Read on for my review of this interestingly designed bag.
Choosing a gear bag is one of the most difficult tasks for me. When choosing a body, you have a budget that massively narrows down your choices. If you already have a particular brand of lens in your bag, then you are left with only one or two options of camera. Similarly, with lenses, you have a focal length in mind, and then decide how much you want to spend.
Not the same with choosing a bag. There are a ridiculous amount of styles from backpacks, to shoulder bags to hard sided transport options. Firstly I decided on a criteria.
- A bag that could accommodate my current kit with a little room for growth.
- Something that gave me quick and easy access to my gear.
- Something relatively comfortable that I could carry for a decent period of time.
- Something high quality.
Ease and speed of access is important to me as I often work shooting events on weekends. The ability to quickly grab a different lens was important to me which pretty much ruled out any backpack options, leaving me with shoulder bags and sling bags. I had a good look at both and found that a shoulder bag would be a bit of a hindrance as they are difficult to keep out of the way, especially when I'm frequently moving.This left me with shoulder bags. There are a few well known and high quality manufacturers of camera bags currently on the market and available in Australia but I have always had a bit of a thing for Think Tank. I don't know why. From viewing their products over time, they just seem to put so much research into what photographers want in a bag and have so many great offerings.
What drew me to the Sling-O-Matic was the fact that it can be placed on either shoulder, so as one gets a bit sore and tired, it is very easy to swap sides without adjusting any straps. It uses a very simple design that works perfectly well to quickly swap the bag from shoulder to shoulder. The second major plus to this bag is that it swings around onto your chest, remaining upright for super easy, quick and secure access to your gear. There is no worry of any gear falling from the bag as it is stabilised against your body and the zip is on top.
There are full side pouches on both sides to slide in something large and flat (the Sling-O-Matic 30 has a padded laptop pouch,) and there is also a business card holder and all of the zips are very heavy duty which is important to me as they are the most common cause of camera bag failure.
It fits my two flashes, camera body, 50mm, 14-24mm and 70-200mm lenses and extra AA batteries with room to spare. This bag is not perfect though. There are two major gripes I have with this bag.
Firstly, it is just a fraction too short to comfortably fit my camera with 70-200mm attached pointing down into the bag. If placed in the center, it will zip up, if a little tight, but an extra half an inch to an inch of vertical room would have made all the difference to me. Secondly, the buckle that joins the shoulder strap to the bag can get very uncomfortable for me if the bag is worn for an extended period of time. A simple fix for this is to wrap the buckle in something soft. Others may not have the same issue. I may just be unlucky with my personal dimensions.
All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase and would highly recommend this bag to anyone looking for a very well built, thoughtfully designed camera bag to carry a moderate amount of equipment.
Benen
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