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Lowepro Format 150 – a small bag
Looking for a small bag to fit your camera gears?
I needed a smaller bag for my vacation when I travel. Since I only needed to fit a camera house and 2 lenses I found Lowepro Format 150 bag to fit my purpose. On the front of the bag there is a little pocket where you can have extra batteries, memory cards and pens, etc. There is one pocket on each side of the bag for a tripod or bottles. There is no rain cover for this bag which is to bad because its a great bag otherwise. It weighs basically nothing only 0.5 kg.
I also tried to fit my big Tamron 150-600 mm lens in the bag and I could fit it too. See picture below to see how it looked. On the inside of the lid there is also a pocket for a 10″ tablet (Ipad etc). The bag can fit 5 small lenses and a camera house. To the left of the camera house you can see that the padding is divided to make it easier to have a lens attached with a camera house, that is a plus.
I have put the Lowepro Format 150 next to my usual bag the Lowepro 300 AW, so that you can have something to compare with.
All in all it is a great bag for travel. I used it for my vacation in Europe. I could pack it with all that I needed for my travels to different places. It will be the bag I am going to use if I am going out to take some pictures, especially for macro photography where I do not need any big lenses.
2015©Expressive Photos
Think Tank – Glass Taxi bag
I was looking for a small bag to fit the Tamron 150-600mm mounted to my Canon 60D. I had seen the review with Jared Polin for this bag. He was able to put in lots of pro lenses in that small bag. He was very surprised by how good the bag was and was saying it was light weight. So I thought I have to try the bag to see what the fuss is all about.
I was checking it out in the store and I also had my camera and the Tamron 150-600 mm lens with me to try it out.
First thoughts of this bag was that the lens and the camera fits in the bag! That is a good start.
When the padding came into the picture, the issue started. The shop keeper and I tried to build it up so that you would be able to fit the camera house mounted on the big Tamron 150-600 lens and still have some lenses on the side of the big lens. That was not easy.
The good thing about Glass Taxi bag is that it has a option where you can choose to only have a big lens in the middle of the bag but then there will be no space for any other lenses. See the picture above to understand what I mean.
As you can see from the picture above you can fit lenses on the side if the big lens is straight. The problem with the Tamron 150-600 mm lens is that it is not straight and that makes it little harder to fit in this bag. The Tamron lens becomes wider in the end of the lens. That puts the camera house in a strange angle in the bag and the padding does not fit then. I am not saying it wont go, but I am saying that the camera bag is not built for the Tamron 150-600m mounted on a camera house.
This is what you can use the bag for:
- Holds up to a 500mm f/4 lens.
- Holds a 300mm f/2.8 with DSLR
- Holds a pro DSLR
Technical Specifications:
- Interior Dimensions: 8.3” W x 16.3” H x 8” D (21.1 x 41.4 x 20.3 cm)
- Exterior Dimensions: 8.5” W x 17” H x 9.5” D (21.6 x 43.2 x 24.1 cm)
- Weight: 2–3.7 lbs (0.9–1.7 kg)
Glass Taxi can be used as a backpack or a shoulder bag. You can attached a monopod or a middle size tripod on the side of the bag. With the speed/skin belt you can attached even more components on the belt, if you want that.
Another thing I noticed with the Think Tank Glass Taxi bag is that the side of the bags are very thin. This means if you happen to drop the bag your lenses and camera equipment can take damage. That is the reason I did not buy the bag. To bad Think Tank, other wise it would have been a nice bag. I am not willing to take a risk with this bag.
It does not matter that the padding in the middle on the inside of the bag is thick because there are no padding on the sides of the bag. This is something Jared Polin forgot to mention when he did his review and praised this bag.
A good advice is to always try out the bag in a store before you buy it. If you order the bag online you will not notice these things until you open the bag and then it might be to big of a hassle to send it back.
The price is right now around 159 US dollars. The pictures are from Think Tank’s site.
©2014
Tamron 150-600 mm lens is coming!
The order is done! I am now just waiting for the Tamron 150-600 mm lens to come any day now. I have been waiting and waiting for a store to have this in their supply and yesterday it was available in a online photo store. It cost me around 11 000 Swedish kronor with shipping. I will get the lens tomorrow if everything goes according to plans.
I was first thinking of ordering it from B&H photo store in New York, but when you add the cost for customs, shipping plus 25% in tax, it does not feel worth it. I was also unsure if the warranty would be valid here in Europe since the Tamron site for Europe have been writing we need to have a warranty valid in Europe, that you will only get if you buy it from Europe.
I also read about the warranty that Tamron have for 5 years. You have to register within 2 months after purchased in order to get the warranty, otherwise you only have 1-year warranty. There are some policies that might not be so good in it. One issue as I see it is for example that the warranty is not transferable. So if you sell the lens in second hand, the person who buys it will not get the warranty.
When I was ordering the lens I was given a option of including a insurance for the lens. I was thinking about adding one because if something happens I want to be sure it will be covered by the insurance. Then I came to think about the home insurance that I have which covers everything I own. So I gave my insurance company a call and was happy to know that even my camera is covered and that even if I happen to drop the lens it will still be taken cared of. So it is a good idea to check all these things before you buy anything. Otherwise you end up signing unnecessary insurance. I saved 1000 SEK by not taking the lens insurance.
I have seen lots of nice pictures that other photographers have taken with this ultra lens, it really is a good lens. Soon it till be time for me to also try my best to take nice pictures like I have seen is possible. It will be my first ultra zoom lens so I am really excited about that. Now I feel like I do not need to buy any other super zoom lens because the Tamron 150-600 mm covers the whole range of focal length that I need. I will be using this lens for nature photography, especially for wild animals and birds.
The weight of almost 2 kg makes it possible to hand hold the lens, not like the heavy kind like Canon 600 mm lens. I predict this lens will be many peoples favorite lens, the price is also a big factor. Now most people can afford to have a ultra zoom lens without selling their car to afford a really good lens.
Are you also about to buy a Tamron 150-600 mm lens or at least thinking about it? Then click the follow button to get more information about what accessories I will use for this lens and you will get to follow the process of using the “Bigron” like some people call it. If you have any questions let me know. I will be writing about the filter I choose for this lens in another post. It will also be the time for me to start looking for a bag for this lens, as it might not fit in the bag I have now.
2014©ExpressivePhotos
Expressive photos 