Discount Lowepro Pro Messenger 200 AW

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List Price: $204.99
Sale Price: $152.36
Today's Bonus: 26% Off

I wanted a slick looking bag to take on my shoots one that looked good and also wasnt too bulky. I bought this and loved it right away. Because its soft it wraps to your body and the material is quiet and nimble. Unlike many other bags, this one is only big if you have a lot of gear in it. If you have a flash a body and a two lenses, it will work great often. But I couldnt get this to work with my gear. I use one body, four lenses and a flash, plus a flash attachment, memory, batteries etc.. I could get it all to fit in, but I didnt like the arrangement. It wasnt easy to get at all the gear quickly some lenses needed to be put on top of each other (with protection between them). Yes you can put bodies in the very front pocket, even two bodies if you want. But for practical run and gun shooting it was clunky. Having three lenses in the bag, I couldnt easily drop my camera back in the bag with a lens attached to the body. I change lenses often too so I need to easily be able to take one lens off and place it in the bag and quickly grab another. This wasnt easy to do.

I was willing to pay the extra cash because of the look and feel of this bag, but I needed it to work harder for me.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The Lowepro Messenger 200AW camera bag is incredibly rugged, good looking, heavy camera bag. For my uses, I prefer Kata's approach.

This is an excellent camera bag made of outstanding materials with heavy-duty construction. The exterior is like the old military canvas material that will wear like iron. It looks great and feels wonderful in my hand. I can see this would take years of being ridden hard and put away wet. There is padding all around, equipment is coddled in thick protective insulation on all sides including top and bottom. I like the built in handle with a small padded grip on it. Those are so handy when I want to move my bag, but don't want to put it over my shoulder. Once my equipment is safely inside, I can kick this bag around and be certain my equipment is safe. I love the look of this bag. Messenger bags are so darn cool and this one is right there in the cool zone, not looking like a camera bag. The color says slate gray, but it is more like a dark olive drab a great color.

Where the bag and I differ is my equipment and a direct comparison to a Kata bag. Lowepro's approach to bags is heavy material and thick padding. Make the bag heavy and the gear will survive. Kata, on the other hand, has taken the approach of lighter materials, and lightweight foam padding in critical places. An equal volume Kata bag will weigh about half the weight of a Lowepro. I am mostly a sports photographer, and I carry a Canon 7D, a 70-200mm f2.8, and a 24-70mm f2.8 lenses. The critical factor for me, can I get the 7D with the telephoto attached inside the bag, preferably with the lens shade attached in the ready to use position (this makes for a really long camera that is wide and heavy)?

It is possible to rearrange things for this bag to hold that pig of a lens and camera; it has to lie on its side using up almost 3/4 of the bottom of the bag. That does leave room for the wide-angle zoom in a corner compartment. I can ditch my video camera in the front pocket. I'm not a huge fan of this arrangement. There is a lot of wasted space inside the bag. Placing the lenses all in vertically works great, except I have to take the body off the telephoto. The body and telephoto together really doesn't work in the vertical direction there's very little protection for the body at the top. For somebody that uses smaller cameras and lenses, this bag will work perfectly.

If I was looking for a bag to hold a TON of gear (this thing will suck up the equipment) and would set up on location without looking for fast changes this is the perfect bag. It is perfection for the location photographer. From what I can see this darn bag will hold two bodies in the front pocket (very well designed pocket for bodies), and three or four lenses on the inside along with a flash. But this isn't an arrangement I would hold on my shoulder and try to work out of the bag. There are just too many moving parts. A wedding photographer would love this bag.

There is one design flaw that I hate the rain cover. I have an older Lowepro bag with a rain cover, that thing is super easy to put on and it works perfectly. This cover is a disaster. It took me about an hour to figure out how to finally put it on, and trust me it was tricky and I'm pretty darn handy. There is no way I could pull this up over the bag in the event of a sudden downpour. Never in a million years would that thing go on quickly enough (I can't even begin to explain how to use the thing).

I love the brilliant zippered pocket at the rear. There is a zipper at the top that works for slipping stuff in if you want to use it as a pocket. There is also a zipper at the bottom that allows you to slip the bag over the handle on a roller suitcase super safe and secure on a suitcase.

The front flap is incredible. The card that comes with the bag shows how to fold the flap around to either Velcro it down tight or use a magnet catch for silent opening.

There are pockets all over the inside of this bag. You could spend days trying to find them all. The wide narrow one at the back of the main compartment is the most useful. Batteries, remotes, cards, all kinds of stuff can go in there. There are pouches at the two ends of the main compartment. I can't really figure out what to do with them. Anything that lands inside those would be lost forever.

This is a fabulous bag for the right person. Camera bags are a matter of personal choice; I normally spend a long time trying them on before I pull the trigger on one. Some will love the heavy weight and all the compartments and space to store things. If you are a sports photographer or somebody that works out of your camera bag and has big lenses, you might want to look at different bag.

Kata KT DL-GP-100 GearPack Micro Backpack for DSLR Cameras and Accessories

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program As an avid photographer I'm always looking for new gear that can go the distance and offer maximum protection and durability. The Lowepro's Pro Messenger 200AW camera bag is definitely a step in the right direction. Besides protection and durability, one of the first things I look for is storage capacity. There is nothing worse then bringing home a bag and finding out your gear doesn't fit. Over the weekend I gave this bag a serious workout. Here are my thoughts.

First off, this bag easily accommodates both my DSLR camera and several lens. The interior dimensions are 15.35" x 6.3" x 9.4". The front compartment measures 13.39" x 2.17" x 6.69". Even though the front compartment could hold my camera body and probably one more, I opted to keep it in the roomier inner area. Exterior measurements are 16.73" x 8.6" x 11.02". This bag weighs in at almost a full 4 pounds. I really like the extra space.

I found that the removable padded dividers are a little thin but definitely not a deal breaker. The quality of the exterior nylon body is great. Unlike many knockoffs out there, the stitching job is superb. The zippers are first rate. I use the front pocket for the storage of batteries and other small gear. The gusseted side pockets work well for phone storage and cleaning tools.

I really like the design of the flap. With the help of magnets and velcro, it easily folds for quick access to my camera and expands for max security. Lowepro's signature hide away, all weather cover is sweet. It does a great job of keeping my gear dry and stores back into its compartment without complications. The padding on the nylon shoulder strap is first rate and very comfortable. Unlike some of the knockoffs out there, the d rings and fasteners are metal and not ABS. The carry handle is comfortable.

Seven years ago I had a problem with the zippers on a Lowepro camera bag that was almost three years old. After calling customer service, I sent the bag to the factory for repair. Surprisingly I received a new replacement bag. For me, that alone says a lot about Lowepro's lifetime limited warranty on its vast collection of storage bags.

Even with the divider issue that I mentioned earlier, the overall quality and versatility of this bag speaks for itself. Its not just a bag for DSLR cameras by any means. It easily accommodates my laptop, tablet, and host of other items. I can see it being an integral part of my travel gear. I highly recommend it.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a pretty pricey bag. My Canon backpack was 1/5 of the price of this bag!

First of all, if you want a tough bag that will last you, look no further. The strap is super tough. It is sewn securely to the bag with plenty of stitches. All the connecting buckles are metal, no cheap plastic in use. What about the buckle for adjusting the strap length? Metal also! Again, no cheap plastic. Carrying strap? Same here. By the way, the carrying strap goes all the way to the side of the bag instead of being attached to the top cover, which is typical of cheaper bags. Why is this important? You can pick up the bag by the handle and not worry about dumping your gear on the ground because the cover was not secured.

Side note: When you want to carry the bag by hand carry handle, the shoulder strap clips to the hand carry handle, and now you have a much more ergonomic handle (from the shoulder strap's pad) for your hand, plus no need to worry about the shoulder strap flapping around getting caught in things.

As a frequent traveler, the next thing I noticed is the dual zippers on the back. Unzip those, and you can slide it over the handles of your carry-on bag. Great for traveling around the world. Walking around in a new city? Zip the bottom zipper, and use the pocket for the tourist guide for easy access. Glad to see that they included this nice feature.

Another great travel feature what about weather? Caught in a thunderstorm? No problem. Look in the front of the bag. The little bulge you feel is not uneven padding. On the front lower edge of the bag you will see a little label that says "All weather AW Cover". Look under the flap, and you will find the all weather cover. This cover should be put over the bag from the bottom. It's well designed to protect your gear from the weather, yet allow the shoulder straps and carrying handles to still be accessible.

Front pocket organizer lots of pockets for all kinds of accessories. There's even a key fob for your keys. Here's a minor disappointment Lowepro was doing really good with all metal hardware, no plastics. Why have a plastic key fob here? Doesn't really save that much cost, and it cheapens the bag!

Need a place for your water? There are two side pockets. Elastic strap is conveniently placed to make sure your water bottle (or gear) does not fall out.

Space? Definitely more than enough to fit my DSLR, 3 lens, a camcorder, and an external flash. As others have mentioned, the dividers don't feel that robust. Also, for easy access, I prefer to put my lens in vertically. The smallest division possible will still easily fit 2 lens side-by-side. There is no way to position the dividers so that there's some protection from the 2 lens bumping into each other.

Missing features / wish list? How about some convenient way to attach a tripod?

In conclusion, if you are looking for a tough travel bag with plenty of space for your gear, is able to handle bad weather, you can't go wrong with this one. Make sure you like it's looks, because it's going to last you a long time.

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For those considering this bag as well as the Think Tank Retrospective line, I wanted to share a few things that I like better about this bag after owning both. First, the front flap uses velcro to close like the Think Tank, but when in silent mode, it also incorporates a magnet to keep the lid closed. The way this bag silences the velcro is much faster than Think Tank's method as well. This can be an important point for the pro who must work quickly. The front pocket on this bag zippers shut while the Think Tank uses velcro straps. Much prefer the zipper for keeping contents secure. The front pockets on the Think Tank are divided, while this bag you can choose whether you want to divide it or keep it as one large pocket. If you choose to divide it, you can fit a pro-sized body on each side of the divider, like the Think Tank. The other thing that this front pocket features that's lacking on the Think Tank bags are internal pockets/dividers for small items like batteries, memory cards, cell phone, filters, etc. Okay, onto the side pockets. There are two small pockets on each side of this bag which both have elastic expanders, which allow the pockets to stretch to accommodate a water bottle or 20 oz. Gatorade bottle. The side pockets on the Think Tank don't stretch to fit much of anything. Both bags have a zippered pocket on the rear of the bag. But the Lowepro features a zipper at the bottom of the pocket to put over the handle of your rolling luggage or rolling camera bag. Everything else I would say is on-par with the Think Tank Retrospective including strap, construction, materials, workmanship, etc. Both bags are excellent in these categories.

Now for the things I really don't care for. The main-compartment dividers are very flimsy (like the Think Tank)... so the bag doesn't hold its shape. This is fine until you want to pull a lens out of the bag while you're wearing it. Very difficult to do so, and you run the risk of dropping the lens while trying to pry it from this bag's clutches. I have fixed this problem, by using stiff inserts I had laying around from another bag. I no longer have this problem now. I had this same issue with the Retrospective. The other fatal flaw of this bag is that it has the tendency to tip forward. So far, no gear has spilled out...luckily. But, this could definitely be an issue. This problem alone, forced me to give this bag 4 stars instead of 5. I did not notice this problem with the Retrospective bag. But I didn't have it quite as long either.

As for the color of the bag: It is not as green as I thought is was going to be. Which I'm happy for. I would say it is a dark, charcoal gray with just a tiny bit of green if you catch it in the right light. It's actually a very nice color and wouldn't get mistaken for olive drab at all. At least that's what my bag looks like.

Almost forgot one of the things I like about this bag more than the Think Tank Retrospective. The rain cover tucks inside it's own pocket in the front panel of this bag, while the Retrospective rain cover is separate and takes up precious room inside the bag.