I have many different camera bags, but as my gear has grown over the years, and the way I use it has changed, I found myself changing camera bags nearly every time I’d shoot based on the assignment. More often than not, I was frustrated..
Recently, my bag of choice was my medium-large sized backpack-style camera bag. Its large enough to hold everything I need for a days shooting, yet small enough to tuck into the overhead on a flight. While a backpack camera bag is perfect for hiking and rigorous outdoor activity, it isn’t convenient as a bag for daily use. Unless your camera is out of the bag and around your neck when a photo presents itself, you must stop, remove the backpack, set it on the ground, unzip it carefully so that all its contents don’t spill out, take out your camera, zip it back up, put it back on, and then and only then are you able to use your camera..
There’s a reason photojournalists use shoulder (satchel) styled camera bags. Shoulder bags offer near-instant access to your camera and gear, and are very comfortable to wear over the shoulder for extended periods of time. So at Christmas, I bought myself a present. I decided on the Domke F-7. Large enough for 2 pro camera bodies and several lenses for each, and all my other gear. I’ve used Domke bags in the past, and they are wonderful, durable pieces of equipment, but I just didn’t want to spend so much – $170 bucks!? Yikes!
So, I started doing a little research and found the Safrotto CF-300. It’s a Domke clone – for MUCH cheaper. From what I read, they are supposed to be as good as the Domke, some say even better. So, I took my chances, and ordered one. $70 including shipping.
First impression – very nice and well made. Made of very heavy duty canvas, like the Domke its modeled after, it’s very durable and seems to be very high quality. It has 7 large pockets, and a large main compartment. One thing I noticed right away was the padded insert. In my opinion its much better than the Domke insert. The insert is a very light gray which makes finding small objects, such as my IR remote, much easier.
Using the bag – I love it! The bag is large enough to hold 5-6 lenses including an attached 300mm f2.8, an additional body, plus have plenty of room for teleconverters, flash units, lightmeter, and all your other photo gear. Its capacity actually exceeds that of my backpack, and is much easier to shoot out of. After 3 months of daily use, I haven’t had a single problem with it, and absolutely love using this bag.
Side notes – One thing I really like about the Safrotto is that while traveling, it doesn’t scream “expensive camera gear inside – steal me!â€�. To the average person, it just doesn’t look like the typical camera bag, and therefore isn’t as much of a target to thieves.
I am VERY pleased with this bag, and unless I’m going on a long hike, I use this bag for everything. Excellent “bang for your buck�.
There is an Update to this article HERE.
