Boda Dry review.

yes I picked up the boda bag. Yes they're expensive (but there is/was a rebate going). Yes I'd rather I had Daniel make me EXACTLY what I want, but damn, this thing is well though out, very nice, and close to perfect for what I want.

this is my medium/small bag. I have 4 basic bag "needs"; holster (for skiing), backpack, and then small and medium/large shoulder bags. This pisser here is if this boda had one more attachment point where the cell/card holder is:

like this (this is the other side):

it would also easily be my holster bag....

but it's still a very well thought out bag. It's designed to be a "lens bag" meaning it's for use while shooting (think weddings). But it's designed to hold the 70-200 2.8 IS WITH the hood not reversed... So it's deep enough to hold my 5Dii with a 100-400 ATTACHED and still zip shut. I can put the 5Dii with 24-105, 17-40 AND 100-400 all in the main compartment and easily zip it shut with any of the 3 on the body. Even with the 100-400 on there, the lens doesn't actually hit the bottom of the bag because the body hits the center divider first!

here you can see the front with the memory card storage, pen slots, and the room for other small things:

here's the inside:

right now I have the 17-40 on camera, 24-105 under that flap in the top tube, and the 24L over the 50mm on bottom. With another divider I could fit at least one more lens inside and 2 more in the outside pockets (but less/unprotected).

another slight issue I have is with these strap connectors:
they swivel to get the bag in the perfect angle which is rad. BUT they can pop off if at the perfectly wrong position when you pick up the bag... I'll be rigging some sort of safety so they can pivot but not come off. Also because they can loop a full 360, you can get twists in the strap. When I rig my safety I'll try to eliminate that.

Now this bag also has a waist strap which seems stupid... But in practice it's VERY comfortable, even loaded with the body, and 3 heavy zooms. It's more comfortable than the supplied shoulder strap, but obviously a bit odd looking... It will work well for events for me though (airshows, and auto events). I'd love to use the harness with this bag for skiing. I can use the D rings that are there with the handle, but a 4th attachment would have been perfect.

The other weird thing for me is the lid. I love that it tucks away (and snaps) so it's out of your way while shooting, but still zips shut for when you're traveling with the bag. But why flip it towards the shooter? The snap is nice, but it's against your clothes which would eventually do some damage (considering most wedding shooters are wearing nicer clothes). Plus, BECAUSE is snaps, it could snap open outwards which would allow it to help "catch" things if using it as a harness. The snap would still work as well. Plus, if it flips in between the shooter and the bag, why the need for the snap? Basically either use the snap and open out, or ditch the snap IMHO.

This bag is WELL though out and I'm sure it works VERY well for most shooters, especially considering what it was designed for. I can see a few issues with it for making it perfect for me, but it's already damn good and I can probably punt with it for skiing (and go to 3 bags instead of 4). This may sound like a non favorable review, but honestly it's the best bag I've seen in a while. Because it's 95% perfect for MOST of my needs, that last 5% makes me more critical because it's soooo close to perfect.

I've already emailed them a few suggestions and the owner actually emailed me back already (in less than 2 hours) and would like to talk to me in person to hear my thoughts! I'll also be adding a video review to this when I can as well as some more shots of it loaded with the 5Dii and 100-400.

5Dii w/100-400 attached:

the divider is actually what keeps the camera body that close to the top. The lens has maybe 1/2" below the lenscap at the bottom, so if you wanted it lower you could adjust the center divider (but it's already at the bottom, so you'd have to get creative).

After using the bag for almost a week now I'm VERY impressed. Best bag I've owned for what I want to do. It's not perfect, but as a shoulder bag (for me) it is. Perfect would mean it would double as a holster/chest bag on the weekends which would be possible with a few design tweaks. But it's a damn fine shoulder bag and very comfortable to walk with and the right size for what I wanted.

OK, went out on my first landscape shoot and figured I'd try the boda ("knowing" my DIY zoo york is a better bag for this type of shooting)...

Here's what I had in it:

• 5Dii with 17-40 attached w/hood reversed
  
• 24-105 (shares hood with 17-40 )
  
• 100-400 with hood reversed
  
• Cokin teXas-Pro GNDs (3) in front flap
  
• Cokin teXas-Pro Holder in front pocket
  
• Wired remote in front pocket
  
• Spare batteries (1 5Dii spare, 2xAAAs) in lower pocket
  
• CP and 10 stop ND in "flash" pocket"
  
• iPhone in the phone holster

I had it on my shoulder the entire time we were there (first shot to last shot was 1:10, so ~1:30?) and it was fine weight wise. For the lenses I brought with me, it was honestly the perfect bag. Also, the way the cokin filters fit in the front flap is almost comical. The only issue I had where I was wanting a third hand was swapping filters until I realized if I just left 2 in that flap half way out the third could sit between them and be safe.

Still very impressed and still VERY happy with this bag (which isn't common for me).

the gopro got a few decent shots of the bag in use:

you can see the GNDs in the front flap here: