Is there a good looking camera bag anywhere in the world??

[Cannon Man]

What kind of people design camera bags? My guess is people who are 55 yrs old, who wear clothes from the early 90's With no eye in fashion. because 99.9% of all camera bags look really bad and they hurt my eyes when i look at them.

I use a lowepro classified 160, which is actually an ok looking bag but i need a smaller size backback or a really ergonomic shoulder bag/sling for my 3 month trip to Japan where i will walk up to 10 miles on some days.

I also want to be somewhat fashionable or at least have it be ok looking so i won't stick out as a stereotypical photog with a huge square looking thing on my back that could house a small person.

I want to fit one 1DX body, two primes and an ipad. (smaller size is also a good thing when i'm riding the metro in Tokyo at rush hour.

Maybe your suggestions and findings will be useful to many others too.

So have you found anything good? I've looked at many.. like lowepro, crumpler, kata etc... And they all look horrible.
Price is not an issue.

Thanks!

 

[charlesa]

Did you check Gura Gear?

 

[Cannon Man]

Looks alright, i'm looking for something a little smaller.
Although i am also looking for a bag that fits much more gear so i'll keep that in mind.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

Good looking is a undefined term. It might look good to me and terrible to you or vice versa. If you can't find one that looks good to you out of the hundreds or thousands on the internet, then you are not likely to find one.
Personally, I agree with you, that none of them appeal to me as good lookiing, I've given up and just use a Low Pro AW shoulder bag, or my Pelican roll around case. I have about 20 or more bags that I've acquired over the years with used camera purchases, all ugly.
I've been looking longer than you, I just turned 69.
For my 1 series, I have a lowe pro TLZ pro which takes the camera with one 70-200 or 100-400mm lens, extra batteries and memory. Its reasonably compact to carry. If it was black leather, I'd like it better.

 

[DynaMike]

This is as close to a "normal" bag you can get in my opinion. Pretty small, but might fit your needs depending on what primes you're gonna carry. http://fstopgear.com/en/product/millar/smoky-mountain

Or look into Action Sport Companies who make photo bags. Dakine, Burton, and a few others make decent photo bags that blend in a little better.

One other thing. I'm like you and don't want to lug a big camera bag around with me everywhere to advertise I have equipment, so I bought a small ICU from F-stop and stick it in my normal Jansport backpack when I don't need to pack a lot of gear.

 

[Rocky]

Most of the "messenger " style bag looks a lot better than the "regular" camera bag. However, they do not offer protection to the gears

 

[ebroesicke]

I got the Lowepro Versapack for my 7D. Depending on what lenses you want to pack, it should work. ( I packed a 70-200 f/4 and 17-50 2.8 plus "stuff") Just used it to travel to Disney and Costa Rica. Very happy with how it traveled. One of the reasons I got it was because it is backpack style and I thought it looked less like a "camera" bag. my .02.

Erik

 

[paul13walnut5]

Billingham? A bit morgan sports car, but very durable resiliant bags.

Porta brace make low key industrial strength gear too.

 

[Flea]

I second the f-stop gear suggestion. I actually own a Loka, but it may too big for a city bag. But they do have some smaller bags available.

Also, look at this InCase bag:
http://goincase.com/products/detail/ari-marcopoulos-camera-bag-cl58033
It fits a 5D Mark II with grip and a few lenses plus has a pouch specifically for the iPad. Its pricey, but InCase fairly often has some promotions/coupons/deal for up to 50% off.

Good luck with your search (I know it took me several months and attempts to find something I'm happy with)!

 

[Studio1930]

There are companies like this that make good looking ones (mostly for women). You just have to look around.

http://www.epiphaniebags.com/EPIPHANIE_CAMERA_BAGS_s/1825.htm

 

[fegari]

I don't know if you have checked these out but in my opinion the NatGeo bags are the coolest, fantastic quality. I'm speaking more preciselly about the backpacks. I have th NG 5162 (medium- not too big, not to small just perfect) and I can fit:

On the "photo compartment"
-5D III with 4 Primes (Zeiss ZE type, not the smallest ones) or 3 primes and my 70-200 f4 but the 70-200 doesnt fit with the camera attached, no biggie for me. The large model probably fits bigger teles and more stuff.

And:
-Macbook Air 13" (in the rear PC compartment, can even also fit some magazines there when travelling)
-filters, batteries, cards, remote shutter, cleaning stuff, WD Passport 1TB hard drive, Colorchecker passport etc etc

Just fantastic. With all this loaded still has some space to put a travellers bag with your personal items inside (toothpaste, shaving stuff etc), a couple of T-shirts, sunglasses, keys, wallet etc etc. And in case you don't bring your photo equipment you can transform it into a classical backpack by removing the "photo compartment" by unzipping internally and removing the lens separators.

Check them out, they also have more "street style" bags for wondering around cities:

http://www.geographicbags.us/earth-explorer-collection

 

[pdirestajr]

Jill-e makes a whole line of fashionable bags

http://www.adorama.com/JEEGSBP.html

 

[RendrLab]

Kata Bumblebee Series are really nice bags and don't like like they were designed by my Great Grandfather. BTW, they won a Design Award as well.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/819134-REG/Kata_KT_UL_MB_111_MiniBee_111_UL_Backpack_Black.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/683161-REG/Kata_KT_UL_B_222_Ultra_Light_Bumblebee_222_Backpack.html

 

[moondawq]

I can seriously suggest the Domke F-831 bag. IT has that worn urban look about it. Doesn't look anything like a camera bag.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisguldbrandsen/5632255345/#
http://www.domkebags.co.uk/32-65-large/domke-f-831-small-photo-courier-bag.jpg

Add the Domke 1-Compartment Insert for F832, F831 or F833 bags and you're good to go.

Doesn't hold more than a camera and 1-2 lenses depending on size, but it's a joy to walk around with.

 

[old-pr-pix]

Take a look at TIMBUK2 - Snoop Camera messenger bag. If you don't like standard colors, just get the Snoop insert by itself. It fits any standard TIMBUK2 messenger bag -- including all their "design it yourself" custom bags. Great way to hide the fact it is a camera bag. I have the medium size, well padded - easily fits gripped body, two 430EX-II flashes, couple primes, wide zoom, medium zoom and 70-300 tele. Charger, laptop and Gary Fong attachment for flash fits as well.
http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/products/snoop-camera-messenger-2012

 

[crasher8]

I have a snoop and it's great for what it is. But more than one extra lens and this and that and it becomes a bit too wide. I'd love a crumpler karachi outpost, now thats a stylish bag

 

[myone]

My solution is to get a The North Face backpack and an insert. The insert has 3 compartments that allow you to bring your camera with a lens attached and 2 additional lenses. With other compartments available in the backpack, you can bring a whole lot more. Also, it looks stealthy. I had my bag for a few trips including a 3 weeks Asia trip last year and ran into stormy days. The bag was able to keep my camera dry at all times. I will be bringing the same bag setup to another 3 weeks trip to Asia in Oct.

Another benefit, a backpack allows you to throw in things you buy during the trip. With a real camera bag, most rooms are partitioned and you can hardly put anything else in there other than camera gears.

 

[HenryDesu]

I ride the Yamanote line during rush hour all the time. I use a black Tenba small messenger. I want to blend in not stand out. Carries my 5dmkii and 3 lens with my MacBook pro. Looks like every other bag the avg Salary man has on the train.

 

[cliffwang]

I can seriously suggest the Domke F-831 bag. IT has that worn urban look about it. Doesn't look anything like a camera bag.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisguldbrandsen/5632255345/#
http://www.domkebags.co.uk/32-65-large/domke-f-831-small-photo-courier-bag.jpg

Add the Domke 1-Compartment Insert for F832, F831 or F833 bags and you're good to go.

Doesn't hold more than a camera and 1-2 lenses depending on size, but it's a joy to walk around with.

I like the look and the price is good as well. I will put it into my wish list.

 

[Erizo]

I'd say your best bet is the Incase x Ari Marcopoulos which was already linked on the last side. I use that when I go to a city (I absolutely hate how the 'regular' stuff from LowePro, ThinkTank, etc. looks).

It fits my 1Ds III with the 35L attached + 85L + 24-70L + iPad

The stuff from Billingham is also great (had a Hadley Pro back in 5D II times) but you need one of the huge ass bags to fit a 1-series in it with the lens attached plus I prefer the sling way of carrying of the Incase.