Manfrotto MB SB390-5BC VELOCE V Backpack -Champagne Review

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This is one of the best camera bag. Very strongly built and a comfortable Large backpack. More for folks who have a lot of accessories with your camera. The zipper is in the back of the bag, hence it is tough for it to be Zipper opened without your knowledge. It more looks like a backpack rather than a Camera bag. Less chances of it being robbed. It comfortably takes in a 15" laptop with a good padding as well. It becomes very heavy but surely very confident to take on the weight. Thank god it is not a sling bag kind with one back strap.

As to rooms for improvement,,

1. I wish the main compartment zipper carries a bigger hole so as to slide a lock to it. It will be helpful to lock it when traveling domestic and surely international. I carry $3,500 worth of equipments.

2. I wish it is dimensioned slightly differently so that it fits within the carry-on suitcase horizontally.

3. Wish there was a little better explanation of the 2 straps it provided in how to use it. I think it is there to tie up the tri or mono pods.

I also use the Lowepro 200AW, another very satisfied camera bag. Smaller bag for very limited accessories other than your camera and lenses. A completely different purpose bag. A grab and go bag for your camera.

Please give a thumbs up if you like this quick review. :-)

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This backpack is huge! Yes it has all the carrying capabilities you could want and more but at the cost of looking like an astronaut backpack. And I don't like how it opens the part that touches your back is where it opens from. It's very awkward with a laptop in it.

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This backpack holds my camera kit and, in a pinch, an iPad or laptop (up to 15") as well. I keep a D7000, D600, and a bunch of lenses (but not big professional zooms), and a small tripod in it with no issues, and it's comfortable to carry. The zipper to open it is against your back which means you can't easily be robbed, but a snap gives you access to the top compartment quite easily and you can pull out a camera from that compartment in 10s. There's no attached waterproof cover — it's not really for hiking (although I've taken it on hikes).

The one downside of the quick access compartment is that it doesn't easily let you pull out a higher-end DSLR like the D7000 (it's perfect for a D5000, but the D7000 always seems to catch). I currently carry a D7000 and a D600 so the quick access flap is more of a slow access flap. Note that it's not the lens that's the problem — it's the body, so the new Nikon Df would probably be just fine.

Overall, it's the best camera bag of any kind I've ever owned — by far, but I'm a cheapskate. People have stopped me in the street and asked me where I got it. That said, it's probably not as good as the (far more expensive) Cumpler and Thinktank bags.

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I can carry everything I want with this and do that comfortably. Seems quite sturdy . Love the opening which allows me to remove my camera and "walk around lens."

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This backpack is gentle on your camera and harsh on your body. Layers of foam padding places the center of gravity too far out and gives the pack a bloated shape that doesn't conform to your back. I loaded the bag with my camera body, three small lenses, a flash, and an empty water bottle. The bag was unstable and I hadn't even filled the water bottle or tried to add a tripod. No adjustment would prevent the straps from spreading and pulling painfully on the corners of my shoulders. A laptop might fix the balance but I rarely plan to cary one. I could see using this to store equipment on an airplane or taxi but it was no good for walking or hiking. By contrast, a plain Jansport carries all that, plus water, comfortably for hours on my shoulders.

The packing mechanics:

The shoulder straps attach to the opposite side of the zipper compared to a normal backpack. A zipper failure will not dump your cargo.

Your camera body goes in a top pouch to supposedly enable easy access. The easy access flap is held down with a oddly gigantic squeeze clip, velcro, and two zippers. I tried it a few times and found it to be more trouble than opening the backpack.

Three small dividers forming a "+" shape are attached with velcro in the lower left. They can be moved a small amount or taken out.

A divider under the top left access flap is sewn on one side and has velcro on the other two sides, allowing it to be folded down. It doesn't hold much weight when up.

A long divider running down the right side is sewn on two perpendicular sides and has velcro on the third side, which is a bewildering and non-functional configuration. The product picture shows a tripod in there but I can't imagine that happening. It holds a stack of lenses better.

There's a laptop pouch in the side facing your back.

There are unpadded pen holders and pockets inside. They may scratch your equipment if used.

There is a narrow filter holder pouch on each side of the exterior.

Two straps are included to attach a tripod to the far end of the backpack the center column of what looks like the "M". Placing weight this far from your back would bruise your shoulders in short time.