Bag for EM1 + pro-lenses : my choice TAMRAC Evolution 6 5786

pierpail wrote:

I had a shoulder bag for my 43 ( E5 + PRO Lenses without the 300 F2.8 at that time !) and it was too heavy and hurted my back badly after a few hours of walking (I gave all those to my son who buy immédiatly a backpack to carry them).

So I decided to take a true backpack this time. Nevertheless your are right : it is really less convenient to switch lenses, etc. compared to a shoulder bag. In top of that, as the m4/3 lenses are now slower and so ligther, I could have taken a shoulder bag, that's true...

I used to have dreadful back problems when I had Nikon FF kit and their pro lenses. I gave up shoulder bags a long time ago, but still had issues when using backpacks (possibly due to the weight of a FF dSLR and pro lens hanging from a neck strap combined with the bulk and weight of the backpack.

Moving to m4/3 has been a revelation. I'm back to using shoulder bags again, even with the pro lens setup, and haven't had any problems at all with the Billingham. Won't suit everyone as it is still pretty large for a m4/3 shoulder bag, but they have a good range of smaller bags too which can be used if you're able to pick and choose your kit for a particular assignment.

I still keep an old lowerpro mini trecker for if I need to hike any significant distance... but I always find that having to take it off and put it down to access my gear tends to stop me from really exploring photo opportunities as freely as I'd like to.