ONA Chelsea Bag

I have a handbag weakness.  I know this.  Even in my New Year's purge and move to more minimalism, I still love my handbags.  I've purged a crazy amount of things in the new year including clothing and shoes, but my sweet bags sit on their protected shelf in the closet.  

And this beauty?  Well she serves double duty as a camera bag.  Get out of here right?  I still get e-mails about bags in my original camera bag post, and yes, I still love my Flipside.  It's just the right size to carry all the lenses and accessories I want when I travel and it fits perfectly  under the seat in front of you when flying.  It's also the only choice for hiking.  But sometimes a girl just wants a classic bag to match her riding boots...of course.  

The first time I saw an ONA camera bag it was obsession at first site.  Unfortunately for me, I saw their Venice bag just as it was being discontinued and I couldn't find it in a color I wanted.  This bag is evidence that good things come to those who wait.  

Look at the leather grain and hatch pattern on this girl.  What especially drew me to ONA was that their bags actually are real, quality, yummy, scrummy leather.  While there are tons of ultra cute camera bags out there now, I've seen very few that are real leather.  Yes, the faux stuff is lighter and probably more waterproof, but the leather is yummier for sure.  While I generally tend to be drawn to camera bags with pockets on the outside, I love the clean classic lines of this bag.  The back of the bag has one zipper pocket for holding your cell phone and some lip gloss. 

The Chelsea bag is a pretty good size for traipsing about town with your DSLR....as you can see I can fit quite a bit in mine: One body, one extra lens, remote, extra battery and CF cards, hand cream, wet wipes, snacks/mints, compact, lip goodies, wallet, sunnies and of course my phone and my little Kindle.

Yes, I do still love my Black Rapid too.  I use the full strap when I'm out of the house and use this little wrist strap in the house just for peace of mind...Black Rapid's carabiners makes switching them out easy peasy.

It fits perfectly and the padding in this is ridiculously thick and protective.  The cross dividers have velcro like most camera bags so you can customize the slots for all of your lenses or your wallet. 

Of course, the question all camera bags must answer for Canon girls is whether the bag holds the 70-200.  I threw in the iPad as well because that's probably the next question. 

The Chelsea bag will hold both of these--there's a divided section made for a tablet.  Mine gets a little thick here because I have a quick release plate mounted to the bottom of my camera and I have a bigger case on my iPad.  If you have a thin iPad case and  no quick plate, this bag zips right up.  The one thing this bag won't do is make carrying your iPad and the 70-200 light as a feather.  I don't often carry either of these two things around which is a good thing because loaded up with these items makes this bag crazy heavy even if you attach the long shoulder strap that's also provided.  The little bitty straps kind of scare me with that much weight.  

I know I fall in love with a lot of  bags but this one's stayed front and center since I bought it last summer.  The Chelsea just screams quality craftsmanship.  My only buyer's remorse have been moments when I wondered if I should have purchased the black Chelsea instead.  Or the Brooklyn---love the Brooklyn bag too.    I can't even look at ONA's site anymore because of the temptation.  

Speaking of Brooklyn, I took a little one out to enjoy the new super powdery snow a couple of weekends ago.  Puppies playing in snow pictures never get old. :)