Lowepro Slingshot 200 All Weather Backpack (Black) by Lowepro
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Digital camera reviews of Lowepro Slingshot 200 All Weather Backpack (Black)
Digital camera Review: Comfortable for all day hiking!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this bag before a trip to Disney World in Florida. This bag held my Nikon D80 SLR with 18-135mm lens and hood. I had easy access to the camera at all times.
This bag also held:
- one can of spray sunblock
- one Disney World guidebook (The Complete Guide to Walt Disney World by Julie Neal and Mike Neal)
- wallet/credit cards
- compact camcorder
- compact camera (Canon SD450)
- spare SD cards (in a special pocket in the bag)
It still had room for a spare flash or a spare lens (which I don't have yet).
I dropped my bag with camera in it once. The camera and all within survived except the plastic cover on the LCD broke. Since the LCD cover only costs $10 (through Amazon), I'd say the bag did a good job protecting everything.
The waterproof cover was very useful and easy to pull out when we went on Splash Mountain and any other rides which had splash warnings.
The bag was bigger than I expected, but it is of good quality and worth the price.
Digital camera Review: Comfortable to carry, a little narrow
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this bag knowing I'd be carting around my camera and lenses around amusement parks for the better part of a week, and I'm happy to say that it's quite comfortable. The key is making sure you get the main strap adjusted to a place that the bag doesn't angle off your back from the bottom. The right-side strap should also be adjusted, as it keeps the bag well positioned as you move. It very easily rotates from your back to being upright in front of you.
Your lens selection will have some impact on its usefulness. I have a Canon 5D body, and I can't pack the camera in when the 70-200mm f/4 L is attached. It's just too long. I does fit just fine when I have the 24-105mm f/4 L attached, but I do have to invert the lens hood or, again, it'll be too long.
In addition to those two lenses, I have a 50mm f/1.4 with the hood on it, the charger and a SpeedLite 550EX, and they all fit pretty comfortably. As with any bag, you need to pull out the Velcro dividers and figure out the best way to make everything fit.
Digital camera Review: Could this be the perfect bag?
Summary: 5 Stars
I just used this on a week and a half trip to Costa Rica and it performed flawlessly! I was there during the rainy season, so the all-weather cover got some use. While the cover does leave the part of the bag against your back exposed, that didn't seem to matter much. The bag is very comfortable to wear and the way that it swings around is just a great design. Being able to quickly swing it around in front of me to grab my camera or just be able to sit down on a tour bus was wonderful. The bag holds an impressive amount of stuff. I had my Digital Rebel with battery grip and 28-300mm lens, 3 more "normal" size lenses, flash, memory card wallet, all necessary cables, extra batteries, cleaning supplies, compact umbrella, small bottle of water, bug spray, etc. etc. etc. Plus I was able to hang my tripod on the outside through one of the loops (though it's a little tight, so it'll depend on the design of your tripod). So, if you need a good all-purpose bag for travel, you can't go wrong with this one.Digital camera Review: Design-limited Functionality
Summary: 4 Stars
I've used this bag for 3 years, and now I am in the market for something better, more functional to my style of shooting. First off, this is a well-made, sling-style bag, and it performs well for its design. I found that I rarely clipped the front strap across my chest, and left it tucked into the bag. If you are on an extended hike, this front strap helps stabilize the bag. However, carrying several pounds of gear on my back, without any support around my waist (as I had with a framed back pack), my shoulders and back would get tired. I would then resort to carrying the bag, slung over my left shoulder like a golf bag. When that shoulder got tired, I would switch to the right one. So realize, that this is not a backpack, but a camera bag that can be carried on your back. I wonder if a fanny pack might be more comfortable, as the weight is then distributed around my hips. Just mentioning this, because I did not find this style of bag to be great on long hikes.
The second reason I'm looking for a new bag, is accessibility to my gear. If you put all the spacers in the bag, the way they were meant to be, then you can only access your lenses by fully opening the zipper compartment. This means taking the bag off the shoulder, setting it down, and opening the bag fully to get to your lenses, or whatever you have put into the well-padded compartments. You can get around this by changing dividers a bit, but then things don't seem to fit as well. I really like a bag you can open while it is on your shoulders and allows you full access to your lenses, flash, etc. You cannot do this with this type of bag.
I can fit my Canon 7d, 10-22mm, 17-85mm, and 50 mm lenses, 580 EX II flash, extension tube set, converter, into this bag with no problem. However, my 70-200mm 2.8 doesn't fit into it with the other lenses. Also, it would be nice to be able to fit my camera with a mounted 70-200mm into the bag. This can only happen if I take out most of the lenses, and rearrange the dividers. So it's a compromise. I'm not faulting the bag for this, I just want buyers to know there are limitations with its capacity.
I am looking at messenger-style bags right now (Crumpler), so that I can carry all my gear and have access to it by just opening the flap. For hikes, I may take the Lowepro and essential gear. We'll see. I have a trip to New Zealand coming up and I will take both bags and see how things work out.
All this said, I think this is a great sling bag, and has not shown hardly any signs of wear over the years. I'm not pro, but have taken this bag on many trips, and it still looks great.
Digital camera Review: Designed for a man
Summary: 2 Stars
I was all set to purchase this bag but wanted to try it out first. I had great difficulty finding one locally but finally after many many phone calls I located one bag and asked the merchant to hold it till I could get there to try it out. Firstly, the bag is nice but doesn't hold as much as I thought. It still could have worked for my but for one thing: this bag is not designed for those with a, er.....womanly build. It was the most uncomfortable bag I have ever tried out and looked absolutely ridiculous on me. So glad I was able to take it for a test drive before purchasing online. Just a word of warning to the ladies;-)