The Best Camera Bag for Under $70 (Video)
I have a lot of camera bags. I was actually on a mission at one point to find the best camera bag for each scenario I found myself in. From the times I need to bring my large Blackmagic cinema camera, all my mics, tripods, multiple laptops and the whole nine yards, to times when I’m traveling overseas and might need to be a lot more nimble. In those scenarios, for example, I might have my B camera (a Sony A6500), a couple of mics, small tripod, my computer to edit on, and I’d really like to not look so glaringly like someone who happens to have a decent amount of money in camera equipment, laptops, and cell phones on him.
Whereas a lot of the other bags I have sort of scream camera bag, there’s one I got a while ago and have been meaning to make a video about hat you wouldn’t know was a camera bag at all without me showing you. It’s this one.
This is the Beaspire Professional Fashion Waterproof Large Size Multifunction DSLR/SLR Travel Outdoor… OK, it has a long, ridiculous name on Amazon, let’s just call it the Beaspire Camera Bag, yeah?
And, as I mentioned, it just looks like any other backpack, right? It comes in a bunch of colors and is this waterproof woven-looking but clearly plastic based material with just a tiny logo at the front (I hate large logos).
Opening the top gives us an idea of what’s actually going on here though considering how short the main compartment is. But we have a few pockets and a nice padded sleeve that does extend all the way down and fits most 15″ laptops. My MacBook Pro and Razer Blade fit just fine and the Surface Book 2 fits only just (although the sleeve has stretched a little bit so it fits better now).
The reason for this shallow compartment though is the best thing about the bag. Sliding down the zippers on one of the flaps on the side reveals a slide-out padded compartment that easily fits a DSLR or Mirrorless Camera and a lens or two (or in my case, my Sony camera with its lens attached, a set of lavalier mics or my shotgun mic and extra batteries and a charger. The pads inside, as with most camera bags, can be reconfigured as they are Velcro.
I also like that it has an access flap on either side of the bag so no matter which way you swing the bag around to the front you can easily get to the camera compartment.
It also has a small zipper pocket at the front that I usually put phones in with these soft pouches my buddy Saf got me so they don’t scratch each other in there, and it has an actual dedicated phone pocket against your back to make it harder for pickpockets to get to.
At the bottom, we have two straps that can be used for holding a tripod. It works great with the Joby Gorilla Pod or similar smaller tripod, but I use it with my much larger ones you just have to be careful not to knock people out with it or getting stuck in subway turnstiles. And, of course, having the tripod attached sort of makes you lose the whole “not-a-camera-bag” look obviously, but if you have a tripod at all you lose that anyway.
And then the best feature of this bag besides the super secret slide-out camera pouch? The price. It’s $49.99 with free Prime shipping (if you’re familiar with camera bag prices, your jaw just dropped slightly).
Overall, I love it. It has the compartment for enough equipment for run and gunning and a place for my tripod if I need to bring it, any laptop I own fits in it, as well and it sure beats wrapping my camera in a t-shirt and throwing it in a normal backpack with everything else in there. Not that I’ve ever done that, of course.
Let me know what you guys think of this and you can find it here on Amazon if you want to check it out for yourself. It comes in a ton of colors, too, so there are lots of options for you. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow me on social for more tech tips, tricks, and other fun stuff.
