Lowepro Nova 170 AW Camera Bag (Chestnut Brown) Review

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I was using a Tamrac bag for 9 years for my film SLR. So naturally I was leaning towards tamrac when I started looking for DSLR bag. I was buying the XSI+18-55 lens + 55-250 lens +battery charger+couple of filters+flash(in future)+memory cards, manual and some more! But I didn't want to be too liberal with the size of the bag. It should fit all this as well as it should be as compact as possible. Because when you are traveling, the size of the bag is very important. After an umpteen number of website reads, started visiting all the frys, circuitcity, best buy, wolf etc. When finally I stumbled across this, I instantly knew this was the one bag I was looking for.

-It is soft to touch & beautiful (in fact the first couple of days I was hugging it around until my wife started shouting at me!)

-perfectly padded to be fully safe for all my expensive equipment

-It also has the option to wear it on your waist belt( I was looking for this option too, tough not particular)

There are two cons that I could think of though these become minor when you actually see this bag.

1. the rough surface of the inside of the shoulder strap is quite rough I think in the long run it might rub off my shirts.

2. The base: they could have put a couple of rubber strips so that I can peacefully place the bag any where even on dirty surfaces.

All in all, this bag what I have been looking for and more!!

Thank you Lowepro designers!

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This bag is a great size for carrying around all day with 2 or 3 lenses.

The bag will mostly be used for comfortably fitting:

1a. Sony dSLR a200 with Tamron 17-50 F/2.8 attached (+ lens hood)

1b. Sony 70-300G (have not checked it with lens hood)

I actually found I can carry this 2 lens kit the other way as well

2a. Sony dSLR a200 with Sony 70-300G attached

2b. Tamron 17-50 F/2.8 (+ lens hood)

This is the reason I got the Nova 170 over the Nova 160, for the greater depth of the bag to allow me to carry it with the 70-300 lens attached, if so desired.

But I found that if I carry it in configuration #1 but remove the Tamron 17-50 lens hood I can also carry:

3. Tamron 90 macro (with Tamron 17-50 lens hood underneath)

And the elastic pocket on the outside allows me to carry an external flash if need be.

I am very pleased with the amount of gear this small, durable bag can carry.

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Nice bag. It's well constructed and the waterproof cover is a great feature for this north-westerner. This was obviously designed by a real photographer. I carry a small water bottle in the side pocket. That's a nice extra. This is a good walk-around bag. It won't carry a large kit but is perfect for one camera with selected lenses. The shoulder strap pad is very grippy and will stay on even when not carried across the body.

A Pentax K20D (a medium sized DSLR external battry grip attached) with an 18-250mm zoom fits with the hood on and about a quarter inch to spare. Add in a Pentax 100mm macro lens and a flash and the bag's full. The macro need's its hood reversed, but that's not my main lens.

You can pay less for a bag this size but it won't all have the little extras like rain cover, multiple compartments, memory card pockets, double closure on the main compartment and long, wide strap with swivel buckles. It's nice to not have yet another black bag too. It actually is brown, not the green that Amazon displays.

Honest reviews on Lowepro Nova 170 AW Camera Bag (Chestnut Brown)

I am very satisfied with the Nova 170. It's perfect for my D40 with 18-200 mm lens attached, sb-400 flash, and 50 mm f1.4 lens. I can also include a camcorder if needed. I may upgrade to a sb-600 flash in the future which will fit nicely into the bag. There is a smaller compartment in front for extras such as filters, spare batteries, charger, etc.

The waterproof cover worked as advertised. I walked around San Francisco one rainy day, and all my gear stayed completely dry. The strap is comfortable for extended periods of time, and the design allows me to access my gear quickly. I found the Nova 180 too bulky the 170 is more compact unless you have a lot of extra gear. Excellent camera bag overall.

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I am able to fit a Rebel T1i attached to a Tamron 17-50 lens, plus a 430ex II flash, and a 50mm 1.8 lens. It also fits the battery charger, extra set of AA batteries and a few memory cards. It has some nice side zipper pockets for documents and anything that fits in a thin pocket.

The bag was a bit smaller in person than I thought it would be. I think I will have to buy a bigger one though, because while it fits all those things there's almost no more room for anything else. If you're traveling etc. then you'd like to have some space in there for a book maybe etc.

The other rather annoying thing is that the base is too small and not sturdy enough so that when you load it up with things it doesn't always stand up straight. In fact it will tip over! I almost had the thing fall off the couch because of that. You have to prop it up against something or just leave it on its back.

Another issue is that if you carry it by the top handle, the weight of the camera and lenses makes it uncomfortable to carry because it sags and the handle isn't sturdy enough for that kind of eight. It should be stiffer, but its more cloth like so just sags and forms a point at your hand....

I do like the material, it feels nice, and the little clasp in the front is good for quick opening and closing if you don't close the top pouch by the zipper.