How I Came to Buy a Backpack from 2005

I bought a Nikon 180 – 600mm Z lens to replace my Sigma 150 – 600 for wildlife and sports photos recently. It’s an awesome lens, but one difference from the Sigma is that it does not extend to zoom, which makes it physically longer than the Sigma and harder to fit in a camera bag. I have several camera backpacks but most of them are spilt into top and bottom sections, leaving no space for the 180 – 600. Luckily I have one bag that can, the Tamrac Flipside I bought for my Canon 7D. It fits, but there’s little room for anything but my Z8 body and one other lens. Wanting a bag that could fit the 180 – 600, up to two camera bodies and 4-5 additional lenses, I started hunting around. After brief searching I didn’t find anything and resolved to keep using the Flipside in the interim. 

Being a collector interested in history, I like to collect magazines. I have almost every issue of Macworld from 1988 – 2013, for instance, to see the progression of the Mac over those years. I also have a small collection of photography magazines, Popular Photography, from 2005 – 2013 for a similar purpose. While flipping through the March 2005 issue I came across an ad for the Tamrac Expedition 7, which seemed expressly designed for my needs: a completely open and flexible interior tall enough to fit a giant lens and deep enough to fit several other lenses horizontally. It also had a bunch of pockets and flaps as well as well padded straps and a waist strap. It had everything modern backpacks have except a laptop sleeve, which I don’t use anyway.

A quick search confirmed what I suspected: the 19 year old Expedition 7 is no longer made. I found its successor – the Tamrac Anvil 27, and it looks really great, but costs $280. Looking to save a bit of money I decided to check eBay and BOOM, there was the Expedition 7. I found one that was listed in excellent condition for $98 or best offer. I submitted a low-ball for $80 and, to my surprise, it was accepted almost immediately. After shipping I paid a little over $100 for the bag. 

It arrived in great condition, complete with all of its padded dividers and the waist strap. There is very little wear on it and it looks and smells clean. It’s absolutely huge, certainly large enough to fit my 180 – 600 attached to my Z8 with room to fit lenses as deep as 7 inches. It has plastic cubbies on the inside of the backpack that can store batteries, memory cards, and my lens pens. There are two flaps on the outside that unzip to reveal space for more batteries and other accessories. And, surprise, there’s also a slot for a laptop!

I packed it for a trip to the Cape and it easily fit my Z8, 180 – 600, 35mm f/1.4 with FTZ, 15 – 30mm, 24 – 120, 20mm f/2.8, and 60mm twist with batteries, memory cards, a charger, and other accessories. It’s very large and looks ridiculous on me, but it’s well padded. I’ll have to be careful not to overpack it, but I’m very excited about it. It even fits within the criteria for carry on bags!