Instead of paying 50 or 60 bucks for a ready-made, padded camera bag, I spent the same amount plus about 10-12 hours and made my own. I started with an old army bag that you can get at every surplus store in the world.
*Not shown: I removed about 2 pounds of weird tabs, loops and hooks from the thing to clean it up a bit before getting started.
First step was sewing this webbing and clip to the base. (to hold the front flap closed)
Too bad my sewing machine suddenly died. Tried to fix it but that was it.
Sad. I've had that thing for a long time. We sewed some pretty retarded things together over the years.
Anyway, this is the next evening. I went to the thrift store that day and bought this Sears model. Actually, if you can find one of these 70's or 80's models, the mechanics are really well made and much more durable than the cheap plastic stuff most companies are putting out nowadays. Plus, it was only 30 bucks.
The pocket for the front flap
Everything all together. If you look at the bottom of the pocket you can see the other end of the clip. I tucked it in there as I was sewing the front flap and pocket material together.
A pocket on the body of the bag.. Doye.
And some velcro. Again, doye.
Forgot to mention this step- hope you're not sewing along as you read this.. The first thing I did was to sew velcro onto the inside of the front flap. Can't do that shit after you sewed the pocket on..
Damn, here's something else that I didn't take incremental photos of. Sewed this pocket on the side. The pocket is just a rectangular piece of cordura, sewn down the sides and then folded onto itself at the bottom. Then a flap with velcro. I like this style of pocket, and blatantly stole the idea from Cory at Dank Bags, because it allows you to tuck the flap into the pocket so you can get things in and out faster, if needed.
Then I measured the inside of the bag and cut out pieces of foam in the appropriate dimensions.
Then I cut out a big piece of cordura (that I also measured out. Can't just be eye-balling stuff or by the end nothing with match up, it will look insanely shitty and you will hate yourself for all the work you've put in with crap to show for it. That's been my experience at least) Anyway, I sewed a long strip of velcro on the cordura (that you can't see, unfortunately) folded the cordura in half and sewed each of the foam pads into it.
Then sewed the ends together to make the padded walls of the bag.
This is the foam and material for the base. Pretty self-explanatory.
This is right after I sewed the base onto the wall-padding. As you can see, I sewed it so that all the seams are on the outside. That's because a.) it's way easier that way. b.) I'm planning to sew this padding into the army bag, so they'll never be seen anyway. If you want your bag to be removable and for all the seams to be hidden, all I can say is good luck with that.
One final piece. A padded divider block with velcro on the sides.
Stuff the lining into the bag, and sew around the top.
Done. Well, except for the sewing on the shoulder strap, but whatevs, I'm over it.
