My fiancée and are I getting married and will be honeymooning in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in mid August. We recently purchased a E-PL1 for our trip. This I'm trying to figure out the best way of carrying our camera doing our adventures.

Here are the requirements...
-Want to carry E-PL1 mounted with kit lens (quickly accessible too)
-Carry personals
-Backpack/sling preferred (no "murses" )
-Be delivered by August 14 : )

Although we found a lot of bags that fit most of these criteria it's the "personal storage" area that concerns me the most. I want to carry a water bottle (it is hot Mexico), souvenirs, maps, etc. I'm leaning towards a Lowepro Slingshot 100 or 102. The only thing is I'm not sure if that little compartment will cut it. If it had a mesh pouch on the side for a water bottle I'll be all over it.

Any suggestions from the forum?

I am with you on anti-murse stance

Clik Elite Impulse Sling Camera Bag at REI.com might work for you. I have used something similar and am quite happy with it. Here is the link

Clik Elite Impulse Sling Camera Bag at REI.com

Nice bag I really like it. Although I can't find any pictures of the insides on any website or any youtube videos.

Technically, it's a backpack but I'm using this Dakine hydration pack next week on a multiday trek in Peru.

It has a separate slot for a water bladder and LOTS of zippered pockets sized well for batteries, lenses, memory cards, Gorillapods etc. It has a top slot w/ felted lining that will hold my EPL1 w/ kit lens. I believe it's intended for goggles but it fits my glasses and camera fine.

Surprisingly, as long as you don't stuff the heck out of it, it's not that heavy.

http://www.gear.com/p/dakine-apex-pack

I've got a little Domke F-5xb I love. About $50 from B&H. Just enough room for a body (G1), an extra lens, and some filters and cards. If I need more storage, I toss the Domke into a day pack--$15 from Wal-Mart--and go. If need be, I can lash a tripod to the day pack. Much cheaper and more versatile than the sling packs I've seen.

__________________


Ricoh CX1, Panasonic G1, 14-45 mm, Tamron 90mm macro, Konica 40mm 1.8

Hi dayento, and congratulations on your upcoming marriage!

Here's a search result for Bags in thread titles within this forum: Micro Four Thirds User Forum - Search Results so you can give it a scroll through, and here is one big bag thread:Bags and more bags There are so many choices! Crumpier makes some very nice looking bags that don't scream "Camera bag!"... Timbuk2 does too - and you can "make your own" - we have two threads about them: Camera protection and Make your own bag and better yet, they have been known to have sales: Timbuk2 Sale

Happy hunting, and when you have a chance please stop by the Welcomes and Introductions forum.

__________________
**Formerly E-P2, now E-PL1 w/evf

~ BB
Flickr photostream

The Domke F-5XB is a great bag but also consider the Domke F-8, and for more storage space the Domke F-5XC, and the Domke F-6. Domke bags don't look like camera bags so they don't tempt thieves and they are made of durable cotton canvas that breathes when held next to your skin, unlike synthetic bags that make you sweat.

If we're touting Domke bags, I want to jump in too. I love my Domke F-803 satchel. I got it in the waxwear finish, so it already looks used when you get it, (like weathered jeans) and even comes with a tin of wax to refinish it.



It's slim and comfortable, and easily holds a µ4/3 camera (mine's held an E-P2 and now a G2) with a lens, plus a couple more lenses. I got it with an optional 3-piece insert. For reference each 1/3 of the bag is big enough to hold the 45-200mm zoom or a 200/4 or 135/2.8 with the adapter attached. I salvaged some separators from an old bag to let me stack 2 lenses in one of the compartments (like the 20/1.7 and the 45/2.8) one over the other. In one outer pocket I keep my extra batteries, cards, and a CP filter; in the other I toss my iPhone. The whole thing looks too "classical" to be a camera case, and too small to hold a laptop.

The pic is from Amazon, and mine came with a less "white" - more beige strap. It's less contrasty and nicer than the pic suggests.

But reading your request, it's probably a bit more than you need.

Thanks to all that helped!!! What a great forum! I absolutely LOVED the Clik Impulse Sling bag. There's a Fry's Electronics by where I live and got to play around with it and it's just so nice. I really just can't bring myself to pay the $110 but it is worth it. I do like the Domke bags but from what I plan to do in Mexico (ATV riding, zip-line, etc) it wouldn't be practical.

In the end I settled on the Lowepro Fastpack 100. Not too big and bulky but plenty of personal storage space, quick access to my EPL1, and relatively inexpensive ($43 on ebay).

Thanks everyone!

A friend of mine using the fastpack and loves it. Good choice. A lot of bang for your buck with that bag.

__________________
- Frank

Actually, I'm not all that interested in the subject of photography. Once the picture is in the box, I'm not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren't cooks.
Henri Cartier-Bresson

What's circulating use in my bag right now...
Nikon F100 | Nikon D700 | Olympus E-P2

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41568712@N08/

It's a bit frustrating that no one company has developed bags specific for the m4/3 system. Almost makes me want to start a bag company just for this new system and make specific sized bags and accessories. The padded inserts out there are too big and bulky for m4/3 lenses.

__________________
Dennis Lloyd Photography

I suspect the market for that is pretty small overall, and wouldn't be worth the effort from an economies of scale perspective for a company to build and design bags specifically for such a small percentage of the market. We're talking about tens of MILLIONS of Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Pentax, Sony, et al. SLR users and hundreds of millions of SLR sized lenses in existence, compared to what... optimistically a few tens of thousands (maybe a couple hundred thousand) m43 users? It's really not a big pie if you limit yourself to just that. If I'm the guy making decisions at LowePro, and I have to make a bag for either Canon/Nikon users, or m43/NEX users, I pick Canon/Nikon 9 times out of 10.

Just look for a good bag maker with a very flexible internal layout system, and you can completely custom tailor the inner layout to perfectly fit m43 gear. Do NOT look at SLR bags that are meant to hold huge 70-300mm lenses attached to pro bodies. Look for things meant for small SLR kits or rangefinders (i.e. Leicas). I like Crumpler if you're into more modern looking bags and tech fabrics, or Domke if you like something more vintage and Leica-appropriate.

Across the chest style messenger bags are amongst the best if you have a modest amount of gear. You can generally partition them off to provide a mix of storage space or buy insterts to hold your gear and keep it safe from other stuff.

Something that doesn't scream photo grear or laptop helps if you are travelling in areas that are a little unfamiliar.

After trying a few bags, I'm down to two, both Domkes, both ruggedwear, neither looks much like a camera bag. I wear both of them across the chest with the bag riding on my lower back and then I swing it around to the side when I want to get at something. I'm so used to messenger bags for various different uses that I'm just not comfortable with the bag just over my shoulder unless I'm just walking across a room or something.

As for bags that work for m43, there are PLENTY that shorter rather than deeper. The Domke F6 I just hauled all over Europe seemed perfect to me. Its functionally 6" deep. With the 14-150 mounted on a camera, laying on its back, the lens ends about an inch from the top. When you have the 17 or 20 mm lens in one of the compartments, they obviously don't take up much room and you have to reach down into the bag for it, but its short enough that its easy to see what's in there and its not like its a tough reach down to the lens. I can't realistically imagine a bag being much shorter and holding its shape.

The Domke 803, pictured earlier in this thread, is my other bag. Its shaped more like a traditional messenger bag (but much smaller than any messenger bag I've owned) and is a little deeper than I'd like, but, again, its not like its so deep you can't find stuff in it or reach things easily enough. Its just a lot narrower so it rides even more naturally on your back. I use that one when I just take one or two extra lenses out. But the F6, although it holds more than I sometimes need, carries really well, leaves the gear incredibly accessible on the fly, and is really my go to bag almost all the time. It seems like it was all but designed for m43 to me.

-Ray

The Gariz leather bag is on the expensive side at $107.90 on eBay, but wow is it gorgeous!

Gariz LZS Compact Camera Leather Case Bag Pen P1 P2 NEX - eBay (item 270588353720 end time Sep-30-10 21:45:43 PDT)