Which Bag For Wedding Photography?
So I recently needed a new bag for my wedding photography and this is what I bought. The Lowepro D400 AW Stealth Reporter. I already own a Lowepro Vertex 200 AW which almost carries the lot. The problem with a rucksack for the wedding photographer is that:
a) A rucksack can be quite bulky and certainly isn’t discrete. Sure, I will pack it with everything to travel to the venue but then I’d take what I need and leave it somewhere secure.
b) Changing lenses takes way too long. To have to take the bag off, unzip it, switch lenses, zip it back up, put it back on will mean you miss the moment every time.
So I decided on buying a shoulder bag mainly because I need to change lenses on the go. Sure I use two cameras with two lenses but you still want to switch the wide-angle to the telephoto from time to time. I bought it from Kagoo in Bristol on Whiteladies Road. The staff were really nice and they also had the 550AW and the 600AW. Whilst I had my mind set on the 550AW going in to the shop I quickly decided against it.
Sure it was a lot more capacity for a very small amount of money more however I wasn’t prepared for how big it was! It genuinely is a lot bigger than the 400AW. To the point where it becomes the kind of bag you use for carrying a lot of gear from point A to point B rather than the kind of bag you carry around with you on the go. Not to mention that using a shoulder bag to carry gear around puts you under a lot more strain than a rucksack. Still, if you carry your camera(s) in your hand, or on another strap using this as a lens bag makes perfect sense in my mind.
The 400AW carries a 70-200/2.8 attached to the body (a 5DMKII) without any problems. I don’t think it would carry a 300mm or a 100-400 though.
Whilst the image shows what I have in it, I would say you could carry another lens if you needed to. In addition there is a lot of space for wedding photography business cards, memory cards, a rocket blower and other small stuff.
Anyway, I hope this has been useful. Let me know what you think.
