Flying into Marsh Harbor, Bahamas for a shoot. Tiny American Eagle jets are always a challenge when traveling with photography gear from Point A to Point B. You don’t want to send your cameras into the luggage hold. Gate checking a roller bag only ensures that it gets banged around fewer times…
But this time, I’m on a travel photography shoot with my new Lowepro Pro Roller x200. It’s the perfect combination of a photo backpack tucked inside of a roller shell. I gotta tell the truth.
I was wrong about this bag the first time I saw it. I failed to see the advantage of a pop-out backpack. But getting on my flight today, instead of gate checking my gear, I pulled out the backpack and sent the empty roller shell underneath. I still figured that at the very least, I’d still have to pull out my laptop to get this thing to fit on the tiny Eagle turbo prop. But I was wrong again, the backpack slipped right in with my MacBook Pro in the laptop pocket on top.
Smart Design. The prefect bag for challenges of the road.
What’s Inside the Bag:
(2) Sony a900 Cameras
Sony Zeiss 24-70/2.8 lens
Sony Zeiss 16-35/2.8 lens
Sony G 70-400/4-5.6 lens
Lensbaby Composer
Sony HVL-F58AM Flash
Sony NP-FM500H Batteries
13″ Apple MacBook Pro 2.53 Ghz with 500gb hard drive
(12) 8Gb SanDisk Extreme IV Compact Flash cards
(3) Gepe Card Safe Extreme Watertight Cases
SanDisk Extreme FireWire CF Card Reader
(2) PocketWizard Transceivers
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX1
Giottos Large Rocket Air Blower
Visible Dust Arctic Butterfly
Delkin Sensor Scope
(8) AA Batteries
4 thoughts on “Cool Gear: Lowepro Pro Roller x200”
Hey Brian,
Im a big fan of your work. Im a recent grad and Im about to being my photography company. But anyways, I wanted to ask, being in Miami as a photographer, what should be my first major expense photo wise. Should I invest in high quality lenses, go with a high mgp used body or a 2nd light source (flash/reflector). I have a 20d, a 24mm 2.8 and a 17-85 kit. I plan on shooting everything i can (weddings, portraits, editorial, news… anything i can get my hands on). I do have some cash to spend. Any ideas on what should be the base of my equipment?
Thanks for the time and your work, its inspiring.
-Rodrigo
Rodrigo,
There’s certainly a lot of stuff to buy, isn’t there. Everything you mention sounds like a good investment, but where to spend the money first would be the question. I’d definitely start by making sure you have a light source you can get off camera. You may already have this, but it makes all the difference in the world. Good quality lenses are always a great investment since if you’ve got good glass it will work on your current camera and in the future as well. Buying a used high mp camera is generally a bargain once the next generation rolls out. You could probably get a pro body that way for a good price.
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Thanks for the review on the bag! Just what I was looking for.
I travel a few dozen times a year, and I rarely take more than the basics because you never know when you’ll be told, “you’ll need to check this, sir.” My worst nightmare when carrying $10-15k in equipment. I walked off a flight when they had exceeded overhead bin space.
I’m quite adept at picking out laptop bags, but knowing the fine line between too little gear and having to check your gear is not something you want to find out yourself.
I have the Vertex 300 which is just fine on large planes, but I’m not sure I’d risk it on a regional airline. Even with a strong back, fully loaded, the Vertex 300 is not something you want to trek around with. The x200 looks like a good option, and American Eagle overhead bin space is about as small as it gets.
In a pinch, I suppose the inner core is flexible in situations where it might be very tight.