Inexpensive Camera Backpack for Hiking

So, we are headed to the Grand Tetons/Yellowstone the first week in June. Hoping to of course see all the main touristy attractions and some (prob minimal due to my husband and his possible elevation sickness and with bringing my 5 year old) trail hiking. I need a comfortable backpack to hold my 60D, 18-135mm, 50mm, my rented 100-400l mm, and not sure if I should pack my 55-250.. (or do I have enough variety with the other gear?). Also has to hold memory cards and strap on a tripod.. If possible have room for water, extra jacket, etc. I'm on a budget of under $100 (pref. under $75) since we are spending enough on gas, clothes, lodging, lens rental, etc for our trip. I was looking at the Case Logic SLRC-206 Backpack.. Not sure if it would hold everything, be comfortable, etc. Any opinions/suggestions? Thank you!

I took this on a hike this weekend and it did pretty well with a 70-200 f4, 10-20, 30mm, 468 flash with some space to spare for clothes/food

http://www.newegg.com …41113-_-Item-_-30-994-764

and this one seems pretty popular for a cheap decent backpack
http://www.amazon.com …1&keywords=cano​n+backpack

I haven't found one. All of the photo backpacks I've seen hold just photo gear and have no room for silly things like a platypus and a jacket. If you do find one, they have ridiculous weight distribution.

I'd get a 15-30 liter backpack with a decent belt from a reputable manufacturer and thinktank or lowepro cases for individual lenses. They're more useful than a photo bag because you can throw them in anywhere.

Shooter_Mutter wrote in post #15830262
So, we are headed to the Grand Tetons/Yellowstone the first week in June. Hoping to of course see all the main touristy attractions and some (prob minimal due to my husband and his possible elevation sickness and with bringing my 5 year old) trail hiking. I need a comfortable backpack to hold my 60D, 18-135mm, 50mm, my rented 100-400l mm, and not sure if I should pack my 55-250.. (or do I have enough variety with the other gear?). Also has to hold memory cards and strap on a tripod.. If possible have room for water, extra jacket, etc. I'm on a budget of under $100 (pref. under $75) since we are spending enough on gas, clothes, lodging, lens rental, etc for our trip. I was looking at the Case Logic SLRC-206 Backpack.. Not sure if it would hold everything, be comfortable, etc. Any opinions/suggestions? Thank you!

You want a lot out of a backpack for not a lot of money. Any decent camera hiking backpack is going to be well over the $75-100 mark. Most of the packs under your price limit that will fit that gear will not have a hip belt and may not have a tripod holder let alone any space for gear other then camera.

Your best bet might be to find a decent hiking backpack (used as it will keep the price down) and add a camera compartment/paddy to it. But even then you may go over your budget.

The closet thing I could think of you'd be the lowepro fast pack 200. It should fit all the camera gear and is about $70, but it has no hip belt and no tripod holder.

zhengf2 wrote in post #15830358
I took this on a hike this weekend and it did pretty well with a 70-200 f4, 10-20, 30mm, 468 flash with some space to spare for clothes/food

http://www.newegg.com …41113-_-Item-_-30-994-764

and this one seems pretty popular for a cheap decent backpack
http://www.amazon.com …1&keywords=cano​n+backpack

I second the pack from Newegg. I too wanted a backpack but did not have alot to spend. Now granted I am a BIG guy at 280lb 6'2". This pack is a little small on me, the belt rides up higher then my waist but on my wife it fits perfectly (this is ok for us she carries my camera gear and I carry the second pack that has all "our" other stuff in it, that tends to weigh 2-3 times what my camera bag weighs lol).

It holds a good amount of gear along with other items.

Thanks ya'll for the recommendations. I think i'll be going with the Newegg pack. Going to order early next month (still have a few extra things I gotta get as well).

I have 2 suggestions:

First, if you haven't ordered yet, add this one to your list:
http://www.amazon.com …TF8&qid=1366378​707&sr=1-3
It's an inexpensive bag, that seems to be decently made and should hold up fine with non-every day type use. I bought and returned a slingpro 202 as I didn't find it very comfortable. I know my dad has had one for a few years and it still looks brand new. He only uses it on vacation, so don't know how well it would hold up to every day use, but that doesn't seem to be your usage case. It came in earlier this week and looks great. It's probably a touch light on padding if you plan to go knocking it against rocks all the time, but for most people it's just fine.

If you own one (not sure if you do or not), bring a SECOND backpack for water, food, jackets, etc. You can carry one, your husband carry the other. Not only does it give you more space, you get two reasonable weight backpacks vs one person carrying a very heavy back pack.

you should look into a real hiking backpack + inserts... aside from that, fstopgear makes something for your need, but very expensive. I have a kelty redwing, a real hiking backpack, and it's really a league above any camera backpack, since it can carry a whole lot more than just camera gear.

Charlie wrote in post #15845330
you should look into a real hiking backpack + inserts... aside from that, fstopgear makes something for your need, but very expensive. I have a kelty redwing, a real hiking backpack, and it's really a league above any camera backpack, since it can carry a whole lot more than just camera gear.

I was trying to do the same thing on a budget, and most inserts (other then the small 3 compartment shoulder bag type) are still very expensive. Add that to a hiking backpack (I already had the pack just shopped for inserts ... still to expensive), and its even more so. If the OP is only going to be using it a few times a year then the less expensive options are probably going to work just fine.

As to using a second bag, this is what my wife and I do, and I end up with which ever one is heavier I normaly start with the pack that has the food and clothes and drinks in it for the hike in, but after lunch that pack is alot lighter and we end up trading back Its good team work. Make sure which ever pack you get has a chest strap it takes a lot of the stress off your back.

Littlejon Dsgn wrote in post #15845429
I was trying to do the same thing on a budget, and most inserts (other then the small 3 compartment shoulder bag type) are still very expensive. Add that to a hiking backpack (I already had the pack just shopped for inserts ... still to expensive), and its even more so. If the OP is only going to be using it a few times a year then the less expensive options are probably going to work just fine.

As to using a second bag, this is what my wife and I do, and I end up with which ever one is heavier I normaly start with the pack that has the food and clothes and drinks in it for the hike in, but after lunch that pack is alot lighter and we end up trading back Its good team work. Make sure which ever pack you get has a chest strap it takes a lot of the stress off your back.

my wife is lazy, she refuses to backpack anything, so I usually pack it all, including gear(for the kids too) AND food.....

If you've got help, the newegg bag would probably do the trick.

Charlie wrote in post #15846295
my wife is lazy, she refuses to backpack anything, so I usually pack it all, including gear(for the kids too) AND food.....

If you've got help, the newegg bag would probably do the trick.

Yes I am very lucky to have help On our first hike she packed so much I told her she would have to carry some of it, now she does without me asking she has also started packing a lot less I also have gotten packs for our two dogs and they carry a good amount too, I could pack my gear on them, but I dont trust them to not run into a stream lol.