Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | General Gear-talk | Join Upload & Sell

  

Archive 2013 · Domke time bombs

  
 
Mike Mahoney
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Domke time bombs


I feel compelled to write about the terrible quality of the velcro fastening in recent Domke bags .. the small black plastic hooks come off and end up everywhere, including inside your cameras.

I just shook out my F7 bag and perhaps a full tablespoon of the things fell out .. a couple of months ago I had to have my shutter repaired for removal of a "foreign object" .. which I'm convinced was one of those tiny little hooks.

Expensive garbage = recent Domke.
You've been warned.



Apr 28, 2013 at 05:35 PM
sjms
Online
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Domke time bombs


so what you are saying is that you put the camera body into your bag either w/o a cap or lens on it?


Apr 28, 2013 at 05:51 PM
shmn
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Domke time bombs


sjms wrote:
so what you are saying is that you put the camera body into your bag either w/o a cap or lens on it?


This type of snide remarks serves no purpose. Keep it to yourself next time.

Once those little bits of velcro get on your gear it will stick in all the nooks and crannies and they will fall into the camera when you swap lenses. They are small enough not to notice unless you are looking for them. I found a bit in between the focus ring and body of a 20/2.8 lens. I've noticed this problem on a recently purchased F-3B bag. However, my J-1 bag which was purchased in 1998 has no problems. Both bags are made in the USA but I suspect the velcro is sourced from a different vendor.

I plan on letting Domke know. I've contacted them years ago and they were responsive.



Apr 28, 2013 at 10:11 PM
EB-1
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Domke time bombs


Wow, their quality must be slipping. I have not purchased a Domke bag in many years, but it was well made and there were no problems with the fasteners.

EBH



Apr 28, 2013 at 10:33 PM
Gochugogi
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Domke time bombs


I have a recent Domke F-5XC (Fall 2012). I heard so much about their great quality and design perhaps I was expecting too much. It's okay but the interior lining and inserts are cheap and sloppy--the worse I have seen--and it has a serious pocket deficiency and no shoulder pad. But, hot damn, the velcro is fine thus far! In fact, I have the flap velcro 80% covered as it is too strong to open without fighting the bag or making a racket.

It's a pretty terrible camera bag compared to my TT Retrospective and Billingham but I actually love the rustic army surplus look. Goes great with destructed jeans and a beat up leather jacket. Sorta an urban Johnny Appleseed look. Too bad zero thought went into the interior design and cheap inserts spoil the usefulness.



Apr 29, 2013 at 12:51 AM
Guari
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Domke time bombs


sjms wrote:
so what you are saying is that you put the camera body into your bag either w/o a cap or lens on it?


Truly, how unsufferable..

Good use of the hide me button



Apr 29, 2013 at 01:38 AM
Gochugogi
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Domke time bombs


sjms wrote:
so what you are saying is that you put the camera body into your bag either w/o a cap or lens on it?


I do it all the time so I can pull it out ready to shoot. Unless a long lens, I leave the hood on and keep a clean micro fiber on the bottom for the lens to rest on.



Apr 29, 2013 at 03:06 AM
sjms
Online
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Domke time bombs


shmn wrote:
This type of snide remarks serves no purpose. Keep it to yourself next time.

Once those little bits of velcro get on your gear it will stick in all the nooks and crannies and they will fall into the camera when you swap lenses. They are small enough not to notice unless you are looking for them. I found a bit in between the focus ring and body of a 20/2.8 lens. I've noticed this problem on a recently purchased F-3B bag. However, my J-1 bag which was purchased in 1998 has no problems. Both bags are made in the USA
...Show more

Snide? Possibly. But during the past time spent here reading some of these stories I have to say there have been bits and pieces of factual data left out at times. I have shot since 1976. In that time I can say that I have managed to collect a bit of junk in my bags. Lens caps are the biggest problems due to where the users put them and in the long run how people treat their gear. I have yet to manage to gag up my gear in this particular fashion. In the end it is the end users responsibility to make sure his house (the bag) is clean at all time before, during and after use. if the end user notices that when the bag was purchased it was full or crud (which I would expect one to inspect and clean out before use) from manufacturing or pristine clean it would be a baseline data point. Then when the tablespoon of hooks shows up there is now a point contention. Of course there then would be a fairly easy to find the source of a large amount of a particular type of material showing up.
In the end the foreign matter that caused the shutter was not actually identified. So do we assume it's origin when there are other potential vectors?

As to your comment of keeping it to ones self please feel free to keep it to yourself unless you actually have the full back story.

And to the rest of the commenters: with all due respect how you treat your gear is your responsibility and in the end your fault. You are the end QC for your gear every time you buy and use it.



Apr 29, 2013 at 05:58 AM
sjms
Online
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Domke time bombs


Gochugogi wrote:
I do it all the time so I can pull it out ready to shoot. Unless a long lens, I leave the hood on and keep a clean micro fiber on the bottom for the lens to rest on.


So you leave your camera body without a cap or lens on it in your bag? It's not quite ready to shoot then is it now.

if you have a cap or lens on it there is pretty much little opportunity for foreign material to get into the mirror box.

Edited on Apr 29, 2013 at 07:32 AM · View previous versions



Apr 29, 2013 at 06:11 AM
peter_n
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Domke time bombs


Mike Mahoney wrote:
Expensive garbage = recent Domke.


EB-1 wrote:
Wow, their quality must be slipping.


They've been bad for years. My regular bag is a 23 yr. old Domke F-2. If I bought one today it wouldn't last 23 months. They're rubbish unfortunately, and it's a real pity as the F-2 is just a tremendous bag to work out of.

Luckily the Safrotto brand that is sold on eBay is an excellent replacement: Better canvas, better stitching, quality inserts, all-metal parts (no plastic), and some come with free shoulder pads. Yes they are copies, but they are very good copies, very good indeed. And they cost about half of what a Domke bag costs.

I tripped on concrete several years ago with a Safrotto copy of the F-803 small satchel and the bag hit the ground hard with one of my Leicas inside. Absolutely no damage, and rangefinders are notorious for going out of alignment. If you like Domke bags but can't take the (lack of) quality have a look at the Safrottos.




Apr 29, 2013 at 07:06 AM
StillFingerz
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Domke time bombs


peter_n wrote:
They've been bad for years. My regular bag is a 23 yr. old Domke F-2. If I bought one today it wouldn't last 23 months. They're rubbish unfortunately, and it's a real pity as the F-2 is just a tremendous bag to work out of.

Luckily the Safrotto brand that is sold on eBay is an excellent replacement: Better canvas, better stitching, quality inserts, all-metal parts (no plastic), and some come with free shoulder pads. Yes they are copies, but they are very good copies, very good indeed. And they cost about half of what a Domke bag costs.

I tripped on
...Show more

Have to echo Peter's comments, an F2 has been my primary bag since late 1978; for padding each lens has a microfiber cloth around it. ThinkTank bags are really good, have a Retrospective 10 and Digital Holster 50 v2, another Retro is in my future.

Tiffen went cheap with the newer Domkes, I picked up a black F1-X and while the bag is pretty good, the dividers are crap plastic something, not canvas like my F2, old school Domke's rule

Jerry



Apr 29, 2013 at 09:33 PM
Gochugogi
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Domke time bombs


sjms wrote:
So you leave your camera body without a cap or lens on it in your bag? It's not quite ready to shoot then is it now.

if you have a cap or lens on it there is pretty much little opportunity for foreign material to get into the mirror box.


I assume from your comment you don't understand what ready-to-shoot means. For my style of shooting it means my camera is turned on, a lens is mounted, a formatted card is in the slot and, hot damn daddy, no lens friggen cap. I keep all my lens caps in a shoebox and only install them if I sell the lens.



Apr 30, 2013 at 03:37 AM
peter_n
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Domke time bombs


StillFingerz wrote:
Tiffen went cheap with the newer Domkes, I picked up a black F1-X and while the bag is pretty good, the dividers are crap plastic something, not canvas like my F2, old school Domke's rule


I also have a newish Domke F-1X and it's OK but I restrict its use to travel trips when I have a car. It's too big for me to work out of but the F-2 is perfect for that. Jim Domke's original designs were extremely practical since he was a working photographer but Tiffen have ruined the brand with rubbish manufacturing.


Gochugogi wrote:
I assume from your comment you don't understand what ready-to-shoot means. For my style of shooting it means my camera is turned on, a lens is mounted, a formatted card is in the slot and, hot damn daddy, no lens friggen cap. I keep all my lens caps in a shoebox and only install them if I sell the lens.


I operate similarly. I use rangefinders with primes either 28 & 50mm or 35 & 75mm depending on the type of scenes I expect to encounter, and I bring a 24mm if I have the 35/75. I carry the wider lens in the hand, the other in the bag, no lens caps but all lenses wear hoods. Often my lenses are pre-focused at 3M and I have gaffer tape on them to keep them there. You have to be ready.




Apr 30, 2013 at 08:04 AM





FM Forums | General Gear-talk | Join Upload & Sell

    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.