The English Shooting Bag

For years I have been looking at the various Billingham camera bags sold in Camera Electronic - the tan, green, black or brown ones - and trying to think where I have seen the like before. Then I looked my photo souvenirs of a trip the the UK made in 1995 and one of the souvenir purchases nailed it for me. Billingham camera bags are bigger versions of British sporting bags - rather like the ones designated for game - but bearing some resemblance to the cartridge bags used for shotgunners in the field. Or fisher's bags. Here's examples from Farlowes web page. The Billingham camera bags have finer linings than those intended for rough game or shotgun ammunition. They have slots and dividers that will keep laptops and tablets safe. There are internal divisions for lenses separate from the bodies But the basic construction is remarkably similar. One feature that you might not think about is the back of the bag where it rests against you. Some other maker's bags have complex pockets, bands, and stiffeners that go across this area. As a result , whenever the bag see-saws around you in walking whatever is back there rasps into you. Billingham have left it plain, and made it out of tough but flexible fabric - it moulds to you and hangs rather than bangs. In this respect it is actually a lot like the fisher's bags. One thing I do note - the brass fastener on the Billingham is far better than that on the sports bags - You might wear through the canvas or leather eventually but you aren't going to destroy that brass post. There's a sale of the Billingham bags in the Murray Street store right now...