Photography News Issue 56

Photography News | Issue 56 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

Gitzo Adventury 30L and 45L backpacks £219/£299

Rightly heralded for its excellent tripods, Gitzo has recently been making eyes at the camera bag market, too. First there was the Gitzo Century range, and now two backpacks under the Adventury banner. The Adventury rangewas immediatelymore attractive to me; less bling, and more spec’d and styled for the outdoors with plenty of storage. I tested both over the course of a couple of weeks, hiking, camping and shooting with them. The Adventury comes in an understated olive green and in two versions, the 30L at £219 and the larger 45L at £299; those capacities are expandedby the bags’ roll-top sections, side pockets, and lots of webbing to attach tripods or other gear. The 45L version is pretty huge, and designed to swallow a pro-sized DSLR with up to a 600mm f/4 lens fitted; I easily stowed a Nikon D850 with grip and 180-400mm f/4E TC1.4 FL ED. Along with that there was space for another body, and loads more lenses, filters, flashes, converters, and so on. To fit the large lens and camera combo centrally, the inner dividers are pre-shaped, but can be realigned if required. There’s also an internal pocket for a 15in laptop. So with the bag weighing 3.1kg alone, it’s understandably very heavy when fully laden. The 30L accepts less kit, but it’s still a medium/large pack by regular standards, taking a large DSLR body, six or so lenses and/or accessories, plus a 13in laptop. I fitted a DSLR with a 70-200mm f/2.8mounted, so like the 45L you can go from bag to shooting pretty quickly. The 30L weighs 2.05kg, and when fully laden obviously feels a lot more manageable than the 45L, especially on a serious hike. The 30L is less likely to raise eyebrows if you’re getting on a plane, too, though I’ve seen bigger bags than the 45L carried on. In both cases the contact areas are well padded, as are the straps. If you don the bags properly they’re a comfortable carry despite the weight. Perhaps the Adventury’s most distinctive feature is the rucksack style roll-topsection.Thesecanbefilledwith non-photo bits if you want, and using the 45L, together with the webbing, allowed me to pack everything I needed for an extended trip, and even a night on location; food and drink, a waterproof jacket, sleeping bag, tent and roll mat.

Specs

Prices 30L £219, 45L £299 Material RipStop Nylon and synthetic fabric Tripod holder Yes Sternum strap Yes, adjustable with whistle Laptop pocket 13in/15in Waist belt Yes (removable on 45L) Dimensions (WxHxD) 30L: Exterior 48x31x19cm; insert 38x23x16cm 45L: Exterior 55x35x22cm; insert 52x30x18cm Weight 30L: 2.05kg 45L: 3.1kg Contact manfrotto.com/gitzo

Build and protection is excellent throughout; the same on both models. The modular inner padding is thick and strong, and the 45Lhas some extra padding for larger lenses. The bags’ inners are also accessed from the body side, so you get the benefit of security and also that you can put them down in wet or muddy conditions and not transfer the muck to your back. The inner is also protected by a zipped- in scrim; this offers some extra protection against dust and debris. The only handling problems I encountered were that the scrim zip is difficult to operate as it runs behind the outer zip; for that reason I mostly left it unzipped which still afforded some protection. Also, the shoulder straps canget in thewayof opening the main zip, and needed to be folded back on themselves, out of the way. Finally, there are no small inner pockets for memory cards, valuables and so on; it feels like a weird omission. Overall, the zips, which have large pulls for gloved use, operated very smoothly and all the outer opening ones have rubber lips as storm protection. The outer is water-repellent rip-stop nylon which is very hardy. There’s also a rubber-matted base, and an all-weather cover, which is pegged rather than stitched in; these cover the roll-top section, even fully loaded. KS

The outer is water- repellent rip-stop nylon which is very hardy

Verdict

These two versatile and really well produced backpacks are of exceptional quality, and although a significant investment, they’re not far off similar top-end rivals. Both have features to suit more intrepid wildlife and landscape photographers, and features like the removable camera insert make them good for daily use too. Pros Exceptional build and protection, lots of space and comfortable to carry Cons Minor handling issues, no internal pockets for cards, pricey

Images Both Adventury bags offer impressive protection and have plenty of room to stow the most substantial camera outfits. Handling is generally good too, although the zip of the inner scrim (image left) is tricky to get at.