I have had quite a few photo bags in my life. In my SLR days, I had a number of Lowepro bags and I still have a few of them. When I started shooting weddings, I needed a bag that looked good and I bought a Billingham 335. Back then, Billingham was the only company that made bags that looked good enough to me. I gave the 335 to a friend of mine when I switched to Leica, but Billingham was here to stay. I tried an Artisan & Artist bag but didn’t like it enough. The zipper on top wasn’t sturdy enough and the bag was far from waterproof.
With photo bags, we’re just like women with their handbags. There is no single bag that does it all. Sometimes you need to bring a lot of gear, sometimes a little. Sometimes you need room for a sweater or a book, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you need to be stealthy, sometimes you need to be a hipster. There is a bag for every occasion. The trick is to bring the right bag to the right job.
In the next few weeks I’ll be reviewing four Billingham bags and I’ll tell you which one I use for which occasion.
The first two reviews are already up: The Billingham Hadley Digital and the Billingham Hadley Small.
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