The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: Billingham bag

Nikon D700 and AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens.

Camera bag manufacturers prefer to show potential customers photographs of the product in isolation. This is unsatisfactory because the prospective purchaser needs to see the bag with a person to form a reliable idea of bag capacity, size, and appearance. The Limbo Connection occasionally takes action to remedy the deficiencies of the camera bag sellers in their product catalogues and advertising.

An old Billingham 225 camera bag, very dirty and neglected when bought, and given a scrub with soap and water, followed by application of boot polish and Brasso as appropriate. I admire Billingham bags for their craftsmanship, gear protection, weather proofing, and durability. I have owned several different models. But I have not enjoyed using them, with the possible exception of the Hadley. They are heavy and not the best for access. Plus, they are expensive, as you might expect from the materials used and the impeccable construction. Photographed with a Nikon D90 and AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens.

Everything manual, including the lens, a Nikkor-O.C 35mm f/2 on a Nikon D300s. The bag is a Billingham Hadley Original.

Billingham 550 Khaki-Tan camera bag as foreground interest. The Billingham 550 camera bag was introduced in 1983 as a reworking of the 1979 System 1 bag, the first soft camera bag manufactured in Britain. It has remained in continuous production. It is a bag much favoured by professional photographers. The bag is made of canvas and leather, and internally there is nylon covered padding. It is spacious enough to hold at least two camera bodies with a full load of lenses and other accessories. Doing that would, of course, be a mistake. You would end up with an over-stuffed bag which was too heavy to carry and too full to find what you wanted. The bag alone weighs over two and a half kilos. It’s a specialised, well-made and stylish piece of luggage. You can attach additional pockets at either end. I prefer to leave my pair at home. They make the bag look too long. One reason professional photographers like it is its internal height of 10 inches which allows tall lenses and hammerhead flashguns to be stowed upright. Another reason might be the fairly slim profile compared, for example, to a box-like Billingham 555, or indeed any of the Billingham five series which tend to hang from the shoulder four-square like wooden cabinets (and they’ll always do this if they’re filled to capacity). Many camera bags are built square and get in everybody’s way. The 550 will get in everybody’s way anyhow, despite not being square. It’s just generally big. Access is a bit awkward but in my experience that is a general criticism of Billingham bags and a concomitant of high standards of gear-protection. To carry it by hand you have to do up the straps which secure the cover to the bag, which is a nuisance. The only other criticism is the price. Mine is second-hand, with plenty of wear left in it, yet it cost more than many new bags. If you want a real fright, look up the cost of a new one. Don’t confuse it with the 555. Google ‘Billingham 550’. Be sure you’re sitting down when you do this. The photograph was made using some quite cheap second-hand kit: an AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G lens on a Nikon D50.

Photographed with a Nikon D700 and Tamron AF 70-210mm f/2.8 SP LD lens. This lens was in production from 1992 to 2003. The Billingham 550 camera bag was introduced in 1983 as a reworking of the 1979 System 1 bag, the first soft camera bag manufactured in Britain. It has remained in continuous production. It is a bag much favoured by professional photographers. The bag is made of canvas and leather, and internally there is nylon covered padding. It is spacious enough to hold at least two camera bodies with a full load of lenses and other accessories. Doing that would, of course, be a mistake. You would end up with an over-stuffed bag which was too heavy to carry and too full to find what you wanted. The bag alone weighs over two and a half kilos. It’s a specialised, well-made and stylish piece of luggage. You can attach additional pockets at either end. I prefer to leave my pair at home. They make the bag look too long. One reason professional photographers like it is its internal height of 10 inches which allows tall lenses and hammerhead flashguns to be stowed upright. Another reason might be the fairly slim profile compared, for example, to a box-like Billingham 555, or indeed any of the Billingham five series which tend to hang from the shoulder four-square like wooden cabinets (and they’ll always do this if they’re filled to capacity). Many camera bags are built square and get in everybody’s way. The 550 will get in everybody’s way anyhow, despite not being square. It’s just generally big. Access is a bit awkward but in my experience that is a general criticism of Billingham bags and a concomitant of high standards of gear-protection. To carry it by hand you have to do up the straps which secure the cover to the bag, which is a nuisance. The only other criticism is the price. Mine is second-hand, with plenty of wear left in it, yet it cost more than many new bags. If you want a real fright, look up the cost of a new one. Don’t confuse it with the 555. Google ‘Billingham 550’. Be sure you’re sitting down when you do this.

Top: Billingham Hadley Pro. Bottom: Billingham 550. Originally Billingham designed and manufactured sturdy waterproof canvas bags for anglers. Then they noticed that photographers were buying their products. Then they got rich. Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.8D lens.

A photograph of a Heritage camera bag made by a company called Team Direct established by former Billingham employees. The company no longer exists; it was taken over by CCS who later got out of camera bag manufacturing. Nikon D2Xs + AF-D Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens.

Billingham 225 bag with a Zoomster Pouch Inside. Photographed with a Nikon D90 camera and a 35mm f/1.8 AF-S DX Nikkor lens.

Nikon D90 with Nikkor 35-70mm push-pull f/2.8 zoom at 70mm. 400 ISO, f/5.6, 1/160th.

Subject: Billingham camera bag. Lens: Nikkor-O.C Auto f/2 made in Japan between 1973 and 1975. Subsequently converted to AI standard. Camera: Nikon D700.

Billingham camera bags. Foreground: Billingham 225; background: Billingham 550. Nikon D90. AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED lens. F/5.

Nikon D2Xs + Sigma 15-30mm F3.5-4.5 EX DG Aspherical lens.

'Conventional zip fasteners are not really tough enough for Billinghams’ standards. Therefore, they use strong 8mm zips, where the coil teeth are sewn into the supporting tape. Not only is the resultant fastener stronger then a conventional zip, it is also flatter and less prone to abrasion. ' Billingham bag photographed with a Micro-Nikkor f/3.5 55mm AI on a Nikon D2Xs. Gideon Sundbäck, who was born in 1880, invented the zip fastener.

Close-up of Billingham 550 Khaki-Tan bag taken with Nikon D50 and Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI-S lens with added supplementary lens no.4T.

Billingham bags photographed with a Nikon D90 and an AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G lens.

No, I don't know what a Z valve is either. The bag is a Billingham 225 in khaki-tan. Nikon D2Xs and AF-D Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens.