My DSLR is carried around in a Lowpro Trekker rucksack which is not the kind of thing I wanted for my X-Series camera. When I got my X-E1 I temporally used a small Lowpro shoulder bag, although functional with plenty of pockets I really had my heart set on the classic looking shoulder bags from Billingham to carry on the retro look with its leather and brass fittings.
Unfortunately I found Billingham's website a bit lacking in the visual department, more images displaying color options and scale would haven been very helpful (a picture of someone wearing the bag for scale) but I had to research outside their own website to make a my final decision. It was between the Hadley Pro or Hadley Small, both have great styling but the size was hard to judge... Too large and it becomes a hindrance to carry around while walking, too small that I can't get the necessary equipment inside comfortably and easy to remove quickly.
In the end I decided the Hadley Pro was just a bit too large, the Hadley Small looked like enough room to take the X-E1 with 18-55mm attached and room for two extra lenses. I can fit my iPad inside between the sleeve and the back, it's not designed for that so its not padded on the outside. Two front expandable pockets take all the little extras you'll likely to need, push studs make them quick to access.
Bags are very much a personal choice, and these bags are not cheap but I have read they will last a life time and the styling of the Hadley range is very old school photographer, just what I was looking for and the perfect partner to any X-Series camera.
Colors, again the Billingham website failed to show all the color choices on screen except Khaki/Tan, only descriptions for the rest... very weird, "come on Billingham I want to see beautiful photos of all your bags in all the color choices". However, I always hovered towards the original color combination of Khaki/Tan, so now I was set to order.
Billingham Hadley Small - Khaki/Tan - UK retails at £140 - I was extremely lucky as I was about to order I made an unusual decision for me to go check eBay, I found a seller with these statistics - Positive Feedback: 99.9% & Feedback score: 4888 selling the Hadley Small Khaki/Tan combination, brand new with all tags in original packaging for a starting bid of £89 and with only 2 hours remaining on this auction. Needless to say I won with the minimum bid and received the bag 2 days later, I saved £50. It came in a cream colored draw string presentation bag with a 5 year guarantee from Billingham.
It's everything I hoped for, material and construction are all top grade, you can see it's built by craftsman. Design is retro like I said before so doesn't shout I'm a camera bag. Take out the removable sleeve and you have yourself a beautiful everyday bag, plus the canvas has been treated to be waterproof which is good to know your gear is well protected. inside the removable sleeve you get two large and two small dividers which is ample for this size bag. No noisy velcro to bring attention to yourself when opening the main flap, instead the beautiful quick release leather straps make it a much more stealthy affair on the streets.
Billingham Hadley Range.
Billingham camera bags may seem expensive but you get what you pay for... it's made to last a lifetime and it's going to protect my gear, I can rely on its build quality not to fail.
N.B. All photos taken with Fujifilm X-E1 + XF18-55mm : Files OOC JPG's
Billingham camera bags may seem expensive but you get what you pay for... it's made to last a lifetime and it's going to protect my gear, I can rely on its build quality not to fail.
N.B. All photos taken with Fujifilm X-E1 + XF18-55mm : Files OOC JPG's
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