I've only ever really bought one camera bag. I got it around the time I got my first manual film camera, from the pawn shop where I used to work (the same place I got the camera). If I recall correctly, it was tucked under the counter there and my manager sold it to me for $5. It's nice enough as bags go; it's real leather and the zippers work. The strap isn't adjustable though, and as a camera bag it isn't really fit for purpose. There's no padding to speak of, so if I have more than one camera and/or lens inside, they kinda knock into each other and it's very awkward to use.
My beloved Roberts Camera, which I visit every time I drive up to the city if I can help it, has a few bags by a company called Ona. They're beautiful bags: waxed canvas and leather, really stylish. They're intended to be camera bags that look like fashionable messenger bags. Here's my pawn shop camera bag (left) next to an Ona Prince Street bag (right):
I began to covet the Ona bags. However, their bags start at around $200 and increase quickly in price for the larger sizes. The Prince Street, pictured above, is $349 for the waxed canvas models and $469 for the full leather ones. Here's the thing, though: I've made every bag I've used regularly for the last several years. A messenger bag is essentially just several rectangles sewn together. I've made messenger bags. I could make this. Thus I embarked upon a project which I called the Pauper Street bag: a bag based off the design and dimensions of the Prince Street bag, with a few of my own flourishes. Most notably, I wanted the padded camera bag insert to be removable, so I could also use it as a regular messenger bag.
Above: my design sketches, which I referred back to and edited throughout the project.
I wanted it to be waxed canvas with leather accents. Crucially, I had a great deal of canvas left over from previous projects. I'd purchased a huge canvas dropcloth, dyed it, and used it to make, so far, a plague doctor mask and cloak, a camera strap, and an entire other bag (the Wayfarer sling backpack, which I've gotten a lot of use out of!). I also had access to a big roll of leather scraps that Nik had previously gotten at Feast of the Hunters' Moon, as well as plenty of quilting cotton to use as lining, foam left over from the other bag project, and other, thicker foam from god only knows where. All I needed was bag hardware, canvas wax, tools to actually work the leather, and time.
I started by making a small mockup based on my sketches, to ascertain whether the design would even work. You can see the pieces cut out below on the left. I ended up cutting the little weatherproofing flaps off of the main wraparound body piece and adding them to the ends of the side piece instead. They were the hardest part to get right throughout the process and I'm not completely sure I got them right in the end.
Next, I needed to get my materials together. I got most of my bag hardware (Chicago screws to hold fasteners on and add extra security, sliders and clips for the strap, D-rings, and some buckles to hold the flap down) from Weaver Leather Supply. I made a trip to my local sewing store to get quilt batting for extra padding in the bag itself (and extra foam; it came in handy even though I turned out to have foam, because it was a slightly different density, so I could layer them nicely) and some cheap zippers for the interior pockets. This was another feature of my bag that the Prince Street does not have. Its only interior pocket is a laptop sleeve in the back, but as my travel computer is an 8" microlaptop, I could easily slip that into a smaller zippered pocket in my own bag. I also got some Otter Wax to wax the canvas, after going back and forth for quite a while on whether I wanted to make my own wax blend or not. In the end it came down mostly to timing, as I wanted to get the bag done before Holly's and my trip to Arizona in mid-February, and I was running out of time. It ended up working well, though I probably could have used more. It smells really nice, which means that anything I keep in my bag for a long time also smells really nice.
Above: the front and back lining pieces assembled with their zipper pockets, close-up of one of the zipper pockets, the lining all assembled (with a big hole in the bottom for me to turn the bag inside out through, though that isn't really visible), the lining with the shell pieces laid out on top.
While I was getting the fabric components together, I also set to work trying to get the leather components prepared. I had gotten a cheap set of hand leatherworking tools which had good reviews, but it quickly became apparent that the leather I had access to was much too tough for my purposes. Here's a picture of all I managed to get done before I broke my needle clean in half.
Above: my little hand holding some strips of leather with like 2 stitches done and a bunch of (not all through-and-through) holes.
So I pivoted. I had a bunch of scrap fabric that a friend had brought to my place for our whole group to look through and take from. (Local pals: there's still a bunch! You can have some!) I rooted through it until I found some pieces I liked that I could replace the leather accents with.
Above: all the pieces I picked out to compare (left) and the ones I settled on (right). I'm pretty sure the orange scrap used to be part of my friend's pants.
After that, the hard part was assembling the bag. My hardware took its time arriving, so I was really down to the wire when it came to finishing the bag at the end. I ended up having to rush order some smaller Chicago screws as well when the ones I ordered were too big to fit through the holes on the clasps. I also had to do a fair amount of hand sewing attaching the orange strap detail to the shell of the bag, as well as securing foam for the padded insert, and I've come to the conclusion that I need one or more leather thimbles because my fingertips hurt by the end of it.
Above: one half of the hand stitching on the front pockets done!
In the end, I got the whole thing done before my trip, but only barely. I'm very pleased with the final bag. The clasps I picked for the front flap closure are a little fiddly to close and the strap has a tendency to slowly slide back to its maximum length over time, but I really like it. I can fit pretty much all my daily necessities in the zipper and cargo pockets, meaning the main pocket is free to hold cameras and lenses. More pictures below and, as well as a breakdown of what I paid to make it in comparison to the original Prince Street bag.
Above, in order: The finished bag, closed (beauty shot, in the sun on my deck), the finished bag, closed (on my sewing table), the bag open, showing the padded camera insert with removable/adjustable velcro dividers, the bag full o' stuff (spacer, epipens, inhaler, hand lotion, Pentax MX, extra lens, and kindle (incidentally, the kindle was also purchased from the pawn shop where I used to work)), the bag without the padded camera insert, but still with the Pentax MX.
My total material costs ended up being, approximately (and not counting tools or materials I didn't end up using for this project, like the leatherworking kit, or stuff I already had, like the fabric):
Hardware (including lots of velcro): $50
Fabric treatment supplies (dye, wax, a cheap used iron for applying the wax): $40
Padding materials (foam, batting): $30
TOTAL: $120
This is approximated after the fact, and could definitely have been trimmed down had I been accumulating things over time instead of rushing to get it done quickly. I also have a fair amount of foam and batting left over, a bunch of extra Chicago screws, and an entire second iron which I can now use to wax more canvas if I want. And I know I can make a camera bag essentially from scratch now! All that in mind, my Pauper Street bag came out to just over a third of the price of the Prince Street bag, so I think I'm justified in my funny riff on the name.
If anyone is interested in more detailed measurements and diagrams and/or instructions for how to put one together, let me know! Thanks for reading this far!
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Kodak was a sponsor of the 1972 Olympics, so put out this camera bag in recognision. Thing is, that's not the logo for the Munich summer games or Sapporo winter games, or even the International Olympic Committee, it's just... an Olympic-themed logo.
