Jo Totes Rose ladies camera bag review

This is my second bag review of a Jo Totes ladies camera bag. The first one of the Abby can be found here.

The Rose – in bronze {which they seem not to have on their website anymore, but still available in other colours}.

Pros:

*A very pretty camera bag. I absolutely adore the look of this bag and love the metallic lambskin feel. It feels so soft, delicate and expensive. It is made from soft faux leather in a lambskin pattern. The pleated front detailing with the big rosette makes it a very feminine camera bag too.

*It is quite big so that it fits 2 big lenses standing up plus a camera body and with extra room to spare for a flashgun or two. But this would take it to maximum capacity and would make it pretty heavy. The bag is a very sturdily shaped bag so that it’s not mouldable to your contents.

*It has one back zipped pocket, one inside zipped pocket, 2 open inside pockets good for popping phones, batteries and other small paraphernalia.

*I likes the additional long strap with removable padded protector so I can also use it as a cross-body bag.

*As on the Abby, I love the 4 studs/legs that the bag sit on. You can put it down with confidence knowing the base of the bag won’t get scratched too easily or get dirty quickly.

*The bag is slim and light without anything in it so it is an ideal medium sized ladies bag that I can use as a normal day-to-day bag too and doesn’t add much to the weight when it is filled with heavy equipment.

Cons {here we go}:

*The very pretty metallic lambskin texture leather was not practical after all. Parts of the faux leather started peeling after one use, especially where there was stitching and on the straps. Even the beautiful rosette has a spot of peel on it. I think the material is just too delicate for a bag designed to carry heavy-ish equipment. I have contacted Jo Totes about this and they said this issue was only specific to my bag as they have sold numerous bags and had no complaints. They have been kind enough to offer and send me a replacement. 5 starts to their customer service – their communication was excellent and prompt!

*The metal hardware are all silver but the zip is in bronze. It would have been better to have everything in either just silver or just bronze.

*I keep thinking that the front pleated detailing is also a big side pocket because it is only stitched on the bag on 2 sides so that it looks like a pocket, but it is not. If you accidentally slip a piece of paper inside it, it would fall out at the bottom. It would have been a better design if they stitched the bottom of the detailing so that it is used as a pocket for very light and thin items or stitched the detail all around to the bag so you won’t make the mistake that it is a pocket.

*For a camera bag, this bag needs more pockets! It is spot on however in the number of padded dividers provided as shown here. There is enough of these for all sorts of combinations needed.

Still, it is a useful bag for medium capacity, looks really pretty and shaped well. I would only give it a 4 out of 5 though due to the material and the silver hardware and bronze zip. More bag reviews coming soon so keep an eye out and follow me on Facebook or Twitter. Please share if you know someone who might be interested in this post.