Lowepro ProTactic BP 350 AW II

£209 www.lowepro.com THiS is a compact backpack designed for use with mirrorless cameras and smaller entrylevel and mid-range DSLrs. You can also carry a full-frame pro-spec mirrorless camera, but this is best carried at the top of the bag and accessed via the top or rear entry points. if you wish to carry a professional-size DSLr, the larger BP 450 aW ii is more appropriate.

access to kit can be achieved from the top, rear and both sides. There are two accessory pockets on both sides of the waist belt alongside two additional pockets on each side of the bag. inside the bag, there’s no shortage of pockets for accessories, and there’s a slot in the rear flap for a 13in laptop or a tablet.

as you’d expect, the ProTactic offers a tripod connection but this is achieved using two straps and an attachment that holds one of the tripod legs for additional security and stability. This combination works well and if desired the straps and leg holder can be left attached to the front of the bag, but being the removable type does increase the risk of losing them.

an interesting feature of the ProTactic is that as well as having Molle connections all over the front of the bag to attach accessories such as lens pouches, the waist belt can be removed from the bag and used as a utility belt that the modular Lowepro accessories can be attached to alongside other items such as filter cases.

The Lowepro ProTactic BP 350 aW ii is a backpack that looks great and provides a high degree of protection for your kit with multiple access points. While the weight of the bag isn’t a major issue, at 2.12kg it is the heaviest bag in this round- up. This additional weight is most likely due to the overall construction of the bag which offers armoured protection of your kit from knocks and bumps thanks to the effective FormShell. Overall, a good solid bag.