Best Bag to Carry Camera on Trip?

[William Baroo]

If my wife can manage to get a Schengen visa, we will be going to Europe this year. We have taken a bunch of foreign trips, and I have gone from a phone and action cam to a Sony ZV1-M2 and gimbal to a Sony A7IV which I have not actually traveled with yet.

I would like to take the big Sony this time even though it's a pain to carry. It's worth it in the long run. I want to take a 24-70mm lens as well as a 15mm, but I don't expect to carry both lenses at the same time. I would also like to carry some kind of small light for indoor photos where faces need to be brightened a little. My wife is dark and tends to vanish in photos and videos. I may also want to bring a small remote mike set made by Saramonic.

I have a Swissgear backpack I love, and I can certainly jam the stuff I need into it, but it would be nice to have something a smaller. When I travel, I put cameras, a tablet, a small laptop, medications, antiseptic wipes, my passport, and all sorts of handy junk in it, but I don't need all that after we've moved into a hotel and started venturing out.

I saw some Youtube guy recommending travel slings. Does this sound like a good option? I want something that won't be a pain to carry if we're hiking in the alps.

 

[wobe]

I have a Sony A7R5 so understand the problem, the biggest of which for me is being able to pack a carry on bag which contains my camera and lenses plus other items such as laptop, all my rechargeable batteries (as you cannot put those in checked in bags) and keep it still under the weight limit. If I take a film camera as well it means it has to go in the checked baggage which I really do not like doing at all.
My recommendation is a standard backpack but get some padded dividers.

 

[ClintLloyd]

Not sure if the travel sling is a shoulder sling or not. But I have a Vanguard Veo Flex 35m which is a fantastic bag, it holds camera body with two lenses inside the top, then I can fit the Sony 200-600mm perfectly into the tripod chamber in the bottom. It definitely ain't a good bag for hiking though, I only use it if I'm doing a job where I only need a couple of lenses, or if I'm at a garden or something and I won't be walking too far.

I have a Lowepro Flipside 200AW II. Super comfortable and small. This is what I use on big landscape treks. It snuggly holds my A7RV, 16-35mm F4, 24-70mm F2.8 and 70-200mm F4 with a few filters too. The front pocket can squeeze a fair bit in if need be as well.

 

[William Baroo]

Thanks for the help.

A travel sling looks like a fanny pack, but you wear it over your shoulder. The bag rests on your chest. They make slings that roll up into tiny packages.

I just heard of them this week. The proper term may be "sling pack."

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[Woolsocks]

Go Pro bags are good. The ones that open up facing your back. They also come with rains guards. Traveling with steel toe boots is a good idea to if your worried about theft.

 

[Destin]

I really, really enjoy my peak design everyday sling for this purpose. I’ve had mine for 5+ years and it remains one of my favorite bags of all time. Take a look and see if you think it suits your needs.

 

[adamhiram]

Go Pro bags are good. The ones that open up facing your back. They also come with rains guards. Traveling with steel toe boots is a good idea to if your worried about theft.

I assume you mean Lowepro. These are my favorite bags and I strongly recommend them, but with a caveat.

My go-to bag is the original Lowpro Flipside 300, which is big enough for a full-size DSLR or mirrorless body, several pro lenses, and a handful of accessories. I have an ultra-compact tripod that even fits in the case, and I can fit the camera body with 2 lenses or with a 70-200 attached very comfortably. For a bit of extra space when carrying more gear, the Flipside 400 II is great, although I did not like the large padded waist strap and actually removed it. Another comfortable bag that protects all my gear.

But here's the catch - the thing I like so much about them is there is one large zippered compartment that is against your back, so it cannot be opened while you are wearing it. This is pretty ideal for traveling, prevents theft, and it is impossible for anything to fall out. However with newer iterations of this series, they have added more and more compartments that are accessible while wearing it, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of their original design.

If you can find earlier versions of these, I highly recommend them. I am also curious if other manufacturers have this feature incorporated into their designs.

 

[William Baroo]

I have an SL2 with a Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro. Maybe I should take it instead to save weight.

 

[Dale H. Cook]

For six years I have used a LowePro Nova 190 AW bag. It holds my Pentax K-70 and three lenses, as well as a variety of accessories such as my most-needed filters, a lens cleaning kit, spare K-70 battery and charger, and other items. Unless I am just going for groceries it is always in the Explorer and is sufficient short of going out specifically to shoot photos.

 

[William Baroo]

I have a couple of Lowepro bags, and the small one would do the job, but it's a stiff, padded cube and would bounce around against me if I walked a long way with it. Lots of protection for gear, but the ergonomics are not great for travel.

 

[Woolsocks]

Well I had a lowepro primus aw in black. Polar bear edition. I believe that lasted me for about 9 years. I made the mistake of washing the bag in the bathtub. Big mistake. Some of the glue washed out with it. I bet it was the most comfortable bag I ever wore over my back. Now I just have a messenger bag. Not very comfortable at all.


The one gripe I had was that the water holding pockets squeezed out the bottle while on a trek. The new camel pouches (idea stolen from cyclist camel pouches no doubt) look very promising. In fact that is what I wished for when I first went on my first trip.

 

[JoeW]

First, do NOT buy a bag/sling/pack without trying it on first. Or give yourself enough time to order it and then see how it feels on you and possibly returning it for Option B (or C). All bags are not the same, they wear differently. A bag that works for me might be terrible for you (and vice versa). So take all of the bag recommendations here (including mine) with a grain of salt--it's a bag that works for the person recommending it, not necessarily for you.

Second, I'm a big believer when traveling overseas to avoid packs, bags, or slings that have camera company logos on them. You're advertising "expensive camera stuff inside this bag!!!!" I think you're better off (and this is what I do the majority of the time) getting a messenger bag that works for you (I typically use a cloth Lands End messenger bag that is black) and then put an insert in it (mine is from Timbuktu but there are a gazillion of these things in a variety of sizes from different makers).

Third, if you absolutely, positively must have a bag dedicated for a camera, then I suggest ThinkTank. It's absolutely the most comfortable sling/shoulder bag I've ever used. I bought one of the larger ones when I was using a Nikon D4 with a 600mm lens (so stuff much bigger and heavier than what you're looking at). They come in a variety of sizes (including much smaller) and the shoulder strap and padding are just superb. I've tried probably 20-25 different bags/packs/slings/backpacks to carry camera gear. As we speak, I have 5 of them--from a Tamrac Superlight 5 (which holds one body and 2 small/medium lens), to my Lands End Messenger bag (with a big insert with 4 slots and a smaller one with 3 slots--that's what I use 75% of the time), the ThinkTank Restrospective 20, a backpack I took to Vietnam that has a dedicated section with insert for camera gear plus a day pack, and a Lowepro camera backpack that I never carry with me, I just use it to store all of my DSLR lens and a body. I rarely use the ThinkTank now because my bodies are smaller and I only use my 600mm lens when I got on trips to shoot Bald Eagles (2-3x a year).

Finally, you asked about a sling. Gear that goes in to a backpack mostly stays in the backpack until you take it off, set it down someplace, unzip it, and pull out your camera. If you get the right sling, it's easier to pull out your camera when you see a good shot. That said, lots of slings look great in theory but are uncomfortable or not ergonomically workable. So try it on first, put your gear in it, practice pulling it out.

 

[ClintLloyd]

I will second the security of the Lowepro Flipside backpacks. As I said I have the 200, but I also have the 400. Both have the main compartment against my back, and both just look like a normal backpack.

This is what we're looking at for the main compartments.

 

[William Baroo]

I have to decide whether to take the A7IV or the 200D.

For the Sony, I have a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art and a Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D. I'm not much of a photographer, but I thought this would be a good combination for travel. For the 200D, I have a Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 DC Macro (old), and I'm picking up a Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM.

I also have a big fat Zhiyun M2S gimbal which I got after shooting some shaky video with a Sony ZV1M2. Not positive I want to bring it this time.

 

[JoeW]

I have to decide whether to take the A7IV or the 200D.

For the Sony, I have a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art and a Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D. I'm not much of a photographer, but I thought this would be a good combination for travel. For the 200D, I have a Sigma 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 DC Macro (old), and I'm picking up a Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM.

I also have a big fat Zhiyun M2S gimbal which I got after shooting some shaky video with a Sony ZV1M2. Not positive I want to bring it this time.

This is useful detail.

First, you seem very interested in bring a lens that is very wide angle (15mm prime, and 10-18mm). Why? In my experience for travel photography, you aren't likely going to need anything that wide. The 24mm and 17mm should be more than sufficient. I'd leave the other wide angles lens at home--it's not good to be swapping out lens anyplace other than your hotel room. And the 24-70 and 17-70 are both good for street photography plus landscapes and buildings (if you accept some distortion).

Second, if all you're bringing is a body and one lens then skip the backpacks. Look at a holster or small sling. It will hold your body and lens, extra cards, extra batteries, maybe a small tripod (6 inches) or beanbag, and a microfibre cloth. Any kind of backpack would be major overkill unless you're going to bring your adult-sized tripod and some other gear (like a bunch of filters, rain jacket for the camera, wireless triggers, speed lights, etc.). Or....go the messenger bag route. You can wrap your camera/lens in a fleece top and still have room for your laptop, lunch, guidebook or map and not be overweighted.