Ok, to start, I'll be carrying a gripped D7000, 17-55 and would like to have room for my 70-200. Space for my Pro Optic 8mm fisheye would be nice too.

I'll need a bag with room for gear for, at most, 3 day hikes in the mountains in the Pacific Northwest.

Are there any large camera bags with room for gear? Or, can anyone suggest a camera friendly hiking bag to check out? I get the feeling I may need to find a small camera bag to pack inside my back pack, which would be fine with me. Any suggestions there? I just don't know my options and could use a little guidance. Thanks!

I use an F-Stop Loka. A friend who has a need for more non-camera room than I do uses an F-Stop Tilopa BC.

You can see my review of the bag at http://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com/2...stop-loka.html.
I also posted a review here on dgrin at http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=219201. There are comments by other f-stop users in that thread.

Info on the bags at http://fstopgear.com/.

--- Denise

Thank you for the links. I thought about the Loka, but I'll need a bit more room. One of the 2 larger bags in their line may fit the bill tho. Thanks again.

I found it very hard to buy bags for hiking. None had all of the features I wanted, and the models change often. On my must-have list was at least one external pocket for a water bottle, a separate compartment for equipment and other stuff (I really did not want peanut butter or juice from a squashed piece of fruit on my equipment), and a good system for holding a lightweight tripod. Almost none of the bags I looked at had all three of these. I eventually found a LowePro that did. It has a bottom compartment that holds my body and one or two extra lenses (two short, or just my 70-200), a top compartment for hiking stuff and miscellaneous, less fragile gear, and external expandable section for a rainjacket or shirt, one water bottle pocket, a good tripod strap system, and (a nice LowePro touch) a waterproof shell that you can pull out to cover the pack if it starts to rain. Even when I bought it a few years ago, it was a discontinued model, so the name (if I could find it) wouldn't help. However, I would recommend that you look at their extensive line. A lot of theirs are well designed for serious hikers, with well-designed straps, etc., and you might be able to find a current model that has these (at least for me) essentials.

I'll check em out again. The last time I looked, was for a system bag to drag my stuff to the race track in. Thanks for the tip.

Why not just use a regular hiking pack and wrap your camera gear in some clothing? Or if you want a little more protection, an individual minimal case like a Think Tank Lens Pouch? Most of the hiking camera bags I've used are not meant for backpacking (not nearly enough room for supplies).

Thats all they do.

Originally Posted by tenoverthenose Why not just use a regular hiking pack and wrap your camera gear in some clothing? Or if you want a little more protection, an individual minimal case like a Think Tank Lens Pouch? Most of the hiking camera bags I've used are not meant for backpacking (not nearly enough room for supplies).

Its looking like this will be the route I go. I'm finding that all the camera bags lack some of the external features I need. I didn't know about Think Tank, thanks for the suggestion.

Originally Posted by EphTwoEight Thats all they do.

Their bags look really nice, but they're a bit small for what I need.

MOD EDIT: Quote that was here - deleted because it was from a banned spammer.

I'll give that a shot. Thanks.

One possible solution I've found is the Naneu K5.

http://www.naneubags.com/products-by...s/adventure/k5

Anyone have any input on this?