This article never really saw the light of day. At the time I came to write it, everything at Fogg suddenly changed and although it was on my website, I didn't push it, so you probably didn't see it.

The excellent news is that Fogg Bags has had a gradual change over the last 3 years and there has been a calm and ordered transition from Nigel Fogg to a new owner and craftswoman Leslie Lavielle. Nigel has taught her everything he knows, and now Ell (Leslie) is working day and night to make Fogg Bags back into the success it deserves to be. Ell is still working in Nigel's workshop, and he still pops in to see how things are going on.

I'm going to write more about this transition over the next few weeks, Ell deserves a proper introduction, but I thought it was worth reposting this article just to whet your appetite.

The new arrangement is that Ell is selling bags directly in France, through her new Fogg Website but that for the rest of the world distribution is by Robert White.

Jack Lockyer at Robert White can manage all the complicated rituals of transport of Fogg's bags all over the world (including the US of course). They currently have the Can Can and many other bags in stock, so the days of long deliveries are over!

My Can Can bag has been used almost every day since I originally wrote this report, it's not as clean as it looks here (country living) but it is still in the most excellent condition.

It's worth noting that there have been some small changes to the design of the bags - the small hand carrying handle on the top of the bag has gone (but can be ordered specially if you want one - it appears that most customers didn't!). In addition all the shoulder straps are now removable.

Here is the current colour range (things may change!)

So here is my original article about the Fogg Can Can:
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Fogg have been making excellent camera bags since 1986 when Nigel Fogg and bee berman moved over to London from South Africa. I had a brief look at their history in my article Fogg and the New Satchmo back in 2020. I first came across Fogg in about 2007 when visiting Robert White Photographic in Dorset. Robert White are still the official dealer for Fogg for the world outside France.

My first bag was a B-Laika, and I still have and regularly use it. To my mind it's the perfect shoulder bag for carrying a small Leica M kit.
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I think Fogg are probably unique in the world of camera bags in that they still make all their bags in house themselves. Quality is just excellent, definitely made to last a lifetime!
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When I first looked at the Can Can specifications two things immediately sprang to mind:
1. It looked wonderfully small and slim, great for carrying anywhere in fact!
2. it seemed to me that it would be simply too narrow for using with a Leica M System:
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External Dimensions:
    26 cm High (10.5 inches)
    24 cm Wide (9.5 inches)
    8 cm Deep ( 3 inches)
Internal Dimensions:
    23 cm High (9 inches)
    21 cm Wide (8.5 inches)
    7 cm Deep (2.75 inches)

This didn't seem promising as a Leica M10 is a little more than 8cm deep, so I rather presumed it wouldn't fit well in the bag. A few months later Nigel asked me if I would like to have a look at the bag and perhaps write about it. I've always loved their bags so I agreed and this beauty appeared in the post shortly afterwards (back in April this year).
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Obviously the first thing to do was to find out whether it fitted an M11 comfortably - it did! The internal dimensions (of course) refer to the bag with nothing in it, and nothing to stretch it out.

The next thing to do was to see how much I could manage to get into it. At this point it's worth mentioning that I always felt that the Fogg B-Laika was the perfect dimension for a small Leica kit:

B - Laika External Dimensions:
    19 cm High (vs Can Can 26cm)
    29 cm Wide (vs Can Can 24 cm)
    15 cm Deep ( vs Can Can 8 cm)
B - Laika Internal Dimensions:
    15 cm High (vs Can Can 23)
    23 cm Wide (vs Can Can 21)
    11 cm Deep (vs Can Can 7)

So the Can Can is significantly taller, slightly narrower and about halve the thickness.
This is how much I managed to get into it!
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Inside we have
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    A Leica M11 Monochrom with the new 50mm Summilux Leica Close Focus
    A Leica M11 with the 35 APO Summicron M
    My veritable and very beaten up 75 APO Summicron M
    A vintage 50mm Summicron Dual Range
    A Visoflex 2 electronic viewfinder
    A William Hannah Notebook
    My pen (still in the bag)
    Two excellent Rock & Roll camera straps
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Which is pretty remarkable considering how slim it is!
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Like all Fogg bags the build quality is excellent with beautiful finish and lovely stitching and leatherwork. The Brass fittings are really solid and beautifully made.
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The new Fogg Can Can looks like becoming the new perfect bag for a small Leica M kit - with two bodies and 4 lenses together with other bits and pieces being a real possibility. It's slimmer and deeper than a B-Laika but holds a remarkable amount of equipment, and like all Fogg bags it's hand made to the highest possible standard.
Fogg now has a new website at https://www.foggbag.com
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