I recently purchased the Sony A7III and like any photographer, it took a long time to finally decide on the camera that I was purchasing. Immediately after making that decision I was confronted with the next challenge. What bag should I get to hold all the new gear? There are thousands of options out there, some cheap and some expensive. I bought and tested three different options before deciding on my camera bag for the Sony A7III or other mirrorless cameras.
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This camera is going to be used significantly for travel which is part of why I purchased a mirrorless camera. The bag had to be as minimal as possible while still holding everything I need.
Criteria for a Camera Bag
I focused on 4 different areas when deciding on a camera bag:
1. Type of Bag
The first being deciding between a shoulder bag or standard backpack. I travel primarily using a carry on backpack and I cannot stand carrying extra bags in my hands. Because of this I had to be able to wear the bag while also wearing my backpack. This led me to choosing a shoulder style bag compared to a standard camera backpack.
2. Size and Weight of Bag (external)
Next was the external size and weight of the bag. When you take padding into consideration, the usable space inside of the bag can be significantly smaller than the outer dimensions.
I wanted this bag to be as small and light as possible while still providing enough room for the following:
- Sony A7III
- Extra battery for the Sony
- Sony A7III 28-70 Lens
- Sony A7III Wide Angle Lens (TBD)
- GoPro Hero 4 Silver
- GoPro Floater Handle
- Remote for the GoPro
- Joby Tripod for Phone and GoPro
- Jackery Giant 12000 mAh battery
- iPhone Charging Cord
- Camera Charging Cord
- GoPro Charging Cord
- GoPro Remote Charging Cord
- Extra Sandisk Extreme Pro SD Cards
- Misc. Other Supplies
3. Organization and storage options
Per the list above, obviously the bag needs to have a decent amount of storage areas. The layout for storage also matters a lot. I hate creating dead space in the bag thats unusable. I also don’t want to have to take everyone out of the bag to get that one small battery at the bottom so functional organization is key.
4. Price
I wanted to keep the budget within reason and not spend $150+ on the bags I constantly see advertised.
Read More: 10 Inexpensive Amazon Finds for Traveling
What bags did I choose to test?
Lowepro Nova 140W
First I tried the Lowepro Nova 140W. When I got the bag I thought it would be perfect for everything that I needed. The size felt right, the quality felt solid, and the organization looked sufficient for what I needed.
The bag has 2 elastic water bottle holders, one top pouch with what seems to be a waterproof zipper, and one front pouch that is covered when the bag is clipped. It also has a rain cover that rolls up into the front of the bag in a separate pocket.
The water bottle pockets on the Nova 140 were a bit small. They are probably best used for gear compared to a water bottle. The clips on the side are made of plastic but felt sturdy.
When you unclip the front you can see that the top is zippered. This is great for security because it would make it near impossible for someone to unclip the bag, flip up the lid, and unzip the entire bag without you noticing.
Inside of the bag it has 1 full divider and 1 half divider to use for separating items internally. It also has a pouch under the main lid for storing smaller items and SD cards.
However, this is where the issues popped up. One I put the Sony A7III into the bag I immediately noticed it took up 85% of the available space. I wanted the bag to be small, however, it looked too small to fit anything else on my list above.
Overall I thought the bag felt great but the functionality was just not great for my needs. I attempted to pack the list above into it and I only could fit a handful of the smaller items and had no room at all for a second lens.
For that reason I had to pass on the Lowepro Nova 140W.
Lowepro 160W
My next bag was the Lowepro Nova 160W. It is the exact same bag as the 140, however, it is larger in every direction and comes with two full size dividers internally.
For security and pocket layout the bags are very similar, again the only different is the size of each pocket.
The elastic water bottle holders on the side were fine but they did not fit a full size Nalgene bottle comfortably. I think they would do better with a smaller bottle or used as extra gear storage. Similar to the Nova 140W the clips are made of plastic but feel sturdy.
The rain cover has a similar design to the 140W where it covers a majority of the bag that would face the outside. I do wonder if the back and sides of the bag would let water through during a bad storm.
When I put the Sony A7III into this bag I was again slightly surprised that I had less room than I thought. The thickness of the padding used (which is probably great for protection) really cuts into the usable space internally.
I was able to cram everything on that list above into this bag, however, I had to put wires on top of the camera and not everything had a true “home” inside the bag.
Because of the internal organization issues I was skeptical about this bag working but kept it as a “maybe”. There are larger sizes of the Lowepro Nova series, however, the dimensions looked to be getting to a point where it would become inconvenient to carry around all day.
Read More: The Best Backpack for Female Travelers
Bagsmart
The last bag that I tested was the Bagsmart bag. This was more of a generic camera bag compared to the “name brand” Lowepro bags and the price reflected this. I chose the gray color because they did not have an all black option.
If you look at the ruler in the pictures the external dimensions of this bag are almost identical to the Lowepro Nova 160W. This bag also came with two outside water bottle pockets, a very large outside front pocket, and a large outside back pocket. The biggest difference is that this bag does not have a clip top lid and the bag opens on the side facing your body compared to the outside like the Lowepros.
The water bottle holders are made of a flexible elastic which fit my Nalgene bottle perfectly. The clips on this bag are made of metal (the strap also used metal clips) which feels stronger than the Lowepro Nova bags.
The rain cover for the Bagsmart bag covers the entire bag which is another difference. The only negative is that you need to unclip the shoulder strap and re-clip it after the rain cover is on in order to loop it through the openings.
The inside of the bag came with two full size dividers. I immediately noticed a difference in the internal space in this bag compared to the Lowepro bags. Initially it seems like the padding is thinner because the external dimensions are almost the same. In full transparency the padding in the Bagsmart bag does feel a bit cheaper than the Lowepro bags but it still felt sufficient for protecting my gear. By sacrificing the padding, it increased the internal space so it really depends on whats most important to you.
In this photo you can see the difference, there is an entire 1/3 of the bag still open plus all the space under the camera itself on either side of the lens. The Bagsmart bag also has another huge mesh pocket on the underside of the lid which holds a good amount of cords and any other miscellaneous items.
The Bagsmart bag actually fit everything on my list with ease and everything had a designated place. I could even fit more gear (that I do not own yet) if I needed to.
Which bag did I choose?
I ended up choosing the Bagsmart bag. It was significantly cheaper than the Lowepro bags and was the only bag that held all of my gear with ease. I wanted to like the Lowepro bags due to their reputation but the only way it would work for me is if I continued to upgrade to a larger size until I found one that worked. With that the price, size, and weight also increase so I chose to stick with the Bagsmart bag.
All three bags are really good options, it all comes down to what you are looking to use them for AND the size of your camera gear.
