Tamrac Velocity 9x

Finally, after abandoning my blog for such a long time....hmm i think its a year, its coming back alive.
I picked up this photography hobby a couple of months ago and got myself a DSLR. I've been taking alot of photos since then.
Take a look at my gallery at http://flickr.com/photos/28067948@N02/.
Anyway, the crave for lenses took over after i got a DSLR. U jus cant resist the temptation looking at those big big lenses. DROOL
Since im getting pretty serious about photography, i decided to purchase a proper bag as a home to all my photography gear. The free bag given by Canon was of such poor quality i doubt my gear could survive a minor downpour.
I went to London Camera Exchange in Piccadilly Manchester today and got myself a Tamrac Velocity 9x sling bag.
Ok to put things into perspective, i'll first show how the free Canon sling bag looks like. Here it is:


And the inside's look like this

I know all of u girls will say its a really pretty bag.
Let me describe the disadvantages of it:

1. The build quality of the bag is unsurprisingly poor. The materials its made off is thin and clumsy, does not give you the solid and durable feel.
   
2. It does not have a zipper so when it rains(it always do in Manchester), rain water will sip in through the opening on the sides and get onto ur DSLR......OOOPS...
3. Look at the first picture of the bag. It bears the name EOS DIGITAL. EOS stands for Electro Optical System, which is the brand name for Canon's extensive line up of DSLR's. Now, what would you think is in the bag if ur a thief and u see someone walking around with this bag? This bag certainly cannot be relied on to carry ur expensive L series lenses and DSLR bodies.
4. This bag is a shoulder type bag, where the strap goes on your shoulder and thats the way you carry it. This is not good because as you add more equipment, the weight of all those equipment on 1 shoulder is high and I guarantee u will need to visit your chiropractor after hauling it for a couple of hours.
5. After only a few months using it, the threads begin to come loose, as you can see here:

After doing some extensive research on brands like Lowepro, Tamrac, Crumpler and Kata, I finally settled on the Tamrac Velocity 9x sling bag. All the brands I mentioned are specialized in producing camera bags.
Tamrac produces several versions of the Velocity including 5x,6x,7x,8x. The 9x is the largest model and i chose it so because it provides room for future equipments.
Anyway, here it is, all in its glory:


The design is somehow reminiscent of a turtle when i look at it online. It looks abit cute. Dont let the cuteness of it fool you. This bag is made of tough and durable materials that can take plenty of abuse. Its extremely solid and satisfying to carry it around. You feel safe, knowing that your gear is protected.

It addresses all of the weakness of the free Canon bag i addressed above.
It has a zipper to prevent rain water from getting in. Furthermore, the zippers are protected from rain via the flaps that cover it. Shown here:


Here is the shot of the back:

And the insides:


The camera body goes into the middle compartment. The dividers are attached via velcro straps in the bag and are really strong. The two vertical padded devices are reinforced with plastic to further protect your valuable lenses.

Its much roomier than the free Canon bag and build quality is top notch.

The interior of the front pocket looks like this:


Those red flaps are part of what Tamrac call their Memory and Battery management system. We photographers usually carry plenty of spare batteries for our flashes and some extra memory cards. Tamrac uses this system to alleviate the problems of not knowing which battery has been used and which are the fresh ones, as you can indicate them as empty using the red flaps. Btw, Tamrac patented this innovative and simple concept of theirs.

The bag addresses the security problem by the design itself and also two security buckles on the sides of the bag. Firstly, the bag does not look like a camera bag at all. It looks like a usual sling bag. The security buckles protect ur kit from pickpockets as it cant be opened within a split second. The buckles too are extremely rigid and solid.

All in all, i can say its a really good bag and im happy i bought it albeit the high price. Im sure it will definitely serve me well for now and years to come.

P/S - The Tamrac logo looks so kool and trendy