tflak
Veteran
Big +1 for Think Tank.
Recently picked up the Think Tank Airport Security bag. Had seriously considered the International version instead which is a bit smaller and designed to fit in small overhead compartments. But after reading a lot of reviews with reports of flying all over the place with the larger Security version without any problems, I opted to take the risk and go for the larger bag since I have dual AF100s. And I was looking for a general purpose bag to also use on local shoots.
Plenty has been said about the quality of the Think Tank products. This is the first one I've owned and am definitely impressed with it. Really couldn't believe how much I could fit into this bag:
(2) AF100s with all handles attached
(1) GH2
(2) 14-140mm
- 14-35 2.0
- 35-100 2.0 (in case w/tripod collar attached)
- 100mm 2.0 Planar
- 7-14mm
- 100-300mm
- Z-Finder
- Novoflex adapter
- (2) DMW-MA1 adapters
- Singh-Ray Vari-ND
- Giottos Rocket-air (large)
And I still have some room left on the inside - hopefully enough for the Zacuto EVF when it arrives. And, of course, you can put the usual assortment of cables, etc. in the interior zippered compartments.
Have yet to fly with this bag and have only been using it locally so far. For that use, a Glidetrack Compact (20") easily slides into the exterior laptop sleeve and a small tripod attaches to the side of the bag. I usually attach a Gorillapod Focus with an Acratech leveling base to the bag and carry separate tripod cases for my regular tripods.
If you're looking for a top-quality, small bag with wheels, this one is hard to beat. Even has "emergency" straps so you could use it as a backpack for short periods of time, if needed. Also has security cables for a laptop and for the bag itself - which really comes in handy if you need to leave the bag unattended for short periods of time. I often do solo gigs so that's proved useful a couple of times already.
Obviously, if you use a mattebox and rails this probably wouldn't be such a great solution. But I don't use either of those, and use a Manfrotto 293 Telephoto Lens Support for the 35-100, which I can easily stick in one of my tripod bags.
Admittedly, it took quite awhile to come up with a configuration to allow all this to fit. And there's only one way to arrange things that I could come up with to fit both AF100s without removing any handles. But it all fits without needing to cram anything together sans adequate padding, or sit on the lid to close it, etc. Will post photos if anyone's interested.