As with every camera bag review I write, I’m going to dwell on how much I love the Tenba Messenger and how I think pretty much nothing else compares. Nonetheless, this is a bit of a different offering–being entirely more specific in its use–and has some real strengths despite not being my ideal camera bag. I will try not to give it too hard of a time for things it wasn’t necessarily meant to accomplish, but I’ll at least have to touch on them. What I’m getting at is this: if your use case matches this bag’s intentions and you’re willing to spend the money, you should be very happy with your purchase.

Let’s get the surface stuff out of the way. In some ways the bag is nicely designed. It keeps its shape, it’s reasonably attractive in its arrangement of pockets, straps and compartments, and if you’re into the whole halloween color scheme (I’m not) you’ll be please when you unzip a pouch and find some bright orange staring back at you. Ultimately this is not my first choice design-wise, but it’s not like the bag is ugly. I’d really like to see these companies try something beyond the usual black and neon color scheme, but sometimes I feel alone in this. It seems people like it, otherwise they would actually try something else…right?

Moving on to more important things, there are a lot of usage-related design elements that are really, really nice. Two I noticed immediately–which I think is a fantastic sign–are the easy access camera pouch and the zipper stoppers on the main (camera and lens) compartment. Nowadays it’s pretty customary to find easy access pouches for your camera with a lens already attached, and that’s wonderful. Case Logic took this a step further and made this rubbery restraint that your lens fits into to help keep the camera in place while it’s safely tucked away in the bag. It doesn’t seek to hold it completely still to the point where you’d find it difficult to insert and remove, but rather gives a little extra support and stability while the camera is being stored. It’s kind of like the camera-equivalent of a cup holder (in a way). The zipper stoppers are an interesting addition as well. When you open the main compartment, there are these little velcro wrapping ties (much like the velcro ties you’d buy for cables) that keep the zipper from going down all the way. This prevents you from opening anything more than the quick-access portion of the camera storage area. At first I thought this would be really annoying, because I can just restrain myself from opening the bag too far, but the restraints are so easy to remove and (more importantly) re-attach that it’s actually nice.

When you open the bag entirely you get a great view of how much storage you have for lenses. For some this is fantastic and for others it’s a problem. If you have 8+ lenses that you like to have with you at all times, you’ll be very pleased with the amount of storage this bag offers. If you have mostly primes, you’d even have room to stack them to fit even more (not that this is exactly the best idea, but my point is the lens compartments–which are adjustable–are tall enough to hold a couple of 35mm or 50mm primes each). If you are working with a few lenses (i.e.: a telephoto zoom, a prime or two, and a wide angle zoom) you’ll find a lot of empty lens-shaped space in your bag. You may find yourself wishing that space were reserved for something else. Well, if that something else is a second camera you could actually re-arrange the internal structure of the bag to fit one (thanks to the compartment dividers being adhered with velcro and not something permanent). If you were hoping to fit something less camera-related then that’s where you’ll probably find yourself in the camp of people for whom this bag was not intended. This is where I start talking about the Tenba Messenger, by the way. It offers a phenomenal amount of flexibility so you can pretty much have exactly what you want regardless of your intentions. Here you’re locked into a more specific purpose. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not really a good one either. Basically, with this Case Logic bag, you’re bringing a camera, lenses and laptop. You can throw in a few accessories and, potentially, strap a water bottle on the side, but that’s it. That’s enough for some, but definitely not a perfect scenario. I’ll come back to this a bit later. Let’s first talk a bit more about what you can store before going into everything you can’t.

In the main/camera compartment, the flap contains some storage for what I would expect most will use for filters. If you have papers, like a warranty card or a thin manual (not sure why you’d bring these), those will fit. So will a lens cloth. Mainly this is skinny storage, so if you can slide it under a door this is a good place to keep it. On the front of that flap (the exterior of the bag) is a smaller compartment that offers slightly more width. This seems like the ideal place for your laptop’s power adapter. You can also store about three pens and some other small items. On the sides of the bags you have two very different options. Assuming the bag is on your back, the left side offers more skinny storage. I’d consider this a quick-access pocket for filters (and it holds about two). On the right side, you have straps. My guess is that this is for a water bottle because this bag seems to be geared toward travelers or journalists who will have the bag outside a lot. I say this because of the waterproof bottom, which is always nice to have, though I’m afraid the material it is made of will get beat up pretty fast (another area where the Tenba shines). But I could be wrong. Those straps may be designed to hold a tripod (which, now that I think about it, makes a lot more sense) as a water bottle would probably slip out. But I like water bottles, so I like to believe it’s dual-purpose . On the back you have comfort padding for your back. It’s nice, but I’ve seen/felt much better. Lastly, there’s a nicely-padded back compartment for your laptop. The one thing I hate about the laptop being in the back is that it makes the bag very rigid when wearing it. That’s no exception here, unless you’re using a much smaller laptop (read: netbook) than this bag was designed for. I’ve always considered this a design flaw and would prefer the laptop in the middle of the bag, I realize that involves a lot of sacrifices people would rather not make in exchange for the added comfort.

That pretty much wraps up what this bag can hold. If that sounds satisfying to you, this is probably a good choice for you (assuming you don’t mind spending over $100 on a backpack). If you’re wondering if it will fit ITEM X that you own, maybe it’s not. For example, books magazines and notepads are all items that, unless unusually small, will not fit nicely in this bag. You can fit flash cards and a hard drive, but probably not more than one hard drive (not easily) and only if it’s a 2.5″ portable (I used to assume this was the only kind of hard drive people would port around with them but I’ve met too many photographers who carry around 3.5″ externals to feel that way now–even if I don’t understand that mentality at all). You could probably fit some tape, extra batteries, etc., in open lens compartments but you’d risk them moving around a bit. You won’t be able to fit thicker pens (Sharpies or smart pens like the LiveScribe Pulse). If you want to bring a portable video game system like the Nintendo DS(i) or Sony PSP, you’ll need to sacrifice space for something else or make it a tight fit. I could go on about other random things you could try to fit in the bag, but if you’re like me and want to take a bunch of extra stuff in addition to your camera and laptop, you may find it a little frustrating with this bag. Additionally, if you have a bunch of small things (flash drives, for example), the pockets are mostly big pockets and so you might find yourself searching for these items. These may or may not be realistic problems for you.

Ultimately, the bag is reasonably comfortable and stores a lot of what it intends to store in interesting ways. Overall it’s a good bag and you’ll be at least mostly happy with it if you’re willing to fork over the cash. If you feel inclined to take more with you than you probably require, you may find yourself frustrated, but otherwise there is not much to complain about.
Rating: 4 / 5

If you need to be able to carry your camera, lenses, and laptop in one convenient, comfortable bag, look no further: this is the product you want.

This backpack has secure, easy-to-use compartments for everything you’ll need when you’re out taking pictures and editing. The quality of materials and construction is excellent. The shoulder straps are nicely padded and very comfortable. The bottom of the backpack has a sturdy, rubberized shell. This is a great feature that many manufacturers overlook. You can sit the backpack down on damp pavement or wet grass and not worry about your equipment getting wet, and all you have to do is wipe off the bottom of the backpack with a cloth and you’re good to go.

Everything else is pretty much self explanatory, and there’s not much else to say that hasn’t been said in the other reviews. Bottom line: this is a really cool and well-made backpack! And don’t let the price scare you away. After all, if you’re carrying several thousand dollars worth of camera gear and computer gear, doesn’t it make sense to spend a little extra on a high-quality bag to carry it all?
Rating: 5 / 5

The things I like about this bag:

1. Fits my Canon EOS 20D with a zoom L lens attached in camera compartment! Don’t have to remove even moderate zoom lenses off the camera before storing.

2. Very easy to just take the camera out and put back in – there are small ties that let you open only the top half of the camera compartment so you can just take the camera alone out while the lenses, filters etc are safely stored below.

3. Great shock protection and wet protection; stands on its own even when fully loaded.

4. Fits my Dell 15.6″ inspiron as well smaller Dell lattitude 14″ notebooks.

5. For every day use, I remove the camera inserts/velcros and use it as a laptop backpack and on outdoor trips, I use it as camera+laptop backpack! After removing the dividers in the camera compartment (attached with sturdy velcro), there is enough area to keep bunch of papers, documents, or dress for overnight stay! Great utilitarian use.

6. construction quality is superb. I have other backpacks that have zippers etc that are hanging everywhere creating a mess catching somewhere while moving. This one is great – there is no loose hanging piece outside the bag – a clean finish.

7. Also holds a small tripod or unipod securely on the side

8. Has enough small zippered/unzippered packets for storing digital media etc.

Things I don’t like:

1. price – it shoule be a little more affordable. But if you can afford, this bag is an ultimate buy in terms of quality and utility.

Rating: 5 / 5