Billingham, Domke, etc etc

[DodoAngel]

Hi! I was thinking of getting a Domke F-5XB as a small and handy bag for just a light day out. Any suggestions where i can get it? And roughly how much would it be? Thanks!

 

[hjbyeo]

Got it beginning of the year from HK, around $300 plus I think.

300 dollars!! that's cheap if compared to Singapore prices. I would love a black one with black trimmings... no stock with Chan.

 

[Randius]

Can the Billingham Hadley Pro take the D300 w/ 24-70 mounted + 70-200 + 14-24 + SB-800? Will the Domke J-803/F-803 be able to take the above setup as well?

 

[nicky]

Yes the Hadley Pro can accommodate all that you mentioned. The only problem is the Flash. I'll illustrate with the Canon equivalent since they're similar in size to your Nikons.

^ Canon D60 (yeah it's a Dinosaur I know) with 28-70L mounted. The other lens is the 70-200L IS with tripod collar.

^ 16-35L with divider placed on top.

^ Body with 28-70L mounted (hidden and pointing down) resting on the divider (below that is the 16-35L)

^ The front pockets of the Hadley Pro is the 'flat' type so it doesn't fit very well the squarish 550EX shown here. I think they're good only for putting wallets and slimmer items.

I believe the J-803/F-803 is slightly smaller in size to the Hadley Pro. Its front pockets are also the 'flat' type so should have similar problems with the flash. If you're looking for Domke satchel bag to fit all the above comfortably, go for its larger sibling, the F-802. At least the front pockets are of the 'squarish' type that can take your flash comfortably. There's a review on F-802 HERE

 

[Randius]

Thanks for the pictures and suggestion, nicky :thumbsup:

Unfortunately, I think my setup may either be a very tight fit or not fit into the Hadley Pro, as I always carry the lens hood around and the hoods are by no means small.

A question for the Domke F-802 owners, is there an easy way to remove the shoulder strap from the Domke F-802? Looks like it cannot be removed with nothing short of a pair of scissors. Will want to replace the strap with the OpTech S.O.S strap as the postman shoulder pad do not seem to offer much comfort.

 

[nicky]

With hoods, F-802 may not be wide enough. You can force it in but it's going to be tight. My 70-200 hood measures 4.5" in diameter. Though the Hadley Pro has an external width of 4.75", however due to the thick padding, the effective width for storage reduced to about 4", hence tight for hoods. Following are dimensions of various Domke satchels compared to Hadley Pro. If you want to store lenses with hoods, F-804 will be a better fit in my opinion.

Hadley Pro 13.75"(L) x 4.75"(W) x 9.75" (D)
Domke F803 13.00"(L) x 4.00"(W) x 9.00" (D)
Domke F802 15.50"(L) x 4.00"(W) x 12.00"(D)
Domke F804 15.00"(L) x 6.50"(W) x 12.50"(D)

Found a review of F-804 HERE. From the photos, the 6.5" width is pretty wide - can accomodate body with grip, + lenses with hoods, and still have enough width to slot in a laptop.

 

[Randius]

With hoods, F-802 may not be wide enough. You can force it in but it's going to be tight. My 70-200 hood measures 4.5" in diameter. Though the Hadley Pro has an external width of 4.75", however due to the thick padding, the effective width for storage reduced to about 4", hence tight for hoods. Following are dimensions of various Domke satchels compared to Hadley Pro. If you want to store lenses with hoods, F-804 will be a better fit in my opinion.

Hadley Pro 13.75"(L) x 4.75"(W) x 9.75" (D)
Domke F803 13.00"(L) x 4.00"(W) x 9.00" (D)
Domke F802 15.50"(L) x 4.00"(W) x 12.00"(D)
Domke F804 15.00"(L) x 6.50"(W) x 12.50"(D)

Found a review of F-804 HERE. From the photos, the 6.5" width is pretty wide - can accomodate body with grip, + lenses with hoods, and still have enough width to slot in a laptop.

Thanks yet again for the information, nicky. I think I will go ahead and get the F-804 which seems to be a more versatile bag. What will be the inserts recommended to keep the D300 w/ 24-70 mounted + 14-24 + 70-200 in the main compartment with space for a 13" laptop?

 

[nicky]

Yup it's a bummer the F-802 and F-804 doesn't come with inserts. I don't have the F-804 but I just noticed that the width dimension of the F-804 equals that of shoulder bags like J2/F2 etc, That means the F-804 is just like an J2/F2 shoulder bag in terms of width, albeit a taller one, and since this is the case, you could use/buy the J2/F2 shoulder bag inserts for the F-804. I'm using the F-802 as day bag to carry stuffs other than photography i.e books, laptop etc, hence I didn't get inserts for it.

Here is a LINK showing how this person used his J1 inserts for his F-804. The base area looked very similar to J2/F2. Didn't realize F-804 is that big.