The Nature, Wildlife and Pet Photography Forum - Fine Art Landscape Photography

New Lens and Bag - Help. :P

Posted By: James Morrissey

New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/09/11 03:33 AM

Hey Everyone,

I am about to take the plunge and purchase the Sigma (Canon mount) 120-300 F2.8 OS (hopefully I can get them to send one to me first to evaluate). It looks like the best deal for the money right now for me. I definitely need longer glass and I cannot afford what I think will be an absurd amount of cash for the 200-400 that is coming out (my guess is that it will be double if Nikon's 200-400 is any indicator).

Now - for the dilemma...a bag. I am looking at the Think Tank bag series, but I am not sold on it. What I need is a camera bag that will hold:

Two SLRs (w grips)
300mm lens
28-70 lens
16-35 lens
70-200 lens
flash
filters
laptop

I think that I can get away with this as a travel bag. Any ideas as alternatives?

James
Posted By: Tyler

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/10/11 10:57 AM

Are you looking to also use this bag to hike in anything over a short distance? Or is this more to have something to carry to a shoot location and keep things handy? Most backpack style camera bags have a laptop pocket. In fact I had a hard time finding one that didn't when I was trying to find the right bag for my needs.

Tony helped me when I was looking for a particular bag, and steered me towards two companies. I ended up going with THIS BAG . CkickElite has a ton of different setups with their bags, and especially for the pack I got, the ladder fit is a nice, easy way to get your pack fitted comfortably. The carry the more normal type bags at most photo stores, but for the more adventure/back country styles, I had a hard time finding one even in such an outdoorsy city.

When I travel, I pack everything in my bag, and then put the bag in a sturdy suitcase by itself, or take it as my carry on. I am too poor for a hard travel case. Worked great last summer in Australia smile
Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/10/11 07:17 PM

Thanks, Tyler. I checked out these cases and did not see one that would fit all of my gear. I am going to harass Tony and see which one he is using.

Anyone else? My new lens comes in about a week and I would like to ideally have a spanking new case with which to put it in. :P

James
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/11/11 12:25 PM

Well, I recently got an Airport Security from ThinkTank and love it. I was reluctant to get it for just one trip, but it is now my "all the time" bag.

Based on what I fit in mine, I think all your gear would fit, but you may want to drop in and try one out.
Posted By: Tyler

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/12/11 04:08 AM

I agree with Jim. The Think Tank doesn't seem to different in size than Click's Pro Elite bag, which has twice the storage space of my bag. I fit my camera body, a 100-300, a stout 150 macro, and another stout 18-70 (Sigma lenses are built like tanks, bulky and heavy) and even have room for one more medium sized lens or two small ones.

My local photo store let my take my gear in and try out a bunch of different ones so I knew the space would be correct, maybe yours does too.
Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/12/11 02:34 PM

Tony just turned me onto some other bags called FStop that look cool. I have also been examining these other bags.

Options:
 
349.99-50 rebate
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/73...L_Backpack.html
 
339.99 – heavy but will do the job.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/763124-REG/Vanguard_SKYBORNE_53_Skyborne_53_Daypack_Gray.html
 
299.99 – looks nice.Heavy.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/544651-REG/Tamrac_558801_5588_Expedition_8x_Backpack.html
 
Has everything…319.95
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/654885-REG/Tamrac_558901_5589_Expedition_9x_Backpack.html

Jim - the Think Tank - looks really nice (I THINK some of the guys on Steve Kossack's last workshop was using them too). Would you feel comfortable going on a 9 mile hike with it? Ie is it ergononic for hiking w a lot of gear?

James
Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/13/11 08:31 PM

Hey Everyone,

I picked my bag!!! I have gone with something called the Loka bag by FStop. It looks really cool - with different inserts available for the rig I want to take.

http://fstopgear.com/en/product/mountain/loka

James
Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/18/11 04:49 AM

Well - my new bag is here! It came in today. It is different from any bag I have seen on the market - and mostly I think it is awesome. Oddly enough, I wish their camera unit were slightly better integrated into th e bag (you would figure this would be a given) but otherwise, I really like it. I will put some photos together and put up a mini review later.

James
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/19/11 12:24 AM

Originally Posted By: James Morrissey
Tony just turned me onto some other bags called FStop that look cool. I have also been examining these other bags.

Options:
 
349.99-50 rebate
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/73...L_Backpack.html
 
339.99 – heavy but will do the job.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/763124-REG/Vanguard_SKYBORNE_53_Skyborne_53_Daypack_Gray.html
 
299.99 – looks nice.Heavy.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/544651-REG/Tamrac_558801_5588_Expedition_8x_Backpack.html
 
Has everything…319.95
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/654885-REG/Tamrac_558901_5589_Expedition_9x_Backpack.html

Jim - the Think Tank - looks really nice (I THINK some of the guys on Steve Kossack's last workshop was using them too). Would you feel comfortable going on a 9 mile hike with it? Ie is it ergononic for hiking w a lot of gear?

James


I see I'm a little late to return to the party, but no it's not a hiking bag.
Posted By: Jim Poor

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/19/11 12:25 AM

BTW, I have the Tamrac bag you linked to. It was my every day bag until I got the think tank.
Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: New Lens and Bag - Help. :P - 06/21/11 01:19 PM

Chanthee and I have been hiking with the bag fully loaded for the last 3 days. We have been doing 2-3 mile hikes around the park (we have a POTENTIAL 9 mile one scheduled in Glacier, if everyone feels like they can do it) and I have been preparing.

I really - really - like this bag. I took some shots of it the other night and I am going to post a mini review later.

James
Posted By: James Morrissey

120-300mm F2.8 Lens coming in tomorrow... - 06/21/11 09:32 PM

Hey Everyone,

My shiny new Sigma 120-300 OS lens comes in tomorrow. I am pretty excited and hope to give it a real run for its money this weekend....

James
Posted By: James Morrissey

Sigh...lens going back. - 06/26/11 12:11 AM

Well, i started to test the 120-300 f2.8 os yesterday. I was very disappointed to see that the HSM motor was absolutely crawling to focus. By crawling, I am talking about a half minute or more for the focus motor to lock (slowly). It is going back onMonday for anoer copy. Sigh. I am very disappointed.

James
Posted By: glamson

Re: Sigh...lens going back. - 09/02/11 07:01 AM

Originally Posted By: James Morrissey
Well, i started to test the 120-300 f2.8 os yesterday. I was very disappointed to see that the HSM motor was absolutely crawling to focus. By crawling, I am talking about a half minute or more for the focus motor to lock (slowly). It is going back onMonday for anoer copy. Sigh. I am very disappointed.

James


Hey James, did you ever get another one of these? Can I assume that since we never heard any more about it that things did not go well? I've thought about getting this lens from time to time, so I was just wondering.
Posted By: Tony Bynum

Re: Sigh...lens going back. - 09/02/11 02:20 PM

I can say this much about sigma. Their pro glass, is on the upper end for sure. I have owned a half dozen "pro" level sigma lenses and still have a couple of them including the 120-300 2.8 hsm. Here are my thoughts after many many tries to get sigma to work. . . 1. quality control is lacking, I've seen so many QC issues it's a wonder they can stay in business. 2. build quality is not nearly as good as nikon or canon. In other words, while they do have good glass, you'll notice the build quality - they DO NOT last under active and continued use. 3. color shift, sigma always gave me a green cast as compared to my nikon lenses. 4. customer service is a joke. They almost always gave me the run around and never did the job right. In one case i sent a lens back (100-300 f4 hsm) cuz it was not sharp at 4f (which is the only reason to own f4 lenses is so that you can shoot them wide open). Sigma told me they could "calibrate" the lens and the body - which as is turns out, they cant - but the issue was that I got the lens back from them - they said they repaired it when really all they did was take my serial number off my lens and put it on a different one and sent it back - it was so obvious. as it turned out, the 100-300 is not up to my standards at f4 so i sold it to a press photographer. . . In any event, the point is this, IQ is only one aspect of a lens . . .
Posted By: James Morrissey

Re: Sigh...lens going back. - 09/02/11 06:23 PM

Hey Everyone,

Yes, Sigma did sent a new model out to me. I took it to Montana to Glacier and plan on taking it to Yellowstone in October. The lens is super - and I mean super - sharp. Even with tele-extenders, it is razor sharp. The focus is also super fast.

I am not seeing a green color shift to the glass -but this is something that Sigma had said they had dealt with in the new unit.

I will be posting a review shortly.

James
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