I have been thinking about getting one of the Think Tank lens (belt) pouches to carry an extra lens when I'm walking around town or whatnot. I typically keep a mid-prime on my camera, but I wanted to be able to carry either a wide angle or an 85mm as well. My issue is that neither my wide prime or my 85 1.8 fit in my pocket very well (especially during the summer when I'm not wearing a rain jacket), and I don't like carrying a bag around alot of the time. So, I came up with this idea... I bought one of these climbing chalk bags from REI for $15. The bag came with a small belt, too small for me actually, so I bought a couple feet of webbing and some extra hardware to make a belt that would fit me and swapped it out. My total cost for the bag, webbing and hardware was $19.20
Here's the bag I purchased (I got one in tan though):
I selected this this particular bag for two reasons... 1, it was less expensive than all the others, and 2, it is a little taller/deeper than most of the other bags they had (making it more secure in my mind). This bag will hold any of my primes with the hoods on forward or reversed (20, 40, 50, 85) and seems that it would fit any other prime/zoom that has a filter size of less than 72mm. What I particularly like about this setup is that it is small, light, easy to put on (and take off) and will fold flat and stuff in one of my camera bag pockets so I can have it around all the time. The bags (all the ones I saw) are all made of nylon and lined with fleece so they are gentle inside much like the Think Tank drop in bag. These bags also all have a drawstring near the top that closes the pouch up to keep the chalk stuff you would normally put in them (doesn't come with chalk though, they come clean and empty inside) from falling out. What I find cool about this is that the drawstring does a great job of holding a lens in there and keeping it protected from mild weather, falling out during crazy parkour activities or pickpockets.
I'm going to try this setup some more this weekend, so far it seems to be great.
this is exactly what I need! I'd bought a lens case made by lowepro, and while it's great quality it's also really padded and bulky and I don't like having it attached to my belt. I'll have to go to rei and try one of these... thanks for the idea
Goosemang, I love it so far, nice and light. It's also nice with the small belt strap because you can take it off or put it on real easy. And with REI's no questions return policy, you have nothing to lose.
Rchb, that strap is pretty cool! I don't think I've ever seen that one before.
I use the think tank ones...easily clip/strap to any camera bag, recently i attached it (with the 70-200 2.8 II) to my kinesis bag while carrying the 500. the pouch also has the rain cover that wraps around the whole bag so thats a nice little bonus.
Imagemaster, that's a good question. Everywhere I looked online I couldn't find dimensions ... I ended up going into the store to see if it'd work for what I needed.
so i stopped by REI today and for $12 picked up one of these chalk bags that'll hold something as large as my 24-105. (the bag really isn't that big)
this works PERFECTLY. went downtown and shot with my 40mm and 135mm, and just swapped them to the bag when i changed lenses. not as bulky as the lowepro stuff. exactly what i needed.
I have many Think Tank pouches, and the rain covers have saved me a number of times. If I'm just carrying 1 extra lens, I'll often just use a carabiner to clip the pouch to a belt loop instead of using the belt.
I like the Think Tank Skin 50 for one or two smallish lenses. It's light and accommodates more than just a lens. It collapses quite a bit for storage, has a rain cover and it's easy to attach to any belt.
I've tried the chalk bag solution, but I prefer to have a cover for more security. I thought that the cinch down method was less secure, and I always felt that the lens would just fall out if I bent over or moved too much.
