Bag Review - LowePro Slingshot 100

hammer418 wrote in post #7525385
The OP stated:


If you mean a 'battery grip', I would have to disagree.
My XTi with Canon battery grip attached fits into the SS100 without problem.

I find this bag is nicely made, and works well for an afternoon of casual shooting at the park, ect.. And no velcro has ever attacked my shirts !

It does? Cool. I have an Xti and a 40D with grip, I was basing it on that, but the X series grip must be smaller. It may also depend on the lens mounted. A fatter lens (like a 10-20) seem to give less wiggle room. Thanks for the clarification.

Citizensmith wrote in post #7530401
It does? Cool. I have an Xti and a 40D with grip, I was basing it on that, but the X series grip must be smaller. It may also depend on the lens mounted. A fatter lens (like a 10-20) seem to give less wiggle room. Thanks for the clarification.

You're welcome, sir............and thanks for the review.
It's this type of information that benefits all of us POTN members.
I generally use the SS100 to carry my 'gripped' XTi with my all-rounder lens (a Tamron 18-250), but it also works for my Tokina 12-24mm.

Sigma - Diameter 86.6mm X Length 184.4mm
Canon - Diameter 76mm X Length 172mm (Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L)

So it would fit, correct?
Anybody?

The SS100 I had was an awesome bare essentials bag and I kind miss it as it was light since it was the bare essentials plus it was a sling bag. I can't ever find them cheap anymore though and they've been out long enough I think they would be. They're not worth their prices now and I happened to get mine for $40 so I'd never pay more that.

I doubt it, but maybe. I have the exact stuff to test your question, but my 40D, 17-55, 70-200 are at home. The bag is at work (with my work camera). I'll borrow it tomorrow and see if I can get you a definitive answer.

_aravena wrote in post #4148123
The 100 was small but quite suitable pending your gear. Could easily take a 70-300 USM IS, medium tele and a flash plus another lens or the flash could go in the top with accessories in the front pocket. If my tele wasn't already a 70-200 F2.8, I would have kept mine. too small though and the 200AW just got heavy w/o being able to switch shoulders. Here's my 200 though with my latest gear.

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EDIT: I found my perfect bag for the time being.

Wow youve got a lot of stuff in there. I had the 300 a while back and once I got it loaded up I found it was way too heavy for one shoulder and hurt my neck after a short while. That was my only problem with the slingshot bags.

OK, so the answer is, yes, kind of, but you should really go for the 200.

The 70-200 f/4 is too long for the case. If you don't have a filter on and don't mind a really tight fit it will go in. You'd also need to make custom padding to separate it from the camera, or use the smaller divider to hook over it for about half its length. And obviously, no way at all that the 70-200 would fit in on camera.

The 17-55 will fit in on camera, hood reversed. There is a small hole left that could get the small divider for stability, or the 17-55 hood. There isn't room for the 70-200 hood in the main body of the bag, and it only fits in the top if you don't mind stretching the zip tight. Oh, and the larger of the dividers wouldn't be any use either.

So will it fit, yes. Will it fit in a usable, sensible way that will protect your equipment. Not even close.

When I had my SS100, I could "fit" a mounted 70-200 f4 on an XSi vertically, but "fit" is in the eye of the beholder. So with a 40D, I doubt it will ever be mounted in the 100 so you'll always need to have the 17-55 mounted which as Citizensmith says isn't very usable. SS200 should do fine

Well OK, I need to think different. Yup, the 70-200 will fit mounted on the 40D if you do it vertically. Vertical hadn't occurred to me, sorry. Problem is, now the 17-55 ends up on the wrong side of the bag, pinned by a divider you'd have to remove each time you wanted it, or, just rattling around loose. Plus, no room for hoods this way. Oh, and this way would only work with the 70-200 mounted, you couldn't mount the 17-55 with the 70-200 next to it.

Citizen, thanks for helping me out.
I decided on getting the tamron 17-50 instead of the 17-55 and have since bought a flash. In the future, I plan to purchase the 70-200 F4L and maybe the sigma 50 1.4.

I had a chance to try out the 200AW in person, and it's a bit too large for my liking. The reason I was looking at the 100 AW, or the Slingshot type bag in the first place, is because I'm planning to drive to photo destinations on my sport bike (spring is here! )
and need a bag that's small, but versatile enough to carry the equipment I currently have, but the two lenses I hope to buy in the future.

Here's my proposed layout.
My flash would be inside the top compartment in it's own soft case,
The 70-200 would be at the top laying horizontally, where your lens hood is sitting,
My 40D with the 17-50 would sit where your setup is,
and the sigma would be where your extra lens is (at the bottom right hand side)

I've seen shots of the 100AW with the 70-200 and a 40D with lens attached. It looks a bit cramped, but still works. My only problem is that the sigma 50mm is a beast of a prime and I'm not sure if that would fit.
If worst came to worst, I could put that on the top comparment and bring the flash down, but I'm afraid that it might fall out somehow.

Am I being irrational, trying to stick with the 100 AW, than go with the 200?
Right now, I just don't have enough equipment to fill a 200 and if the 100 could fit my ideal setup, I'd prefer a more compact bag.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Hyuni] - I'm going to jump back into this thread, if I may.
Since another of my loves is motorcycling (Yamaha FZ1), I might have some additonal insight.
My take -- Don't put equpiment into any type of bag slung over-your-spine, when on a motorcycle ! Sorry friend, but this is extremely unwise, from a safety perspective.
If you want to carry camera equipment on a motorcycle, please use hard saddlebags (best), or a well-padded tankbag.

Hammer,
thank you VERY much for the insight. I never thought about the risk invovled in riding with equipment on my body.
I don't know how to ride yet, but I'll be taking the class this weekend and purchasing my bike sometime this week as well.
I took a look at some saddlebags and tankbags on amazon and decided a tankbag would be a better option for me.
I'll be riding on a GSX-R 600cc sportbike and I don't think a saddlebag would be optimum, especially because I'm a beginner and might drop the bike, initially.
I like the idea of tank bags. It's right in front of me, my equipment won't be damaged if I drop the bike, and it doesn't take up too much space.
The problem is, it doesn't look like there's a lot of space for me to pack things into the tank bag. Do you know if I could potentially fit a full slingshot 100AW bag INTO a tank bag? It's hard to gauge the size on the net.
I think I'll have to visit a bike shop and check out the dimensions of tanks bags they have available there.

Thank you very much for your advice, it was invaluable!

You're very welcome !
There are some larger Tankbags that would most likely hold a SlingShot 100, but they would be too large for 'magnetic' attachment (my preference) to the tank. Some of the Tankbags have straps that allow them to be used as a backpack after removal from the bike....... these might be of interest to you.

Good luck with your motorcycle training class ..... that is a wise idea.
Always remember to "Ride your own ride", and don't be concerned if others are faster than you........ the throttle-grip rotates in 'both' directions for a reason !

Sorry for hi-jacking this thread, everyone!

Hammer,

I did a quick research on what would best fit my needs. I think I found a good fit.

Rapid Transit Recon 19 Magnetic Tank Bag

Instead of trying to fit the SS100 into the tankbag, I think I could just use this tankbag to carry my equipment and use it as a camera bagpack as well. It would cut out the middle-man, and wouldn't have to risk the tankbag being stolen when I'm away from the bike (Does that happen though? I mean it's only attached by magnets).

I'd have to get a bit creative by converting this into a camera bag, but I think it'll be exactly what I need. I wonder if anyone sells the insert dividers that fit into camera bags...

Things are looking up! This tankbag is only $10 more and adds so much more versatility to what I want to do with it. Btw, I found a great deal on a used 70-200 F4L and will be adding it to my equipment list!

Thanks again, and I'll remember to always be careful. I plan to always ride with a helmet, body armor jacket, and everything else that's suggested for safe driving.

I'd just go back to a few key points. The 70-200 is too long to fit horizontally across the bag without having to pull tight to zip things closed.
Yes it will fit, mounted on a 40, vertically in the bag. Thing is this bag isn't designed for vertical orientation so you'd loose a lot of storage capacity using it like that. It also defeats the easy access use of the side panel.
There would be no room for the lens hoods.
Also don't forget lens cloths, spare batteries, spare memory card, rocket blower, notes, pens, whatever else you normally take. That top pocket is smaller than it looks, particularly with a flash in there.

Get the 200. Or, as has been suggested, get a bag better designed for bike use.