National Geographic NG-2475 medium shoulder bag

[Michael Meissner]

We don't seem to have reviews of bags, and I thought I might give a quick review of some of the bags I've used.

First up is my now normal bag, the National Geographic NG-2475. Here is the link from Amazon for the bag:
http://www.amazon.com/National-Geogr...e=UTF8&s=photo

The cost is $100 USD, which is probably reasonable for bags of this type. For me, the selling points are:

• The bag is canvas, and isn't neoprene or neon. It is a retro look. The only other canvas bags that I'm aware of (Domke, Billington) are much higher cost.
• I can fit all of gear in the bag (4 lenses, 2 teleconverters, FL-50, extra cards and batteries, etc.), including having the 50-200mm + EC-14 lens attached to the camera, and the SHLD-2 on the E-1.
• There is a zippered cover in case of inclement weather, but you can roll the cover up if you want to get to the gear fast.
• It is a shoulder bag rather than a backpack, which allows me to go along with the camera in the bag, but I can get the camera out by feel if I don't have the top zipped down. I often times do this when wandering around shows and such, and would prefer to watch the show rather than fumbling getting the camera out of the bag.
• The laptop sleeve is big enough to hold my work laptop (Acer Ferrari 3400), and the bag fits underneath airplane seats.
• There are plenty of places to attach things to the outside of the bag in case you need to carry more stuff.
• The bag can be folded down to about 3" tall for packing in another suitcase.

There are a few minor things that could have been done been done better:

• The shoulder strap is not removable. It is nice and wide and fairly comfortable, but if you have a favorite strap, you can't substitute the strap.
• For carrying stuff through airports, it would have been convenient to have straps on the back to fit over the handles of roller bags. I use a luggage strap on the top of the bag, and it is a workable solution.
• My laptop is a little taller than the laptop sleeve. It would have been nice to have an extension to fully protect the laptop.
• The lens bag is a little tight with my current configuration.
• Because the bag is so big, it encourages me to take more gear, and at the end of a day, it can be tiring.

The gear that I carry with the bag is:

• E-1, sometimes SHLD-2 attached, and one lens (usually the 14-54mm) in the big empty pocket, with the E-1 sitting with the lens pointing up.
• There is a padded lens box, that I have:
  • 50-200mm lens
  • 50mm macro lens
  • 11-22mm lens
  • EC-14 teleconverter
  • EX-25 teleconverter
• FL-50 flash in one of the large side pockets
• Flip-it bounce card + diffuser with flash
• Spare batteries, memory cards, RM-CB1, and wrist strap in the other large side pocket
• 67mm polarizer in one of the top pockets
• 67mm Expocap in the other top pocket
• Gorillapod SLR zoom tripod in the top loops.

Here are some pictures of the bag, using an earlier configuration of the bag (I now move the flash to a pocket, and usually don't carry a PSD in the field):









[edit 4/25/2008]
I'm adding an attachment so the bag will be pictured in the thumbnail, and shows the way that I'm currently using the bag. In the bag I have:

• Left camera: Olympus E-510 with 50-200mm lens + EC-14 mounted.
• Left side of lens pouch: Sigma 70-210mm manual lens + 2x extender.
• Right side of lens pouch: 11-22mm lens, 50mm lens.
• Right camera: Olympus E-1 with 14-54mm lens mounted.
• Left front pocket: Extra batteries, memory cards, and filter cleaning cloth.
• Right front pocket: FL-50 flash, FL-36 flash, Demb Flip-it junior, Demb diffuser.
• Left top pocket: 67mm expocap, 67mm polarizer.
• Right top pocket: RM-CB1, RM-UC1 clone, hand straps.

[Bojan Volcansek]

Very nice review, thank you very much!

Yours Bojan

[Michael Meissner]

Very nice review, thank you very much!

Yours Bojan

You are welcome.

[arteacher]

I have one too. you are right- you can put too much stuff in it. I have ordered the midi version to use when I won't need the flash or 300mm lens. BTW I think they use some hemp in the construction as well. I find the strap tends to slip off my shoulder unless I put it over my head.

[Michael Meissner]

I have one too. you are right- you can put too much stuff in it. I have ordered the midi version to use when I won't need the flash or 300mm lens. BTW I think they use some hemp in the construction as well. I find the strap tends to slip off my shoulder unless I put it over my head.

Yeah, I've been thinking of the midi bag to for the E-510 with fewer lenses.

Note, they've evidently changed the colors and the new bags are a little more green than the old bags.

IIRC, they advertised using hemp in the bag to give it a classic 1930's image (ala Indiana Jones).

[Michael Meissner]

I just wanted to update this review in terms of the bag's carrying capacity. I have recently moved to having 2 bodies (E-1, E-510), and I recently borrowed the 7-14mm and 8mm fisheye for a week. I was able to fit all of the gear in the NG-2475 as long as I didn't mount the SHLD-2 on the E-1. I put the lens bag in the center, and put the E-510 with 50-200mm + EC-14 mounted in one end, and the E-1 with the 7-14mm mounted in the other end. The 14-54mm, 50mm, 11-22mm, and EX-25 were in the lens insert case. The 8mm fisheye was in one of the large bottom pockets, while the FL-50 was in the other. The FL-36 fit in one of the top pockets, and I had a clip-on filter case for the expodisc and polarizers. I never carried the full gear during a photo shoot, since that is getting to be a very heavy pack. Without putting stuff in the pockets, the NG-2475 fits under an airplane seat, but I'm not sure having the flash and 8mm in the pockets wouldn't have made it too tall.

I suspect the larger lenses (7-14mm, 35-100mm, 90-250mm) will not fit in the lens case with other lenses.

[Godfrey]

This seems a darn nice big shoulder bag although I have to say the styling leaves me cold. And it's only available in khaki ... I wish it were available in black.

The competing Domke is actually a bit bigger and the same price:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/"Domke F808 Messenger Bag" at the same price. It's simpler, less features (basically a big open pit with a removable laptop sleeve and a large front pocket with organizer, some padding on the bottom) but I like the overflap and it seems trimmer somehow.

I think either is larger than my need for another shoulder bag, but I've got them both on my wish list so I can find them easily now.

Godfrey

[mcjohnruther]

Nice post..thanks for sharing your vast experience with us.