Lowepro Off Road Camera Beltpack (Black)

by Lowepro

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 10.4 x 5.9 inches ; 2.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000AE6C6
• Item model number: 2010910
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 16, 2006

Product Description

The Lowepro Off Road is versatile, convertible and modular. This beltpack/shoulder bag comes with two removable SlipLock¿ cases. You can add or subtract lenses, water bottles or optional SlipLock add-ons. The adjustable, curved shoulder strap adds support. Includes a DryFlo¿ mesh lumbar pad, laminated mesh pockets, compression straps and a NoDrop Pocket¿ for film and filter changes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Used SLR Bag, February 15, 2006

By 

Brett L. Colvin "Threshershark" (UT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lowepro Off Road Camera Beltpack (Black) (Electronics)

For any kind of photography that does not involve the use of either extremely large lenses, or more than 3 total lenses, this is the ideal camera bag. I reach for it more often than any other pack I own, including very high quality backpacks like the Tamrac Expedition 5. With the hip pack/shoulder bag combination, you can easily access all of your gear while walking, not even needing to stop, and all of it is upright and will not fall out. You are not forced to set anything down on dirty surfaces and can reach for gear with one hand. For longer pack trips, such a bag is also very easily placed inside a standard backpack, which is again difficult w/ larger models. I highly recommend this bag, or other similar types from Tamrac, if your normal activities meet the above conditions. If you often utilize super telephoto lenses or are a photographer who finds joy in carrying around a vast array of lenses, this one will be too small. Most of my pictures are taken w/ a Nikon D70s, and either a Nikkor 18-200 mm AF-S VR zoom or my wide-angle 12-24 mm for landscapes. This bag easily carries these, all accessories, and an additional lens such as an 80-400 mm zoom. Resist any temptations you might have to go with a backpack. The reason for this is simple logistics. It turns out that in terms of carrying a camera, a backpack is just about the most difficult apparatus to use efficiently. In order to access your SLR, you must essentially remove the pack and place it on the ground. This is then followed by accessing your camera, which generally has to be set down in order for you to re-shoulder the bag. Quite an unpleasant, time consuming and burdensome process especially when the ground is covered in snow or mud. Go with a LowePro or Tamrac hip pack/shoulder bag like this one.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Awesome Design to Minimize Low Back Strain and for Maximum Freedom While Carrying Equipment, January 21, 2008

By 

E. Kim - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lowepro Off Road Camera Beltpack (Black) (Electronics)

This bag is absolutely perfect for what I wanted in a camera bag. My priorities for a camera bag were for most of the weight to be placed at my waist so that there would be less downward force on my lumbar spine. The weight would exert downward pressure starting below my low back which is ideal when carrying heavy equipment. This is extremely important for anybody who already experiences low back pain or is interested in preserving for as long as possible the health of the lumber intervertebral discs and lumbar facet joints (which will become arthritic with time and spinal axial loading). I also wanted the bag to be easily accessible while walking or on-the-fly. I wanted to have maximum freedom while holding my camera or just being able to use my arms freely while carrying the camera in the bag.

Traditional backpacks and the single-strap Lowepro Slingshot backpacks place the weight of the bag onto your lumbar spine and so these were out of the question. If you ever carry heavy equipment, you'll understand how important it is to have the weight start its force below, rather than above the low back. These backpacks also do not give as much freedom on-the-fly as a waist pack or fanny bag like the Lowepro Off Road. Even the Slingshot bag with its single strap is not nearly as convenient to use on-the-fly as you have to spin that bag around and then spin it back.

So packs that are tied to the waist or "fanny packs" are the best at preserving the health of one's low back, and also the best for on-the-fly use. However, have you ever tried to carry a traditional fanny pack with 10-15 lbs of weight? Well, it can be done, and the Lowepro Off Road will let you use the bag purely as a fanny pack. It will, however, look odd and bounce as you walk. I'm 5' 8" and 150 lbs and it feels somewhat large but manageable when used as purely a fanny pack. You will certainly get some stares from others who see this large luggage hanging from you.

However, the beauty of this bag is that it is actually probably better when NOT used as a pure fanny or waist pack. I have this bag on tied to my waist with the really easy, large, and durable waist clips. About 90% of the weight is attached to my hips and so my low back is spared. The other 10% of the load is off-set by my using the included comfortable shoulder strap. Using the bag in this manner with both the waist strap and the shoulder strap may sound odd, but in fact it accomplishes 2 things:

The bag no longer looks odd. It looks like you're carrying a regular, handsome and sporty bag with a shoulder strap that also happens to have waist support. But the bag no longer appears to be an odd, oversized fanny pack, but an acceptable and handsome shoulder bag. Yet, because of the waist support, you get all of the conveniences of the fanny pack, including lower lumbar spine strain reduction and ultimate freedom to use both your arms without having a conventional shoulder bag fall off.

The other purpose of using the shoulder strap with the waist strap besides making the bag look conventionally handsome, is that it does provide some support while you walk or run. Without the shoulder strap, the fanny bag would bounce up and down quite a bit. Again, I'm 5' 8" and medium build. If you're significantly taller and heavier, the bag may not bounce as much and may not look as odd without the shoulder strap.

I can load and unload the bag on-the-fly without stopping. My camera equipment is available easily whenever I need it quickly and my arms are free. I own a Nikon D40X with an 18-135mm and SB-600 external flash which fit easily in the main compartment with a lot of room to spare. There are probably still 3 inches of room in front of the mounted 18-135 mm lens on the body. There is even space still left over in the main boxy compartment to fit my Sony HDR-SR7 high definition hard-drive video camera! On each side of the main box-like compartment, you have 2 more cylindrical containers which are also removal and can be replaced with other modules from Lowepro.

The build quality is excellent and the design is truly unique as I was not able to find any other design similar to this. This is such a well-designed bag that truly takes into consideration all of the priorities I listed: low back-sparing design with waist straps, ability to have the camera available without stopping to remove a backpack or even rotate/spin a Slingshot, and the ability to make what would normally be an odd-looking large fannypack transformed into a handsome shoulder bag in disguise (since it really still functions as a fanny bag).

I cannot recommend this bag highly enough. Even if you don't experience chronic low back pain, I think this bag is very important in helping you get as much mileage out of your low back before you develop osteoarthritis of your lumbar spine (which will inevitably occur as we all age).

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good for non-pro SLR and lenses, August 1, 2007

By 

Chet Lee (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lowepro Off Road Camera Beltpack (Black) (Electronics)

This has been my main bag for a long time. I have a Canon 20D with the kit lens (18-55), 28-135mm, a 430 flash, and a bottle of water between the main compartment and the 2 side cans. This still leaves plenty of room in the front compartment for additional cards, batteries, filters, and stuff.

However, when I added the battery grip, the camera was too wide to fit in the bag. My 77mm "L" lenses are a tight squeeze into the cans even without the lens hoods.

Fully loaded, the bag can get pretty heavy and pretty awkward to wear around my waist. I have run with it, but I often feel like I might need a bigger butt to help support it. I think that this is about as big a bag I can ever wear around my 33" waist. I usually just sling in over my shoulder with the nice padded shoulder harness.

I give it a 5 because for what it is, the bag is very good. I've dragged it to many places and the bag is still in very good condition. Zippers are smooth and don't catch. The material is very strong and I am confident about the cushioning the bag provides. When wearing around my waist I cannot feel the contents of the bag when I'm walking or bending over because the cushioning is good. The waist strap is thick and comfortable but can be tucked inside a sleeve in the back when I'm just using the harness. I also like that I can just click the bag closed when I don't want to have to zip up the camera compartment.