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Lowepro quality and organization evident. This bag will NOT do or haul EVERYTHING but meets my needs for now. I have several digital camera bags(my wife might read this so i'll leave it at that) and i needed a bag to carry a "loaded" Canon 70-200 2.8 L II IS on my 7D body. The bag does this well with the hood still backwards but the remaining lenses can't have on hoods in the lower compartment. This bag flew with me as my "personal item" and my carry on suitcase to Phoenix for a Grand Canyon (yes, i went down into the Canyon with it minus my Macbook), Joshua Tree NP, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
In the bag: Macbook 17", 7D,5D, Canon 70-200 2.8 L II IS, Canon 100mm Macro, Canon 24-105mm L IS, Hoods for these 3 lenses, Domke Protective Wrap, Canon 1.4 extender, extra caps, extra flash cards, camera manual, extra eye cup, lumquest soft screen, cleaning cloths and lens pen, Op/Tech Rainsleeve, case with circular polarizing filter, battery charger, spare battery, 4G flash drive, Dazzle USB to download cards, Petzl Tikka XP headlamp, sunglasses, hat, bandana, nylon shell vest, 2 bottles of water, snacks and gum. I attached my parka shell below the back safety panel.
I kept everything together and carried it all with me into the field and room and car. When I removed the long lens i placed it in the upper pouch and could work quickly removing the camera body and smaller lenses together especially when hiking for a while. I did fall over once while leaning over from a kneeling position shooting macro because i never used the hip strap and the pack shifted. The pack was very stable in the field and in the airport and plane.
Now i'm putting the 5D body with macro lens or 24-70L in the upper pouch and leave long zoom on the 7D.
Oh, my wife said the blue bag matched my windblock jacket and was pretty! This bag does not look like a camera bag so extra safety.
FINAL WORDS-can carry like a sling bag(i have one) or backpack with/without computer as good daybag without bringing it "all" with you. durable & tough i'd put it backwards on a rock or dirt often & it's not even marred. cleaned up well from debris after going through tight places. maybe this will help you to choose the right bag for youself the first time, but you'll wind up with another as your gear changes.
Hope you enjoy the quality, comfort, reasonable price and the real reason you need this bag...to take YOUR images and EXPRESS yourself......SHOOT! My equipment changed but not my bag! Just back from Finland & Estonia 10/2010
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I Got this to replace my Lowepro CompuDayPack because it was too small -this is PERFECT -it fits my macbook pro beautifully, and it fits my Canon 40D with large zoom lens attached, along with all my other lenses and gear -and its secure and relatively lightweight, as well as comfortable to wear. Believe me, I have tried almost every SLR-COmputer backpack on the market, and this one is just about perfect for my use.Note that this is NOT designed for heavy-duty hiking-trail type shooting. There is no ability to lash anything to the bag. It is specifically designed to be a lightweight carry-all your gear bag. I found this to be the perfect travel bag for a recent trip to Walt Disney World -airplane carry-on compatible, lightweight, and allowed me to take all the gear I wanted to safely on board. I found myself not using the bag itself once at the resort, but it sure was convenient and easy to use.
I've also used it on multiple local shoots in the area where I needed my laptop along.
Highly recommended.
Best Deals for Lowepro Fastpack 250-Arctic Blue
I have been searching for a camera bag with light backpacking feature for a long time and finally settled on this one. The first impression is that the bag looks bigger than expected. But then once everything is put into the bag, you realize that the bag is the smallest size to fit all the stuff.The top compartment for backpacking and the bottom compartment for camera equipment are nicely separated with padding. The laptop compartment has very thick padding (an inch of padding with both sides combined) This might have added some weight to the bag and for someone does not need the laptop capability, the Fastpack 200 would be a choice with lighter weight. The top compartment does not have the necessary padding for camera equipment as it is designed for personal items.
Many people are wondering (including myself) whether the bag will fit a 70-200 2.8 when making the purchase decision. The answer is Yes. I have a 30D with 16-35, 24-105 and 70-200 2.8 IS. There are two possible configurations.
First is to mount the 70-200 on the camera with hood reversed. But removing the divider in the center space, it's a nice fit. The other two lens are put into the bottom 2 spaces. Both lens hood can be put into the outside pocket of the top compartment. With the 70-200 in the middle, the top spaces are too narrow for any lens. Even a 50/1.4 is a very tight fit. But it can snugly fit a flash and a 1.4X teleconverter.
The 2nd choice is to mount a different lens on the camera, say 24-105, and store the 70-200 on the bottom space with the divider in the bottom space removed. The 70-200 in the bottom space is a tight fit but it does fit, although the end divider is slightly bulged by the lens cap. In either configuration, the top space is only designed for flash and teleconverter like, maybe a small lens like 50/1.4, but definitely not for any lens bigger. The camera with one the 24-105 mounted and hood reversed will fit in the center space, although it must be reversed (upside down) since the bulging lens cap from the 70-200 is too close. The 16-35 will then fits in the center space with the divider put back on. The hood for 16-35 is too large to fit and can be easily stored in the outside pocket of the top compartment.
There are plenty of small pouches for memory cards, battery, and filters on the pouch outside the compartment. The water bottle mesh pocket strap is nice. Once the bag is put on the shoulder, it feels well balanced. The shoulder strap is nicely padded, wide and comfortable. The waist strap helps balance the bag and distribute some weight off the shoulder. With one shoulder strap released, you can swing the bag to the front for quick camera access.
The bag is not All Weather and it does not have a place for tripod or monopod. That's not a downside since the one with these features would be much higher priced and for all different needs. My only complaint is that the cell phone pouch on the shoulder strap is too small for smart phones like Treo. If only it is designed to be 1/4 of inch larger!
Honest reviews on Lowepro Fastpack 250-Arctic Blue
I recently purchased a Canon XSi with a couple of lenses and needed a camera bag to carry them around in. I live in New Hampshire and enjoy landscape and nature photography, so I decided pretty quickly that I wanted a backpack rather than a shoulder bag. I looked at the Fastpack 100 at Best Buy, and while it would have worked for me as a camera bag, there wasn't much storage space for day hikes in the upper compartment. It also seemed expensive for its size at $75.When I checked on Amazon.com to check other options for camera backpacks, I found that their prices on the Lowepro products were so much cheaper than Best Buy's that I could get a Fastpack 250 for the same price Best Buy charged for the Fastpack 100 (note: price has increased slightly at Amazon since I purchased this)! Based on the reviews on Amazon, it seemed to be what I was looking for. That was confirmed once I received it. The bag is spacious and has three main compartments the lower half is a space for camera equipment (with adjustable padded dividers to protect the components and two memory card pockets), the upper half has space for whatever else you want to carry (with small pockets for pens, cell phone, change, etc), and the back compartment will hold a standard size laptop. There are also pockets on the outside of the upper and lower sections for items you want immediate access to (maps, snacks, etc...). The camera equipment compartment opens on the side, which makes it easy to grab your SLR with an attached lens (which fits in the front section of the compartment) without removing the backpack. However, if you want to change lenses or use an external flash, I think you would need to take the pack off I wouldn't want to risk my equipment falling out by fully unzipping the bottom compartment with the pack on my back. Also, since I only have the body and two lenses right now, I use the free space in the camera compartment to hold my video camera and other items.
The bag has mesh pocket on the side that can be used for a water bottle or anything else you may want to have immediate access to when hiking or traveling. It also has a pocket on one of the straps which is about the right size for a small cell phone or a multitool. The back of the pack and the straps are well padded, and the back is comfortable to wear. I haven't worn it with a laptop in the back compartment, so I am not sure how that would impact the comfort.
So plenty of space, well designed and comfortable to wear...why did I give it four stars instead of five? The one thing missing that I really would have wanted to see was an integrated rain cover. While the information that comes with the bag indicates that the fabric is water resistant, I really would have preferred a waterproof rain cover given the cost of the equipment being carried in the bag, especially given the quick moving thunderstorms that we see in NH in the summer months. It seems odd that a such a well thought out pack would not have such a common feature.
Overall, this is a great back for daytrips and hiking in the country or in the city. If the water resistant fabric can keep the equipment on the inside as dry as a cover would have (haven't had it out in the rain), it will be a perfect bag for my purposes.
