Lowepro Off Trail 2 – The Cheap Version
After spending a day of laughter, I have to admit that my buddy 21Win is definitely correct with his choice. Most camera bag models carry expensive gears securely. Some models give comfortable carrying option especially on the move. Some models carry quite a lot of professional gears – which mostly are a bit oversize. Some models give seamless access to the camera and its accessories. But the sexy Lowepro Off Trail 2 combines the best of all worlds: comfort, flexibility, capacity, and easy access.
All these days I have been using back-pack. It is quite comfortable to carry, not only when I hike but also when riding bicycle or motorbike. Size is quite okay, I bought it since I was using smaller consumer DSLR, so it is a bit tight now, but not to the trouble-making extend to hold all of my daily gears. My Lowepro Microtrekker 2 can carry a Nikon D200 body with attached 80-200 f/2.8 (hood reversed), a Sigma 10-20mm ultra-wide (with reversed hood), a Nikon 50mm f/1.4, tele-converter, a Nikon SB800 strobe, a number of filters, and few sets of extra batteries.
The problem I am having so far is flexibility. Imagine if you have your camera on your back, and suddenly you get something valuable to capture. You have to find a clean and flat place to put the back pack down, open the zipper, take the camera out, wrap up, take it back to your shoulder, and when you are set, the moment has just gone away. Let’s get along with the story. Out of frustration, you decide to hang your camera on your neck, so you have the bag on your back and the camera in the front. Another moment comes and you grab your camera. Through the viewfinder you realize that the zoom range of the attached lens just does not fit. What will you do? Again … find a clean and flat place, get the back pack down … and so the story completely repeated to the end.
So, behind my laughter when I saw him with his Lowepro Off Trail 2, I hide a kind of admiration. What a luxury that sexy bag has to offer. You can take your camera off, put it back, replace lenses, replace filters, without having to do any other move. When you are walking, you just need to stop, tear the zipper, do anything needed, and you’re suddenly set. Amazing. I am considering to buy the same, and check local shops. It costs about $55 and with its bulk I think it will easily gets up to $65-$70 including shipping and handling fee. The other bigger problem is that Off Trail 2 can only hold my Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 in its main compartment, attached to the camera body. The side-attached lens-cases are too small. What if I am in a situation when I keep on needing my other lens, for example my shorter Nikon 50mm, and I occasionally want to put the camera in the bag? I have to take the short lens off and drop into the side lens-case before putting the camera body into the main compartment. What a pain. It also leads to another problem, most of the times I also carry Sigma 10-20mm ultra-wide which has identical diameter with my Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8. It does not fit into the lens-case. To overcome this problem, I have to replace the lens-cases with larger ones, which are available as a separate but. The problem is that the two lens-cases coming with Off Trail 2 are packaged together. You have to buy them all, buy larger lens-cases separately, throw away the small ones, and replace them. What a waste.
There are two choices available, get a top-loader, and a couple of lens cases. The problems are firstly is that only a few top-loader types can carry D200 with attached 80-200 f/2.8 and they are rather expensive (even more expensive than the whole package of Off Trail 2), and secondly, not all of them can take lens-case attachments. To buy a Toploader AW and a couple of LC3 is a real bit of about $100 including shipping and handling. The other choice is Specialist 85 AW which carries the same stuff as Toploader AW plus a couple of LC3 in a huge one-piece belt case. But it is damn expensive and rarely available.
Finally a solution comes from communication in a forum, a special order from a small bag-making home-industry. Many of them make camera backpack, I know one of them make slingshot. I actually almost buy the local-made slingshot, unfortunately the maker refused to enlarge the size to fit my need. So I ordered a kind of Off Trail 2 in specific size. The large compartment enough for a D200 with VG, attached Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 AF-S, and a couple of SB800. The side lens-cases are large enough to hold the same lens each. Of course I am not planning to bring three identical lenses.
It has just arrived now. Quite all right, not so much worse than Lowepros, size is quite bulky, actually it is bulkier than what I imagined before, but what can I do, that’s the size I need for my stuffs. And the best of all … the total cost I spent is less than $25 including shipping and handling.
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