A life long search for the holy grail, “the perfect camera bag”

GAS set in not long after buying my first SLR in 1972. The need arose for a bag, which became an obsessional desire to find the perfect camera bag. Flight, cases, Pelican cases, too many Billingham’s to remember, backpacks, slings, modified bags, I am sure someone reading this will relate to what I am saying.

My requirements are, and always have been, to carry more than I need whilst looking like it will go well with an Armani suit (joke).

So many failures, one the biggest being the first Peak Design bag which for me was hideous and never fulfilled its promise.

There were some nearly perfect successes, like the French Le Reporter range crafted in sumptuous leather but with awful interiors. I still have a Le Reporter, which is beautiful but does not work, and some of the Billingham bags, which are incredibly well manufactured. My favourites are the F-stop range which is currently discontinued. I have 2 x F1.4 bags, they have perfect interior width but are slightly short on length and height, I always hoped for an F1.2 model, the F1.8 being the smallest bag in the range.

I had a custom-made Billingham Hadley Pro made for me, great quality but another failure, it just does not work for me but looks great.

The hard truth the ‘grail does not exist’ is hard to swallow because there are actually 2/3/4 grails for me. There is the minimalist – carry one body and one lens, street – wide, standard and short tele, landscape – wide to long tele and the bits in between plus various other scenarios.

I do confess to having a leaning towards a sling rather than a backpack. And I also have a couple of specific requirements… I keep lenses fixed to bodies and keep lens hoods permanently on lenses.

One of the reasons I keep the lenses on bodies is dust, and the other is I am clumsy and careless, I drove off with a Pentax 6×7 plus 300mm on the wing of a Land Rover and lost it. Also drove off in a different Land Rover with a Pentax 45mm lens on the wing and lost it.

I am clumsy when it comes to changing lenses and need lens hoods to protect lenses because I bang into things.

So I need a slightly bigger bag to accommodate my needs.

Enter the TOG – This could well be the best bag I have tried, I opted for the TOG Orangutang (silly name, but they donate £1 to an orangutang charity from every sale).

The creator is a young photographer from Gloucester. I will include a link to TOG’s site at the end so you can read all the technical and marketing stuff.

I am going to write about the negatives first, which are not many, they are minor and are personal comments.

Firstly – The bag is made out of vegetable leather which attracted me and looks good in the product photos. BUT when you look close up, it has a cross-hatch texture which I guess was chosen not to show scuffs – I would prefer smooth and scuffs, but minor negative.

Second – TOG quote that they donate 1£ to a charity linked to the colour of each bag, 1£ is nothing unless they sell 1000,000 bags but more importantly for animals and the Earth is the use of vegetable leather.

Third – Billingham Velcro needs a weight lifter to pull it apart from the bag, but the TOG Velcro is leaning more towards the soft side. Unless you are going to move dividers a great deal or pack in such a way the divider could move, it will not be a problem and is minor.

Fourth – Having now used the bag on a couple of walks, it is comfortable, BUT I think it could have benefited from slightly wider and thicket foam pads on the harness straps. I think if you were to use this as an all-day bag, it could become uncomfortable.

The bag is shown in the publicity being used by quite glamorous photographers in city environments and chic clothes, which is possibly not where some people would use these bags.

Positive

Excellent quality both of materials and manufacture, on a par with Billingham and a lot of thought has gone into the design.

Has lots of storage including secure sections for laptop, tablet, passport, wallet, mobile etc in an opening at the rear and it also has mesh pockets on lid of the front main compartment and a zipped pocket on the front.

Plenty of dividers are supplied to customise the interior for your kit, with the load shown, I have 3 unused dividers.

I can fit X-H1 plus 70-300mm, X-Pro2 plus 56mm, X-Pro2 plus 14mm, and X100F, all with lens hoods fitted plus space left over for a battery pouch.

The bag is quite slim in profile, is relatively light, and I think very stylish looking, at home with hiking gear or formal wedding photographers attire.

This clever little bag has a side opening which allows you to quickly access the one camera without taking the bag off your back.  It also has a neat pouch and straps on the side to take a tripod or a water bottle.

Am I satisfied? Did I find the grail?

I accept the grail does not exist, or should I say, my own personal grail does not exist, but for carrying a lot of equipment (in my case Fuji) in a compact, functional, stylish, well-made bag, it is pretty close, so yes I am satisfied.

Last word…

I bought mine selecting the € portal, believing that meant, as with other purchases I have made from the UK or US, import duty would be arranged. It is not, you pay UK VAT plus shipping, so I paid 201 euros, and then I got a bill from couriers for Spanish import tax of 18 euros.

togldn.com/