Billingham 307 Review

Foxfire

8

10 Apr 2009 - 2:08 PM

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I have a billingham, which sadly I have discarded to the bottom of my cupboard. Why?

1. The bag, although, bought only two years ago, is not well suited to digital cameras, The DSLR is chunkier and heavier and so are the lenses.

2. There are no good webbed compartments to put those little things like spare battery, or a compartment for memory cards.

3. Lens brushes and cloths swivel around and often get lost.

But what really made me replace the otherwise stylish, rugged and well made Billingham, for Lowepro slingback is the weight distribution over the shoulder.

As I said Pro DSLRs are heavy and so are the lenses and they really dig into the shoulder due to the poor weight distribution of the system.

Billingham need to rethink their design, without loosing the quality and characteristics of the Billingham bags

AlCol

6

19 Nov 2009 - 9:09 PM

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I’ve owned a number of outfit bags over the past 30 years or so - some really rubbish ones (quite a few) and some good ones (a very few). I have to say that the 307 for what it is and is designed to do, is without a doubt at the top of the pile. The only near contender among the shoulder bags I’ve owned was an old Domke F-2 (now used by my son) – nowhere near as weather resistant, protective, or as well made as the Billingham – but it did look good and performed well.
My D300 with battery grip and Nikkor 18-200mm F4/5.6 attached, fits easily into the 307 along with a Sigma 10-20mm, a Nikkor 18-35mm, a Nikkor 50mm and an SB800 flash. Everything is easily accessible - nothing is stored under anything else and nothing needs to be dismantled to fit in (unlike some “big name” messenger bags I’ve tried)! In my experience the front pockets don’t allow water ingress – even in the heaviest downpour – ok, they’re not padded, but they do hold all the odd “bitsnbobs” that we photographers accumulate and don’t need a cosy padded holder for – remote release, lens cleaning kit, spare card holder, notebook, exposed rolls of 120 Tri-X etc. (well, maybe not the Tri-X!)
I too use a backpack, LowePro Computrek, when hiking, and a Pelican 1510 for storage and air travel - makes a damn good seat in the queues!
Two phrases spring to mind about the Billingham (and for that matter all camera bags) – horses for courses – and - you get what you pay for.