Owner contribution
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a short review about the Crumpler Seven Million Dollar Home camera bag. At the time I liked just about everything about the bag except the strap. I already had a Tallee bag and had become rather accustomed to the Quick Flick Buckle. I was really bummed that the new bags had a more traditional camera bag strap so I got a hold of the Crumpler Custom shop in Melbourne and they were more than happy to fit a Quick Flick Buckle to a Seven Million Dollar Home. The result is pictured above. It's the closest thing to 'the perfect camera bag' I've been able to find. There's really only a couple of things I would change if I could. The Tallee on the left is about the same height and depth as the 7 Million Dollar Home on the right. The big difference is that the new bag makes much more effective use of the depth (well that and it's heaps wider.) The Tallee has a bottom compartment ('the darkroom') that is only accessible from the front flap - this means that you can't take full advantage of the height of the Tallee - long lenses only fit in the bottom. The deep Million Dollar Home easily fits an 80-200 f2.8 zoom lens (that's it on the left.) In the center compartment is an EOS1 face down with room for a medium sized lens mounted. Pleanty of room on the right for a lens and flash, or maybe a second camera body. The whole of the interior is 'loop' fabric so you can velcro the dividers anywhere you like. You can even fit an 80-200 zoom (hood reversed) with a camera attached in the center compartment. The bag still closes easily like this and there is heaps of room for a couple more zooms and a flash. The blue flap on the front opens up to a good size pocket for battaries, CF cards or even film. Everything else I love about Crumpler bags is unchanged. Heavy duty construction, styling that is more consistant with messenger bags than camera bags, heavy padding and lots of dividers making it easy to customise the interior. I did say there are a couple things that I would change if I could: First: replace the front quick release buckle. It's redundant. There is a large Velcro patch there. However, a secure clip closure is needed (particularly when you have a handle on the top.) For a bag this wide I would have preferred two clips, one on each corner of the front flap. Second: it would be purple. My original plan was to use the Seven Million Dollar Home when I needed to carry a lot of gear, and keep the Tallee for when I just needed a few things, but with the softer, less boxy construction of the Seven it collapses a bit when it's not fully loaded (reminds me of a Domke F2 bag I had years ago) so I really don't see myself using the Tallee much any more (watch for it on Ebay.) I'll replace it with a smaller Three or Four Million Dollar Home - if only Crumpler would make one in purple.
