Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG Review
This is a long-term review of the Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG for Canon EOS SLR Cameras. I’ve been using this backpack style case along with my Canon 5D Mark II for about three years now, and just recently upgraded to a Protec iPac Carry-On Camera Case which I will soon have reviewed as well.
The Canon bag has been awesome. It easily accommodated my 5D Mark II, along with my 24-105mm L lens and a 70-200mm lens. It also held my 420EX flash, intervalometer, batteries, memory cards, iPad, business cards, flashlight, and various mounting plates and brackets. The padded straps were comfortable and it was easy to carry the bag around.
I’ve traveled all about the Northeast using this bag, from Maine down to Tennessee, including a trip to Vegas. This bag has seen some action and has served me well. I’ll start with the main interior. It has adjustable Velcro baffles that can be shifted around the case to provide any configuration you desire for your gear. The baffle pads are all thick and plush, however one negative with this case is the exterior shell. It is a soft case and there isn’t much protection between the outer surface of the case and the contents within the case. If you were to drop this case from any significant height to the ground, you would definitely risk damaging the equipment inside. This is particularly true of the area where the camera body would normally sit in the default configuration.
The bag does feature some external straps and clips for a tripod. I’ve found this feature to be nice, but also to be cumbersome. I use a Manfrotto 190XPROB Tripod that is a 3-piece aluminum tripod and it’s on the heavy side. I find when attached to the backpack it tends to swing around, especially since I usually sling one strap over my shoulder like the cool kids in high school. I don’t feel confident it will hold and have only taken advantage of this feature a few times.
My favorite feature of the Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack bag is within the larger zipper compartment, there are four compact flash pockets. They are sized snug for CF cards in their case, with a Velcro cover to hold them in place. This is just a great design and I miss having these on my new case! Aside from the CF holders, there is also plenty of pocket storage space. I can fit my iPad in the pocket, along with business cards, CF cards, and headphones. There is another pocket that is smaller which I use for my filter kits and ND filter kits. The ND filter kit I use comes in a wallet style thin fabric case that fits perfectly. There is also a flip pocket on the side of the bag perfect for a cell phone, and a mesh pocket great for a bottle of water. These little extras are helpful when roaming around a city for a day. Aside from housing my camera equipment, it often houses some snacks, a water bottle, gum/mints, etc.
The quality has been exceptional for the price! This could easily be a $100 bag and still be a very satisfying product. After three years the straps are starting to fray a bit on the edges, but still function perfectly. The bag even endured some heavy rain, and while it’s not in any way intended to be water resistant, it managed to soak up enough to keep my equipment dry. My iPad cover was a bit damp, but everything was fine. I hope to never find myself in that type of downpour ever again!
One negative of this style bag in general, is a forgetfulness factor. When rushing to grab a piece of gear you open the bag, grab the gear, and simply bring the lid back down without zipping the bag. Later, as you rush to the next place you grab your bag by the strap, and out pours all the equipment that’s in the case! Ouch! I dumped it once, fortunately on a couch and everything was fine. However, I caught myself nearly duplicating that scenario a few dozen times since! I’ve become very cautious to always zipper the bag closed when I get what I need. If not for my own sake, but if someone at an event decides they need to move your bag.
I know the bag says Canon on it, and some have alluded to the idea of being a walking billboard for crime and prefer to keep their gear in something more discrete. On the other hand, most would-be criminals aren’t usually shutterbugs at the top of their game. I don’t see this being a problem and have strolled through many cities such as Montreal, New York City, Las Vegas, Boston, Nashville and Philadelphia and never had any issues. If your roaming a city your camera won’t be in your bag anyways (or shouldn’t be), hopefully you are taking photos, so it becomes a moot point.
At under $40, there quite simply isn’t any other bag that comes close the Canon Deluxe Photo Backpack 200EG. It’s a drop in the bucket to protect even the most modest DSLR camera.The bag is comfortable, doubles as a generic backpack, and is well built. There is no better bag to start with!
The owner of this website, Justin Varuzzo, is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking www.varuzzo.com to Amazon properties including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com.