Battleangel | Personal

Got the Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM.

Nice lens for the money. You’d be hard pressed to find anything more affordable. A slightly better Canon zoom equivalent would be almost twice as much. A Canon prime would be almost ten times more expensive. Only a super serious pro could ever hope to justify that. It’s the sort of lens that gets you torn to shreds by homicidal Apache helicopter jockeys in some parts of the world as they "mistake" it for an RPG. But I digress.

Now, all I need is a new camera bag to carry this thing together with my other lenses. Currently I have only the Lowepro Fast 250 and the (now discontinued) Toploader 75 AW. The former was too small already a couple of flashes and lenses ago, doesn’t feel good to wear and has a signature laptop compartment that is of no use to me (I don’t own a laptop). The latter is a shoulder bag basically that I’ve never used, with a an optional harness that enables you to use it on the chest while using a normal backpack -  also something that I’ve never used. Both were bought rather hastily at a sale.

Now I’m locking at the Lowepro Flipside 400 AW. Or the Mini Trekker AW. Possibly for use with two or more "sliplocked" street & field lens cases. The same lens cases could also be attached to the Toploader for a theoretical trip where you didn’t have access to a backpack. The downside of course that these little extension bags are expensive and that the AW cover doesn’t work. Call me shallow but I’m leaning towards the Flipside because of its looks, and its signature opening mechanism. Quick access is one thing that I’ll miss with my Fastpack anyway and I’m hoping to retain some of that with the Flipside.

The only other thing I could wish for is some sort of way to carry the camera while keeping it ready to shoot. Like the Cotton Carrier that some people have been raving about. We’ll have to wait for a Chinese knock-off on that one because right now it’s just too expensive. But I’d kill for the ability to NOT use a neck strap. Mostly I just use a hand strap that enables me to partially let go of the camera’s grip. But there are limits to the stress I’d like to place on the lens mount. I’ve been walking around with a 70-200 2.8 this way and it feels just a bit reckless. I don’t think I’d do it with the Sigma 150-500.