This is the National Geographic Medium shoulder bag. Made from, "natures strongest fiber," hemp. It’s very soft and lightweight; an ideal bag for just carrying one SLR and two or three lenses. I refer to it as my “indoor/outdoor light” bag. It has a cool khaki color scheme with the National Geographic logo boldly displayed in front. Equipped with two large pockets in front, which could hold a few filters and other things, and one in the back that could probably hold a composition notebook, it has a decent amount of exterior storage. The two D-rings in front can be used to hang things off but I can’t imagine that would be too comfortable. This is one of those types of bags that at least partially depend on the contents to help it keeps its shape. I think this bag would be perfect if you planned on carrying most of your gear on a plane in a rolling bag this would be a good bag to pack in you check-in baggage to be used once you got to your destination.
The top is one of those flip top lids that make it easy to get to your gear. It has some type of flap there that helps keep moisture out. I wouldn’t call it rainproof but I have read about several instances of people getting caught in the rain and everything in the bag staying nice and dry. If you look along the top you’ll notice a little Velcro strap to be used when you want to roll up the flap to allow for faster access of the bag contents. In front of the bag you can also see to additional pockets for more external storage. The one on the left has a couple of pockets sown into it to hold compact flash memory while the one on the right has a few for pens, AA batteries or lens pens. Either pocket could hold a passport, a wallet and a few other things. Besides, pens and batteries I keep all my manuals in one.
Here you can see most of the gear I'll typically pack for shooting indoors. All fit very easily in the bag. Just in case you are wondering that is my D200, a set of Garry Fong clear and cloudy lightsphere’s with all the domes I currently have, all my manuals in a sandwich sized zip lock bag, a SB-600 flash, a Tamrac boomerang neck strap, an expodisc, and three lenses: (1) 17-55mm f/2.8 (2) 50mm f/1.8 (3) 18-200 VR lens. I suppose if I went with a smaller diffuser I could fit in another lens.
whole assembly in the middle can be removed if you’d rather adjust it for your camera and lens outside of the bag. That flap that is pulled bag would normally go over the back of your camera to provide a little extra protection to the LCD or, like I did here, be tucked away. My Flash could comfortably sit in one of those side slots around the pocket for the lens.
Here is my D200 with the Camdaptor hand strap mounted. It’s really an excellent bag that will fit a decent amount of near, not to mention, get you some interesting looks from folks when they see that NG logo. The one problem I had with it is when I mounted the battery grip onto the camera. There is no way the flap that normally goes on it will go over my camera w/battery grip and I have to wonder if that means some of the pro bodies, like the D2H or D2Hs, will be able to fit.
Here is the NG-2475 next to my Tamrac 614 just so you can get a sense of its size. You can read the measurements off of any online store but I thought sitting it here next to one of the biggest shoulder bags ever made would give you a better feeling for the overall size of the NG-2475. What it lacks in is size it more than makes up for with style and design. I just wish it was an inch deeper so my D200 w/grip could comfortably fit in.
