I’m always looking for the perfect camera bag. While big padded Lowepro bags and backpacks are great, they kind of scream, “HEY, I’M A TOURIST AND THIS IS MY CAMERA THAT YOU SHOULD STEAL!” For a very long time I was looking for something small and light that could still handle a camera body and one or two lenses when I’m traveling or hiking.

Then last Christmas my lovely wife bought me this beautiful ONA Bowery leather camera bag.

In the past two years this bag has transversed the United States and crossed the Atlantic twice. However, the more I’ve carried it, the more I’ve noticed it has a few problems.

On the inside, it has only one padded divider. That means you get one camera with a mounted lens on one side, and one lens or flash crammed into the other with a charger.

Those two small front pockets and two small side pockets can each hold one, and only one, of the following: a spare battery, a passport, a lens filter, or a USB cable.

ONA touted this rear pocket as being for an iPad Mini or other small tablet. Well, I happened to have an iPad Mini, so I stuck it in there. However, it slid out twice in my car and once at Charles de Gaulle airport, so I decided sticking anything in the open back pocket was just asking for it to be lost or stolen.

ONA sells large padded dividers for the briefcase size bags and small padded dividers like what came with the Bowery, but for some reason they don’t sell a divider the width of the Bowery to create an internal iPad sleeve. However, my very lovely and talented wife, who was thoughtful enough to buy me the bag in the first place, can sew.

For $15 I ordered two large padded dividers, and after about 30 minutes of work, Mary had downsized one of them to the interior size of the Bowery. (Thank you, honey!)

I now have a secure interior slot for the iPad, a notepad, or a battery charger.

I really don’t know why ONA doesn’t sell the bags like this in the first place. The padded dividers are just cardboard wrapped in packing foam. (And they are a serious pain to cut through with old scissors!) If they can sell two for $15 at a profit, they could definitely add one to each bag without increasing production costs enough to raise the cost of the bag.

And now with the interior padded pocket for tablets, why not add a zipper to the rear outside pocket, so it’s actually usable?

Are you listening ONA?!!!

Shortly after I received this bag, ONA released the Berlin, which if I could do it all again, I’d probably choose that slightly larger model. However, being a gift from Mary, I’ll stick with the Bowery. It is a very tough bag, and it keeps me packing light when we’re doing lots of walking.