Think Tank Urban Disguise 50 Review

Product:: Urban Disguise 50 (company site, Amazon)
What’s Good:: Well built, Lots of room.
What’s Bad:: On the heavy side.

This is part 4 in the search for a perfect camera bag. Read part 1: Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW, part 2: Lowepro Computrekker AW and part 3: Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home. The company description:

The Urban Disguise shoulder bags allow you to travel in style and protect your valuable equipment without attracting attention to yourself as a photographer. This will hold more gear than you ever imagined, and a 15” laptop! (Check dimensions for exact size of the compartment). It is very similar to the Urban Disguise 30 except that it features the added rear compartment. The front compartment will hold a wide angle with a hood attached, a 24-70 2.8 with the hood, a 70 -200 2.8 with the hood reversed, AND two pro-size SLR’s in the expandable front pockets (without the lenses attached). A regular size SLR with a lens attached can also be put straight down inside of the bag. Strobes fit into the side stretch pockets, as well.

Everyday Use

I'll start by saying this is my camera bag of choice. It comes to work with my every day and has made the trip on all recent travels. In the past year, this bag has been to San Fransisco, Chicago, Virginia Beach, Washington, Whistler, Vancouver, Seattle and soon to be Montreal and Ottawa next week. The bag holds a good amount of gear and as a result, fairly heavy for a shoulder bag. The airline usually checks me in at around 21.5 lbs.

Disguised

My first minor complaint. It bothers me that the new trend from camera bag manufactures is the selling point of "It doesn't look like a camera bag". This may be true now, but any brand name company will eventually build up the reputation of "we make camera bags". If companies really want to claim this, they should stop labeling everything.

Laptop

Carrying a laptop and SLR in a single bag was my primary reason for wanting this bag. At the time of purchase, they only had a 15" and 17" model but nothing for 13" laptops. The UD50 is great but on some days I wish it was a bit smaller. I travel with a 13" MacBook and would love to find a supplier to compare with the new 13" Urban Disguise 35.

What will it hold?

The main zipper has three deep compartments that could hold 2-3 cameras attached to larger lenses (think 70-200 size). My usual setup is a combination of one SLR body, 17-40mm, 70-200mm and a 100mm along with power cables and accessories. With some effort and compromise, the pockets are deep enough to hold my compact Giottos Tripod.

There are two fold out pockets under the front flap that can hold another two DSLR bodies (or anything else that size). I find this makes the bag very bulky and only use them when I must.

The bag has three zippered and one non-zippered pockets for smaller (flat) items as well as two mesh side pockets for quicker access.

Ease of Access

A single zipper separates you and the camera. The double zipper can open from the middle making it very easy to grab your camera. No frustrations with flaps, buckles or Velcro.

Dividers

The bag comes with more dividers then I would ever need to customize until your hearts content. Of course, all of these Velcro dividers can be removed turning it into just a regular carry on luggage bag.

Luggage and Travel

This bag reminds me of luggage. It has padlocks for the zippers, it can attach to the handles of a roller and is built from a strong canvas like material.

Weight & Size

The build quality is very strong but even when empty, a heavy bag if being compared to my slightly smaller Crumpler. Although not for light travel, it still works very well when needing to travel with a good amount of basic gear plus a laptop. When flying, I prefer not to use the over head bins and this bag easily fits under the seat for easy access throughout the flight.

Weather

It does come with a weather jacket that I have never used and always leave at home. I'm fairly confident with this bag in light rain.

Backpack

On the topic of weight, Think Tank sells a shoulder harness to convert the shoulder bag into a backpack. It looks a bit funny and I'm concerned on it's reliability but at some point, I would like to give this a try. There have been days when my shoulders would have loved the rest.

Final Thoughts

Before buying this bag, I was traveling with a camera bag, a laptop bag and my regular carry on. I really like having a dedicated bag that can carry both a laptop, a camera and any other accessory. I do wish it was slightly smaller and as light as my Crumpler 6 million bag. If you don't mind the weight, this is a great bag.

View my 6 photos on Flickr or search all of Flickr for photos.

Free Gift Offer

I'll close by saying if you would like to buy anything from Think Tank Photo directly, they have provided this coupon code AP-296 that will allow you to select a free gift at checkout for orders over $50.

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