Anyone using the LowePro FlipSide300 Backpack?

Manfr3d · January 23, 2008

I'm talking about this guy:

There are little or no reviews on the net about it. It says it's very light
but thats about it .. can anyone comment? I'm looking for a backpack
for urban and street photography.

darkdragon · January 23, 2008

Manfr3d wrote:

I'm looking for a backpack
for urban and street photography.

Hi,

I can't comment on the backpack you are pointing to, but I use the Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW and I love it. As far as size, in the center chamber it can hold my 40D+grip+70-200 2.8L and that leaves lots of room for a flash and 4 more lenses inside, then it has the front pocket (where I put my charger, batteries, CF reader and manuals) and the top compartment where I keep filters and an Archos 504.

- Lisa

Manfr3d · January 23, 2008

darkdragon wrote:

Hi,

I can't comment on the backpack you are pointing to, but I use the Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW and I love it. As far as size, in the center chamber it can hold my 40D+grip+70-200 2.8L and that leaves lots of room for a flash and 4 more lenses inside, then it has the front pocket (where I put my charger, batteries, CF reader and manuals) and the top compartment where I keep filters and an Archos 504.

- Lisa

I 2nd that recommendation. The slingshot shure seems to be a fine
bag but is not what I am looking for. I need a bag that securely
stores my stuff away from the crowd. When I shoot street festivals
I won't have the time or space to look over my bag behind me.

darkdragon · January 23, 2008

Manfr3d wrote:

I 2nd that recommendation. The slingshot shure seems to be a fine
bag but is not what I am looking for. I need a bag that securely
stores my stuff away from the crowd. When I shoot street festivals
I won't have the time or space to look over my bag behind me.

Ah ok, I see what you are talking about. Man, too bad people can't just be trustworthy

I actually lock all the zippers together when it is on my back, but in a crowd I swing it around to the front and carry it that way. I'm paranoid.

I hope someone has info on that other bag for you.

Manfr3d · January 23, 2008

darkdragon wrote:

Ah ok, I see what you are talking about. Man, too bad people can't just be trustworthy

I actually lock all the zippers together when it is on my back, but in a crowd I swing it around to the front and carry it that way. I'm paranoid.

I hope someone has info on that other bag for you.

Lisa thats exactly what I'm talking about

Until now I carried a
Sholder bag with 5lbs of gear in front of me ... not very comfty.

Giphsub · January 23, 2008

I looked at it and was interested, but saw not many reviews either! I ended up ordering the vertex 100, cos I also want to be able to fit my laptop in the on occasions.

Art Scott · January 23, 2008

The slingshot 300aw should givce you the best of both worls....slung to the back with the waist belt clipped in front takes the strain off your waist that backpacks and shoulder bags put on it then to get into it...just unclip the belt and rotate to the front to get into the bag...it never leaves your body....no taking it off to get into it......something I saw concerning camera backpacks........a tourist needed to change something on his camera....he removed the camera from his neck and pulled the back pack off and bent over to do what he was going to do......he had put every thing on a park table......a couple of "kids" did the deed, of pushing him away from gear and tore off with it......I still have my Lowe Pro Trekker but for street shooting my gear is in 2 - LowePro 75aw on the military pistol belt with suspenders, this was actually purchased for motorcyle outings but it works great in urban settings also......I had an AW300 Slingshot but it would not hold 2 cameras with grips and lenses attached....I do not carry charges and such as I have yet to find electricity in nature nor on lamposts in the urban areas....but the slingshot 300 does have lots of room....my flashes right now are sunpak 622 so they won'tt ride in my 75aw's either.....the SS 300aw would probably work for me if my lenses weren't all f2.8, which of course makes them a lot larger than the normal 70-200 or 24 - 70 in a slower version.........

Good luck

jdryan3 · January 23, 2008

One thing I liked about the Crumpler's (the Keystone I believe) is that the zipper is on the back of the pack, so it is up against your body. Also to gain access you place the front of the pack on the ground, not the backside which goes against your clothes. I don't own one but I also think they look cool.

Manfr3d · January 24, 2008

I just found a review with images of the FlipSide 300 with some images:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cambags.com%2Fnikon%2Fd40%2Fbackpacks%2Flowepro_flipside_300_frames.htm&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

The review says that you can just leave the backpack belt on
and turn the pack in front of you to open it. LowePro's
website has some images that show the backpack in that
position.

Fast access isn't too important for me, therefor I will get
the FlipSide 300 over the Slingshot.

3n-out · January 24, 2008

I have the Lowepro AW-300 Slingshot as well. Excellent bag, and holds a lot of gear. The bigger the bag the more gear you can carry and the worse it is on your back bones after a long day shooting.

Either or I'm sure they are both great bags.

SavedByZero · January 24, 2008

Humm very nice price for a smaller day bag. Even the Flipside 200 is rather niffty.

darkdragon · January 24, 2008

Manfr3d wrote:

The review says that you can just leave the backpack belt on
and turn the pack in front of you to open it. LowePro's
website has some images that show the backpack in that
position.

Fast access isn't too important for me, therefor I will get
the FlipSide 300 over the Slingshot.

Cool. I hope you'll get a chance to post your own findings after you've used the FlipSide for a little while. I agree that it does look great as far as keeping gear on your back and keeping it safe from others' hands. The flip-around option is good news too. Man, my husband is gonna kill me if I get another camera bag hahaha.

Manfr3d · January 26, 2008

darkdragon wrote:

Cool. I hope you'll get a chance to post your own findings after you've used the FlipSide for a little while. I agree that it does look great as far as keeping gear on your back and keeping it safe from others' hands. The flip-around option is good news too. Man, my husband is gonna kill me if I get another camera bag hahaha.

I just recieved the Flipside 300 Backpack. The first impression is
very favorable.

The FlipSide is really light (~3lbs) and quite slim. Not as deep
nor as wide as my CompuTrecker AW. I really like it's low profile,
but I also think that the FlipSide 200 would be too small for me.

The bag takes my 10D with attached grip and 70-200mm/2.8 lens,
a flash and 3-4 smaller lenses. I think a 2nd body with grip would
also fit in if needed. The height of the bag should also allow a
400mm/5.6 lens with camera attached if one rearranges the
dividers.

There is also a nice zipper equiped velcro type pouch inside
that can be positioned in the bag like a divider, really cool.
Now I know where to store ever floating the cables and
accessoires.

The padding is very good especialy at the back.

Comming to the outside. The Handle on the top is wide and
comfortable. Seems to be durable too. The tripod holder is slim
but does the job - it's more than adequate for my 4lbs tripod.

The shoulder straps are very nice too. Each of them has
a strong SlipLock mount. I doubt that they'll be of much
use to me. They are a bit too high and carrying a lens
pouch under my chin isn't what I plan to do.

It is also possible to roatate the backpack 180° from your
back to your chest without detaching the belt strap. But
the strap is the only thing that keeps the bag from falling
so it can be difficult to access the bag when standing up.

So far the only thing that really seems to be missing for
"power users" is a SlipLock mount on the sides of the backpack.
There is the Strechable Net on one side (it takes up to
1.5L bottles) and the multi purpose zipper pouch on the
other (for pens, businescards, and 2 new velcro enabled
memory card holders). But you cannot attach a lens
pouch there. Considering how slim the FlipSide 300 is I
see no reason why LowePro skimped here.

But I'm happy that the FlipSide takes all the gear I would
need for a bussy shooting day (except laptop). So far
the bag is highly recommended. If you like I'll post
some pictures soon.

darkdragon · January 26, 2008

Manfr3d wrote:

I just recieved the Flipside 300 Backpack. The first impression is
very favorable.

Great details in your first impressions. Funny, these are the kind of thing that should be in the product descriptions but rarely are. lol. The bag sounds great for what you are using it for and I might even look into getting one myself for crowd situations (when the slingbag would be too easy for someone else to get into).

evoryware · January 26, 2008

Would love to see a picture of it in use.
I have the slingshot mentioned and I have the 40D with 24-70 on it, 28-135 tucked in the back, XTI on one side with a flash, and on the other side my film cam (or a 70-200) and another flash. Then I have my recharger, diffusers on top, filters, manuals and CF cards in the other smaller pocket on the front. When I'm in a crowd, say Times Square, the bag is in front of me. I never have to take it off.

geeh101 · May 8, 2008

Did you ever buy this bag? I own the Keystone Crumpler bag, which I LOVE but its not designed to well. It would be the perfect perfect bag it just had the same depth throughout, it gets narrower towards the top, making it difficult to fit in all my stuff. I saw this bag today at Adorama and have been looking for it on the net, THANKS for that link! I wonder if my laptop would fit in this bag, I may just have to go buy it tomorrow. The other thing I love about the Crumpler bag is that its perfect for walking around town, sometimes I'm out there late, its comfortable and hides everything perfectly. The reason I wanted to try this new bag from Lowepro is that it TOO opens towards your back so no one can open it from behind, good for my long subway rides. Let me know if you bought it and how you like it. Is it comfortable? THANKS!

Manfr3d · May 9, 2008

geeh101 wrote:

Did you ever buy this bag? I own the Keystone Crumpler bag, which I LOVE but its not designed to well. It would be the perfect perfect bag it just had the same depth throughout, it gets narrower towards the top, making it difficult to fit in all my stuff. I saw this bag today at Adorama and have been looking for it on the net, THANKS for that link! I wonder if my laptop would fit in this bag, I may just have to go buy it tomorrow. The other thing I love about the Crumpler bag is that its perfect for walking around town, sometimes I'm out there late, its comfortable and hides everything perfectly. The reason I wanted to try this new bag from Lowepro is that it TOO opens towards your back so no one can open it from behind, good for my long subway rides. Let me know if you bought it and how you like it. Is it comfortable? THANKS!

Hi, yes I bought the Flipside 300 (the 200 was too small). After three
months it's by far my most used bag (I also use the CompuTrecker,
Stealth Reporter 300, Gepe Backpack, Kalahari). It is very comfortable
to carry and gives me freedom to concentrate on photography and not
worrie about my gear. Soon after my purchease my girlfriend orderd
one for herself too - she liked it that much. The bag isn't designed to
take a laptop but you could probably put one on top of the lenses if
you have some sort of protective sleve for it. The bag is stiffer than
the usual backpacks (it doesn't collapse without gear in it). When I
initialy bought it I was a bit worried that it didn't have the All Weather
cover that my other LP bags have. Then I had to shoot a carnival parade
in feb and it started pouring for almost 2 hours. The bag seemed soaked
from the outside but the insides were absolutely dry. I woudln't hesitate
to recommend this bag to anyone wanting to travel light & comfortable &
secure. Maybe I should ask LowePro to sponsor me .. I probably sound
like a salesman. But I love this bag!

rpcrowe · May 9, 2008

My take on camera bags...
There are camera bags which are good for storage and for traveling with your camera equipment and bags which are good for carrying equipment while shooting. they are not necessarily the same bag.

When I am out shooting, I do not need to carry all of my gear. As an example, I don't need to carry my computer, my battery chargers, my card reader and other gear like that which I will only use at home or in my hotel room.

I am lucky enough to own multiple great quality lenses and I design my walk-around kit for the photo project I will be shooting. I usually have a fair to good idea which focal lengths I will need for any given situation.

As an example, if I were going to shoot hydroplane races, I would carry my longer lenses and probably leave my ultra-wide and macro lenses at home.

However, I have one general kit which I will carry as my standard go-to equipment for walk around and travel photography. Canon 30D and 350D camera bodies with 17-55mm f/2.8 IS and 70-200mm f/4L IS lenses plus 1.4x TC and one flash. Of course, I will also carry a few filters, extra bodies and a bunch of memory.

When I am traveling by car or airline, I will usually carry the gear I am bring with me in a Lowepro Mini-Trekker back pack. This will comfortably fit my standard travel kit and will also have room for another lens or two, extra batteries , chargers, etc. When I am flying, I will put this in a relatively small wheeled, carry-on suitcase so I can wheel it around the airport and so that it doesn't immediately advertise "PHOTO GEAR - COME AND HELP YOURSELF". I carry my notebook in a nylon attache-type case. I like to work with my computer on the plane and/or watch a DVD and don't want to go to the trouble of unpacking the computer before I stow my carry-on bag in the overhead compartment.

Now for walk-around photography. I will carry one body around my neck on a neoprene strap and the body with the longer lens in a Think-tank Holster Case at my left side. My wife has sewn a Velcro tap over my left shoulder which prevents the strap of the Think-Tank from slipping off. I can also, if needed, secure the holster itself to the side adjusting strap of my shooting vest. I used to use a Tamrac Zoom-19 holster but, changed to the Think tank because I have acquired some longer lenses.

When and if I use a tripod, I will most often have one camera with my 400mm f/5.6L on the tripod and another camera in the Think-Tank holster bag hanging from the hook beneath the center column. This camera will have either my 70-200mm f/4L IS or my 300mm f/4L IS lens attached. Hanging the case from the center column prevents accidentally tripping over it and also prevents the case walking off witha stranger.

I will occasionally have a third camera around my neck.

So, as you see. My carrying bag is quite different from my shooting bag setup.

MooMommy24 · May 28, 2008

I have this pack too. It's easy to handle, and I like that nobody else can get into my gear unless it's off me. I'm currently using it for my film camera, as my digital does not have changable lenses (advanced p&s). I use the pocket that is designed for media cards/cables for my cleaning supplies. And the removable pouch inside is for my film. I carry 3 extra lenses and my tele-converter, plus I could probably carry more lenses (if I had them), if I laid them sideways instead of up and down (they are carried vertically when pack is worn, but could carry more if they were horizontally packed instead).

I really like that the handle on top of backpack is "built-in" instead of looking like an afterthought. And there is a loop to hang the backpack up when not in use. I have used this to attach a small shoulder camera case as extra storage.

The shoulder straps are wide and padded/ventilated near your body and distribute the weight of the bag comfortably. Manufacturer says that the bag is waterproof as well. (Although I haven't tested this.

)

In closing.. I really like the backpack. It's the first one I've had, so I have nothing else to compare it to... but I won't be buying a different one right away either.

HTH.
~Row.

Manfr3d wrote:

I'm talking about this guy:

There are little or no reviews on the net about it. It says it's very light
but thats about it .. can anyone comment? I'm looking for a backpack
for urban and street photography.

Anyone using the LowePro FlipSide300 Backpack?

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