Sorry for the delay in getting this up (New readers may want to first read the first part of this three part review here)! The BODA bag arrived right on time and what else can you expect from a Mac loving gadget-head?! The unboxing pics of course!!!
I'll be splitting up this part of the review into two parts: this first (shorter) review giving my quick impression with the presentation (I really look for that in companies) and overall feel of the BODA...and the second in depth review loaded with detailed photos (coming soon). With a shoot coming up, this baby arrived right on time!
The BODA came in an average, brown shipping box with the BODA logo on a return address label. No ugly white label here! Nice touch. When I opened the box, I was presented with the bag, carefully wrapped in plastic and facing up. It wasn't simply thrown in the box. You can tell by the order of how things were placed, that they've got a method. Cool. Removing the bag revealed a 25% off coupon for another bag! Sweet! Not that I was going to jump on that...right now...but I thought that was a cool way to get the good vibes going (NOTE: Jim and crew are currently offering 25% off to everyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!). There were other papers in there but to be honest, I wanted to get right to the BODA so I'll have to check back on the other stuff. Watch it be a personal letter from Jim and I've ignored it now for a week! Nah...he's too cool for me! ;-) Actually, we've been in touch and he is very giving of his time. Both he and Claire (his BODA bag expert), were (as they say in the eBay world) A+++++++! Other small product companies should take note. They are hands on all the way. OK, back to the review! :-)
Before I go on, I've just gotta say this as I can't get my thoughts straight without first highlighting this feature: you can remove the interior walls allowing you to fit a full size (ie: Canon 1D series or any other pro DSLR with grip) camera with a standard zoom lens mounted and hood reversed (The lens I tested it with was the Canon 24-70 2.8L)! As soon as I realized this, I let out a big sigh of relief and knew that I was going to be a happy camper with the rest of the bag. This may have been a feature mentioned elsewhere on the net, but I was expecting at least the middle wall to be permanently sewed in. While this would have been OK as this is primarily meant to be a lens bag, I was so stoked to see that I could also use this as a casual bag to carry a camera body and lens. Very sweet! Thank you-thank you-thank you! This alone saved me from having to buy another shoulder bag with the ability of storing the whole camera for casual use.
There are pockets on this thing like no body's business!! Seriously, I think I'm still finding small top-secret nooks and crannies to store stuff. Now I know what you're thinking..."dude, I don't want to wear a safari bag that's loaded with everything...I just want a nice, cool looking, professional lens bag". Dude...the BODA delivers. Even with all that this thing can hold, if you only carried a few things, all the extra pouches and spaces kinda...well...collapse on themselves keeping the whole thing nice and compact. I remember thinking to myself "how am I going to describe how much this thing can hold without making it sound like a bag designed to replace Batman's utility belt?". If you want a simple bag? It's a simple bag. If you want a bag that can hold a bunch, it can hold a bunch. All the while, keeping it's coolness. Sweet.
More info to come in the final review. Hit up the blog for a few of the unboxing pics!