Photography by Tom Zeman - REVIEW: Tamrac Model 5608 Pro 8 Bag

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I was going to be traveling by ship to locations where I would be on foot most of the day. I always travel with two camera bodies, but getting back to the ship in the event of a failure was not practical. Normally for walk-around shooting, I had been using a Tamrac Model 5605 Pro 5. This was fine for one camera and accessories, but I needed something with room for two.

I am very impressed with the quality of ThinkTank products, so I tried one of their Urban Disguise 40’s. While the quality was exceptional, I found the design to be questionable, and it just didn’t work for me. After extensive research, I realized that what I needed was something just like the Tamrac 5605, just a little roomier. Enter the Tamrac 5608 Pro 8.

The 5605 holds one camera with lens attached in a vertical position. The 5608 is designed more like a traditional shoulder bag, with pro sized cameras held horizontally. You could fit two bodies with lenses attached facing each other, if the lenses were short. I opted to insert one with lens attached, and the other body only opposite it. In between fits a second lens and flash unit. There were still the odd spots to stuff a wallet, Tylenol, and various personal items for the day.

Inside the large front pocket are three pockets for accessories, which I use these for spare batteries. I keep my batteries in convenient pairs in battery pouches from Moose Peterson. The bag’s three pockets have little red tags for indicating what’s been used, but I find it quicker to just put the battery pouches upside down. A clear plastic pocket opposite the three pockets is useful for flash cards, which I keep in hard cases holding four cards apiece.

On each end of the bag is a medium sized pocket secured with a Velcro flap. I use these for GPS devices that I secure to the bag with a lanyard and carabiner to prevent loss. The inside of the top flap has two clear plastic pockets that I used for cleaning cloths, and other small items.

Fully loaded like this, the bag weighs in the neighborhood of twenty pounds. To get the weight off my shoulder, I added a Tamrac S-114 Camera Bag Harness. This lets you carry it backpack style to distribute the weight, or you can hang it on one side in the traditional way, for access on the move. It’s not perfect, and it’s not the most comfortable thing ever, but carrying camera gear is inherently uncomfortable. Suffice it to say, it works for me.

I hauled the bag around for a week of hard shooting and travel, and quite frankly, beat the crap out of it. But it held up very well, and after a little wiping down with a damp cloth, still looks good. It’s flexible enough to allow you to stuff extras into it, but is quite lightweight. There’s enough padding in the bag to protect your gear from the odd knock against a door frame, but not if you were to drop it down a hillside or flight of stairs. (Horrors!)

All in all, I have to say that this bag did exactly what I wanted it to do, and has done it pretty well. Backpacks are more comfortable for walking around, but you have to set them down to access them. Shoulder bags have better accessibility, but are more uncomfortable. With the S-114 Harness, this bag becomes sort of a hybrid. Tamracs certainly aren’t glamorous, but they get the job done. Costing only about $90 (plus $35 for the S-114 Harness), it’s definitely a bargain worth looking into.