A week ago a Groupon deal came up for a camera bag. Specifically, a carry-on luggage style bag for $50. The JLab Pro Roller Camera Spinner Bag was listed everywhere else for at least $120, and similar bags from name brand manufacturers ranged up to $500. Similar to all my GoPro gear scattered everywhere before I consolidated them, my camera gear usually occupied my tables, my couch, and sometimes my coffee table. This deal seemed perfect to find a storage solution for my lenses and DSLR body.
At first glance, the all black/turquoise accented bag looks very minimalist. The unit itself came in a white drawstring bag, which was an interesting touch. Reaked of being shipped from Asia, so I had to air out the sections for a good day.
JLab isn't a brand name for cameras like Manfrotto or Lowepro, so in the eyes of potential thieves this is no more than a simple carry-on luggage. An embroidered image saying "Getaway Aperture Edition" is the closest you'll know it's a camera bag without opening it up.
One thing though was storage: lots and lots of storage. Just visually there were more zippers than I'd expect. Even the collapsible luggage handle had its own zipper compartment.
The bag itself has two handles, on top and on the side. As I observed more and more of the features, this no longer seemed to be a simple home/apt storage bag; it became more evident that this would make a great substitute for my current carry-on bag. The opposite side has a pouch compartment perfect for a laptop charger. Directly above the pouch are three spaced "MOLLE" straps that you can carabiner something to the bag (or anything you may see fit).
As you can see, directly adjacent to each handle is an area for quick access documents such as passports, boarding pass, or even a phone. This can come in very useful when you want to stow all necessary documents onto your travel equipment but have access once at airport security or on location.
Top handle of bag
Might even be able to fit a 7" tablet if you were adventurous enough
The collapsable handle is standard, and can be fully enclosed within the bag unit if needed. Felt sturdy enough for a good amount of use, but still had some play in it. 
Taking a closer look at the handles, I could see that there is reinforced stitching at the corners. A very nice touch from JLabs, showing that this bag isn't just a cheap knockoff that will fall apart quickly.
Top handle, reinforced stitching
Side handle, reinforced stitching
Unlike many bags I've had, this JLab one in particular has four rolling wheels. Gives much more manouverability when it comes to short distances, and pulling around felt pretty smooth. The bottom portion is also hard enough to take light to moderate damage.
In the first surface compartment, you have a shallow pouch with two zippered enclosures and two slots for pens. The labeling of "BLANK" and "FULL" is again a very nice touch when you have CF or SD cards that need to be sorted on the fly. I myself have over 10 SD cards, so I'm not sure if I'd trust these baggies to hold all of them. But if I bring just 2 or 3 on a trip, it shouldn't be a problem.
The next surface compartment is the size of the entire height and width of the bag. This could fit not one, but THREE laptops if you really had to. I used it for my monopod instead. Also, a good place to put hard copies of photos if needed or laminated signs for posting on location. I'm liking the amount of flat storage provided!
Here's the main interior of the bag. Enough padding, looks pretty standard. However, note the middle part is raised to give room for the carrying handle stowage. One interesting thing I found was a zipper liner that went around the perimeter. Upon further investigation, there was a velcro flap that came up....
You can see the zipper on the right corner, after the flap comes up
So apparently, the entire inner shell can be removed. For what reason I'm not that sure, but it gives a very good view of the skeleton of the camera bag. I guess if a person had multiple inserts, he/she could switch them out on the fly without removing individual items and re-allocating the partitions?
Insert and camera bag, seperated
What provides the hard bottom to this camera bag
Interior shell/skeleton
Noticed yet another velcro flap, this time for the luggage handle.
It's as if you can remove the entire handle in case it was needed.
A velcro patch on top is all that keeps the insert
from moving around, besides the zipper lining
Going back to the interior compartment, because of the raised section, I thought the partitions would be just cheap and leave a gap on the bottom. I was wrong; again, some thought went into making sure the velcro separators closed off any gaps below the transitioning areas.
I also noticed that one side of the partitions had two spaces left out. Again, this being my first camera bag, it took awhile for me to figure out that was to let you place cameras with lenses attached. DERP....
Here's the interior, all filled up. Sadly, my Sigma 50-500mm would not fit in any of the slots with the lens hood on. I will continue to experiment on how to fit this vertically, but for now I used a unused partition to hold the lens in place to prevent it from falling out if the bag was ever opened upright. My Canon T2i with the kit 18-135mm lens is just below my Tokina 35mm f/2.8 macro lens. The APS-C attachment & hood for the Sigma also has the DSLR body cap and a spare lens cover.
On the flap, I have my LED macro ring light with filter attachments as well as an intervalometer and the spare partitions. Chargers will go in the interior compartment, while the DC battery attachment & adapter will be on the side pouch. Surprisingly, I don't have that much camera gear after it's been put all in one location.
Overall, this is a good $50 well spent. Sadly, there isn't anything with this capacity close to the $130 MSRP; many of the name brand ones clock in close to $200 on Amazon or Adorama. The attention to detail on reinforcing the handles as well as having labeled compartments is a big plus. It does however lack any type of mount for a tripod. I guess when it comes to travel, storing a tripod externally wouldn't be the best thing in checked or carry-on luggage. Either way, it'll have its first trial run at comic-con in two weeks!
How thick is the fabric? Looks like it is as thick as umbrella fabric. Also, w/o the handle being riveted to the case, it doesn't matter how much extra stitching there is, it is likely to be a weak point.
ReplyDeleteAnother observation. The 2 lens cutout in the divider seem to be too close to each other to place 2 cameras side by side, with the camera in upright position. Making the requirement to place the cameras sideways. Plus, the cutouts seem to be symmetrical, thus there is no ability to reverse it to place the camera lower or higher in the case.
As for that webbed black pocket in the outside pocket, is that for a tablet? If so, is the cover in front of it padded?