Lowepro’s Workshop Tips

Your Lowepro camera bag was built and designed to protect your camera gear through the toughest situations and the most challenging assignments. It is built not only to be useful and comfortable, but also to be durable so that it can last longer, reducing both our and your environmental impact.

That's why we have created Lowepro Workshop Tips, a series of guides on how to maintain, repair, and refresh the integrity and functionality of your camera bag, so it can have a longer life.

Understanding Bag Fit

When it comes to choosing the right camera bag, two main questions often arise: Will it fit all of my gear? and Will it fit on the plane? In this guide, we'll address both of these concerns to help you make an informed decision.

Will It Fit in the Bag?

Assessing Your Gear

One of the first things you want to know when choosing a new bag is if it will fit all of your gear. If possible, we recommend visiting your closest camera shop to physically test the bags with your equipment. If this isn't an option, here's the next best thing.

Interior Dimensions

We list interior dimensions for all of our bags on our website. These dimensions are designed to be as useful as possible. For example, on a square bag like the ProTrekker, the dimensions are straightforward, with only rounded corners making it not truly rectangular. On the other hand, the Protactic II is more rounded at the top, so the interior height is an average of that height. These measurements will tell you the length of the tallest camera and lens combo you can fit.

Measuring Your Gear

Start by measuring the longest camera and lens combo you want to carry. This length will help you quickly rule out bags that are too small. Depending on the bag, consider if you want the camera to fit horizontally for side access or if vertical is sufficient. Next, lay out your gear in roughly the way you would put it in the bag. Compare the length and width to the given dimensions. If you have any especially tall gear, make sure to check that the height will be okay. Sometimes a deeper bag can hold more because you can store lenses standing up instead of laying down.

Laptop and Tablet Pockets

When considering laptop and tablet pockets, the measurements can be confusing. Some of our device pockets are constructed to be flat when empty and may be listed as only 1cm thick, but they will flex to fit the thickness of a laptop. Our block for laptop fits is based on the previous generation MacBook Pro when the bag was launched. This means that a bag that fit a 15” laptop 4 years ago might actually fit a 16” laptop today. So, if you have newer equipment, it's good to double-check the dimensions.

Volume and weight

Volume is another helpful but sometimes confusing way to quickly compare the interior size of our different bags, especially when comparing padded and unpadded bags. For example, our fully padded ProTactic 450 has 25L of volume inside, but on the outside, it's about the same size as our unpadded 35L PhotoSport X. The difference here is the padding. In this case, it's better to compare both interior and exterior dimensions to understand the relative sizes.

Will It Fit on the Plane?

Airline Requirements

As a rule, it's always best to check individual airlines' baggage requirements, especially for low-cost flights and smaller regional airlines. We list exterior dimensions on our website: if the listed dimensions are smaller than the airline's dimensions, you shouldn't have a problem getting it onto the plane.

Travel Tips

Here are a few tips for smoother travel with a full bag:

1. Slim Down: Removing things clipped to the outside of your bag can help slim down the profile for smoother boarding. Remember, a bag's listed dimensions don't include a water bottle or tripod attached to the outside.
2. Backpack vs. Roller: In some cases, a backpack can be easier to get onto a plane than a roller. If a flight is full, rollers are usually asked to be checked before backpacks.

That's all for today. Let us know if you'd like more fitting or travel tips, and we'll see what we can do. Thanks for reading, and good luck!