Tamrac 5606 System 6 Camera Bag (Black)

Rating:
Summary: Great bag and great price
Review: I did a lot of shopping before I purchased this camera bag. I went to the manufactures web sites and found Tamracs to be the easiest to negotiate and also the most helpful. That told me a little something about the product. When I received my bag I was very impressed with the quality of material and workmanship. There is ample space for my camera, at least five lenses including a telephoto zoom and a flash in the main compartment. There are plenty of side pockets for film, filters and extra goodies. If I have any complaints it would be with the dividers in the main compartment. The Velco system is a little awkward to adjust but I think this is typical for most camera bags. Overall I am very happy with the Tamrac system 6 camera bag and I would't hesitate to purchase other products from Tamrac.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty good camera bag . . .
Review: Tamrac's 5606 camera bag is well constructed, sturdy and versatile, and is suitable for use with either film or digital SLR cameras. It is a mid-sized bag, designed to carry up to two camera bodies. The crucial issue with this type of bag, is whether it has adequate space to carry exactly what you need, including lenses and larger accessories like flash units and battery packs. Check Tamrac's website, and look at the diagrams showing the interior compartments of the bag, and how components may be stored, and judge if there's enough space for the particular gear you have.

The interior of the bag can be divided into up to six smaller compartments. The layout is designed to accept a body with a zoom lens up to around 8 inches in length attached. While a camera with a long lens will fit in the bag, you'll have arrange things carefully if you want to carry too much else. Also this setup does not work well if you have a battery grip attached. One solution is to store the camera and grip with no lens attached. Doing this, there is more than adequate space for the body, and three or four lens, and a flash unit. Stored vertically, a long lens can be accommodated with no problem. Carrying your gear this way, you're not immediately prepared to shoot, as you must take a few moments to assemble the camera.

Though the bag is really better suited to accommodating the gear to fully outfit one camera. In a pinch, the 5606 can accommodate two camera bodies, even with battery packs, but that will leave just about a third of the available space for lenses and a flash.

There is a zippered fold down compartment with pockets in the front. It would be nice if the pockets had some kind of fasteners. Pouches with velco fasteners are on the side of the bag. Velcro is an extremely poor design choice. One should not risk putting valuable or heavy items into these pouches. They could easily be lost, or fall out and be broken, should the fasteners fail to hold. This wasted storage space is the bag's major flaw. Some type of modification would be required to make them truly useful.

The 5606 has an excellent heavy duty carrying strap, and also has straps at the base for carrying a tripod. A semi useful feature is a wallet for carrying digital media and other small accessories. The wallet is attached to the bag with an elastic strip, and sides into a compartment on the side of the bag. The padding in bottom and sides could stand to be a bit thicker, but that can be said of most bags.

As with any camera bag, it's ultimate usefulness depends on the user, and the particular gear to be carried. The 5606 isn't quite perfect in all situations, but it is adaptable enough to be useful most of the time. Available in several colors.

Rating:
Summary: A pretty good camera bag . . .
Review: Tamrac's 5606 camera bag is well constructed, sturdy and versatile, and is suitable for use with either film or digital SLR cameras. It is a mid-sized bag, designed to carry up to two camera bodies. The crucial issue with this type of bag, is whether it has adequate space to carry exactly what you need, including lenses and larger accessories like flash units and battery packs. Check Tamrac's website, and look at the diagrams showing the interior compartments of the bag, and how components may be stored, and judge if there's enough space for the particular gear you have.

The interior of the bag can be divided into up to six smaller compartments. The layout is designed to accept a body with a zoom lens up to around 8 inches in length attached. While a camera with a long lens will fit in the bag, you'll have arrange things carefully if you want to carry too much else. Also this setup does not work well if you have a battery grip attached. One solution is to store the camera and grip with no lens attached. Doing this, there is more than adequate space for the body, and three or four lens, and a flash unit. Stored vertically, a long lens can be accommodated with no problem. Carrying your gear this way, you're not immediately prepared to shoot, as you must take a few moments to assemble the camera.

Though the bag is really better suited to accommodating the gear to fully outfit one camera. In a pinch, the 5606 can accommodate two camera bodies, even with battery packs, but that will leave just about a third of the available space for lenses and a flash.

There is a zippered fold down compartment with pockets in the front. It would be nice if the pockets had some kind of fasteners. Pouches with velco fasteners are on the side of the bag. Velcro is an extremely poor design choice. One should not risk putting valuable or heavy items into these pouches. They could easily be lost, or fall out and be broken, should the fasteners fail to hold. This wasted storage space is the bag's major flaw. Some type of modification would be required to make them truly useful.

The 5606 has an excellent heavy duty carrying strap, and also has straps at the base for carrying a tripod. A semi useful feature is a wallet for carrying digital media and other small accessories. The wallet is attached to the bag with an elastic strip, and sides into a compartment on the side of the bag. The padding in bottom and sides could stand to be a bit thicker, but that can be said of most bags.

As with any camera bag, it's ultimate usefulness depends on the user, and the particular gear to be carried. The 5606 isn't quite perfect in all situations, but it is adaptable enough to be useful most of the time. Available in several colors.

Rating:
Summary: A bag for a pro and the daily amateur
Review: When I went camera bag shopping, I was looking for a bag that would not only hold all my SLR gear, but also my backup camera and accessories. This bag does all that and beyond. I can carry 2 bodies and 3 lenses with this bag, 28-200, 70-300 and a macro lens, my flash with wireless transmitter, a thin minolta 150 point and shoot camera, my swiss tool, and filters with plenty of room left over. The easy access front pouch is great for film if you are shooting the kids and don't want to miss a shot by having to dig through the bag to find the film. Why look? The film can be placed in the convenient front flap pouch. I use the side pouches to store my cleaning cloths, extra batteries and a photo pen that I carry around.

With the system 6, 2 things come to mind that are key in all camera bags: 1.) lots of space and 2.) secured travel and protection. With the spacious storage capacity of such a versatile bag, a novice to a pro cannot go wrong with this bag. A must for photographers!

Rating:
Summary: A bag for a pro and the daily amateur
Review: When I went camera bag shopping, I was looking for a bag that would not only hold all my SLR gear, but also my backup camera and accessories. This bag does all that and beyond. I can carry 2 bodies and 3 lenses with this bag, 28-200, 70-300 and a macro lens, my flash with wireless transmitter, a thin minolta 150 point and shoot camera, my swiss tool, and filters with plenty of room left over. The easy access front pouch is great for film if you are shooting the kids and don't want to miss a shot by having to dig through the bag to find the film. Why look? The film can be placed in the convenient front flap pouch. I use the side pouches to store my cleaning cloths, extra batteries and a photo pen that I carry around.

With the system 6, 2 things come to mind that are key in all camera bags: 1.) lots of space and 2.) secured travel and protection. With the spacious storage capacity of such a versatile bag, a novice to a pro cannot go wrong with this bag. A must for photographers!