Camera bags hacks

Have you ever experienced the pain of shopping for a camera bag?

In my experience, they are always either too ugly or too expensive. Sometimes I don't even need a dedicated camera bag, I just want a safe pouch that will fit into my other general backpack or a bag.

After A LOT of research, unwilling to shell out hundreds of dollars, I still haven't settled on a solution until my girlfriend sent me a traditional funny Xmas gift. It was a soft cooler lunch bag. Perfectly rectangular to fit my camera and a couple lenses! I knew it was exactly what I was looking for as soon as I saw it.

This thing has travelled with me to quite a few places locally as well as abroad. It fits 2-3 lenses plus a body with a lens on; two spare batteries, a power pack, some filters, cables, mobile cable release and a lens cloth. Not bad for a lunch bag! It fits perfectly into my backpack with enough room for a tripod, book, sweater or even an overnight kit.

This week, I have been getting ready for a month long trip with my boyfriend to Japan. He has been going through the same pains of finding a nice compact bag for his camera so he wouldn't need to carry a camera bag and a back pack. After admiring my solution for a while, the night before our trip, he finally came back from London Drugs with a lunch bag, it cost him $9.99 plus tax :)

As you can see, it fits his Canon with quite a bit of room for extras and add-ons. It also nestles nicely into a backpack with a Guerrilla tripod and road snacks!

For days when I am not doing hiking but more of casual city exploring, I bought an over the shoulder Nine West purse for under $100 CAD. It also fits my favourite lenses as well as some other basic necessities like a power pack, extra batteries etc.

So next time you find yourself in need of some camera transporting solution, think outside the box and into a lunch bag ;)

Do you have any similar camera gear hacks? Would love to hear your thoughts!