These are all great recommendations! Mel thanks so much for the pics, this gives me a good feel for what it looks like. It looks like exactly what I need, but it looks huge too! As Wolf pointed out weight might be an issue for me. If my husband plays assistant for the day, not a big deal, but I usually go out on my own more often than not..... I'm going to see if I can find one locally to check it out. :~) This way I can be sure it's right for me. Here's a couple of other issues I have with the backpack I have now..... in the summer especially, the shoulder straps tend to chafe my shoulders...... after about an hour it kills to wear the thing. Ok so I realize I shouldn't wear tiny little tank tops but with the humidity and heat I can't bear to be covered up...... so my shoulders are exposed and it rubs and rubs.... ughhhh... also, the fact that everything is strapped to my backside gets to be annoying.... when I carry more than one lens I have a tendency to switch a lot.... so what happens is I'm constantly taking it off putting it back on..... over and over again. Or I end up just throwing a lens inside my pocket where it could possibly fall out and break, because I get tired of dealing with it. This is why I was also opening up to the possibility of an over the shoulder strap kind.... so I could swing it to the front and grab what I needed without taking it off and on constantly. There have been lots of times where I've left the pack in the car taking only the few things I could carry easily.... sure enough I forget something, and discover I really could've used such and such.... but that's means a long hike back to the car.... That article sounds interesting..... I wonder if the article exists on a website somewhere? I'll see if I can hunt it down...... sigh does the perfect bag really exist?

I am, therefore I create.......
--- michelleamarante.com