Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG for Canon EOS SLR Cameras (Black with Green Accent)

I completely like the design of this bag, but I took it brand new on a 3 week trip to India. I carried it with me everyday and by the end of the 3 weeks, it had 2 rather large rips at the seams where the main compartment zipper is. One of the rips occurred during only the 2nd week of use. I'd recommend a more durably constructed bag.

I really like this thing and feel that LowePro and others out there have nothing on it. Great construction and it has more zippered flaps and pockets than you'll ever need. My biggest concern was whether it had enough padded protection for $6k worth of gear but after mine rolled down a 30 foot hill I quit worrying about that. (But I did have to worry about changing my shorts after the shock wore off). Plus, unlike a more costly pack, it's such a great value you don't think twice about scraping it against trees and brush or dragging it through mud. (It cleans up just fine). Shoulder straps are plenty comfortable... I generally just use one and sling it over my shoulder as it balances fine.

Don't try putting a camera in it with a battery grip attached though - the bag's not deep enough at the "top" end it won't zipper shut. Although I haven't tried yet, the base of the pack might hold it with some rearranging of the padded dividers but that kind of defeats the purpose of accessing the camera quickly from the top.

One more thing... and it's minor but the large silver "Canon" nameplate on a black background really sticks out. I guess that costs less to print than, "Please Steal Me". :)

So... 4 Stars from me. Make it an inch deeper at the top, add $10 and it's a 5 star no-brainer.

What can I say about this bag that hasn't already been said? Nothing really but I had to throw in my thoughts no matter how much they seem to have been repeated.

As you can see from the pictures this thing can hold a lot and keep it together and organized. You can hold all you need for a shoot or even a trip in this one bag but as any good photographer knows, only take what you will need. Don't over pack! First you end up carrying more gear then you need and if your going to stand all day to shoot it can easily drag you down. Second, too much junk packed away will cause you to lose how well protected your gear is as it all just gets crammed together.

Now onto how this work for long shoots. Well I've had time out with this thing as I've owned it for about two months. Yesterday though was the first real test. I spent the day at a festival called Punkin Chunkin. For anyone who has been to it or seen it knows what it is and knows how big this thing is. It's a lot of walking and I sure walked it. The shoulder straps felt great and by the end of the day while I was a little sore on the shoulders I was more sore is areas like my legs and feet. I've carried backpacks all day before and have felt worse and they were even lighter. So Punkin Chunkin 2008 sure proved to me the worth of this bag.

There is one negative I can say about it but it's only a negative if you see it as a negative but I don't see it as much as one but I had to point it out. During the day Id find myself wanting to change lenses or after burning up a memory card Id need another one and with this bag you have to take off and set down and grab your gear. A shoulder bag makes it much easier to not have to do this and just stand there and do it. For speed, a shoulder bag is best. For comfort, I feel the backpack is best. During the long standing sessions kneeling down to get into the main part of the bag was more of a little comfort factor really.

I do wish a pocket was made to hold a bottle for drinks. I ended up packing three small energy drinks bottles in the bag for the day though ended up not needing them. Still, if I felt a mighty thirst a bottle of water would have been nice to have on this thing. On the other hand the two small side pockets are nice. Without taking off the bag you can access them so in one I put a small set of binoculars in. The other I put my cell phone in as I was called and text messaged all day. As I live only 30 minutes from Punkin Chunkin I had friends who were also going and they would call me to see where I was to meet up and all. I don't care for stuff in my pants pockets so the bag was great to hold them.

On a funny note, I shoot on a Sony but the bag is a Canon. I had one person say something about it to me one day. I just said I could care less who's name is on the bag. As long as it works and does what I need it to do it just doesn't matter to me.

I like the lens storage this bag offers. You can adjust lens storage compartments to accommodate different sized lenses. There is also a loop on the outside to hold your tripod. This bag is a bargain for the price and storage it offers since bags this size and quality are more expensive. This is a great quality camera bag and I would recommend it to anyone.

Good bag for the price. My 5d with batter grip was a bit of a tight fit, but swapped the direction of the inside camera compartments, which worked better. Has a decent amount of external storage space.