As you may know I’m apparently the Cosyspeed大护法 now.
I’ve been using Cosyspeed Streetomatic+ for more than 2 years and this is easily the best camera bag I’ve ever used. It’s a fanny pack but it doesn’t look like one with the low hanging design. The belt can be hidden completely under your clothes. Being low also means you don’t have to bend your arm to get your gears at waist level like a regular fanny pack (unless you have really short arms like Blake Griffin). It sets your shoulder free and saves you from your miserable senior life haunted by arthritis, and you can get your gears super quick and easy. I shoot more photos because of it, simple like that.
Besides Cosyspeed I haven’t seen any manufacturer using the same low hanging design. Well they should. So currently Cosyspeed is my only choice for camera bags. The one shortcoming is that it’s kind of small. You can’t put a lot of gears inside. Some people try to find a larger alternative like the Peak Design Sling 6L. I was on that path and I can tell you immediately that PD Sling 6L doesn’t work as good as Cosyspeed (although there are some workarounds).
How about Peak Design Capture + Pro Pad (to make it low hanging)? Well yes you can even carry an A7RIII + FE100-400GM with it. Cosyspeed can’t. But this is not a bag. Your camera is exposed, and bad things could happen. Plus your belt is probably not designed to carry a lot of weight. I use this solution to carry my FE100-400GM and it almost pulled my pants off. With the lens constantly hitting your leg it’s not that comfortable either. And I wouldn’t call PD Capture the most secured solution. The screws can come off by themselves. I just lost my PD capture like a month ago. Luckily my camera wasn’t mounted there. And the next day I found it on the street, with one screw missing. You should regularly check if it’s really tightened. I do use it but only as a temporary solution when I want to have quick access to A7RIII + RX10M4 at the same time, since Cosyspeed can’t carry both of them.
So it’s not like I haven’t tried other solutions, they just don’t work as well as Cosyspeed. Now let’s cut the crap and get into the topic:
What Fits There?
There are 3 products at the moment:
- Streetomatic (too small)
- Streetomatic+
- Outdoor MKII
I strongly recommend Streetomatic+ because this is the largest among them all. The key spec is the width. Streetomatic+ is 205mm and Outdoor MKII is 190mm. That 15mm is gonna make a big difference.
The main advantage of Outdoor MKII is the weather protection. The main compartment is sealed by zipper, and there is a integrated rain cover if it’s really pouring. The fabric of Streetomatic+ is also waterproof. It’s just that water can find its way through the gap between the bag and the flap top. I’ve used it in heavy rain but nothing happened. There is a rain cover included but I never carried it with me.
The official spec of Streetomatic+’s main compartment is 155H*205W*95-110D. I’ve measured it myself and indeed the number is very accurate (Germans, you know). The 155H can be expanded a little bit (I can fit gears that are 160mm tall there vertically), but the 205W is basically a hard line. Don’t expect it to stretch.
The distance from A7’s lens mount to the back of the EVF is about 56mm. So the lens shouldn’t be longer than 205-56=149mm. However I think you still need the lens cap which is generally not thicker than 7mm. Let’s just call it 9mm for safety. So here is the most important take away:
The length of the lens specified by the manufacturer shouldn’t be longer than 140mm
I checked several E-mount lenses and realize that 140mm is actually quite forgiving. Actually I haven’t found anything below 135mm focal length that doesn’t meet the requirement, except maybe FE28-135PZ lol. However, telephotos are basically all off the list, including Tamron 70-180 or Sony FE70-300G (unless you don’t use the lens cap).
The Outdoor MKII drops the maximum length to 125mm and that certainly limits your selection. I’ve just watched a German review with Sigma 24-70 (123mm) and it’s indeed a tight fit (certainly not good for your user experience). 135GM (127mm) is in danger. You’ll have to say goodbye to Sigma 35F1.2 (136.2mm), 14-24 (131mm), Sony 12-24GM (137mm).
Canon EOS R5 is 13mm thicker than A7 series. So the maximum length with Streetomatic+ drops to 127mm. RF15-35L (126.8mm) can probably still squeeze in.
If there is any real Panasonic S1 series user then I suggest you to give up. The camera is too tall (110mm) for the bag. The bag’s depth can be “expanded” to 110mm but you are basically just stretching it by force. Closing the top lid is gonna be quite difficult when it’s fully stretched. Plus you need a quick release plate which adds more height to the camera. Actually A7 (95.6mm）+ a quick release plate is already a tight fit.
BTW Streetomatic+ MKII is also on the way with an extra handle and a tiny zipper bag on the belt. I don’t know if there is any changes of the size but it doesn’t seem so. The handle is a nice touch but it won’t kill me for not having it.
When I was using FE16-35GM I can actually fit another Sigma 56F1.4 into the bag but it’s not ideal:
A7RIII is grip side down and Sigma must be protected by an extra lens pouch. Every time I finished using Sigma I have to swap the lenses and put it back in the pouch. Not the best practice but still doable if you don’t use it that often. Now with Tamron it’s much better with the pad in between:
Swap the lenses and it still works like a charm:
Couldn’t be happier to be honest.
If you want your lens and the body to fit in the bag vertically then the maximum length should be <89mm in theory. But since the bag is a bit flexible in height I’ve found that a 35GM (96mm long) can still fit in effortlessly and the bag doesn’t look stretched at all. Adding another 1cm still works (so you can also put a 108mm long 50GM) but that’s basically the limit. 16-35GM (121.6mm) is a no go.
Unfortunately it’s not being sold in China. But for those who has easy access to the bag, I strongly recommend you to give it a try.
Photo Engineering 