If you're like me, you've grown your kit to the point where it is
unreasonable to carry it around. Four or five lenses just don't travel
well, and any bag or case that will hold them certainly allows one to
do so at the cost of allowing any of it to be readily-available. Lens
changes require one to find a place to sit and make changes, and we
all know that this time can be crucial to whether or not one gets the
shot.

I'd been looking at many camera bags for quite some time. I keep my
gear stored in a Pelican case, and I use that case when I travel by
plane, but it is hardly practical to lug around on an urban hike. I
have a shoulder bag, but it swings around as I walk and annoys me to
carry. I've looked into backpacks, but they keep everything hard to
get to in the field. I've resorted, in the past year, to carrying my
20D and only a single lens when I go out. I pick a lens when I depart,
and hope that it might be suitable for all needs.

No longer.

With money earned on a recent job (in anticipation, actually), I
grabbed the Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW. Finally, a bag that will hold
most of my gear, that allows for easy handling and lens-changes, that
is easy to carry without even feeling like you're carrying something.
I know a few people have sung the praises of this bag on here already,
and many more likely already have one, but for those that have been
wondering what bag to use for their ever-growing kit, I cannot
recommend this bag more highly.

The bag is basically a backpack with a single strap that crosses one's
chest (rather than looping over the shoulder and under the same
armpit). If you know you won't be changing lenses anytime soon, the
bag has an extra strap that further locks the bag into "backpack"
mode. When this strap is undone, the bag can easily swing around to
the front of your body, where it is perfectly situated to be opened
for easy camera access, without the need to stop moving or sit.

The large cavity where most gear is stored can be closed *and*
latched. If this is done, it is only possible to remove the camera
from the cavity.Undoing the latches allows one to access the rest of
the contents. I'm able to keep a Canon 20D, 3 primes and one zoom in
there, with one lens on the body and enough room for a fourth prime or
another short zoom if/when I get that. The latching system means that
I can only access these lenses when I want to. If I keep it latched
and have the camera in there, I can grab the camera in no time at all,
and if I need to change a lens, undoing the latches makes this a quick
prospect as well.

Nothing about this bag strikes me as altogether revolutionary. There's
no innovative tech that impresses here, just innovative (to me) design
that makes everything sensible and easily-accessable.

If you feel (as I did) that you're under-using your kit because it is
impossible to carry everything with you, check out the Lowepro
Slingshot 200 AW (or the 100 AW if you want to carry fewer lenses, or
the 300 AW if you want to carry more or larger lenses). I truly feel
as though I've just acquired alot more gear, if only because now I
know that I have an entirely uncumbersome way to carry around the
"other" lenses in my kit that I'd have left behind before. I write
this only because I wish someone had pointed me toward this bag
sooner, and I couldn't be happier to have found it.

Will