After seeing the Gadget Lab how-to project on making a ratty, thief-proof camera bag, the bigwigs at Lowepro couldn’t contain themselves. “We make a stealthy camera bag, too,” they cried, “You MUST test it!”
So I did. In reality, the Lowepro folks weren’t nearly as pushy, but they did send over the Classified 160AW, a nylon and leather day-bag for photographers which is purposely styled to be less flashy than a normal camera bag. Is it the kind of bag which would let you pass unnoticed through the mean streets of Barcelona’s pickpocket-laden tourist center? No. Is it a comfortable, capacious and capable bag for the photographer on the go? Let’s see.
First, the looks. The Lady said that the Classified 160 looks like a bull and, in the top picture, you can see her point: The extended zipper that gives you access to the main compartment kind of makes the bag looks like a bull’s head, if you look at it the right way. She is, though, from Catalonia, a part of Spain, so she could have been influenced by a childhood of bullfighting.
There is a bull connection, though. The nylon bag features some leather accents, most usefully the top-mounted handle and the ends of the zippers. They add some elegance, but also toughness where it’s needed. There is also a nifty, stiff leather tab on the shoulder strap which will stop a camera from sliding off your shoulder:
Otherwise, the bag looks a lot more like the kind of thing a middle manager might use to tote his Dell brick — not a bad thing for a low-profile design, but hardly the thief repellent that is the Gadget Lab rat-bag.
The Classified is meant to be a work bag rather than a storage or transportation bag, and it has enough cubby holes to squirrel away most of your stuff. Here’s the front pocket:
The flap is secured by a nylon clip, as you can see at the bottom. It lifts to reveal two pockets - a front, non-padded one which is ideal for tobacco, and another just behind which, on the larger models, is big enough to take a notebook computer. This one is smaller, but that pocket still has room for my currently out-of-action Hackintosh, a 10″ netbook (the trackpad is broken, if you must know). The zipper you see isn’t another pocket. It actually unzips to reveal…
… an expansion, erm, flap. This will add a few inches to the front-to-back depth so you can squeeze a little more in. Inside the front pocket you’ll also find this card holder, which hooks onto a strap inside the pocket via metal clip. It’s also good for holding a set of keys.
There’s also another, zippered pocket at the back, and underneath yet another pocket containing the usual Lowepro rain cover.
So, all your junk is taken care of. Onto the inside, which is big enough in this model to hold a camera with a lens, a spare lens or two and a flashgun, depending on their size. There are several inserts which use Velcro to grab onto the interior like a moron’s tongue on a frozen metal pole. Moving them around can be tricky but once their in, they’re not shifting. One of them even has a microfiber cloth for polishing your LCD screen.
The odd shape of the larger dividers is designed to hold a camera up close to the top for easy grabbing. Here is the splendid Nikon D700 sat snugly atop the leather tipped pads (shortly before I put it on the sofa, caught the camera strap on my foot and sent the body and lens flying to the hard tile floor. It’s fine, but I just lost a year of my life due to shock):
When I go out shooting, I don’t carry much — usually the camera and either a strobe or a spare lens. So I took out all the inserts except one and just let the camera rest on the floor of the bag. As there is a removable (and thick) pad here, it felt perfectly safe.
Above you see the extra strap, and I couldn’t work out what it was for. A quick email to Lowepro revealed the truth. One end loops around the main strap and the other clips onto one of the metal rings on the back of the bag. This allows you to keep the pack from swinging around. If you are familiar with a proper cycle courier bag, you’ll be at home with the design, which sits between groin and nipples.
Conclusion
There are some downsides. The bag is very well made, but all that padding makes it both bulkier and heavier than our home-made version. On the other hand, this thing is built like a tank. You’d have to decide exactly what you need — light and thin or thick and protective.
I had some trouble with the shoulder strap, too. I like to be able to swing the bag from my side around to my butt, and back again. The ultra-grippy shoulder pad means that this action drags on the shoulder of your jacket as you do it. A small point, but an adjustable pad would help. Once in place, though, the strap is very comfy.
While the Classified series isn’t going to ward off the baddies like the home-made version, it’s discrete enough to pass unnoticed in a decent part of town. It’s also tough enough that I feel fine throwing it into the front basket of my bike without worrying about the contents. And if I ride fast enough, people think that a there’s a bull charging towards them. Or at least, that’s what I tell myself.
You can find the Classified 160 AW online for around $150.
Product page [Lowepro]
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