Tuesday evening, I got stuck behind some photographer at a track meet.
This guy's camera bag must have been the size of a German-Shepherd. I
couldn't believe how stupid it looked. Me? I was toting my trusty IS-3
and pushing my two little girls around in thier stroller. As hard as I
tried, I couldn't pass this guy as his huge rearend and camera bag kept
blocking the path.
These people with these massive camera bags--don't they know that they
don't protect the camera equipment any better than the smaller ones. The
padding and framework of the bigger bags don't hold up to the safety
standards of the small bags.
First of all, he was shooting with a Canon EOS-A2 with a 28-135 zoom lens.
Other than changing film, he never opened his camera bag up. He never
changed lenses. For all we know, he was carrying nothing around in that
bag but just using it for image. That's right--IMAGE. You think this
bohemoth took many pictures? HA! He kept missing the decisive moment
because the huge bag kept swinging around and getting in his way every time
he tried to take a picture. One time he turned around and knocked two
runners out--cold! Of course, when the rescue people arrived, they
couldn't get near the victims because the big bag kept blocking them as he
circled the carnage to get a better shot. These two kids never knew what
hit them, but "orP-ewoL" is permanently imprinted on their foreheads.
I think this guy just had the bag for IMAGE purposes. Yup, he is a lemming
suckered into the "bigger is better" mentality. But, hey, this is
America--He has freedom to choose his camera bags. It's just so stupid to
see people with point and shoot cameras with massive camera bags. They
don't need them. They don't even know how to carry them. All they do is
take up valuable space and consume more petroleum products to manuafacturer
them.
Me? I have a compact bag that a single body, and a few lenses and a flash
fit in. Only incompetent boobs need more than three lenses anyway--wide
angle, normal and telephoto. Use an OM-1 and you never need a spare body
or battery either.
These people are buying the big bags now while they are young and strong,
but when the back goes out a few times they will all wish they had bought a
compact version instead.
No one NEEDS one of these big camera bags. Ninety percent of the time they
are used to transport a small camera (or camcorder) and cell-phone to the
soccer games. It is a real pain sitting in the stands next to somebody
with these bags. The bags take up two seating positions forcing you to sit
with one cheek on the bench trying to keep from falling into the aisle.
Big camera bags give you a false sense of security. Everybody knows that
big bags draw more attention and therefore has a greater liklihood of
theft. Drop one of these bags and you will smash at least two lenses as
the weight of the entire bag is absorbed by that prized lens in the corner.
Big bags also promote redundancy! Just how many cable releases do you need
to carry at a time? Four? Five? Get real! I haven't used a cable
release in two years.
Some people carry so much stuff with them that one camera bag (of any size)
isn't enough. These people use huge plastic tubs (with lid) to carry even
more stuff. A person needs a Suburban (manditory S*V content) just to
carry them around.
I'm just so sick of this discusson of big camera bags. I didn't rejoin
this list to just be inundated with countless posts on the merits of
big-butt camera bags and the counter arguments against. Can't we all just
get along and buy small bags?
Ken Norton
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