and 70-200 2.8 IS in it(which fits just as well in the F3x as the 100-400 combo).

[NorCalAl]

Absolutely great review. Kinda wish I'd seen this prior to my recent Crumpler 6mdh purchase....but nothing says I can't get this, too! I wish there were more reviews like this one.

[DMOEsq]

Great review. I have had this bag (in olive green) for several months. I love it. It looks small and, as you have shown, carries a ton of equipment. It is the clown car of camera bags!

[Andrushka]

nice review - you've made me want one of these! oh no...

[Quad]

The F-3x really does hold an amazing amount of stuff for such a small bag. I can put so much into mine that I don't want to carry it for a long day out on the streets. It is great though as it is easy to get things in and out of if I pack it less than full to the seams.

I have left it at home for my current trip and have been using an F-5XC (a new bag I wanted to break in) which is a real nice alternative/companion bag that is a bit slimmer but would not be so good for a series 1 body or a gripped 5D (I don't know about the other bodies). It has a small amount of padding which is concern to some but I tend to not smash my bag around too much anyhow. The F3 is great to carry just a wee bit more than the 5XC

[Jim G]

Thanks all - hope this helps people choose the bag that suits their needs. I can't recommend Domkes enough for what they are.

Originally Posted by NSWESP

Great review! I can get a 70-200 f2.8 IS L to fit easily it gives about 2cm of room above it in the bag but no hood, i use a generic metal hood which i prefer anyway. Ill take a photo with it in to post up here if you want?

Post away, I'll make a note in the original few posts if there's some useful pics down the thread!

Originally Posted by NorCalAl

Absolutely great review. Kinda wish I'd seen this prior to my recent Crumpler 6mdh purchase....but nothing says I can't get this, too! I wish there were more reviews like this one.

I've come to realise that there is no perfect one-bag solution; you can't have something for every situation in one bag. I have a Boda bag for formal stuff and for shooting out of when all I need is a lens bag for all day, I have this bag for a drag-around-everywhere, gig and travel bag and a backpack for when I'm riding or hiking places. I'm now looking for a F1 or similar to act as a "take everything to a job" bag as I'm sick of carting around several smaller bags of camera gear...

[xr_oc_kx]

I'm so getting one of these =) Which color would you suggest? I'm an Asian btw

[Jon]

What color do you want? Except for my F-1x and one of the F-2s, mine are all in Sand.