Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag

Come here mama… and dig this crazy scene
He’s not too fancy… but his line is pretty clean
He ain’t no drag.
Papa’s got a brand new bag

James Brown

James Brown was singing about an old man trying something new – maybe a dance move – but I’m writing about an actual bag, a new camera bag.

Photographers collect camera bags. Sometimes you get one as part of a kit when you buy a camera – body, lens, bag. Occasionally someone will give you an old bag. You might even buy a few of your own!

This is the third bag I’ve purchased. The first was a Lowepro 102W sling bag. I love that bag and it travels with me everywhere. I can fit my DSLR in there with a lens attached, and I can cram one more lens in the bag, although it really isn’t meant for it.

I bought my second bag, an AmazonBasics DSLR and Laptop bag, in February 2017. It’s been a good bag, but it’s bulky and it only travels in the car with me.

I’ve been looking for a bag that’s slightly bigger than the Lowepro so that I can carry my DSLR, two lenses, and my Mavic Air drone.

After doing a little research, I went to the excellent Photo Central store here in Winnipeg. This is the best camera store in the city, in my opinion. The staff are great.

I talked with a young gentleman (that makes me sound old) and explained that I loved my Lowepro sling bag but I wanted something a bit larger. He showed me a few of their in-stock bags and I chose the Tenba Solstice 10L sling bag.

It definitely has more room than the Lowepro, but it still sits nicely in the small of my back and doesn’t stick out too far. One thing I really liked about the Lowepro is that most museums wouldn’t make me take the bag off, since it’s relatively small. Some of them would ask that I wear it in the front, which is a bit uncomfortable but better than putting a few thousand dollars’ worth of camera gear in a locker.

You can see that I fit my camera (with wide-angle lens attached), my “long” lens, my drone, and a few assorted knick-knacks in the bag. It comes with several velcro-attached separators to keep things neat.

The blue pouch is a rain cover. The Lowepro had one built into the bottom, which was extremely handy. This rain cover is separate so I suppose I could use the pouch for something else if I wanted.

The bag features a long zippered sleeve that will fit a 10″ tablet (like my iPad), and a side pocket that will accept either a water bottle or a short tripod. I put my monopod there for illustration. Maybe a bottle of Diet Pepsi will fit?

The Tenba is a bit bigger than the Lowepro – taller, anyway – but it’s not substantially larger.

I’m at the age where I don’t have to justify my purchases to anyone, but I’m telling myself that I bought this as a slightly early birthday present.

This weekend will be the big test of the new bag. I’m going on a five-day trip in Ontario (hello Agawa Canyon among others) and we’ll see how well the new bag performs. Hopefully it’ll stay on when I do the Monkey, the Mashed Potatoes, or the Boomerang…