Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home Photo Gallery by Michael Ng at pbase.com

Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home

Crumpler is an Australian company that manufactures all kinds of bags, from camera bags to laptop bags to the regular messenger bags. Their innovative designs and “hip & trendy” outlook to their products make their bags very appealing to the younger generation. Their official website can be visited at: www.crumpler.com.au.

The Crumpler Seven Million Dollar Home.	Street Price: USD$130 shipped Ebay Average: USD$110 shipped Available Colors: Black, Brown, Blue and Red. Introduction: I was really attracted to the design of the Crumpler bags which looked like messenger bags instead of the traditional gear bag. Crumpler’s main selling point the appearance of their bags which reduces the chance of theft. So I offloaded my aging Tamrac and went on to search for a replacement. In the end, I got myself the Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Home which was adequately large enough to house my Nikon 70-200mm AFS VR with my D100 and vertical grip attached. The slightly smaller option which was the Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home didn’t make the cut in terms of capacity although it is identical to the 7 Million Dollar Home in terms of design. The 7 Million Dollar home comes with a whole set of Velcro dividers, which enables you to configure how you want your gear to be arranged. The possibilities are endless, really.
Bag fully loaded. Front pocket for additional stuff.	The Space Between: The main cavity of the bag is where all the good stuff goes in. The inner dimensions of the 7 Million Dollar home measures 38x28x18cm with a volume of 15 liters. This probably doesn’t mean much to some people, so look at the images to get an idea of what can be done with this bag. The Crumpler website states that you can fit a digital SLR with vertical grip w/ kit lens attached, about 3 lenses, external flash unit and additional odds and ends. I find this to be a pretty accurate description of the bag’s capacity. The top of the camera bag has a fishnet insert which can house some additional accessories like cable releases, memory cards or instruction manuals. It’s pretty large too. The front part of the bag also has space to slot in slightly thicker objects, like (a Bible) a book or maybe a small bag of chips. There’s also a fishnet zipper compartment in there to house smaller and flatter objects. The carrying strap of the bag is wide and comfortable. It’s adjustable, so you can change the length of the strap. The strap comes with a sliding pad which makes the load a lot more bearable. It’s also helps keep the strap from sliding around too much.
The 70-200mm just fits nicely inside the main compartment. Combo fits horizontally with room to spare.	Loading up: I was however a little disappointed that my 70-200mm could only be loaded in vertically only if the camera body wasn’t mounted (see pic). The same goes for my 300mm f/4 AFS which is about the same size. When mounted on a F100 body as shown, the camera body sticks out of the bag’s cavity. You can close the camera bag, and snap on the lock, but I would only recommend this arrangement as a short term solution as it’s awkward and not very secure. The other option would be to remove all the dividers and place the lens and body combination in a horizontal position (see pic). You’ll get some access space on the sides, but it’s not large enough to fit another lens in. Maybe an additional flash unit. But you’re wasting a lot of space above the body. This may be a good solution if you only intend to bring the 70-200mm and F100 w/ grip. Conclusion: The Crumpler 7 Million Dollar home is a pretty well built bag. Only time will tell whether the bag is up to the rigors of regular use, but it does look promising. It’s the biggest of the Million Dollar Home series but it’s not awkwardly large. Slinging it over is comfortable and access to the main compartments are fairly easy. But once again, the main selling point of this bag is that it doesn’t scream “Camera Bag” which one, lowers the chances of you falling prey to a snatch thief, and two allows you to bring your stuff into places where cameras aren’t allowed…..provided they don’t search the contents of your bag of course. I highly recommend it. ©Michael Ng 2005

comment |

Barry K		12-Mar-2009 06:09
Good review, would have been perfect if it had a picture of the bag on a person so that I can get a size perspective.

LeRoy Armstead		02-Mar-2009 21:43
I currently use a Crumpler laptop bag and did not know they made bags for photographers. This review has been extremely helpful as I will head to my local pro shop and hopefully purchase a 7 Million Dollar Home for my gear.

Guest		12-Dec-2008 18:49
Mike: This is an excellent review, complete with informative pictures. Thanks for going to all that trouble for us. As I have explained in my email, I do have certain reservations about fitting my huge 400mm lens mounted to my camera for easy access.I am also considering Tenba Small Messenger, but Tenba never responds to email questions. Next could be Domke F-802, and Tamrac Photo Messenger 7, and I have reservations on those two also. At least we have choices. Ray

frank		24-Dec-2007 18:16
I've had mine for a couple of years now and it's been great.. update us and let us know how it's stood up since you bought it.

AndrewG		02-Nov-2007 21:14
Great review. Appreciate the detail. I am a pro photographer going on an assignment in South East Asia. I want a bag to carry "the bare essentials" my two pro bodies (Canon 1D Mark II N and 1DS Mark II), two lenses mounted (100-400 f4.5-5.6L and 24-70 f2.8L), flash and batteries. My other bags look like camera bags. There will be times when the cameras are with me but not in use and I don't really want people to know I've got expensive gear with me. I think this bag will work well for that - bu I might tear off the crumpler logo to hopefully attract even less attention to the bag. Thanks again for the thorough review. I'll order mine (in black) today.

Guest		18-Oct-2007 03:02
Thanks very much for this well-written review, Michael. I'll be ending up with one of the crumpler bags soon enough.

Zach Everson		02-Jul-2007 00:56
I'm interested in the Bible too; do you know what it's dimensions are or what's the biggest sized boo that compartment can accommodate? Thanks!

Guest		05-Jun-2007 17:14
You really shouldn't travel around with your lens attached to the camera anyway - especially with a large, heavy lens. You can do some major damage to the camera that way. If your main use of the bag is to transport from place to place then it shouldn't matter much that you can't easily fit the camera with lens attached. Thanks for the pics and review.

Karen		17-Oct-2006 01:25
I just ordered the light blue version. I wanted the tan/green interior, but they are all sold out all over the world, at least on the web. I am really excited to get it. Thanks for the review, just what I wanted to know.

Trent		23-Aug-2006 22:02
I have bought this bag and returned it for the Keystone backpack but after using the backpack for some trips to Mexico and Europe I want a shoulder bag because getting anything out of the backpacks takes forever. Nice review.

Guest		07-May-2006 15:50
I was most attracted to that blue Bible at your front pocket of your Crumpler bag! Its good to know of another God-loving photographer. Hope to meet you one of these days. Enjoyed your reviews. Thanks.

Michael Ng		09-Oct-2005 15:10
Thanks Matt. Everyone has their own personal preference. I'm still getting used to the baby blue inner compartments. If they came in Dark/Navy Blue I would have jumped on it.

Guest		08-Oct-2005 12:00
Lovely review, I concur with you. However, I think it looks nicer in blue, which I have!

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