Think Tank Photo - Urban Disguise 50 Photo Bag
Price: $169.00
www.ThinkTankPhoto.com

Getting the perfect photo bag that fits your style and your gear can be quite an overwhelming task. From the vast range of different style bags, to the many different companies all competing and saying that they have the perfect solution for you; it is hard to filter through the market and find that perfect bag to spend your money on. The fact that many times it is hard to find a store that has the bag you are looking at in stock only adds to the frustration and confusion.

One company that has some very interesting takes on the idea of carrying your gear around is Think Tank Photo. They are a brand with a great reputation with the pros (helped by the fact that many of the company members, including co-founder Deanne Fitzmaurice, are pros themselves) that has prided themselves on making very usable, quality bags. Today we are going to look at their Urban Disguise 50, a shoulder style bag with supposedly plenty of room for your SLR gear and a small laptop!

Intro

Fitting in with Think Tank’s usual “disguise” idea, the Urban Disguise 50 is a very straight forward and simple looking bag. I would put its looks more closely related to a briefcase or messenger shoulder bag than what most might think of as a photo bag.

First let’s take a look at what Think Tank has to say about the bag:

• Interior Dimensions:
  14.375” W x 10.5” H x 4” D (front two pockets expand to hold Pro Size SLR’s)
• Laptop Compartment Dimensions:
  14.375” W x 10.5” H x 1.5” D (should hold most 15” laptops)
• Weight:
  2.5 – 3.7 lbs depending on included accessories used
• Features:
  Included Rain Cover
  Pocket to slide over rolling luggage handle
  Will hold a 70-200 2.8 Vertically
  Pee Wee PPR Memory Card wallet included
  Side stretchable pocket
  No PVC Policy (product is not produced with PVC)
  Lifetime warranty against material or workmanship defects

On the initial first look at the bag it was very interesting to see the size. In looking on the internet I had felt it would be much larger than it was, but it is in fact a good thing as I feel the UD50 is about the perfect size for most avid travelers and photographers out there. Make sure to get out the yardstick and layout the dimensions to be able to visualize the size a bit better. Initial first impressions on craftsmanship were very high. I was very impressed with the fit and finish of the bag. The material is tough yet still soft and not extremely rigid like a lot of material tends to be when it is made to be rugged. It is a nylon type bag instead of canvas bags like the Domke’s for example. Included are many accessories that can be removed from the bag including:

• Dividers
• Memory Card Holder (Pee Wee PPR)
• Rain Cover
• Shoulder Strap

With the accessories all being removable and the vast amount of included dividers, the bag can really be made into a custom bag that is designed to do what you want and fit your gear perfectly.

Design/Layout

Starting our tour of the bag we will start from the front. The front piece is a folded over pocket that velcros and clips via one large clip to cover the two front pockets and a zippered pocket. For pros, the front two pockets are made to accommodate pro sized SLR bodies (one each) with no lens attached. They are open and only covered by the front flap which is plenty for a camera body. I particularly like how they expand so if you do not want to use them, they fit flat against the front of the bag and take up barely any space. For those that do not like to carry their SLR without a lens attached, the front pockets work great to carry accessories and cords as well.

Inside one of the front two pockets we find the Pee Wee PPR memory card holder. This great little wallet type piece has clear holders for four CF cards and three SD cards. There also is a business card holder on the back. The whole thing is attached via a clip inside one of the front pockets so you will not loose it.

For small items, the covered zipper pocket has all sorts of little pockets and a key clip.

The front flap piece itself has a zipper pocket that inside has yet another hidden zipper pocket for smaller items (the hidden pocket does not extend the full length down on the front flap as can be seen by the seam in the following photo).

In the front flap compartment is also a blue velcro attachment cord for the rain cover if you want to put it in this pocket.

Moving towards the back, the next compartment we come to is the main camera compartment which is accessed via a very sturdy zipper with lock loops (so you can put a luggage lock on to secure the compartment). This compartment is located right between the two carry handles and thus is right in the middle of the bag. It is also the largest (widest) compartment and is lined with Velcro on the front and back sides. Inside this compartment on the front side is a slim space that is open and contains no Velcro on the sides. This is where the rain cover comes stored, but would also work to hold papers and other slimmer items that extend to the full height/width of the bag. Back in the Velcro side of the main compartment we find two large dividers that extend the whole depth and height, one on each side, to complete the full Velcro compartment. The left/right sides of the main compartment themselves are not Velcro, so these large dividers are required for the sides unlike on the front/back where the Velcro is the wall of the compartment itself. The nice thing about this setup is that you can move the Velcro side dividers to change the size of the compartment to exactly what you need.

On the outside sides of the main compartment are two soft pockets that would work great for a flash, water bottle, etc. They do not close or have velcro, but instead just have a stretchy band at the top to keep them closed. These pockets are very expandable which makes them great to carry just about anything you want quick access to.

The final large storage compartment at the back of the bag is the laptop compartment. Again this is accessed via a large zipper with lock loops. Inside towards the right side of the bag are two patches of Velcro, one on the front one on the back, which can be used with the included thin divider to divide the compartment into two portions. There is a bit of flexibility in placement, but not as much as the camera compartment since the Velcro pads are just in a small area of the compartment. This does work well though if you have a smaller laptop as you can use the divider to make a space for your power cord. Personally I found the laptop compartment quite small. Saying up to 15” can fit is exaggerating a bit. Personally I use a standard aspect screen 15” laptop that in no way will come close to fitting as it is too tall. I also have a Lenovo T61 14.1” Widescreen laptop w/extended 6 Cell battery (sticks out a bit more on the back of the laptop) and it JUST fits into the bag. It is a perfect fit, but just fits on the height and on the side to side width. The divider must be removed though and there is no room for a power cord. I would assume this compartment should work great for the Macbook, Dell m1330, and HP 14.1” laptops as well since they are all similar/a bit smaller in size compared to my T61.

On the very back of the bag we find a flat compartment against the back that has a zipper and can be again used for papers and such. This pocket is very thin so it is best for manuals, documents, etc. and not accessories. There also is a clear business card slot and a luggage carry pocket that can be opened. The luggage carry pocket has Velcro at the top and a zipper at the bottom so it can be used as an extra flat pocket, or opened up at the top and bottom to be slid over the handle on your rolling luggage and sit securely on top for travel. I quite like the dual purpose of this pocket so that it is not wasted if you are not using the bag on your luggage handle.

The zipper for the luggage carry pocket has a velcro tab that folds over to secure the zipper.

Finally there are loops on the sides of the main camera compartment in the middle for the shoulder strap (included) and on all four corners on the back of the bag so that it can be used with accessory straps (not included) to be used like a backpack. I was quite pleased with the finish and design of the shoulder strap which has a nice padded portion to it that makes carrying heavy loads a bit easier. It is also grippy on the padded portion so it does not easily slide off your shoulder.

Getting Packed

Loading up the bag with gear was fairly straight forward. I had somewhat of a plan of how I was going to put everything in, and then started playing with the dividers to get what I wanted. For our review, the following gear was loaded into the bag:

• Canon 30D (no grip) w/24-105L mounted
• Canon 10-22 EF-S
• Canon 100 2.8 Macro
• Canon 50 1.8 II
• Canon 420ex Flash
• Thinkpad T61 14.1" Laptop w/6 cell battery
• Zune MP3 Player w/Etymotic Earphones
• Rocket Blower, chargers for camera and laptop, 2x spare camera batteries, 77mm CPL Filter
• Some other small odds and ends

All of the camera gear besides some of the smaller accessories (filters, batteries) plus the Zune fit into the main camera compartment.

(Blue = Dividers)
 

I ended up making levels on the one side of the bag so that smaller items could stack on top of each other. The dividers work well like this since they are velcro, so I just unvelcro one side and it turns into a door to the rest of my gear.

The laptop fit in the laptop compartment comfortably, but it was a close fit. Nothing any bigger would fit and I could fit nothing else in the compartment with it. The laptop charger fit in one of the front expandable pockets for carrying along with some of the smaller items such as spare batteries and the CPL filter. Overall I still had quite a bit of space for smaller accessories left. The front pockets were fairly empty and there was still some room in the front flap pocket. The main camera and laptop compartments were pretty much maxed out though, although depending on how you arrange it for your gear you could probably fit more or different items in. This is the reason the movable dividers are so useful.

My only concerns when packing my gear were that some of the dividers are a bit flexible and thin which can be a good and bad thing, plus the walls of the bag are not extremely padded if you plan on using the bag in very rough conditions.

(some of the different size dividers (laptop compartment divider at far left))

(one of the dividers being folded over)

Usage

When I fly I like to take my electronic gear as a carry on. Usually I don't have much else besides maybe a book that needs to go in my carry on so for my recent trip I decided to test out the UD50. Loaded as above, it passed through security just fine and easily fit in an overhead bin. I also was able to put it under the seat in coach if I really had to, but it was a bit of a tight squeeze. The front pockets proved to be easy to get in and out of in flight and very nice to put frequently accessed items.

Once at my destination, the UD50 worked fairly well as a camera bag. It is not huge so it is a good bag to carry around with you. After a day of walking around with it I did notice that it started to feel a bit heavy though. I also would not want to go hiking or on more adventurous activities with it and the UD50 feels much more at home in the urban or modern jungle. With topside access my gear was easy to get in and out of the bag when I needed it and you can access the bag easily when it is over your shoulder so you do not have to set it down. Overall I found the UD50 to be a decent walk around bag, but a bit on the large size. I would much rather use it to get to my destination and then break my gear up into a smaller bag for the all day carry or hike. But this again will depend on your own personal preferences.

Conclusion

Overall I found the Think Tank Photo Urban Disguise 50 to be a great bag to use and carry my electronic gear. I loved having my laptop and photo gear all in one bag for travel, and it was right at home being a carry on overhead or under the seat. I did find the size and over the shoulder method a bit bulky for hiking or walking around taking photos, but depending on your preference it could work out well as a walk around bag. The laptop compartment is really my only nagging point as it is fairly small for most laptops on the market, I was lucky to have a newer 14.1" variety that does indeed fit nicely in the UD50. If you like the style, and the design is large enough to fit your gear, the UD50 is a great pick for a travel bag that will carry it all and be customizable to your liking!

Pros:

• Discrete Design
• Excellent Construction
• Fits plenty of Photo Gear and your other carry on items (Laptop, Papers, etc.)
• Very customizable with included dividers

Cons:

• Laptop Compartment is too small for many laptops
• Not as much padding as some other bags

Thanks to Think Tank for the Review Sample!