Packing It In – Billingham Hadley Pro

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Several years ago, there was a photography enthusiast web site called Cam Bags, and it was a forum for enthusiasts to put up reviews and pictures of their packed camera bags. That site was really useful, since with the gradual dearth of traditional brick and mortar camera shops around in the world – never mind that many of them would not typically shelve a large range of camera bags to begin with – the only other way for you to really get a sense of whether a particular camera bag you’re interested in can carry all the bodies, lenses, accessories and other assorted junk, would be via user submitted photos and videos.

Unfortunately, that site doesn’t seem to exist anymore. So, I’ll start my own very occasional series of packed camera bags! Though since I’m not a bag collector – even if I’ve got five camera shoulder-type bags still in the house (though I really just use two of them) with another on the way, a camera backpack that our Ang Mo bud left here on his last visit, and an all-purpose camera/laptop bag – I can only review the bags I actually own.

I’ll start off first with the oldest bag I’ve got that I’m still regularly using: the Billingham Hadley Pro that I first reviewed here in March 2013. The Billingham bags are fairly costly, but are made in the UK and to the highest quality and also renown to age well. And I have to say this: they really are. My Hadley Pro is almost six years old now, and aside from some very mild fabric fraying along the shoulder strap, the bag’s surface fabric itself still looks as pristine as it did at the point of purchase. Morever, the bag remains really easy to clean: dirt and stain simply do not seem to hold on the bag’s waterproof canvas material.

Here’s what I’m packing into the Hadley Pro for this exercise. I’ve not included the small accessories like cables, flash unit stands, remote controllers, and spare lens caps which I can always find additional space for in bags.

From left to right; Top row: iPad Pro 11/Smart Keyboard Folio, Tamron SP 70-200MM F/2.8 DI VC USD + Sigma MC-11, the Billingham Hadley Pro. Bottom row: Surface Pro (2017)/Type Cover, Filter Wallet, Godox XPro, Godox TT685s, Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Mouse 3600, Sony FE 16-35mm f4.0, Sony A73 with Sony FE 24-105mm f4.0 and paracord strap.
  1. Sony A7 III mounted with  Sony FE 24-105mm f4.0 with paracord strap
  2. Sony FE 16-35mm f4.0
  3. Tamron SP 70-200MM F/2.8 DI VC USD + Sigma MC-11
  4. Godox TT685s
  5. Godox XPro wireless trigger
  6. Filter wallet with three 72mm-77mm filters
  7. Surface Pro (2017) with Type Cover + Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Mouse 3600
  8. iPad Pro 11 with Smart Keyboard Folio
The main and central compartment: from left to right: the Tamron 70-20mm/MC-11, Sony A73 + 24-105mm, and the Godox XPro on top of the 16-35mm. Width-wise, it’s a snug fit with still a bit of spare space for accessories. Height-wise though is a different matter. The combined height of the Tamron and MC-11 adapter means that the inner protective flap can’t be fully flipped over anymore.
The two front pouches of the Hadley Pro can hold a lot of stuff as they’re deep and can extend out quite a bit. Here, it’s the mouse and Godox TT685s on the left, and the filter wallet on the right. There’s still excess space in the right pouch, so a powerbank could go there too, and maybe even the battery grip for the A73 if I relocate the filter wallet.
The Surface Pro/Type Cover fitting nicely into the tablet compartment. You can also see that the Tamron lens height is obstructing the inner protective flap from fully closing. The bag’s top flap can still close as normal though.
I could probably fit another slim tablet beside the Surface Pro – it’s wide enough. However, I elected to place the iPad Pro 11/Smart Keyboard Folio into an external compartment, but it has a zipper to make it harder for thieving hands to fish it out without my being aware.

I don’t normally carry this much stuff in the Hadley Pro of course when it I use it on the weekends for several hours each time. Normally, it’d just be a tablet, the A73 with a single lens, and probably a book. This particular exercise is just to show how much I can cram into this bag on that one or two occasions when the bag has accompanied out of the country and gets loaded with everything I need for an entire day, and then some.

Next post in this series centers on the Sirui MyStory 13. Yep, they make bags too!