Phil Sheard's footprints

Since buying my DSLR camera last year I’ve been carrying it around in a normal bag with just a neoprene laptop sleeve to protect it. If you’re like me and you don’t like the styling of the Lowepro camera bags, I can recommend buying a camera insert instead. It’s much cheaper to create your own DIY camera bag and you can choose one that you think looks good rather than being limited to the camera bags that are made for this purpose by Crumpler and Domke.

My recommendation: camera bag insert for Billingham Hadley Small

The insert I went for is the Billingham Hadley Insert Small (W260 x D70 x H185mm) after testing it for size in a Jessops store. The Hadley Small is Billingham’s entry-level camera bag and costs £100 or more for the whole thing. The insert however costs around £40 and comes with a few dividers to customise the insert layout.

Choose the right size camera insert for your bag

This photo with the can of Coke shows that this particular one is relatively small at W260 x D70 x H185mm – there are also other Billingham inserts, like the Original insert (W320 x D70 x 225mm) and the Large insert (W360 x D70 x H255mm). This size is good for me because my 450D is one of the smaller DSLR cameras and I don’t have lots of lenses and other kit right now. Later down the line I will upgrade I’m sure, which is another good reason for doing this the cheaper way.

The two images above show a couple of different ways to fit the camera in. I prefer the second – the grip is easy to reach and you can reach down into the bag without looking to grab the camera out.

This is the finished result, with the insert packed into a standard bag that I’ve had for a couple of years.

You end up with a good looking bag that is now perfect for carrying and protecting a camera.

A final bonus of the removable insert is that it can be transferred between other bags. The final photo above shows that it’s conveniently the right size to fit into my Ortleib cycle panniers so that’s a safe way to take the camera on bike rides as well.

Where to buy a camera insert

Amazon sell the Billingham Hadley Small and mine was delivered within a week.

Thanks for visiting.