Billingham Hadley Small Pro Khaki/Chocolate

The Hadley Small Pro is the new bag from the very popular Billingham brand - internally exactly the same size as the Hadley Small, but with a few extra features that should make it perfect for many professional and amateur photographers.

The first of these features is a top carrying handle. The handle we chose has a leather underside for comfort when carrying - especially useful if you want to use the bag as a mini briefcase for long periods of time after removing the shoulder strap.

The second addition is a document pocket on the back of the bag - it has a waterproof zipper for extra protection in a rainstorm. Also on the back, we added a luggage cart strap - so you can slide the bag over the handle on a trolley case to travel easily through an airport.

Of course, we made sure to keep the best parts of the original 'Hadley Small'. For impact protection, the bag has the same padded padding insert as the current 'Hadley Small' model. It is made from dense closed cell foam and covered with fabric. It offers impact protection on all six sides, including the lid. Inside the insert come two removable vertical dividers, and two removable padded flaps for stacking lenses - these dividers attach to the inside with Velcro®. The insert itself attaches to the bag with a single, sturdy snap - remove the insert and the bag transforms from a camera bag to a compact, stylish bag.

Like all of our camera bags, the exterior is made of a three-layer stormproof Stormblock material - two layers of fabric bonded together with an intermediate layer of butyl rubber. The Stormblock fabric never needs to be "re-proofed" because the butyl layer is permanently bonded to the fabric core. The top flap of the bag is "sculpted" over the opening of the main compartment so that even in the pouring rain you should not get in if you have it closed.

The front closure straps are designed around the 'Quick Release System'. To open the bag, you slide the leather straps over the brass "clogballs" at the top of the strap - with a little practice, you'll soon be able to open the bag with one hand. The buckles at the midpoint of the closure straps are used only to adjust the fit of the top flap on the main opening and pockets - you don't need to use them to open the bag. We made these straps slightly less wide than the Hadley Pro (and former Hadley Small) to help the aesthetics of the bag. The bag's two front pockets have a secondary stud in their top corner - open this stud to create extra space or close it to form a handy pen holder.

The Hadley Small Pro is small on the outside but larger than you'd expect on the inside. For example, it can hold 2 rangefinder cameras (e.g. Leica M10 and M9 with lenses), a mirrorless camera (CSC) (Fujifilm X-Pro2, Lumix GH5 or Olympus OM-D E-M1) with 2 or 3 small to medium sized lenses or even a medium sized DSLR without a battery grip (e.g. Canon 5D Mk4 with 24-70mm f2.8 and 24-105mm in the bag) because the bag can tilt up slightly to accommodate larger equipment .

For this reason, and because the bag doesn't look like a camera bag, the Hadley Small Pro is an ideal companion on a trip to the city or the country. Like all our photo bags, the Hadley Small Pro is made in England.