Editorial Review:

Product Description:
BAG, SEATTLE SLING, CAMERA BAG,WATER









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Rating: - Bulky but practical...
This bag from Made Products is like the SUV of camera bags. When it first arrived in the mail, I almost couldn't believe it was a camera bag at all. It looked more like a huge lunchbox you might have if you planned on picnicking on top of a mountain. The size of it made sense only when I took it on the road.

My old bags had a nasty habit of swinging along with my momentum when I put the strap on my shoulder but not this bag. The strap is from 3" to 4" wide and is very padded so when you put it on you won't feel like it's going to saw off your shoulder.

It also features another strap located on the lower right corner of the bag that acts as a stabilizer keeping it nice and motionless. It actually looks a lot like a vehicular seatbelt in the way that it's designed.

There are no pockets on the outside but it's not an issue since the inside of the bag has plenty of room for your camera and its accessories. I'm talking about a 10" deep, 13 1/2" long space with a padded divider for all your lenses, film, filters, etc. The divider itself has been placed inside a bright red bag used to keep your equipment safe from dirt, dust, sand, and water and it has instructions printed on the outside for your convenience.

The entire camera bag is really like two bags in one with padding provided from the outer bag and small particulate protection provided from the inner bag.

The coolest part I found was that when you need to get your camera out of the bag, you don't even have to take it off. If you unhook the stabilizing strap I mention earlier, the bag can then be swung around in front of you securely (meaning you won't have to worry about it swinging back around at all) and opened up pretty easily. It's like it turns you into one of those vendors at sports games selling beer and hotdogs from a tray in front of their chests. With this function, the camera bag's bulk makes perfect sense. It seems to me like Made Products thought of almost everything when they designed this bag.

For everything that I like about it, I have two small beefs with this camera bag. While the design is good, the color of the inner bag should have been changed to match the rest of the bag. This is a super red color that almost hurts the eyes. The other beef I had deals with some straps on the outside of the bag. They are supposed to be used to carry a tripod for your camera but when I strapped mine in, the bag kept slipping backwards. I would recommend using this feature if you have a lightweight or smaller tripod.

Overall though I think this camera bag is well worth the price.

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Rating: - Excellent Bag
This is a great camera bag all around. You can see right away how it's waterproof. The outside is a cushioned nylon fabric. Inside is some sort of polyurethane bag, which will completely keep out the water. And inside that bag are cushioned separators to keep your camera equipment from bumping against each other. The bag uses magnets, velcro, and snaps to keep shut, and all around seems very sturdy. The craftsmanship is excellent, and more than justifies the price.

Keep in mind, however, that this is a large bag, about the size of a backpack, which is meant for large, professional camera equipment. This isn't meant for a small digital camera. For something like that, you'd be better off with a pelican case.

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Rating: - It does what it claims, but not much more
I have been a photographer for over thirty years and I was in the wholesale professional photographic equipment business for about twenty. I now photograph wild birds in some of the harshest environments on earth so when I review an item like this I like to put it through the wringer. And that is just what I did.

First: I like the look and the basic design of the bag. The velcro for the top flap is really heavy duty. It is a good substitute for zippers IF you are using the orange bag inside of the case. The orange protection bag can be pulled out and the insert with the dividers can be reinserted without the water resistant bag. There is space for memory cards and filters just above where the top lid attaches to the case, but no where else. The backpack-type strap is unique and I liked it, although it took some getting used to. The interior space is surprisingly small considering the size of the bag. However, I don't believe that this was designed to be an "all-purpose" camera bag (as are most Tenbas and Lowe Pros). This was made for transporting equipment (photo or otherwise) into really wet environments. So that's what I tested it for.

I used the orange "bag" for all of the water tests. I stuffed the interior dividers with colored paper (I was not up for risking my own photo gear) that turns really dark when exposed to the slightest bit of moisture. Next, I took it outside and took out my garden hose and my trusty eight-way spray nozzle.

I started with the "mist" setting and held the nozzle just two feet from the bag and sprayed all around it for about 20 minutes. If you have ever been close to a great falls you have an idea of what I was testing for. The bag wipes off surprisingly well. The paper was completely dry. Success #1.

Second I used a setting that would simulate a pretty good rain storm. Since I have been caught in these many times with my own camera bag in the past (including in the rain forest of Peru and a down-pour in a South Florida that I thought would never end) I felt that one hour was just about the right amount of time. I noticed some water inside of the case itself but not inside of the orange bag. It was still dry inside. Success #2.

Now, I wouldn't have subjected the bag to this last test if it were not for the photo on the on the tag that showed the bag being submerged in water. I wanted to see how well the Camera Armor bag protected gear from an accidental fall into water. This has happened to me several times in my life and I have ended up damaging a Hassleblad, two Leicas and ruining a favorite view camera lens. Time for a dip in the pool!

I stood near the edge of the four foot deep part of a community swimming pool and imagined that I had a brand new Canon 50D (yet to be released at this time) and about $5000 in lenses in the bag. I "lost" my balance, fell into the water and immediately raised the bag out of the pool as quickly as I would have if it had been for real. Wow! No paper inside of the bag was even a little bit wet. However, if I had memory cards in the space that I think they were meant to be they would have been subjected to a drowning unless they were in their own little plastic cases. Success #3!

I took out the colored paper and stuck white paper inside it now. I took it to a dry field and almost covered it with dirt and sand. Again, the interior of the bag had dirt in it, but not the protective orange bag. Success #4. I was tired and gave up in any further torture.

This is a GREAT bag for what it is designed for and worth the cost. But I have to be honest and say that this model should not be considered a "Pro" bag. There just isn't enough room for even enough gear for a day trip. Also, it is hard to get in and out of when using the orange bag. Where I think that this bag fits in is as a way for adventurists to carry a modest amount of sensitive gear and protect it from getting wet or dirty. I could put a digital SLR with a zoom attached, a flash, a GPS and radio or two. Until it is available in a larger model I would suggest the pro gets an external cover for his/her existing case. If you think that you and your bag might get submerged carry your equipment in a Pelican case.

I give the Camera Armor 5 stars for water resistance and 3 for being a well thought-out camera bag, so 4 stars in all.

Pelican 1450 Case w/Foam (Black)

Pelican 1620 Watertight Hard Case with Dividers & Wheels - Black

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Rating: - Protection from the elements
There were few reviews when I first got this bag and the original manufacturer's product description isn't for the bag, which shows you how valuable user reviews are. Now there are plenty of thorough reviews of this bag, which seem pretty accurate to me, so there's not much more for me to add. So, I provided a photo of how this bag compares to another product I reviewed, DCB-56 SLR Camera Holster (BLUE). Sometimes it's hard to tell the sizes of these things, so I show you a camera, a single-size camera bag and this bag, which looks like it could hold up to 3 cameras, or more, depending on the size and type.

Unlike the Case Logic bag, this bag is not easy to get your camera in and out of quickly. This bag is more for transporting. I think this would be a good bag for traveling. I'm not sure, but it may be small enough to qualify as the "extra" carry on you can take on a plane in addition to one piece of carry on luggage. If so, and you have a lot of camera equipment, this would be a big help, especially since they charge for checked bags now.

Another thing about this bag is that I think it would be better marketed as protection from "the elements" than just water (this product is not submersible, by the way). The emphasis is on waterproof, but in reality it would be good protection from dust and maybe protect in cold and heat, as well. It might be a good place for long term storage.

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Rating: - Great waterproofing, some drawbacks in transporting it.


Since there are a lot of detailed descriptions of this bag and its positive and negative attributes let me just add some info that I did not see here yet.

I took this on a Southwest Airlines flight this past weekend. The bag would not fit under the aisle seat without more pushing than I would be comfortable with considering I had my SLR in it. It would fit under the middle seat and was ok under the window seat. It is large enough to count as your "bag" with the way that the airlines are cracking down on what you carry on. The fact that it is very well padded makes it a little less stressful to put it in the overhead bin, but be sure someone does not come along and shove a hard suitcase against it.

It is nice in that it does not scream "I am carrying lots of expensive camera equipment" But it does not have 2 rubber "camera armor" badges on it. This is something my Canon camera backpack also has plastered on the back. I wish that companies would not put these logos on the outside, since I really don't want to indicate what I have in my bag.

It was not a problem putting it through the scanner, although the TSA did look at the little magnetic clasp once it went through the x-ray machine one of the four times I went through security. And they did not want me showing them how to open it so I had to talk them through.

It's a bit hard to carry with a purse because if you are female and more than a little endowed the smaller strap part of the backpack ends up acting a little like an unintended underwire bra.

The waterproof case is removable. In fact I took it out when I went down to the beach to shoot and put it inside another case.

Also when I got home I tested it by putting a towel in it, putting it in the shower for 2 minutes and then taking it out. The towel was perfectly dry. So I would feel confident this would protect my camera in really wet weather.