The first time I saw an Epiphanie camera bag, I was at BlogHer in the summer of 2010. Karen Walrond, a.k.a Chookooloonks, and several other major bloggers/photographers had them, and I knew immediately that I needed one in my life too. My “lunchbox” looking camera bag was not doing it for me and I wanted more.

I browsed the styles for hours, saving up to buy the purple “Paris” bag (which Epiphanie no longer makes). When it arrived, it was much bigger than I expected and it only came with the one longer strap rather than the two that were shown online. Epiphanie apologized and immediately sent me the other strap.

Over the course of the next few months, I used my Paris bag a handful of times, so you can imagine my surprise when the clips on BOTH straps broke after just a few uses. When I called customer support, they told me they had never heard of this happening, something I now know to be false since several other people I’ve talked to had the same issue with the clips on the straps.

I contacted Epiphanie and they said that I couldn’t have a refund, but that they would send me replacement straps. I told them I was afraid the same thing would happen and I wanted an exchange for a bag that had permanently attached straps, and that is how the “Clover” came into my life.

I picked this bag for the following reasons:

1) It was large, just like my former Paris bag.

2) It would hold ALL my gear: camera w/lens attached, plus 2-3 more lenses, an off camera flash, SD cards, extra batteries, etc. AND if I wanted, my MacBook Pro (which I spilled a cup of tea on earlier this year and killed, but that’s another story entirely).

3) It had attached straps, plus the extra, longer, padded strap. I wanted attached straps because I was not going to deal with another strap issue like before.

When I got the bag, I was very happy to finally have a bag that I felt lived up to the Epiphanies that I had seen on other women.

I had my 12 year old brother snap a few photos of me with the bag so you can see sizing  (because he is the only one who can operate my “big” camera and he wants to learn more about photography), but you’ll have to excuse the quality of the photos as he is just learning (but doing a great job I think!).

For sizing purposes, I am 5’3 (and apparently way tan from the summer sun).

The bag is big, but not super huge. As I said, I wanted a bag to that would hold all my gear, especially for weddings.

I love the bright pink on the inside. It makes it easy to see your gear and is just plain pretty.

This is a close up of the strap hook. This is the same hook that broke on both of my Paris bag straps, but I want to make it clear that I never had a problem with it on this bag. I am convinced that it was the shape of the other bag, super wide, that lent itself to stress on the clasps.

What I realized after getting this bag is that what I really needed was more of an everyday camera bag– you know the ones you can tote around daily and look like a purse.

I recently sold my Clover in the hopes of using the money toward the Kelly Moore B-Hobo bag, which I’ve heard great things about. I own a Kelly Moore already, which I will review soon, so I already know that I trust their quality. I can’t fully recommend Epiphanie as a brand though, because although this Clover bag is great and has never given me any issues, my negative experience with the Paris bag leaves me apprehensive of the overall quality of their straps. I do know that many people have bags from Epiphanie and love them, but I feel it is important to be honest here. If you are looking at buying an Epiphanie bag, I would say to make sure you test it out right away so that if there are any issues, you’ll know within the return window (15 days). The mistake I made was not really using my Paris much after I got it, and so when the issues arrived, it had already been a couple of months.