The new Tote & Shoot camera bag from Shootsac started shipping on December 1^st 2011, and is touted as the first fully padded tote bag with a side-loading camera pocket. As of now, it’s available in three colors: red, black and grey.

I got mine in the mail tonight, so I figured I’d throw up some first impressions and quick pics off my kitchen table until I get to spend more time with the bag. I’ll update the post with real photos once I break the bag in.

So what’s the deal? Is it a cool bag? Is it really worth it’s $229.00 price? Let’s find out.

The Tote & Shoot arrives packaged well, in a customary Shootsac printed box, with a printed outer bag. It seems a bit excessive, but it’s all part of the Shootsac brand. They want you to feel like you’re truly opening up something special, and it certainly does come across in the packaging. There’s hidden messages throughout the design, which makes you feel really great about using this bag. It’s almost as if it’s been designed to not only make you function better, but feel good while doing it.

 

Overall bag size: 17”w x 13.5”h x 6.5”d

 My first impression is that the tote is a bit smaller than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise. After all, who wants to tote around a huge beach bag everyday? The bag looked bigger on their website. Here’s a pic of the Tote & Shoot below next to a 5DmarkII, and a flash, so you can get a more accurate view of its size.

The material that the bag is made out of is described by Shootsac as “a tactile fabric comprised of a polymer surface that resists stains, abrasion and germs with antimicrobial properties” and is water-repellant. I must say, it’s quite impressive. This is one of those products where pictures of it do not do it justice. It has a slight shine to it, and feels not only water resistant, but as if it would be near impossible to tear.

One of the biggest complaints I have about DSLR bags for women is how easily they stain and rip, like the Jill-E sailcloth bags. It looks as if that won’t be a problem with the Tote & Shoot.

The side-loading camera pocket is by far the neatest feature. I’m not sure why Shootsac claims this is the “first ever” side-loading camera pocket, as this feature is already on tons of DSLR bags, including one of my favorites, the National Geographic Earth Explorer bag. Maybe they meant the first ever TOTE bag with a side-loading pocket? Regardless, it’s well done. The side pocket can easily hold a large DSLR with a 70-200mm lens attached (turned sideways) and ready to shoot. And the tote is deep enough where you can still carry a handful of additional items in the main tote compartment when the 70-200mm is packed. The pocket opens wide enough to make it easy to put your camera in and take it out.

The camera pocket is lined with neoprene and padding, but its not very thick (see thickness of side pocket in pic above). It’s perfect to protect your camera if a person bumps into you, but if you drop it off a table, you might be in trouble. But, after all, there’s only a few every day carry DSLR bags that would protect you in that situation (like possibly the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home Bag), but they’re usually so bogged down with padding and masculine looking that no woman would want to carry them.

There’s a padded neoprene strip that comes in the box, which can be used to line the floor of the side-loading pocket to give your DSLR some additional protection. Oddly enough, I couldn’t get the strip to fit in there well. It seems to be a bit too long, and it curls up on both sides. It’s not a snug fit. But, I guess it’s a bonus to have a bit more additional padding on the sides, and it doesn’t interfere with loading or carrying your camera. So who knows. Maybe they did it on purpose to give you some additional padding (but probably not: ). But the extra strip is a necessity to protect your camera if you put your bag down on a hard surface while in a hurry.

There’s three outside pockets; two on each end, which closes with a drawstring clasp, and one on the back, which closes with a magnetic clasp.

 

Side Pocket Size: 4.5” diameter x 9”h

The side pockets are deep enough to comfortably hold a 580EXII flash, and you can pull the drawstring tight to keep it from slipping out. You can also easily hold your water bottle, or store your keys and cell phone. The bad part is, if you overextend the string when opening, it’s hard to pick out the string from the clasp to close it again. Adding a knot at the end would solve that problem.

Here’s the side pocket with a 580EXII flash inside. As you can see, it fully covers it.

And here’s the Tote & Shoot side pocket with a poland spring water bottle:

The rear outside pocket is perfect for storing magazines or your IPad (vertically, as they won’t fit horizontally), and the bottom of the pocket can be opened with a zipper, allowing you to attach the Tote & Shoot to handles of a rolling luggage.

It’s definitely not meant for this, but you can also use the outside pocket to carry a tripod. Just unzip the bottom, and drop 2 of the 3 tripod legs through. I totally beat on camera bags, and I’m sure the Shootsac website doesn’t mention you can hold a tripod like this because it will kill the bag in no time. But it works.

The tote’s handles are the perfect length (13”), and they’re padded with cushiony, non-slip neoprene padding.

 

The Inside

The Tote & Shoot opens and closes with a zipper, but the bag has open gaps at both ends up top, which could be an issue.

This side open gap design could be both a benefit and a detriment. If you have something long and thin to carry like an umbrella, you can still fit it into your bag by letting it stick it out the top.  But, the permanent opening lets in rainwater, and if you leave something sticking out the top, it could easily be stolen. I don’t think this will be a problem, but once I start using the bag, I’ll find out, and I’ll update my post.

The gap is so large, it easily fits a roll of wrapping paper through it while the bag is fully closed:

Besides the main compartment, the inside of the bag has two pockets; a deep pocket in the rear, and a shallow pocket upfront over the DSLR side pocket.  The lining is 100% polyester, but the material has a similar sheen and feel as the outside material, which leads me to believe it would be easy to clean and hard to tear. There’s also an additional small pocket on the inside for a water bottle or baby bottle.

Pic of inside

Internal size: 16”w x 13”h x 5.5”d

The double stitching looks solid, which is good news for me, since I tend to overstuff my bags and really abuse them (see tripod pic above).

Overall Opinion

It’s not hard to tell that someone really thought about the design of this bag. They wanted to not just give you another DSLR bag, they wanted to find a way to make your life easier. I’d say mission was accomplished.

And yes, $229 is A LOT of money to spend on a bag. But considering the other options in the marketplace, and the quality of the design and materials used, the price is worth it.

Negatives, or what I’d like to see in the next design:

This bag is definitely missing a secure, outside pocket for your cell phone and/or keys. By secure, I mean a pocket with a zipper or Velcro closure allowing you to close the pocket all the way. Not something that’s only partially closed with a drawstring. To some that wouldn’t matter, but if you live in a large city, you know how easy it is for a thief to swipe your phone out of a drawstring pocket, no matter how deep the pocket is, or how tight you pull the drawstring. Why not just keep my phone in one of the inside pockets? Because I don’t want to have to open two sets of zippers every time my phone rings.

This is one of my biggest issues with this bag. The lack of functional pockets. It would be amazing if Shootsac could combine the organizational ideas (i.e. pockets everywhere!) that Thinktank has on their bags with the Tote & Shoot. If I had to design the ultimate everyday bag, it would be a combination of the feel and size of the Tote & Shoot, the functionality of a Thinktank Retrospective, and the print options of a shootsac or Vera Bradley.

As said, I’d love to have more color or print options available. But now that I have the bag and I feel the fabric it’s made out of, I can understand why anything other than a solid color would be incredibly difficult to pull off. I can only guess that each color option added to the line costs more money, so they drew the line at three colors. And I’m guessing an extensive market survey told them that red, grey and black are the most popular three solid colors for women’s purses, so they went with that.  Still doesn’t change the fact that I want more color or pattern options.

I’d like to have the option of buying removable padded inserts for the days where I want to carry nothing but camera gear, similar to the inside of a Crumpler or Thinktank Retrospective. As it is, if I want to carry my DSLR in the front pocket, I have to throw any additional lenses and gear loose in the main compartment unpadded. Not really a great option.  There’s a “companion tote” coming out in Winter 2012 by Shootsac, but something tells me this won’t be one of the options it provides. And aside from spending another $180(!) for a shootsac to throw inside (spending a total of $410 plus tax and shipping for a functional camera bag!), there’s limited options. In fact, this is the biggest complaint that I find most people have with this bag. A shootsac is NOT included in the purchase price. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s not completely functional as a camera bag without one. And for $410, there’s much better camera bag systems out there.

So if you’re okay with just carrying your DSLR and maybe one other small lens, and mostly using the bag as an everyday tote bag, then this is an awesome bag for you. In fact, it’s quickly becoming my favorite everyday bag, as I have 2 kids under 3 (which means I carry a lot of stuff with me everywhere!). However, if you’re looking for something that gives you the option of carrying a ton of lenses, bodies and flashes, then this isn’t the best option, unless you already own, or don’t mind shelling out another $180 for a shootsac.