Monday, August 11, 2014

Lowepro flipside AW 400 (camera bag review)

The Lowepro 400 aw. 
The bag is a useful size without being too big, but it holds a surprising amount of kit inside.  The AW part means all weather, the bag has a built in rain cover in the bottom, it just pulls out and fits over the bag.  Does it work?  Yes actually it works really well, I was caught out in a heavy downpour yesterday and the bag and it's contents stayed totally dry (I was pretty wet though) 

That said the bag itself is pretty thick and well padded, it would take a fair time to soak right through even without the rain cover.

The bag has several pockets, some for memory cards and a big-ish pocket on the outside for filters, etc, not massive but enough for most people, theres also add on pockets for even more kit, although they are not included. 

The bag has a good tripod strap with a clever "foot" holder thingy to hold the tripod steady on the bag.  It also has a number of other straps and loops for ajusting ot hanging other goodies off.
The shoulder straps are well padded and have tons of ajustment, as does the waist belt.  Part of the strap system allows you to "flipside" the bag around to get at the contents while still wearing the bag, handy if the ground is muddy or wet.

But the best and cleverest part of the design for me is the way the bag opens, the main opening to get at your cameras is on the inside part of the bag (the bit that sits against your back) this means that people cant steal your kit out the back of the bag in a crowd, and an added bonus is if the zip should fail all your stuff wont just fall out on the floor while your walking along.

I can easily get two gripped bodies with lens on,  a flash, and 3 or 4 other lens in with all my spare batteries, cards, and some filters.




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