Lowpro SlingShot 200 Questions

[orchjoe]

I bought a Tamrac Velocity 7x yesterday at the Mall of America, I have 30 days to return it. It is not as comfortable as I thought it would be.

My questions:

For those of you that have the Lowpro Slingshot 200, how do you like wearing the bag all day? The Tamrac one seems not be a good fit and it slips around to the front.

It looks like there is a side strap to keep it in place on your back:

Will my XTi with a battery grip fit into it alright?

I mainly want to carry my XTI, with 18-55mm and 70-300mm, and 430ex speedlight. I also would like to fit my gorilla pod into it. Do you think I will be able to get everything into it.

 

[Master Mason]

yes. Here is what I usually have in mine

Canon 40D with canon 24-70 f/2.8 attached, Canon 70-200 f/2.8, canon speedlight 430ex. This pretty much fills up the lower camera section, but the 2 lenses are rather large in nature. This leaves the top section, and the little front pouch open for memory cards, a rolled up jacket, or what ever...

It is comfortable to me, although I have a worn out back, so anything is going to give me some aches by the end of the day, I have never used the side strap, but I also have never had it really slip around on me, I think it would really depend a lot on the size of the person wearing it.

 

[cryssi]

We have the 200, and DH wore it all around the parks. It can get heavy when loaded up. However, he used the waist/side strap thingy which helped distribute the weight. We had the D200 with 18-70mm, 70-300, speedlight, and space for a few more things. Our camera fit in the bag with the big lens on...

We like the bag a lot. I've taken it to weddings, too, but it's not really that attractive to wear when you're wearing a dress...

 

[deletedpenguin]

I used to own the Slingshot 200, and the only reason I don't now is because I outgrew it. If I'm carrying my DSLR around, it's usually with most of my equipment, so I opted for the Tamrac Adventure 9, more of a backpack style bag.

The Slingshot 200 is a great bag, and if this is your style of bag, where you want to get in and out of it quickly, then go for it. Heck you've got a 30 day return policy on the next bag too.

 

[DVC Jen]

I think it is pretty comfortable and distributes the weight very evenly.

Now in all honesty - if we are dragging my camera and a few lenses around for any length of time - like at WDW - DH is usually the one with it slung over his shoulder - and I have the camera hanging around my neck.

 

[NostalgicDad]

I find this bag to be really comfortable and I keep it pretty full most of the time. I carry my D80, Sigma 18-50mm, Nikon 70-300VR, SB-400, several filters as well as a Cokin Z-Pro filter holder. All this is in the main compartment and can keep the 70-300 attached if needed. The other outer compartments hold my smaller items such as batteries, SD cards, wireless shutter remote, red LED flashlight, etc. The top outer compartment is also great for tossing in keys, sunglasses, or whatever else you can think of.

Keeping it full does get a bit heavy though. But, with the weight distribution in the design, it's not all that bad.

 

[YEKCIM]

I just picked up a 200 from eBay retailer Sell-N-Send (highly recommended - just search eBay for "Slingshot 200") prior to our Williamsburg trip, and like it a lot. I prefer a photo vest, actually, but the vest is not padded and concern over that aspect led to the decision to buy the 200. I'm amazed at what all I can get in the bag. I put my D50 with one lens mounted in the "ready" pocket and the rest of the lenses in the other pockets, for transporting. I also had my Optura miniDV camcorder and my Fuji S5200 in there. It was pretty cramped/heavy but that was not unexpected. When "in the field", I had the D50+lens and the camcorder around my neck and redistributed the lenses in the Slingshot so as to be able to access them w/o having to take the bag off. Main difficulty, which is not a fault of the Slingshot, was that it was cumbersome to swing it around to the front to swap a lens, due to having two other straps around my neck (camera and camcorder). I found it to be pretty comfortable and protected my gear LOTS better than the vest. The S5200, which my daughter was using, fit fine in the triangular-shaped pocket at the very top of the bag, and she could just put it back in there when she was tired of carrying it (which was often) and get it back out when she wanted to take a shot, by me just crouching down a little for her to reach the pocket. All in all, a very good bag for what I paid for it ($75, shipped).

~Y

 

[Code]

Another happy 200 owner here.. I took it to WDW in Sept and carried it all day every day and it was never even close to being a burden, though my gear setup is pretty light by design (Oly E-510 + 3 lenses + room to spare in the main compartment, Fuji F30 + 2 Gorillapods in the top compartment).

 

[skr8pn]

I don't have the 200 but I do have the 100. I didn't want anything bigger so I don't have the potential of loading it down. I can get the XT w/18-250 lens mounted on there plus 75-300 and 18-55 all stored. I can also cram two small fold up ponchos and about 4 memory cards in there. So if I were to drop a lens I could probably get the speedlight in there. However it can get heavy when loaded and does get hot on the back but it's still a really nice design and the shoulder strap is great. (unless you've worn it 12 hrs + in the parks and when you go to sleep you swear you can feel if over your shoulder).

 

[orchjoe]

So I looked at the Lowpro bag at our local best buy. I think its better even than the Tamrac. I want a bag to fit my equipment now and when I get more lenses down the road. I went a head and ordered it off amazon... ($88 plus a free lowpro neckstrap and a free shutterfly calender)

Another Question:

How you travel with your laptop?? (I was going to try and just carry the Lowpro as my carry on).

 

[Master Mason]

i have two carryons, one is my camera bag, the other is my laptop bag... everything else goes check in

 

[skr8pn]

Lowepro makes a back pack that will hold the laptop and camera gear both plus some documents and such. My buddy has it so he lets me borrow it on plane trips. I put my 100 in my checked luggage and pack all the expensive stuff in the backpack. Then switch when I get to where I'm going so I don't have to tote the laptop into the parks. Is it a pain, yes, but, in my opinion so is carrying all that onto a plane. So I try to condense to one bag. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[cryssi]

Lowepro makes a back pack that will hold the laptop and camera gear both plus some documents and such. My buddy has it so he lets me borrow it on plane trips. I put my 100 in my checked luggage and pack all the expensive stuff in the backpack. Then switch when I get to where I'm going so I don't have to tote the laptop into the parks. Is it a pain, yes, but, in my opinion so is carrying all that onto a plane. So I try to condense to one bag. Just my 2 cents worth.

Hey that's a really good idea! When we went to WDW in August, DH had his backpack laptop bag loaded up with laptop, hard drive, etc. I took the 200 with gear and another bag. It was fine since there were 2 of us, but if I was by myself, I'd totally use your method...