Any recommendations on either a good sling pack or a back pack? Has anyone used a sling pack and if so how did you like it? What features should I be looking for?
i have several packs & 1 sling lowepro minni trekker = good for tripes where you need to bring a larger amount of gear, holds a couple of bodies and up to 5 lenses, depending on sizes, this is what i brought to mf, only because i brought a couple of lenses that usually don't make a fly away trip lowepro micro trekker = smaller than mini, what i usually fly to wdw or cruises with, carries 1 body, and my usual 3-4 lenses, lately 10-22, 28-75, now replaced by 17-55 2.8 IS, 70-200 f4, 1.4 tele extender, batteries, cards, charger, etc. lowepro backpack aw trekker, this only goes in the camper or car trips, i can pretty much bring everything, but becomes very heavy very fast mec slingpod = i just got this, it's what will be going to europe in may, i can take 1 body,2 lenses, maybe 3, batteries(4), charger, micro cloth, owners manual(goes on every trip, in every pack), this seems to fit the bill, due to pickpocket and grab and run crime it's necessary to keep your camera and gear in front of you and secure at all times in many places, i have 2 wireties run through the buckle which is behind me, keeps anyone from unbuckling it on me, an ancillary accessory under consideration for trip is a camera strap from magellan that has wire woven into it, preventing cut and run trick i've always been happy with my lowepro gear, including several different lens cases i have that i can hang/fasten to the outside of the above gear if i just have to take along more stuff hope this helps
features you want to consider imho are, size the pack to the trip, no sense having a pack larger than you need, security of the contents, the mec sling is what was reccommended to me for europe, worn over my left shoulder puts the zippers when closed up towards my face, i'm looking into maybe a tsa or cable lock, for when i don't actually have the camera out in use, all the web tips i find constantly repeat that your camera should come out, be used and immediately put away this is a small pod, but most of my trip will be in cities or landscape work while on shore excursions from the ship, so i really can get by with 2 lenses much of the time, 10-22 for city plazas and some landscapes, 17-55 the walkaround solution, i may get the 70-300 IS if i feel it can fit in the pack easily, or karen consents to carry it in her magellan city pack, a zipper secured, wire in the strap small shoulder bag we may get for her to carry, i'd prefer the 70-200 f4 and tc, but it's white and just screams out LOOK EXPENSIVE GEAR TO STEAL lowepro makes a couple of different size sling pods, i haven't had any opportunity to see them in person, one of the advantages to living where i am is that it's only a 1hr 20 minute train ride and a 10 minute walk straight from penn station to b&h, the new york superstore where they pretty much have all the lowepro and tamrac and domke products on the display floor i have put quite a lot of time and research into just what gear to take on this upcoming trip, it's our first trip to europe and it's a combo trip, 3 days in barcelona, followed by 11 nights cruise on the dcl magic, so it took a bit of decideing, but i've made myself adjust to the fact that you can't get all the shots all the time, to do that requires your own private gear porter b&h website does have some good pictures of the lowepro slings, they make 3 that i know of, aw100(smallest) up to the 300 which i believe just came out, once again, i am fitting the bag to the situation, i believe after looking at the pictures that the aw200 is too large for comfortably wearing in front all day, which is what this particular trip calls for, link to mec pod below www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp? ... 2245596582 sorry for long split post, hope some of this is helpful
For my last trip I picked up the Naneu Echo sling pack. It worked great as I carried a Rebel Xt body with one lens attached with room for two more lenses, rocket dust blower, clean cloth & solution, rubber lens hood, battery charger, small Sony DV vidcam, two set of batteries of XT and vidcam, remote shutter switch... and that's not including any of the extras I pack in the up top storage portion. Here's the link for further investigation: http://www.naneupro.com/products.mdv?p=mo-e FYI... this thing was so light and durable my wife would actually volunteer to wear it for an hour+ at a time! Come night time, I would "weave" my tripod in the packs available front strap to tote it hands free for short walks. I'm very happy with my purcahase to this day.
