I used to change out camera bags frequently. Seasonally? After I outgrew my faithful Tamrac adventure backpack I never found a bag that checked all the boxes.What are those boxes you ask?
Fit all the gear. ALL THE GEAR.
Be comfortable.
Have all the gear be instantly available at a moments notice.
Be weather resistant/have a rain cover.
Be carry on compatible.
Not look like a camera bag.
The Lowepro Video Fastpack 250 has been my mainstay for the last 5 years or so. It got a bite taken out of the lower padding by my motorcycle at one point, but it keeps chugging along. But as the "life-and-camera-gear-simplification" process continues I see that the Fastpack will need to go. It doesn't fit all the gear. I can strap my 500mm and the tripod to the the sides but... It then upsets #2, #3, #5, and #6.
In the name of simplicity( and good image quality) I plan to replace the 500mm with 70-200 + a 2x extender. I need a 70-200 anyway seeing as how I dropped my IS F/4 in Salt Lake City that one time and it was never the same. My current 28-200 Tamron is a workhorse. And the image quality(especially at 200mm) is atrocious. But hey it was 99 cents. Well. $10 dollars anyway. But I digress.
The 500 goes away. The 70-200 goes in the imaginary perfect bag. Followed by my recently repaired 17-40L. All is well... Oh, and the 2x. And the new ebay mid-range lens. And the nifty-fifty. And the full-frame camera that I'm going to buy after I save up for all the other things... The tripod needs to go too. Its too old. Too heavy. On my recent trip to the Oregon outback the tripod head failed. Twice. Actually just the mount. Unforgivable.
Although alot of my gear is in transition, I can see things finally getting sorted out. I'll do a gear review in a few weeks with some before and after (if I can find any before...) But first I need to review some more non-adobe-cc software, the Oregon Outback series, my recent shots from climbing Mt. Theilson, and some recent Yosemite shots. (The above is one of them.) So hang tight...
