Billingham tweaks a classic design with new features and touches… but get your wallet ready for a beating
(Image credit: Billingham)
The new Billingham Eventer MKII is a replacement for the previous Eventer, which is now discontinued. It’s a medium-large briefcase style bag with enough height for longer lenses such as a 70-200mm f/2.8 or maybe a 100-400mm. The internal vertical and horizontal dividers mean you can also stack bodies and lenses vertically.
Billingham’s approach is one of steady refinement rather than revolutionary upheavals. The changes to the Eventer MKII will sound modest to most users but probably pretty major to fans of the brand.
Improvements include a redesigned top handle without the full width webbing but with leather added to the underside for a more comfortable grip.
The zips are now weatherproof to make the Eventer MKII more resilient in bad weather, both in the top flap and on the rear document pocket. The main compartment cover can also be folded back behind the padded insert and out of the way, using Billingham’s TukTop feature.
The padded insert inside the bag can be removed completely by undoing four poppers, converting the Eventer MKII into a regular messenger bag. The padding on the base of the insert has been thickened too.
Finally, a luggage trolley strap has been added to the back for easier handling during travel.
The Eventer MKII will be available to buy from March 31st and will come in Khaki Canvas/Tan Leather, Navy Canvas/Chocolate Leather, Sage FibreNyte/Chocolate Leather, Black FibreNyte/Black Leather or Khaki FibreNyte/Chocolate Leather. The price (get ready) will be £560 (about US$737, AU$981). That is A LOT by camera bag standards, but in the luxury luggage market, that’s not even going to raise an eyebrow.
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Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com
