Vanguard Alta Sky 51D

£210/$211 It’s a voluminous and versatile backpack, suited to multiple cameras and more besides

One of five different sizes of Alta Sky backpack, the 51D edition measures up to the adage ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’. The V-shaped front flap can securely hold a large drone, or you can easily customize the main inner compartment for one. This compartment also has quick camera access through a large zippered flap on the left-hand side, which itself has a smaller colour-coded pocket for fresh and used memory cards within the flap.

Up top, another zippered flap gives access to a separate compartment for daily essentials or more photo kit, plus another internal zippered sleeve. There are yet more zippered pockets and sleeves on the front and right-hand side. At the bottom, there’s an extra fold-out zippered compartment with dividers for a camera and lenses or accessories. The dividers between each of the top, middle and lower compartments are removable so you can split the sections to best suit your photo kit and other gear, or use the whole backpack with one extra-large compartment. A separate zippered compartment at the rear can accommodate a 15-inch laptop plus a tablet.

Performance

Full access to the backpack is via the rear. The shoulder straps are thickly padded, widely adjustable and comfortable, as is the rest of the harness. The multitude of compartments, pockets and sleeves will prove ideal for those who like to have a dedicated place for all their individual gadgets. The wide and thickly padded waist strap adds to the secure fit when wearing the backpack but it’s not removable to save space.