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Backpacks are great and all, but what do you do when you don’t want to take a time out and lay everything down to grab another piece of camera equipment? Most often you use a shoulder bag. I wanted something to give me quicker access to my camera and lenses. After a lot of research I decided on the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home.

This bag has plenty of room for gear while still managing to be comfortable. It also looks great and won’t get picked out of a lineup for being a camera bag. Always a good thing when trying to thwart camera thieves.

The Bag

The 7 Mill is designed to hold a SLR camera with a grip and lens attached, an external flash, and three extra lenses. You can make that four or more lenses if you’re not packing the flash, or if your lenses are compact. Everything is nicely (if not overly) padded to keep everything secure. The material inside the bag is very soft and the dividers can be positioned any way you want. The bag feels sturdy and well made.

A nice feature that sets it apart from some of Crumpler’s other bags is the included pad for the shoulder strap. This is a welcome feature on a bag that can hold a lot of heavy gear.

Probably my favorite detail of the bag is the zippers. The zippers are nice and smooth and they have large tags so you don’t have to go searching for them to unzip a pocket. This is a welcome feature after my last bag, which had zippers that must have been constructed using some form of nanotechnology. I could never find them, and when I could they always got stuck.

The bag opens by lifting the large flap which closes with Velcro and clip. And yes, the Velcro is loud (a common complaint for most Crumpler bags). The flap is also a bit too big, as it can get in the way if you are not used to it or have the large inside mesh pocket full of accessories.

Opening the bag reveals the outside pocket. The compartment is secured by Velcro and inside it is another mesh pocket, also secured with Velcro.

How much can it hold?

As you can see the 7 Mill is spacious and has plenty of padding.

Now lets put all of my lenses and my flash in there to see how it looks.

Gear (Clockwise starting from top right): Canon 100mm Macro, Canon 10-22mm (no hood), Canon 100-400 IS w/ hood reversed, Canon 50mm 1.8 & Stofen Omnibounce, Canon 580EX Flash in sleeve. As you can see, there is plenty of room for taller lenses or to stack items in the sections.

Here is it with the 100-400 removed, and the 20D w/ grip and kit lens in the center compartment.

Here is a shot showing how deep the bag is, with the 100-400 (approx 8-8.5 inches tall) coming just to the top of the compartment.

I normally carry the camera with or w/o grip facing down in the center section. If you wanted to have a lens as tall as the 100-400 attached the bag would bulge up a little. I was able to fit the 20D with the 100-400 attached in the center section and close the bag using the secure clip. The outside flap didn’t come down far enough to attach to the Velcro, as the camera rises about 1.5 inches above the top of the compartment (see image below). So while not the ideal situation, it would work in a pinch.

So the 7 Million Dollar Home can hold all of my equipment and has room left over for spare batteries, memory cards and other camera accessories.

Conclusion

I think the 7 Million Dollar Home is an excellent choice for anyone looking for a shoulder/messenger bag that can hold a lot of equipment. While it is a little on the pricey side at about $130, the bag is well made and should hold up for a long time. For me the loud Velcro and somewhat bulky flap are only minor annoyances. The main appeal of this bag for me is that is looks more like a typical messenger bag and is comfortable to wear, even for longer shooting excursions. So if you’re tired of dealing with a backpack but don’t want to leave everything at home, the 7 Million Dollar Home may be worth a look.

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