Lowepro"Street" camera bag

benjiboy · Mar 6, 2011

In the last few days I bought to add to my collection of camera bags a Lowepro Exchange Messenger Bag http://www.lowepro.com/exchange which was on special offer cheap, although I admit I haven't used it yet it looks to me to be ideal for inconspicuous street shooting , and although it has no padding it's very light and soft and moulds to the body, is made of waterproof material and has two padded moveable internal dividers and I can get my 35mm or Mamiya TLR gear with four lenses in it even with the prism on the Mamiya, I'm going to give it a test drive next week because it doesn't weigh a quarter of my Billingham bag.

dugrant153 · Mar 21, 2011

I have this bag as well and use it for very lightweight duty when I don't feel like carrying my heavy Thinktank bag.

It's a great street bag and doesn't look like a camera bag at all. It's very stealth, and quite affordable too. Makes for great street shooting

Jeff Kubach · Mar 22, 2011

Looks interesting. Might check it out later on!

Jeff

benjiboy · Mar 22, 2011

dugrant153 said:
I have this bag as well and use it for very lightweight duty when I don't feel like carrying my heavy Thinktank bag.

It's a great street bag and doesn't look like a camera bag at all. It's very stealth, and quite affordable too. Makes for great street shooting

It's even more stealthy if you remove the Lowepro logo.

benjiboy · Mar 22, 2011

Jeff Kubach said:
Looks interesting. Might check it out later on!

Jeff

Amazon.com are selling them very cheap Jeff http://www.amazon.com/Lowepro-Excha...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1300787923&sr=8-1 $28 instead of $45.

Lee L · Mar 22, 2011

I've used this style bag for 30 years or so, and prefer it for most shooting.

I recently bought a laptop computer and found a new version of the Tenba bags I've used. Tenba has added a laptop slot behind the camera section and sells it in three sizes, the large, medium, and small Tenba Messenger bags. Great for carrying a basic camera outfit and a laptop on a plane in one bag.

The Tenba Messenger bags have a camera section with dividers that can be pulled out of the bag while still loaded, making conversion from a camera+computer bag to a computer-only bag and back a matter of seconds without unloading the cameras.

Lee

ath · Mar 22, 2011

Can somebody comment on the build quality of the Lowepro exchange messenger, please? In the photos I've seen it looks a bit cheap. Is the quality on par with bags like the Rover or Orion series?
How thick is the outer padding, i.e. how good does it protect against bumps?

Thanks.

daleeman · Mar 22, 2011

The "other" Lee has had a Tenba bag too for the same reasons, travel with notebook and camera. I ended up taking the insert out and putting it in an LL Bean Bag. This does not have the 90db sounding Velcro strip on the flap that announces to everyone that you are going to whip out a camera. A poor man's Billingham bag, does not say Steal Me.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/40308?feat=845-GN1

Lee

benjiboy · Mar 22, 2011

I don't own a laptop, my local pro dealer sells the Tenba messenger bag you refer to but it's just too big and padded and cumbersome for what I want, I have two Billingham bags A 550 and a 335 both of which are very high quality bags but are too unwieldy and conspicuous for street shooting, I wanted to avoid buying anything that could be construed as a laptop bag because your more likely to get mugged these days because a laptop is much more saleable for cash than a film camera .

dugrant153 · Mar 22, 2011

Doh! My Thinktank Urban Disguise 60 looks like a laptop bag Still blends in with all the the other Downtowners, though so I think I'm good Looks more like a big business bag carrying various papers of no sale-able value!

It's even more stealthy if you remove the Lowepro logo.

Yar. Then it becomes basically a very nice looking army canvas bag, which is in the same price range but not as camera friendly.

Can somebody comment on the build quality of the Lowepro exchange messenger, please?

To be honest, this is a very thin bag so protection is minimal compared to other lowepro gear. It's quite flimsy, but that makes it flexible and very very light. You could wrap the camera in a protective cloth to make it more buffered against bumps but I usually don't. That's not to say it's a crummy bag... it's very good and has survived my adventures so far But I'll bring out the more serious Thinktank when I'm on assignment.

The padded separators provide some protection between the items in the bag itself, though.

benjiboy · Mar 22, 2011

I was going to buy a Think Tank Urban Disguise 40 until my wife pointed how much it looked like something one would carry a laptop in, the Exchange Messenger is made of good quality water resistant materials but is lightly padded and flexible so it moulds to the body and is very lightweight, the internal dividers do however give it some rigidity, since I bought mine I've had a chance to use it a couple of times and for street shooting which is what I bought it for and I'm very impressed, I wouldn't recommend it for long journeys and the ultimate protection for your equipment, but I have plenty of other bags for that, all I'm saying that for "street" I.M.O. it's very good.

CGW · Mar 22, 2011

Still like my Domke F2. Without the padded bottom insert, it practically vanishes.

Lee L · Mar 22, 2011

benjiboy said:
... my local pro dealer sells the Tenba messenger bag you refer to but it's just too big and padded and cumbersome for what I want, I have two Billingham bags A 550 and a 335 both of which are very high quality bags but are too unwieldy and conspicuous for street shooting ...

Yes, the Tenba Messenger is bulkier due to padding, and as the other Lee notes, is loud when opening the velcro closure. It does, however, come in three sizes. My 30 year old Tenba P211 and a slightly smaller version of that bag still serve the purpose of a lighter, less padded bag.

The noise of opening the Tenba velcro can be an asset. I discovered this in Paris along the Seine 28 years ago when an older teenager tried to slip a hand into the bag to see what he could find. He only got sore fingers when I pried his hand open to see if he got anything.

I have nothing against Lowepro products. I own a couple. Just wanted to give folks with slightly different needs another option.

Lee

benjiboy · Mar 22, 2011

I have a Domke F2 and a Domke F5XC a Billingham 550, and a Billingham 335 and several other camera bags and rolling cases, all I was trying to say is the Exchange Messenger the most suitable I've had purely for street shooting.

ath · Mar 28, 2011

Thanks, guys. I bought one and the test run Sunday afternoon was OK - I will keep it.

dugrant153 · Mar 29, 2011

Good choice! I used this this weekend for my minimal setup - just a Fuji Instax 210 camera and my other amenities.

Lowepro"Street" camera bag

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