Introduction

The camera bag is very important, as it protects your equipment, keeping it dust free and adds protection in case the bag is dropped.

The choice of bag is huge. You can have shoulder bags, backpacks. Think carefully before choosing, especially if you have a lot of equipment.

Shoulder bags provide for fast access to your equipment, but by their nature carry most of the weight on one shoulder, so if you have more than a couple of lenses, this can get tiresome.

Backpacks allow large amounts of equipment to be carried easily, but access is restricted as you have to remove the bag to get into it.

Hard cases provide the best protection, but are heavy. They can also be checked in if required when flying.

Some of the soft bags also provide an all weather cover to provide additional protection from rain.

Some attempt has been made below to typify the features of different bags, but remember that all are available in many different shapes and sizes, so the table is just a general guide.

Typical brands (listed in some sort of popularity order ), many others are available too :

Backpack : Lowepro, Tamrac, Crumpler

Shoulder : Lowepro, Crumpler, Billingham

Hard case : Peli