Lowepro Sling Shot 100 AW Camera Backpack

The photojournalist is right on about this bag. It's perfect for shooting on the go in all sorts of weather.

I use it for shooting skiing and snowboarding ON the mountain and I am riding a snowboard the entire time I am shooting. There is no other bag I have found that can be cinched down tight enough to stay put while I snowboard and still be ready to shoot in just a few seconds.

I have a Slingshot 100 for a photo only kit and a Slingshot 200 that gives me room to bring along a compact video camera at the same time. Overall size might be small for some but it's perfect for me because it stops my gear from bouncing around inside the bag.

Another great feature is the pull out rain cover. With the rain cover on everything stays dry and access to the camera is not limited at all.

In my opinion this is NOT the bag for loading up with a lot of heavy gear and hiking all day. Putting the weight on one shoulder is uncomfortable after a couple of hours and you really need a bag that puts the weight on your hips for that anyways... But for any situation where you want QUICK access to your camera this bag is awesome!

Lowepro's quality is unfortunately not that great... The design is awesome but construction materials is only OK. I've been through 3 of these bags in 2 years dues to failing zippers and stitching coming apart. Lowepro's warranty has been excellent and they have promptly replaced the bags with new every time but it would be better if the bag never failed to begin with... I would gladly pay $100 for this bag if it was better made.

SUPER quick access to camera
Very stable for skiing, snowboarding, Mtn Biking, etc
Great rain cover
Excellent warranty
Low price

Not good for heavy loads for a long time
Construction quality not that great

Tamrac shoulder bag

I'm a photojournalist and this bag was made for photojournalists.

It's compact and wears tight to the body.

Works well as a slingbag or backpack-type.

It works nicely to carry minimal gear in for photo assignments.

I think it's gone down in price too, around 60-80 now.

For the money, it's a great bag for what I want out of a a bag.

Compact, fits nicely to body.

Quick acsess to camera, without opening the full bag, is a nice feature.

Plenty of room for a good-sized camera, flashes and 4-5 lenses.

A great bag for the price.

The lens compartments are a bit small for larger lenses (they work nicely for primes).

none needed.

I'm surprised at the poor reviews others have given this little bag, but perhaps we don't have the same expectations. I use the Slingshot bag to carry a minimum of gear IN CITIES. It fits close to the body and with it on me I don't go bumping into people in the subway, knocking things over in shops, etc. It took me a while to get used to it - I had to downsize my wallet, notebook, etc to make it all fit in. This bag is definitely not my choice for a holiday where I need to carry around extra clothing, guide books, etc. The Rover light is clumsy by comparison but I can put much more gear in it.

Small size
Fits high on the body so I don't knock things over behind me
Like a side pack - easy to get camera out without taking pack off
Impressive capacity for camera gear - takes my D200+18-200 with no problem
Pretty secure - difficult for pickpockets to get into
Replaces my small shoulderbag
AW cape but so far I haven't needed it

Too small to put extra clothing, guide books, purchases
Really limited to point missions in the city wher I don't need a lot of gear

Lowe Rover Light
Lowe Mini Trekker
Hadley Billingham
Hadley 335 & 445

Not needed

I purchased this because it seemed like a great concept: carry it on your back and slip it around to the front to access. In actual use I did not like the design. The side open access provides a small opening and makes it hard to access anything from the "sling position" other than the camera in the main compartment. I did not like the design of the internal compartments and conacted Lowepro to send me a replica of the right angle divider so as to make an additional commpartment. None of the compartments were big enough to store my camera's manual (Nikon D70) without severely bending it. I ended up selling it to a friend who seemed to like it better than I did.

The sling design concept.

Access to contents and compartment layout.

I have owned 3 other Lowepro bags and have been happy with all of them.

Excellent.

I bought Lowepro Slingshot 100 AW Slingbag on 10/14/2005 ($60, excl. tax and s & h). I hardly used it until this June 2006 when I went abroad for 3 weeks. I was very disappointed when I saw that after the 1st week of the trip the top part of the sling strap came apart halfway through its width. I didn't overload the bag. And I'm a petite woman of 5'4" (with a bursitis on the right shoulder), so I don't like burdening myself with a lot of stuff and not enjoying the picturemaking.
These were the items I had in the bag: Nikon D70, 2 lenses, 1 extra rechargeable
battery, USB cable and small cleaning kit. And most of the time the camera was hanging around my neck, of course with one of the lenses attached to it. When the camera (the heaviest item mentioned) was inside the bag, the bag usually was laid down, not hung.
I always thought that Lowepro's bags were made with care and high quality stitches. I had another Lowepro bag I bought when I just started using SLR in '98 and it's still in good condition. I bought the Slingbag because my current camera (with the lense attached) didn't fit in my old bag and I thought the design of the Slingbag would give me easier access to my camera gear and help with my bursitis. But I was wrong and am very disappointed.

Compact but roomy enough for 1 body, 2 lenses and a few accessories. Has soft fabric to protect the back of the camera body (very useful for digital camera owners). Has a built-in all-weather cover - never had to use it yet.

As mentioned above: the sling strap was not well made to handle normal load. The top part of the strap gets the most pull from the gear weight, yet there doesn't seem to be any additional strengthening stiches or material.
The bag doesn't slid easily from back to front as advertised. The strap must be loosened in order to slid the bag back and forth, but in doing so, I found that the bag would slid off my shoulder or swing around when I bent over or ran.