lowepro stealth reporter 650aw review

[blonde]

this review is of the Lowepro stealth reporter 650 aw bag that i just bought. the reason i bought this bag is because i needed a big bag that can fit all my gear and a laptop while at the same time be a bag that i can work out of. the first thing i noticed when i got the bag was that it is HUGE. the bag just swollowed all my gear and i still have tons of room for other things. here is the list of items that i put into it: canon 20D + grip canon 100-400L canon 17-40L canon 50 1.8 canon 430 ex canon 580ex cleaning kit 3 filters in their boxes shutter remote 8 extra aaa battaries for the flash ipod+ ear phones all manuals 6 cf cards my 15" powerbook + cables and mouse gloves extra shirt card reader now, i set up this bag where everything can be accessed very easily. the thing that i really like about this bag is that there is a zipper on top of the main flap where you can just pull out your main gear even when the bag is closed. this allowes for quick lens changes as well as storing and pulling the camera without opening the main flap. field use: i went out shooting yesterday and this bag was AMAZING. on location, this bag just made my life easy and i was able to change lenses with ease as well as have all my gear ready. however, 3 days ago i went hiking with the bag and my shoulder was killing me because all the weight is on 1 shoulder. right now i am thinking if i should sell it and go back to a back pack or keep it and just buy a backpack for when i go hiking. conclusion: if you have a lot of gear and shoot on location alot, this is the bag for you. however, if you are into wildlife and nature and do alot of walking and hiking, a backpack is still the better option even if it is not as easily accessible.

[EVO_8]

Originally Posted by blonde

this review is of the Lowepro stealth reporter 650 aw bag that i just bought.

the reason i bought this bag is because i needed a big bag that can fit all my gear and a laptop while at the same time be a bag that i can work out of.

the first thing i noticed when i got the bag was that it is HUGE. the bag just swollowed all my gear and i still have tons of room for other things. here is the list of items that i put into it:

canon 20D + grip
canon 100-400L
canon 17-40L
canon 50 1.8
canon 430 ex
canon 580ex
cleaning kit
3 filters in their boxes
shutter remote
8 extra aaa battaries for the flash
ipod+ ear phones
all manuals
6 cf cards
my 15" powerbook + cables and mouse
gloves
extra shirt
card reader

now, i set up this bag where everything can be accessed very easily. the thing that i really like about this bag is that there is a zipper on top of the main flap where you can just pull out your main gear even when the bag is closed. this allowes for quick lens changes as well as storing and pulling the camera without opening the main flap.

field use: i went out shooting yesterday and this bag was AMAZING. on location, this bag just made my life easy and i was able to change lenses with ease as well as have all my gear ready.

however, 3 days ago i went hiking with the bag and my shoulder was killing me because all the weight is on 1 shoulder. right now i am thinking if i should sell it and go back to a back pack or keep it and just buy a backpack for when i go hiking.

conclusion: if you have a lot of gear and shoot on location alot, this is the bag for you. however, if you are into wildlife and nature and do alot of walking and hiking, a backpack is still the better option even if it is not as easily accessible.

Nice write-up, but as you said backpack is the way to go, all this equipment weighs a lot. I still have my $50 Canon backpack, but it's not big enough to fit all of my stuff, so I have to leave some equipment home. Most of the time I don't need all of my lenses anyway.

Sell it bro!

[hashiriya]

I guess it depends on how much you would be hoofing it. I could use a one shoulder bag if I am doing location based shooting, but I would much prefer to have a backpack if I am going to be moving or roaming about a lot more. As Evo_8 said, equipment weights a lot - especially if you are packing a laptop and several lenses. I have a Lowepro Computrekker AW that I like quite a bit. Even as comfortable as that bag is, it is still a load to carry around all that gear!

All in all, the stealth reporter bag sounds like a good one. Thanks for the write up.

[blonde]

i actually had the lowepro computrekker AW that i sold to get the stealth 650. now i am going to sell the stealth 650 and get another computrekker or the kata 103 that i really like.

[Samdiver74]

That is what I have is the Lowepro Computrekker AW, I love it, awesome bag, can't remember what I paid for it but I got it on E-bay