Gear Review: Tenba DNA 11 Messenger Bag

   Ok, I have had my Tenba DNA 11 Messenger style camera bag for a couple of months now, and it's seen daily use in that time, so finally ready to give it a review. Spoiler alert, it's awesome and I love it.

    I picked up this bag as a companion to my Fuji X-T1. I got that camera because I wanted something to carry around with me on a daily basis so I would always be ready to shoot, and my big Nikons were not suited to that task. I was using a Timbuk2 small messenger as my man purse, but I couldn't fit the X-T1 into it along with my other daily carry items, and all my camera bags were sized for the big nikons. I liked the messenger style, so I looked around. Timbuk2 makes camera inserts, and Think Tank, one of my all time favorite camera bag makers also has a line of messenger style bags that I love. But none of these fit the bill, so I grabbed all of my toys and headed to the local camera store to test fit things. The DNA 11 caught my eye initially because I liked the size and the way it looked, so I pulled one off the wall and opened it up. I had to remove and reconfigure the internal dividers, but I was able to set it up to carry all my usual stuff as well as the X-T1 comfortably and easily.

    As you can see, the X-T1 with the 18-135 pretty much perfectly fits in. This isn't a bag for full size DSLRs, it's aimed at the mirrorless crowd. A smaller DSLR like the D3300 would fit in with a kit lens, and in a pinch I could put my D800 in with the 24-70/2.8 mounted and lens hood reversed, but that would be a very tight fit. A gripped DSLR wouldn't fit with a lens attached. But that isn't what it was designed for. It will fit quite a bit of compact system gear. To get the configuration I wanted I actually pulled out all the included dividers except for just 1 in the center. With all the dividers in you could carry a body with lens attached along with several spare lenses or flashes.

   I recently took a trip to Vegas for the weekend, and decided that I would only bring the X-T1. I will write that up later, but I also thought I might want more than just the pop up flash, so I really tested the capacity of the bag. Should have taken a shot of that, but was too busy having fun. What I was able to pack in easily for the trip was the X-T1 with the 18-135 attached, two Nikon Speedlights, the SB700 and the SB910, a set of Yonguo remotes, (note- the canon version needs to be on the camera to work unless you feel like rewiring it, the nikon version on the nikon speed lights, but the cannon transmitter will trigger the nikon receivers), spare batteries for the flashes, spare batteries and charger for the camera, the EF-X8 flash unit, a rogue grid setup with a set of gels, a second set of gels for the second flash, a lumiquest 80-20 system, two joby gorilla pods to use as flash stands, a small LED flashlight for light painting, a water bottle, my iPad mini and several other travel odds and ends. All I really had to take out to get this load out was my journal and sketch book. Strangely, with those two out the bag was lighter than it usually is for my daily carry even with all that gear.

   So the bag carries a lot. One of the things that makes this possible is that there are a seemingly infinite set of pockets all over the bag. Seriously, there are more pockets than I can count because I ran out of fingers and toes. The main cavity includes a tablet pocket with a velcro securing strap, and a flap at the front with a large zippered pocket, a couple smaller pockets and several pen holders. The camera portion is actually a padded insert, which can be configured as needed with the included velcro dividers. On the outside of this inset there are two more accessory pockets.

Main compartment with insert removed

Large zipper pocket and pen pockets

large zipper pocket opened

my sketch book lives in the tablet compartment

removed insert

external pockets on insert

empty insert

    Moving to the outside of the bag, there are two more pen pockets, and 4 large, flat accessory pockets, two are slightly shorter and in front of two taller ones. These pockets are under the flap when it is closed.

Top view of the 4 external pockets

  Speaking of the flap- it has one zippered pocket that covers slightly more than half the flap and one smaller non-zippered pocket that seems designed for glasses or possibly a phone. My iPhone 5s fits snugly with a slim case, anything larger might not.

Larger pocket is on left in this picture, smaller pocket is on right.

   We'll take a break from the pockets for a second here to talk about the cover flap. There are two velcro strips that hold it closed, and there are buckles for extra security. They are a different type of buckle that is a sort of magnetic slide clip, takes a minute to get the hang of but once you do it is quick and easy. I wish Tenba had included silencers for the velcro like Think Tank does, that is really my only critique of this bag, it would be nice to just be able to use the buckles. However; this isn't too limiting omission, because they included a different solution for silent access. In addition to opening the flap, there is a large zipper across the top of the bag when the flap is closed, allowing access to the main compartment.

Zipper access through flap into main compartment

   This is awesome, because my toddler can hear velcro from 5 miles away and it will wake him up mid-nap if I forget to open the velcro on my old Timbuk2 before I walk into the house. This solves that problem nicely.

    The flap also has a gusset on each side to prevent water from running down into the bag from the flap if you were out in the rain.

rain gussets

 
 There is also an included rain cover for really heavy inclement weather, if you had to be out in a hard core storm you would want to use that because eventually the top zipper might let water in (even though it is covered with a small flap and is designed to be water resistant. I live in San Diego, so the rain cover pretty much lives in a drawer in my closet.

  The zipper pulls are a nice touch that just goes to show the overall thought and care Tenba put into designing this bag. They each have a moulded section that holds the tab open and makes it easy to grab with a finger and pull open or shut.

  Ok, enough digression, back to the pockets. Each end of the bag has an elastisized mesh water bottle pocket (that will also hold small collapsible tripods, a speed light, or other accessories)

    As you can also see from this picture, the hardware is all metal and pretty sturdy and there is also a grab handle on the top of the bag, in case you didn't want to grab it by the shoulder strap. Speaking of which, the shoulder strap is really easy to adjust and has a pretty comfortable (removable) pad with rubberized non-slip patches on the bottom which hold the strap in place quite comfortably. There is also an additional cross body strap that you can attach if using the bag on a bike or while really moving, traditional messenger style.

   Ok, back to the pockets. Seriously, told you there were a lot. The back of the bag has a large, flat zippered pocket as well as a strap designed to let the bag slide over the handle of a roller bag. Inside of the large pocket is... guess what... two more flat pockets and some additional pen holders.

  Ok. I think that's it for the pockets. Maybe. I keep finding more. It's also pretty much the end of the review. The bag is light, built and sewed very sturdily, and the layout of all the myriad of pockets is very utilitarian. Filling one pocket doesn't prevent using another, even when they are stacked on each other. It hold the X-T1 and everything I need to carry around on a daily basis, and is quickly reconfigurable if I need to add more gear for a trip.

   If you are shopping for a full size camera system, this isn't your bag (although Tenba does make larger versions, which will also let you carry a laptop) but if you are looking for a bag for a mirrorless system, this is definitely a contender that you should check out.