When I first started shooting, I didn’t have a lot of gear. For a long time I only had one camera body and one lens. I would rent equipment as needed (still do on occasion) and haul it around portrait sessions and weddings in my Shootsac. Over time I have begun to amass a hefty little collection of lenses, flashes and other necessary crap. When I flew out to Phoenix in October, I realized at the last minute that I didn’t have a way to transport my laptop and the various lenses I wanted to take.
I did some hurried research and bought a backpack for the trip. In the process I learned a huge lesson – NEVER buy a backpack unless you are carrying a light load on a day trip. Period. That backpack was so freaking heavy that I walked around the airport at practically a 90-degree angle. I groaned and muttered inappropriate words under my breath every time I lifted it onto the security conveyor belt or into the overhead bin.
As I prepared for our trip to Dallas and two other out of town weddings this month, I knew I needed to find a new travel bag. If you have ever Googled “camera laptop bag review” or anything similar, you know that the response is overwhelming. There are tons of bags out there and equally as many raves and complaints. I had a few specific criteria that the bag had to meet which made it even harder:
1. It had to hold all of my junk.
2. It had to be sized to carry onto the airplane. I’m a control freak, so checking my equipment is and never will be an option for me.
3. It had to roll. (See rant above.)
4. It had to have handles/straps for if/when I wanted to carry it. No suitcase bags for me please.
5. It had to carry my gigantic 17″ laptop. Why I have such a massive laptop is another story for another time. But trust me, the thing is huge.
6. It had to not scream “look at me, I’m carrying really expensive stuff!” I’m a real freak about my personal safety.
I don’t think that is too much to ask, do you?
I first thought I would get a rolling backpack, but when I found the Jill-e rolling camera bag I was sold. I am a researcher by nature and make every decision in life more complicated than it should be. Truth be told, I was a little frustrated at the lack of information about this bag. I could only find promotional images and company descriptions of the bag, which honestly I don’t 100% trust. I found a lot of photographers who said that they HAVE one, but none who really gave a solid review. Probably the biggest factor in my decision, besides that it claimed to hold aforementioned giant laptop, was that it doesn’t LOOK like a camera bag. Instead, it’s very over-sized-handbag-ish and cute. So I went ahead and bought it, hoping to check #38. Find the perfect laptop/ photo gear bag for travel off of my to do list.
The night that the bag arrived, I spent about two hours figuring out how to best fit all of my equipment. I took out all of the little dividers and rearranged them like I wanted. The front and back of the interior shell are padded, but the two narrow sides are not. I placed a divider on each side and solved that problem. It was a really tight squeeze, but I was able to fit two D-SLR bodies (no lenses attached), two 580EX II flashes and my 85mm, 70-200mm and 16-35mm in the dividers. It was a tight squeeze, but my laptop fit too! The problem was, I still had two pocket wizards and cords, batteries, chargers and my darling 24-70mm to go. In the end, I just laid it all on top and zipped the puppy shut. Not ideal, but it worked. I would have loaded it all back up for you to see, but I didn’t feel like going back inside to round it all up. Sorry!
Thing is, that with that much equipment, the sucker was HEAVY. I’m talking so heavy that I couldn’t lift it without squatting at the knee and grunting when I came up. There is no way on God’s green Earth that I could carry the bag through an airport if it weren’t for the wheels. Unless I move to the moon to enjoy low-gravity or considerably lessen my load, the retractable handle will be in permanent use. Unfortunately, like with my backpack, it is the gear that weighs you down. And you can’t really do anything about that…
In one promotional photo I saw of a girl holding the bag, it looked as though there weren’t any wheels. I was kind of thinking that you could take them on and off as needed, but you can’t. They are pretty much bolted to the bottom. Told you that you couldn’t trust those promotional photos! I guess technically you could take the bag apart and unscrew them, but that’s too much work. So if/when I do use the hand straps to carry the bag, the wheels are coming too.
One last thing about the bag is that it isn’t dainty. Although I was able to find one photo of someone holding the bag, I thought it was kind of misleading. The woman’s height, weight and brute strength would all factor into it. I’m 5’6 flat footed on a good day with a moderately long torso. On my shoulder, the bottom of the bag hangs to just past my hip. I wanted to find something that would help show it’s size. The Shootsac is a bag that most photographers have or are familiar with, so here you go. Take into account that both bags are sitting in the grass, but I think it is fair to say that the Jill-e bag is almost twice the size of the Shootsac.
This may not be my forever travel bag, but my final review of the bag is a positive one. The bulkiness and weight are common problems with all camera bags, so I won’t hold that against it. I do wish that there were more internal pockets for my batteries and such, but it is already a mammoth bag, so I can’t image that they could add more room. My favorite feature is still what sold me on the bag initially. My laptop fits (hooray!), and no one but me, Allen and the guy running the x-ray machine could possibly have known what I was carrying. Everyone wins, and I get to mark another item off of my 38 in 365 list!
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by Amanda
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