Owner contribution
The 617 Pro is my current traveling bag, it holds my Nikon D70 5 or 6 lenses, a flash and everything else I could attach to this DSLR. The construction of this bag is flawless, and the Cordura nylon outer shell is as tough as I have ever seen. As typical of Tamrac bags, the inner configuration is as configurable as anyone could desire, I can easily configure and reconfigure this bag depending on my needs in just a few minutes. I usually carry 2 bodies with lenses attached, except for when I pack the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 with the 2X extender, and then it forces me to pack only 1 due to the size of the large lens (which fits easily). The front pocket holds all kinds of stuff, such as filters, quick-disconnects and general accessories depending on the shoot I am headed to. The sides of the bag have attachment straps for Tamrac's MAS accessory pouches, I have several of these and generally have 3-5 of these attached to the 617 at any one given time. The 'pop-off' film pocket is useless lately packing the DSLR, although I have had film in it in the past year or so. I generally load it with batteries and a couple CF cards so I can just grab it and go, leaving the bag and the majority of my equipment locked in the car. But with large CF cards and the extremely long battery life of the D70, the pouch doesn't see much use in the field. While the 617 is a nice 'medium' size bag, I find myself wanting one about this size to also hold my laptop along with my DSLR equipment. The 617 has a 'document' pouch in the back of the bag that would hold a smaller laptop such as a Dell X1 (12" widescreen) but it is not sufficiently padded for my tastes. I feel the Tamrac 619 is probably my next purchase. The 617 has traveled all over the country with me and my family, and has performed flawlessly and protected everything I have placed inside it. It fits under an airplane seat and is only on the heavy side when fully loaded will all my equipment. It has lived through rainshowers, frozen wastelands, sandy ocean beaches and still looks brand new. I probably will never part with it.
