Customer Reviews

Jill-e 144744 Jack Messenger Leather Camera Bag (Brown)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This bag is very well made and the leather has a great feel to it.
I was able to pack my Nikon D80 SLR, Zoom lens, Flip camera, Nikon Coolpix, water enclosures for all of the above, and charging cables with room to spare. Plus, I was able to place my Macbook Air and adapter in the back pouch.

I got the Jill-e jack bag. It was a compromise so that my husband would carry around my camera bag (he won't carry or hold purses and the jill-e bags reminded him to much of a purse) When I showed him the jack messenger bag he was willing to carry that around for me. I used this camera bag for a wedding recently. I was able to fit my camera (with a lens on) and my sister's camera (with a lens on). I also had a 70-200 mm 2.8L, 100mm 2.8 macro lens, and 28-70mm 2.8 lens, my flash and diffusers. The jack bag comes with velcro adjustable padding which is great because you can conform the padding to go around the camera, lenses and flash with no problems. With the wedding over I am back to just having my camera (and one lens) but it makes for a great bag. When I traveled back from the wedding, I had my laptopcomputer in the back pocket, my camera with lens attached, my flash & then I had diapers (yup a mom) for both of my kids, wipes, snacks in the side pockets, toys for the kids and a couple books for me. It's a very verstaile bag. It is rather big to be carrying around for everyday use but once I get all the lenses that I rented or borrowed I will need that bag for carrying all my equipment around.

I bought this because I wanted something that did not look like a traditional camera bag, both for style and security reasons. This works perfectly for me. Just took it on a trip to Spain and France. It carried and protected 2 Canon 5D MkII bodies, 4 lenses, a G9, misc. cables and batteries, and 15" Powerbook! All this in a very reasonable size that fits nicely upright in an overhead bin. Good sturdy construction, plenty of padding and pockets. I used the clever zipper on the back to slip the case onto the handle of my rolling suitcase for easy transport to the rental car. The leather has a nice feel and I look forward to it developing a nice worn leather look over time.

I bought this bag for my partner for his birthday and love the quality construction and just the overall appearance. So much nicer than the standard nylon or canvas camera bags you see in every store. Ample pockets and moveable dividers allow you to customize it for your cameras and lenses. I loved it so much that I bought one for myself!

As women are to purses, I am to camera bags. My family laughs at me when I purchase another camera bag. I am an avid photographer/semi-professional and I like to have options when it comes to amount of equipment I will need and the venue that I will be attending. Prior to purchasing the Jill-e 144744 Jack Messenger Leather Camera Bag (Brown), I already own at least 6 or 7 camera bags. I'm usually very brand loyal when it comes to camera bags. All but two, including this one, of my bags are Lowepro bags. I've been extremely please with Lowepro's design and quality for bags that look like backpacks or camera bags for various events (outdoors, professional, cutsie, etc.). The main thing they have in common though is they either looks like a camera bag or a backpack.

On Labor Day weekend this year, I decided to attend Dragon*Con for the first time. For those of you that aren't familiar with the event, it is a convention that takes place in Downtown Atlanta. The "Con" goes on for four days and this most recent incarnation was attended by approximately 300,000 people. Since this is a place where nerds and geeks can feel free to express themselves and show support for their favorite characters from popular culture, costumes are frequently worn by large percentages of the population in attendance. I decided to attend this event supporting one of my favorite cancelled TV shows of all time, Firefly. I was putting together a costume that would be very "Browncoat-ish" inspired largely by the character Captain Malcolm Reynolds. To provide a visual for those that have not seen the show, it is greatly influenced by old west style clothing. For my costume, I put together a look that was quite passable in my opinion except the camera bag. For the amount of money and time I put into this costume, I wasn't able to wear a camera bag that totally out of character. This was by far the most period appropriate and properly design camera bag I could find.

From the exterior, the bag looks like a slightly oversized messenger bag. I will say that someone that is looking at the bag for a while will probably notice that the bag holds its shape rather well and that is fairly uncommon for a messenger bag. But I wouldn't really gripe about that little detail because it is very important to the function of the bag. This bag is very nice constructed. The leather was quietly lovely and the inside was like butter. The felt covered foam dividers inside were nicer than any Lowepro dividers that I have seen. I didn't even feel like I needed to reconfigure the arrangement of the dividers, even though I could, from the original factory specs. I was able to comfortably care my Nikon D60, 24-70 mm, 70-300 mm, and 18-35 mm lenses with lense hoods. I also had my SB-900, collapsible lastolite gray card and light meter in the interior chamber. I even had some room left over. I was even able to squeeze, and I mean just barely, my Dell XPS Studio 16 inch laptop into the laptop compartment in the back. I could also fit the power cable, full size mouse and batteries in the exterior pockets.

Now some of yall may be wondering, if he has so many nice things to say about this bag, why did he give it four stars? The STRAP is why. While it was finely constructed, I felt like it would only fit someone that was either an anorexic teenager or someone with absolutely not girth. I'm a fairly large man I'll admit it freely, but this strap as it is was so short that when I put it on the top of the bag rested just below my nipples. I mean come on! They didn't spare any expense on the bag itself. What are a few more inches of strap. I had to go to my local hardware store and buy some brass connectors to extend either side of the strap to bring it down to belly button level. Once I did that, I was just fine with everything but I felt for $240 you shouldn't have to make any kind of accommodation.

1) the bag is large enough to reduce the depth 1 to 2 inches, just so that it sits less awkwardly against the body (and perhaps looks a bit less obviously like a camera bag).
2) its price point warrants a higher quality shoulder strap... it should be of a quality which matches the bag, made also of leather. Instead, I was extremely disappointed when I unpacked a nylon strap. What were they thinking? I'm tempted to up its ticket price even higher by having a leather strap custom made (and after spending roughly $400 - with shipping, duties, etc - , I shouldn't have to do that).