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Tamrac's promo video for their Ultra series bags that is available at Amazon, and also at You Tube, provides a good, quick overview of the Ultra 13 bag, and its features. The Ultra 11 is very similar, just a little smaller.
I have a Tamrac 5608 (Pro 8) shoulder bag which holds a couple of SLR's and accessories. It's a great bag, but there are times when I needed more space. The Ultra 11 and Ultra 13 are both are larger bags, with provisions for carrying a laptop, but because of a price break, I chose the Ultra 11.
Those familiar with Tamrac bags, know they can expect high quality materials, great build quality, and a reasonably well-designed product. That is the case for the Ultra 11, which is basically a larger and taller version of the 5608 bag. The inner compartment is well padded, and measures 13.5"L x 7.5"W x 9"H (approximately 900 cubic inches), and is custom configurable for your gear, using Velcro attached padded dividers. Two SLR's with battery grip and mid size lens attached, can be accommodated. The camera bodies reside in the end compartments along the short side of the bag. There is enough space available under the camera, to store an eight inch long zoom lens. There is ample space in the middle compartments for other lenses, flashes, and accessories. If you are buying a bag this large, you probably have a lot of gear, and figuring out the optimal arrangement for your stuff, is one of the keys to making the Ultra 11 work best for you.
The various pockets and compartments available, can be seen in the Tamrac video. The laptop compartment is easily accessible and nicely padded. When not holding a computer, I will use it for carrying my Stroboframe flash bracket and various cords. There is a two section zippered plastic compartment on the underside of the lid, that is great for filters and light modifiers. The two zippered pockets at the front face of the bag, feature Tamrac's patented battery and memory storage system.
A rain cover for the bag is also included. A demo showing how it is installed is part of the Tamrac video. It seems to work quite well and has cutouts to allow the attachment straps to be secured. The cover is stored in a removable MAS pouch. Unlike bags like the 5608, there is no storage pouch on the sides of the bag. Instead Tamrac has nothing but provisions for their Modular Accessory System (MAS) components. The rain cover occupies one of the slots, but up to four, Velcro secured, MAS components can be added to the bag (two per side). For about $14 to $30 per MAS component, you can customize the bag. Some may prefer this approach, but I wish Tamrac provided basic sewed on storage pouches, as they do on their other bags. Or provide one sewed on pouch on each side, along with a provision for a MAS component. Providing nothing, is idiot thinking, that shortchanges the customer, and attempts to squeeze more cash from those that want a little more storage space.
There are plastic inserts on the underside of the bag to reduce wear, with a solid layer of padding at the bottom of the bag. The shoulder strap is even more heavily padded than those on their smaller bags. The standard plastic reinforced top handle is durable, and is an excellent design. Tamrac's Strap Accessory System (SAS) is similar to their MAS, which again may work for some, but seems to be another attempt at revenue enhancement. Tamrac may want to consider that if a feature is really useful, providing it as a standard item makes your product more saleable. Tamrac has provided just a basic zipped compartment on the back side of the bag, which allows it to be attached to a luggage carrier.
I clearly have major issues with Tamrac's approach to storage spaces, for some of their high end products. In some instances, the approach is to provide nothing, and leave it up to the customer to decide whether to spend more. That kind of thinking is difficult for me to accept, especially when they provide storage pouches as a standard item on their smaller bags. Perhaps their market research indicates that this approach works, but it is the biggest flaw I find with their products. With a patented battery and memory management system, Tamrac naturally wants to feature it, and make it a selling point. While the system definitely looks neat and cute, it seems overemphasized, and often doesn't utilize space very well.
Even with these shortcomings, I still choose Tamrac bags, because of they are extremely well built, and are quite frankly, better than the competition. With just a few changes, their bags could be so much better. The Ultra 11 gets five stars for the overall build quality, and the interior compartment, but a one star deduct for the lack of exterior storage space and other questionable design decisions.
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As most will discover, photographers usually end up with quite a few number of "bags" for their gear as they expand their collection. I am no different. I was adding another body to my collection and I wanted something to keep all my gear "under one roof". I already have one of the Lowepro Sling bags which works great for a Rebel, 2 lenses and a small flash, but now I needed a shoulder bag that would carry all if not most of my gear to a wedding shoot.I first ordered the Tamrac Pro System 8 shoulder bag. After receiving it, I found it to be way too small for what I needed. So I went back to the drawing board this time paying more attention to the listed dimensions of each bag. I finally decided to try this Ultra Pro 11. I "rearranged" some of the dividers, but this is a summarized list of everything I managed to fit into this bag:
Main compartment:
EOS 7D with battery grip and EF 28-135mm attached with hood reversed
EOS XSi body with battery grip
EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS with hood reversed
EF 24-105mm f4 IS USM with hood reversed
EF 100mm f2.8 Macro with hood reversed
EF 50mm f1.4 with hood reversed
Speedlight 430EX with Stofen diffuser attached
Speedlight 540EZ
The Top and front pockets:
XSi battery wall charger
7D battery wall charger
XSi grip's AA battery holder
7D grip's AA battery holder
2 XSi batteries
2 7D batteries
Various memory cards
2 small air Blowers
Various short Canon Cables
Case with 8 AA batteries
USB Multi card reader
2 Wired Remote releases
1 Wireless flash transmitter
2 Wireless flash receivers
Lens pen cleaner
Camera strap
Manuals and gray cards
The top and front pockets are roomy and you can "stuff" things into them as much as you're comfortable with. Of course the most important part is the main compartment. Tamrac does a good job putting velcro tabs almost everywhere so you can customize it the way you like. As I mentioned I had to move some dividers around to the way I liked it.
It's nice knowing that you have that rain cover. That wasn't a deal breaker because I wasn't planning to be caught in a hurricane with the bag. Even without a rain cover the material of the bag is water resistant and the way it closes and seals, dirt or water would find a very difficult time getting in. Read Tamrac's description and download their pdf brochure with nice color pictures and diagrams of this bag.
The back "pocket is nice and I've shoved about 5 issues of Pop Photo in it comfortably. The "long" zippered pocket on the top flap is VERY handy for little things that you need access to quickly. My laptop slot is actually unused because my 15" laptop is actually a tad too big to fit perfectly, but if you have a smaller sized laptop, it should fit nicely and it's well padded. Actually if I really had to I could get my 15" laptop in there but the top flap won't zipper close, but you can still keep the flap closed with the straps in the front and side. I also like Tamrac's smart forethought by putting the laptop compartment iin the front because you won't be "pressing" on a laptop like bags that put the laptop compartment on the back of the bag that goes against your body when carrying.
The size of this bag is hard to gauge through pictures so pay careful attention to the dimensions and carefully picture how big it will be. This is quite a large bag and it will bring attention to yourself when carrying it around. For me it's like walking around with a medium sized igloo on a shoulder strap! I knew I was going to need a "big" bag to hold all my gear but I will only bring this bag on location shoots where I don't know exactly what I'll need and to weddings where anything can happen so you bring "everything". Thus I don't need to remind anyone that you have to be careful because with all that gear in one place it's a thief's prize! So when I'm just going to my son's school to shoot a play, I just use my smaller Lowepro bag and take what I need.
Here's a free helpful tip. Moving around all those dividers by detaching and reattaching all that velcro leaves little bits of black velcro all over the bag which will tend stick to your lenses and gear via static electricity. After you've got all the dividers the way you want, empty the bag, take it outside and give it a really good shake or take a vacuum to it. This isn't a fault of the bag, just thought I'd mention it.
Finally, I wanted a bag where the camera would store horizontally instead of with the lens "down" so that was another reason why I chose this bag. There are a gazillion camera bags out there and you can drive yourself nuts going through all of them. There's never a perfect bag, but this one does the job for me. Happy Shooting.
Best Deals for Tamrac 5611 Ultra Pro 11 Camera Bag (Black)
This thing would be a beast to carry through an airport, but for motoring it's excellent. Shorter lenses can get lost in it, so plan on providing some extra stuffing for your 55mm. One of the SLR slots can easily be re-configured into another use. The two-tier system allows for nifty spaces to tuck away filters. My circular, pop-up white balance card and case fits nicely inside one of the top pockets. The bag is very well-made, but larger hands might find the side by side zipper pockets a challenge. A serious pro with a full-sized DSLR, battery grip, and such might not find the bag quite so roomy as me. The laptop slot comfortably fits a 13-inch or smaller-sized computer/note pad.Honest reviews on Tamrac 5611 Ultra Pro 11 Camera Bag (Black)
Just the bag I needed. Not too big but ALOT of storage capability. More than enough well laid out space for the average to above average photographer. Alot of nice features also> go to the Tamrac website for further details but believe me you will not be disappointed when you choose to buy this bag. Hard to outgrow it unless you are a big time professional!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Tamrac 5611 Ultra Pro 11 Camera Bag (Black)
holds my everything bag! CANON 40D 5D MARK II CANON LENS 70-200, 2.8 SIGMA 70-300,28-70, WIDE ANGLE, FISHEYE, 85,FILTERS, CABLES, CHARGERS, EXTRA BATTERIES SPARES, INFORMATION IE PAPERS, LAPTOP MY 15 MAC BOOK PRO BARELY FITS, THE 13INCH would fit better in this bag.Flashes and a few other accessories.Remember the Laptop issue I think they have one size up bag. this I keep in my home studio ready, and if I need to travel light I have a smaller low pro that accommodates one camera a few lens. Lay out your equipment first, think how you would use it. its not my everyday bag but it is loaded to take care of my onsite shooting.
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