It has often been said that there isn’t ‘One Bag To Rule Them All’ What is a great everyday carry around bag is often too small to hold gear for most pro shoots and what is big enough for your shoot gear is often way too big to carry around on an everyday basis. Looking at all the bags that I have owned over the last 12+ years I would normally wholeheartedly agree that no single bag is good for all circumstances. 
That is until I saw the Brixton From ONA one day. I was instantly in love with this bag and I came home and researched the shit out it. I found that the reviews all said the same things… It is nice but it’s not that big, or it’s two heavy, or there is not enough pockets, or the most common complaint, it’s way too expensive. So I sadly stopped looking at it. I instead looked at the next round of random on-sale lowepro bags and suffered through another six months of failing zippers, immediate dirty looking raggedy seams and just the general camera bag looking camera bags that didn’t actually have much camera stuff in them. Thankfully while looking to replace yet another failed camera bag I stumbled across it again and I seriously looked at it yet again. One afternoon after an unexpectedly fruitful photo sale from a particularly problematic client I felt I could ‘treat’ myself and I bought the bag with the plan to probably utilize B&H’s generous return policy. The short version of this ‘review’ goes like this “THIS BAG IS FUCKING AWESOME!!” The long version of this review can be found elsewhere on the internet. Seriously Other people have some great reviews of this bag. Just go read them. What I would like to touch on are the questions that I could’t find satisfactory answers to while doing my research.
Jerk With A Camera reviews the ONA Brixton Camera Bag
To be honest I am normally not actually a camera bag person for my day to day non-shooting just out and about life. (seriously I talk about it being freeing) I mean I usually only have my Leica with the 50mm or the Nikon DF with the 50mm with me, and whichever camera I have is pretty much out in my hand ready to shoot. Thus making a dedicated camera bag seem rather pointless and it would be mostly empty. However, I am a bag person for my day to day life stuff. I often carry a magic notebook or a pair of sun glasses or a battery pack for my cell phone etc.. & I have used a variety of these bags over the years A:Crumplerkarachi outpost B:Crumpler ‘7 Million Dollar Home C:Lowepro Passport Sling D:Lowepro Nature Trekker E:Lowepro Nova 200 F:Lowepro Top Loader G:Lowepro Passport Messenger H:My Crumpler Textbook Point I:Snowboarding Backpack J:Everything ELSE!! The fact that the Brixton can be my Day to day bag as well as my pro bag is the total plus here. I’m serious! I have been to about a half dozen shoots and one wedding this past week as well as general photo walk abouts, adventures to get groceries and a few trips to Postmark to fill a growler or two. All with this bag. Design and Durability I have had so many camera bags over the years and they all lack something really important or if they are mostly well designed, they wear out in 6 Months to a Year of daily use. I have worn out so many Crumplers in my time. (which I genuinely thought at first to be completely invincible) This bag looks like it will last! I truly believe that like my Leica, Corbin will grow up to inherit this bag. It Holds Stuff!! A Lot of stuff. Seriously!! With some slight modifications (EG: I added/traded additional velcro dividers from other old bags to the inside and pulled out the laptop pocket divider) this bag can easily hold a Nikon D800 with a 50mm lens, a Nikon D610 with a 24-70 and a unmounted 70-200 in the main compartment. One of the front pockets can hold two SB700 flashes, and the other can hold all the extra batteries/cards/wallets/phones etc. It can hold all this and close properly. I have been calling it my Tardis bag because it is deceivingly large inside. Seriously!! 
I am driving home this point because reviews were saying that it is best for a small mirrorless camera kit, or a Leica and maybe a second lens, LIES! In fact all the above photos comfortably contained all of this with extra room for another small lens or perhaps a flash.
1.Nikon 610 w/AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED 2.Capture Camera Clip System 3.Carabiner (for water bottles etc) 4.Lens Baby Composer pro (with the edge 80 optic & sweet 35 optic) 5.Nikon DF w/AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G 6.4x5 film box of goodies (Extra camera & cell phone batteries, laser pointer, square reader, remote shutter, gps locater) 7.Handfull of Business Cards 8Pelican Card Case 9.Magic Notebook (seriously this is a live scribe notebook when you write in it your pen notes sync with your evernote www.livescribe.com) 10.Sunglasses 11.My old & beat up wallet 12.Samsung Galaxy Note II 13. Spare Nikon Camera Batteries 14. Holga Lens (Nikon Mount) 15.Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 16.Manual Shutter Release Cable (for the Nikon DF, Leica, or random film cameras) 17.Magic Pen (again livescribe.com) 18.Lens cloth
Seriously!! There is a lot of room. After my pro shoots I simply pull out the second camera/24-70mm and I can fit a 1L growler or a six of beer cans inside Seriously!! It Looks Good. This is where I agree with every single review on this bag. It is so freaking pretty! I assumed that other reviewers were exaggerating when they said that they got compliments on the bag. I got three in the first two days, and like the other reviews say, it blew peoples minds when you show them that it is a camera bag. It is a bag that will look better with age, as opposed to my many years of Crumpler’s and Lowepro’s that are embarrassingly tattered and worn within 6 months. In fact feel I need to upgrade my wardrobe up to the level of this bag. It is that pretty.
Con’s List (because it is not a ‘review’ without a cons list)
It stinks to high heaven at first. I am serious take this bag out of its plastic in a well ventilated area. I may have gagged a little bit at acrid first breath. The bag airs out pretty quickly but you will smell its distinctive new bag sent on your camera gear for a couple of days. As far as a negative goes not a biggy. It does lacks small item organization. Small things will get lost in those tight side pockets and be swimming around in the huge front pockets. My solution was to get crafty with an empty 4X5 Film box. I added some simple cardboard dividers to it but you can also just toss everything into a small bag or box as well. The included dividers are kind of short. If you were to stick a 24-70 and a 70-200 into two of the four slots they will clang and run along the upper half. I added a variety of dividers scooped from old Crumper’s and Lowepro’s and I am able to make a pretty versatile well padded inside. The Price. Every body complains about the price. but i have spent 3 times that on camera bags over the last 10 years and I am sure that this bag will last at least that long so seems like I will be saving money on the long term :) Conclusions This is the most exciting bag that I have ever owned. I want to go for walks with it because it begs to be shown off. I would totally recommend checking it out. For now, for me, this is absolutely the One Bag To Rule Them All.