BillinghamHadley Pro Camera Bag (Khaki Canvas / Tan Leather)

I have searched for a long time for the Perfect Camera Bag. What are the criteria I use? Well, roughly these:>not look like a camera bag>not be green>hold a camera with lens attached and one other lens>hold purse, keys, passport, 'phone and other odd bits and pieces>be light, strong and at least weather- (if not water-)proof>be comfortable slung across a shoulder>not make the owner look like she escaped from a  Ray Mears  expeditionSo - yes, it does look a bit like a camera bag, but nowhere near as much as those hulking great backpacks that look like you could probably put  Ansel Adams  in them.It is not green. It is black. But inside it is green. Actually, it's quite a nice shade of deep, deep green. And the outside is a simple black, fittings are chromed and the leather is not PU but clearly comes from a dead animal.Yes - it holds a  Nikon D7100  plus  12-24mm , 18-70mm  and  35mm  and there's STILL room for purse, passport, keys and bits and pieces. This came as a real surprise. When I opened the box, my immediate reaction was 'Oh no - it's not big enough!' but happily I was wrong. I am slightly in awe of the capacity of this thing. It comes lined with the removable and well-padded  Billingham Pro Insert  which seems initially rather bulky, but my camera with whatever lens I leave attached is just swallowed by it, barely bulging the bag at all.The insert comes with two long and two short velco-edged dividers. The velcro strips are possibly the velcroiest velcro I have ever come across - they seem to stick to everything! Getting the fit right becomes quite exhausting as you rip them out and try and move them just a little bit. But, conversely, when you have finally managed to place them just where you want them, you know they're going to stay put. Actually, I haven't found a use for the two smaller ones - the two full-size ones provide perfectly adequate division and protection.There are two front pouches. These are held closed by fairly robust metal poppers over which the leather straps also fasten. The pockets are expandable as they are partially closed by two more metal poppers. To be honest, I would rather keep my purse within the main bag as I am not totally confident in the security of the external pockets. This does perhaps mean sacrificing some space that would otherwise hold a lens but I can live with that. As you may have gathered, I am not one of those intrepid photographers who take everything but the kitchen sink with them, preferring instead to travel as light as possible through townscapes, the only jungle being the urban one. If a decent cup of coffee is not within a few minutes reach, forget it. Saying that, this bag feels easily strong enough to cope with the rigours of even the most gritty urbex-pedition or ruin-porn 'splore.It is remarkably light while still feeling very rugged. Black canvas, thick leather edging, metal fasteners, webbing shoulder strap, very substantial top carrying strap all feel reassuringly solid, but this does not mean that you are hauling around some armoured monster - an excellent balance between practicality and functionality really. With the  Billingham Leather Shoulder Pad  attached, slinging it across a shoulder even fully-packed does not turn you into  Quasimodo .One small improvement I would make would be to include a small, stitched-in strap with clip to attach keys to. I have a tiny Kipling bag that has this feature and I find it very reassuring to clip my keys into the bag. But this is a fairly small niggle. Passport and other flat objects are easily held in the zip-secured back pocket so that covers pretty much everything.And finally - style. Well, obviously that's a rather personal matter but for me, this bag looks the biz. The fact that you can remove the padded insert means that it is perfectly possible to use it as something other than just a camera bag. The overall size means that it is simply a practical, generally useful and, in my opinion, stylish bag. Not a boy scout or worthy mountain-climbing documentary maker in sight!Of course if you were to venture into the wild, wet, cold and cow-poo covered outdoors, you would probably not experience the only other slight niggle I have with the bag - the material is (rather like the mega-velcro inserts) really good at picking up fluff. O.k. I know, I should get the vacuum-cleaner out more often.This is the nearest I have got to The Perfect Bag. And it really has made a difference to my photography in that I now do actually take out more kit with me - because it is easy, comfortable and practical to do so.Edit: 04/11/13. Got caught in a thunderstorm so can now confirm that it is water-proof. :-)

Like most of us who do photography I have a number of camera bags and each one has its uses for certain things. I was going to be doing some travelling and wanted something a little more discrete and stylish. I have a Think Tank Retrospective 10, which was a little too bulky for my needs for the trip; however I was able to get nearly just as much in the Billingham and for it to still remain fairly compact.Whilst the bag will best suite those who intend to use smaller cameras, I was able to carry the following:In the main section (removable insert) - middle slot, a Canon 5D Mk3, with 24-105 lens attached (including hood, reversed) - and either side of the camera, a 17-40 lens and either a 24 TSE lens or Fuji X100S. Both lenses had a Lee Filter adapter ring attached. This was naturally a cosy fit and it's a bit difficult to remove the lenses when the camera is still in the bag, but the majority of time when I want one of the other the lenses I will already have the camera out of the bag. With such a combination the bag does bulge a bit, but only in the centre; this is the great thing about this bag, it shapes itself to accommodate the contents rather than having a boxy construction.In the front pockets I was able to carry battery and card holders, cleaning cloths, remote cable release, and either a set of Lee filters or a small pair of binoculars.During in flight travelling I carried an iPad in the space between the removable insert and the rear of the bag and tickets etc in the zipped pocket at the back.Additionally, on my walkabouts, I sometimes carried a tripod, IN THE BAG! This was a Sirui T-005X, which, due to its compact size, fitted on top of camera in the main section; the removable insert has a fold over padded lid which then allowed the tripod to sit on top of the camera without scratching it. The bag's main flap was then just folded over the whole thing (with the straps set to their maximum position) fully covering the tripod and contents and nobody could tell that there was a tripod in the bag.The Billingham is well built and lightweigjht and I experienced no problems when carrying it with all the aforementioned gear. The thing I would say however, along with many others, is that it is a shame Bellingham do not include the shoulder pad; I already had a very old Billingham bag and was able to use the pad from that, even though it was a little too large. If you are going to carry a large quantity of gear then get the pad.I bought the black canvas version and so far find it to be robust and smooth to the touch; you do get a bit of lint being attracted to the material, but this isn't too problematic. All in all I am very happy with the bag, for the purpose for which I acquired it; if you need to carry more gear then there are better options, but if travelling light, and wanting something that doesn't look too much like a camera bag (to the uninitiated at least) then it cannot be bettered!

Absolutely love this bag. I was in two minds about ordering this or the Hadley Small, but to play it safe I went with this, the bigger version.I wanted a bag that could hold my Olympus OMD kit, plus the odd bits and bobs, and look great as well as last for a long time. This bag ticks all those boxes and then some.My kit consists of an Olympus OMD EM5, 12-40mm pro, 17mm f1,8, Nissin i40, 3 spare batteries, spare memory cards, lens cleaning cloth and clip on flash. This all easily fits in the bag and leaves me an emty slot plus an empty pocket. I use these for snacks, water, wallet, and other bits and pieces. As well as this, there is the zip back pocket good for documents or an Ipad, its worth noting that you can easily fit an ipad or 13" mackbook air in between the back of the back and the insert. This is where I put my ipad and Nook (ereader)The build quality is fantastic and straight away you can see it is well made. The leather looks and smells fantastic and the cloth is very resistent to water, keeping my gear safe. The strap is comfortable andadjusted to allow the bag to sit in the small of my back. I cram a lot in this bag, but it never feels heavy.Overall, I highly recommend this bag. Yes it is pricey, but I would rather pay the price for one bag that will last for 20+ years, than spending the same amount on lots of cheaper bags over the same amount of time. The high price really does show in the quality and versatility of the bag. GET IT!Andy

Tengo varias bolsas de esta marca y este modelo sabía que no me iba a defraudar. Excelente

Top Verarbeitung, langlebig.

This bag is really elegant, and is very easy to configure in a number of ways to protect different sizes and types of camera equipment. There is even space for an iPad or small laptop. The leather latches are stiff at first, but have begun to loosen up with use.

La fama della Billingham è assolutamente meritata. La borsa è concepita e costruita veramente bene. In passato l'avevo sempre scartata per il prezzo che in effetti è altotuttavia la qualità e la durata della borsa ammortizzano il costo iniziale. Sono pentito di non averla presa qualche anno fa. Acquisto consigliato.

Qualità ottima sotto tutti i punti di vista è in ogni particolare