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I was looking for a camera bag to fit my Sony NEX-5N, 18-55mm lens, 16mm pancake lens plus attachable wide angle conversion lens, and other accessories. I figured, hey, Sony makes a bag specially designed for this camera and two lenses--it's probably a pretty good bet. Unfortunately, it was a bad bet. This camera bag is a disaster in every which way. Why?
1) It is flimsy both on the outside and the inside. A drop or even a light bump would be disastrous. Plus, I get the sense that even carrying it might cause the lenses inside the case to knock up against each other and scratch each other's exteriors, because the velcro divider is super-flimsy and doesn't extend all the way to the top.
2) Unlike other camera bags I've owned, there is hardly any room for the secure storage of additional accessories, such as extra memory card, extra battery, cords, lens caps, filters, etc. My LowePro camera bag has four separate compartments that are either sealed by velcro or zippers. This thing only has one on the back, which has room for approximately one or two lens caps or filters.
3) Most damning of all is that my Sony NEX-5N (the camera the bag was designed to hold) doesn't fit conveniently into the bag. It might fit okay if I were to take off the shoulder strap, flash, and the lens hood. But obviously I can't be bothered to take off my shoulder strap every time I want to store the camera. Taking off the lens hood or flash would be less of a problem, but there is absolutely no extra room in the bag to store them. (And keep in mind that my second lens is a pancake lens--if your second lens is a telephoto lens, good luck.)
4) I haven't the slightest idea how the only other reviewer (as of time of writing) managed to fit his camera, 18-55 mm, 16 mm, and 55-210 mm lenses into the bag. I could barely fit my camera (without shoulder strap, flash, and lens hood), pancake lens, and a spare battery into the bag. This left a small amount of remaining room above the pancake lens, and I could have stuffed my shoulder strap, flash, and lens hood loosely into that space. Which is bad, because you don't want things floating around in your camera bag. But my wide-angle conversion lens (which fits onto the pancake and is much smaller than a telephoto lens) didn't fit.
I really don't write many reviews, but I hope this one helps people in the market for a camera bag for their Sony alpha NEX camera and lens(es). Do yourself a favor and buy a sturdy camera bag from a company dedicated to designing them.
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I've just received this camera bag and it is perfect for carrying what I want. Versatile configuration. It has three pockets inside. On the left is a fixed partition, which exactly fits my external battery charger (the kind with the slide out prongs), and a couple of spare batteries. There is a moveable partition, which velcros onto the back and front wall to divide the remaining space. If one splits the space, the 55-210mm lens can be stood in one space, and the camera, on its side (back to the right wall, for example, and lens pointing to left wall), in the other. The camera strap can be rolled up and will fit above the lens. The tele lens fits with the lens hood reversed, and even (with a bit of difficulty) when wrapped in the bubble wrap envelope that it is shipped in. This latter configuration pushes up on the lid when closed, but will work. If one removes the movable divider, the camera can be placed in the large space with the tele lens attached. In this layout, the stock SELP16-50 lens can go into the fixed partition/pocket in the left of the camera bag. There is space above the tele lens for other stuff, one can use the divider or other padding to separate the lens/camera from the other things one wants to carry. When I put the external charger in the left fixed pocket, there is enough room to add two spare batteries alongside the charger. To get a sense of the length of this bag, it would accomodate the camera with the tele lens, with the lens in the fully extended position-not that one would carry it in this position, but this gives you a sense of dimensions. The zippered compartment in back is deeper than it appears in pictures-it will easitly take SD cards, even a couple of filter cases. In fact, the supplied charger and USB cable easily fits in this pocket. All in all, this case has the perfect dimensions for packing everything I take.The case comes with a shoulder strap that attaches to large plastic D-rings on each side. It also has a carry handle sewn on to the front of the case, a 1/4 inch below the zipper. It's a strange place to place a handle because when one picks up the case with the handle, the case turns over so the back of the case is almost parallel to the floor. However, if I put my hand through the strap, palm against the front wall of the case, strap against wrist, finger tips curled under the bottom, it works perfectly, Still, one is likely to be using the shoulder strap for any significant carrying, so this does not seem to be a big deal either way.
Build quality. Too early to tell, I just got the case today. The main zipper seems strong and has two zips, with strong pulls sewn on. The zipper mechanism itself is plastic as is the loop on it (to which the pull is sewn). The loop looks thin and flimsy and may be prone to breaking. The zipper for the back pocket is extremely fine and doesn't look like it would deal well with rushed or rough pulling.
The nylon that the case is made of is heavy duty-this is not lunch box material. There is thick padding--3/8"-1/2"--on all six sides of the case. So this will protect your gear, but maybe not from a fall from height. It is by no means flimsy, and works well for my purpose-which is to put it in my travel backpack, where it will protect the camera and gear from all the other stuff I have in the backpack.
All in all, the build quality looks good, the case is compact, but perfectly proportioned to carry the NEX3N, the 55-210 tele lens and hood, external charger, spare batteries, a couple of filters and SD cards in their cases. And its a good looking case.
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