I had the opportunity to use this do-all bag for the last four weeks. I used it at one wedding, a birthday party and a personal trip to Dallas TX so, how did this hybrid bag do? Let’s find out.
Appearance:
When you look this bag over it does not scream camera bag unless you have your tripod mounted on the front. It really does look more like a standard airline roller bag. The Lowepro logo is small and subtle and the bag model tag is even more subtle, there is no screaming logo to detract from its purposeful yet professional look. Only when you use the Lowepro AW rain cover does the Lowepro logo take center stage but even then it is not over the top.
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| sideview | frontview |
Quality:
In the tradition of Lowepro photo bags the quality is excellent, the outer shell is solid, strong and made of weather resistant ripstop. The zippers, seams, handles, wheels, pull handle and straps are all constructed of good quality materials and function as designed. The interior dividers are of standard Lowepro fare, well padded and of varied size to allow customization of the inside.
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| pull handle | wheels |
Many hybrid backpack/rolling camera bags that I have used seem to ignore the quality of either the wheels or backpack straps doing neither well, but the Lowepro Pro Runner x450 AW pays equal attention to the quality and function of both the rolling portions of the bag and the backpack straps and waist belt. I also decided to pay close attention to the zippers and buckles as these are traditionally areas that fail on camera bags. I spent some time working the zippers and buckles to find a weak spot or areas where they might catch or fail, in 4 weeks of heavy use I have yet to find fault in any of the Lowepro zippers or buckles.
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| detailed view | high quality straps |
Gear Capacity, Protection and Fit:
This is a large bag so I loaded it down to see how much it would hold and how it would fit (See list and photo H below). I tried several different ways to pack it including having both my D700 and F100 with attached lens and without..
I found I preferred the attached lens but I did have to bend one of the dividers in a way that it was not designed to, but it worked very well. All the gear was well protected and fit nicely. The only lens I own I had trouble getting into the bag was my 500 f/4 Nikkor but to be honest the bag is not designed to carry such a large lens. That said I could get it in if I removed just about everything else.
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| inside with gear | inside |
List of Gear Loaded in photo above:
- D700/MB-D10 with attached Nikkor 24-120G AF-S VR w/hood
- F100/ MB-15 with attached Nikkor 18-35 AF-D ED w/hood
- Coolpix P7000
- Nikkor 50 f1.8 AF-D
- Nikkor 70-300G AFS ED VR w/hood
- Tamron SP 70-200 f2.8 Di LD Macro w/hood
- Nikkor 28-105 AF-D Macro w/hood
- Kenko TC 1.4 TC 300 Pro DGX
- SB-600 w/diffuser
- SB-30
MS-D10, MH-18 charger and cord, MH-24 Charger, Cable release, Delkin Multi Card Reader, 72mm, 77mm Nikon CPL Filters, 2 extra CF Cards and 1 SD Card, Mini USB Cable. 2 extra EN-EL3e Batteries.
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