There is something rather wonderful about being able to see exactly which birds are visiting your garden, particularly those that stop by when you're not around to enjoy them. Smart bird feeders have made this easier than ever, combining traditional bird feeding with miniature cameras that automatically record our feathered friends as they come and go.

However, while the technology has certainly improved over the years, many of these feeders still suffer from one rather obvious limitation: their cameras are designed to focus on one particular spot.

That's where the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro comes in. By introducing phase-detection autofocus alongside a 4K HDR camera and AI-powered bird identification, Kiwibit has created something that feels like a genuine step forward for this increasingly popular category.

Having spent time enjoying everything it has to offer, I think there's plenty here to get excited about, whether you're a dedicated birdwatcher, a photography enthusiast, or simply someone who loves watching the wildlife in their garden.

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: Specifications

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: Build and handling

The first thing that impressed me about the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro was just how well thought out its design is. While there are plenty of smart bird feeders on the market, some can feel as though a camera has simply been attached to a conventional bird feeder. That certainly isn't the case here. Everything feels purpose-built, from the sturdy weather-resistant construction to the neatly integrated camera, dual seed compartments, and clever solar-powered roof, which makes the whole experience remarkably straightforward.

One of my favorite features has to be the dual solar panels built into the roof. Rather than having a separate solar panel attached by a cable, Kiwibit has incorporated everything into the feeder itself, which not only looks considerably neater but also makes installation much easier. Having panels on both sides of the roof gives you a better chance of capturing sunlight throughout the day, helping to keep the camera powered without constantly worrying about its battery. Of course, positioning still matters, particularly during the darker winter months, but it's a wonderfully practical design that makes the feeder feel almost self-sufficient.

However, should you find yourself in a situation where the battery does run out, perhaps after several particularly gloomy days, Kiwibit has thought of that too. The removable rechargeable battery can simply be taken out and charged using USB-C, meaning you don't have to dismantle the entire feeder or bring the whole thing indoors. It's a small detail, but one that makes a considerable difference when you're dealing with a product designed to live outside throughout the year.

The feeding system itself is equally impressive. The two seed compartments allow you to offer different types of bird food, helping to attract a wider variety of feathered visitors, while the straightforward design makes refilling and cleaning refreshingly simple. There are no unnecessarily complicated mechanisms or awkward arrangements to deal with, and that's exactly what I want from something I'm going to be maintaining regularly in the garden.

Then there is the companion smartphone app, which I found extremely user-friendly. Setting up the feeder and accessing its various features feels simple and intuitive, with everything from live viewing and recorded footage to bird identification and your personal collection of visiting species available in one place. It's an important part of the overall experience, and for me, Kiwibit has done an excellent job of making some rather advanced technology accessible to just about anyone.

Birdfy Feeder Metal: Performance

Of course, the real reason to consider the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro over many of its competitors is its phase-detection autofocus, and I think this is where the feeder really comes into its own. Most smart bird feeder cameras are designed with a fixed focus distance, usually around the perch where birds land to feed. This works perfectly well when your feathered friends are sitting exactly where the manufacturer expects them to be, but it can become rather limiting when they decide to perch somewhere else.

The Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro changes that experience by allowing its camera to adjust focus depending on where the bird is positioned. For example, if you've attached the feeder to a tree, you can capture beautiful close-up footage of a bird enjoying its lunch, but you can also take advantage of that autofocus system when another bird lands on a nearby branch within the camera's field of view. Rather than everything beyond the feeding perch becoming a blur, the camera has the ability to bring subjects at different distances into focus. It's a genuinely useful feature, and one that makes the whole experience feel much closer to using a conventional camera.

What makes this particularly enjoyable is how well the autofocus works alongside Kiwibit's AI-powered bird identification system. As birds arrive, the app can send notifications and create a record of their visits, allowing you to discover exactly which species have been spending time in your garden. I particularly enjoyed the ability to build up a personal catalog of visiting birds, almost like a digital birdwatching checklist, with each newly identified species becoming another one to tick off.

Better still, this isn't simply a list of names and dates. You can revisit the individual species in your collection and enjoy the recorded footage of their visits, which is a fantastic way to appreciate birds that you might otherwise have missed entirely. Whether it's a robin stopping by for breakfast or a more unusual visitor making a brief appearance, having those moments automatically captured and organized is something I found incredibly rewarding. It's worth remembering that AI identification is a premium feature, so you'll need either a Kiwibit Plus subscription or the version of the feeder that includes lifetime AI access to make full use of it.

Image quality is another area where the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro really delivers. Its 4K HDR camera produces wonderfully detailed footage, allowing you to appreciate the colors, textures, and intricate feather patterns of the birds visiting your garden. Considering the relatively compact camera housed inside the feeder, I was extremely impressed with the results. There's something rather special about being able to sit comfortably indoors and watch beautifully detailed footage of birds going about their daily business just a few feet away.

The autofocus certainly helps here, keeping subjects sharp as they move around the feeder, while the 130-degree field of view provides a generous perspective of the surrounding activity. One thing worth mentioning is that 4K video is limited to 15fps, so footage isn't quite as smooth as you might expect from a conventional 4K camera shooting at 30fps or 60fps. There are also 1080p recording options for those who prefer smoother motion. Nevertheless, the level of detail available from the 4K footage is excellent, and for capturing those wonderful little moments of garden wildlife, I think the Kiwibit performs brilliantly.

Perhaps what I enjoyed most about using it, however, is that you don't really have to do very much at all. Once it's installed, connected to your Wi-Fi, and filled with seed, the feeder quietly gets on with recording visits, identifying birds, and building up your collection.

You can check in whenever you like, watch a live view, or simply enjoy discovering which feathered friends have visited while you've been busy doing something else. It's an incredibly enjoyable experience, and one that makes you appreciate just how much wildlife passes through your garden every day.

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: Sample Images

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: Video sample

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro: Verdict

The Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro is, without question, one of the most exciting smart bird feeder cameras I've come across. Its phase-detection autofocus is a genuinely impressive addition that helps distinguish it from the many fixed-focus alternatives currently available, while the excellent 4K HDR image quality makes watching and recording garden birds a real pleasure. Add in the superb build quality, thoughtfully designed dual solar-panel roof, straightforward seed distribution system, and an app that makes discovering and cataloging different bird species wonderfully enjoyable, and Kiwibit has created a product that gets an awful lot right.

There are a couple of things worth considering, particularly the 15fps limitation when shooting in 4K and the additional cost of accessing the full AI experience, depending on which version you purchase. However, neither takes away from just how much fun this feeder is to use.

For me, the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro represents exactly what a modern smart bird feeder should be: easy to use, cleverly designed, and capable of capturing beautiful footage of the wildlife that we often take for granted. I think it would make the perfect gift for any keen birdwatcher, photography enthusiast, or simply someone who loves discovering the incredible variety of birds visiting their garden. It's a wonderful way to bring nature a little closer to home, and one that I suspect will have you checking your phone to see who's visiting far more often than you might expect.

I’ve been largely impressed with Sirui products over the years, and it’s been quite a few years at that. The company launched in 2001, becoming a well-known brand for tripods within five years. In 2015, Sirui branched out into anamorphic and cine lenses, as well as diversifying into the lighting market in 2022. On the lens front, Sirui is still most widely known (and highly regarded) for its cine lenses but the one I’m reviewing here is a full-frame autofocus lens for stills cameras, although of course that encompasses video shooting nowadays.

From the relatively recent Aurora range, this 35mm is currently one of two lenses on offer, the other being an 85mm prime that matches the 35mm for its fast f/1.4 aperture and has mostly the same handling characteristics. Both lenses aim high in terms of features, handling, build quality, performance and value for money, the 35mm intending to be among the best street lenses on the market.

The two lenses are available in a wide range of mount options, comprising Sony E (FE), Nikon Z (FX), L-mount and Fujifilm X. Although full-frame compatible, the 35mm lens has an ‘effective’ focal length of just over 50mm on APS-C format cameras, serving as a ‘nifty fifty’, which is naturally the only option with the Fuji X-mount edition.

Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4: Specifications

Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4: Price

The Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4 has a list price of $549 / £549 / AU$889, which makes it particularly affordable for a lens of this type. By comparison, the own-brand Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 G Master weighs in at a whopping $1,498 / £1,429 / AU$1,999, although Nikon makes a relatively budget-friendly (and more basic) Nikkor Z 35mm f/1.4 for $677 / £649 / AU$1,099. Independent Chinese competition includes the even faster Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 Lab at $999 / £869 / AU$1,649 and there’s the Japanese Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG II Art for $1,059 / £849 / AU$2,049. Whichever way you look at it, the Sirui Aurora 35mm looks great value at the price.

Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4: Design & Handling

The Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4 is a sight to behold, even before you get it out of its packaging. It’s beautifully presented in a full-color printed box, complete with fabric lift-up tab and ID card. Inside that, the lens sits resplendent in its own posh soft case, reminiscent of the ones that up-market Sigma lenses come in, but in blue, silver and black instead of just plain black.

The lens itself follows suit, with a black anodized aluminum barrel, a full set of switches and function buttons, bright blue Sirui badge and an Aurora logo in a script font that makes the lens look like it’s been signed by hand. But as they say, looks can be deceiving, so I’m hoping not to be disappointed.

When you lift the lens from its padded case, the first impression is that it’s a high-quality item. Everything looks and feels up-market, from the weather-sealed metal base to the fluorine coated front element. It’s pretty lightweight for a 35mm f/1.4 prime as well, measuring 3x4 inches and weighing in at 490g, or a smidge over one pound.

Like most lenses for mirrorless cameras nowadays, the Aurora has an autofocus system that’s based on a linear stepping motor. Typical of the breed, it’s quick and virtually silent in operation, and is electronically coupled to a manual focus ring. As is also generally the case, there’s no focus distance scale apart from the one you might have as an option in your camera body’s electronic viewfinder or rear screen.

Swapping between autofocus and manual focus modes is a simple case of operating the AF/MF switch on the side of the lens barrel. That saves any time and effort faffing around in camera menus to make the change. Just above the switch is a customizable function button that I tend to use for AF-hold, although a range of other options is generally available depending on the camera body.

Like all the other switches and controls, the aperture ring is clearly marked, this time on one-third f/stop increments, all the way from the widest aperture of f/1.4 to the narrowest of f/16. That’s all well and good if you’re shooting in Aperture-priority or Manual shooting modes, but there’s also an A (Auto) position for camera-driven adjustments and for shooting in Program and Shutter-priority modes.

I don’t consider myself to be clumsy but I do find that it’s all too easy to nudge an aperture control ring from its Auto position to a narrow aperture setting by accident. The Aurora guards against this with the provision of an Iris Lock switch. I’m very much in favor of that.

Catering to both stills and video, the aperture ring also features a click/de-click switch, thus allowing for precise, one-third incremental steps or smooth and silent aperture transitions respectively. It’s another nice touch that is sure to find favor with hybrid shooters and content creators who alternate between stills and video.

One final word on aperture is that the lens has a particularly well-rounded diaphragm, based on no less than 13 curved blades. This helps to maintain the quality of bokeh when stopping down from the widest aperture of f/1.4. There’s plenty of quality glass in the optical path as well, with three aspherical elements, two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, one Special ED element and two HRI (High Refractive Index) elements in the chain.

Like the lens itself, the hood feels a quality item, with an efficient petal-shaped profile, a grippy rubber handling ring, a ridged interior surface and a lock/release button. As usual, it also has a bayonet-fit design and can be reversed on the lens for compact stowage.

Maintaining the quality theme, even the lens caps look and feel nicely designed and well made. The front cap has a pinch-style release mechanism that makes it easy to fit or remove even when the hood is fitted to the lens in its business orientation.

Finishing up at the back end, there’s a metal mounting plate that features gold-plated electronic contacts and a rubber weather-seal ring. There’s actually a comprehensive set of weather-seals fitted through the whole lens. Another bonus is that the mounting plate includes a USB-C socket, which you can use for applying firmware updates.

Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4: Performance

After such high expectations based on the apparent quality, presentation and finish of the lens, performance turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag in my tests. Starting out with a positive, the f/1.4 aperture definitely delivers a tight depth of field along with attractively smooth bokeh, especially when shooting close-ups.

Producing soft defocused areas within images is certainly not a problem, but I found sharpness more of a challenge. I didn’t get the autofocus hit rate that I’m used to when using my Sony A7 III camera body and stepping motor-based lenses. Even manual focusing proved to be a bit hit and miss. When correctly focused, the lens still lacked sharpness towards the edges and corners of the frame, and that’s after stopping down to medium apertures of around f/5.6 and f/8. To demonstrate, the pair of images below show a full-frame image on the left, and an enlarged section from near one of the corners on the right.

Back on the plus side, there was little evidence of any axial or lateral chromatic aberrations during my testing, the latter being minimal even right out at the edges of the frame. Ghosting and flare were also kept to small amounts.

There’s no real problem in terms of distortion either and unlike many modern lenses designed for mirrorless cameras, the Sirui doesn’t rely heavily on automatic in-camera corrections.

One of the tests that I often run for ‘fast’ lenses is to shoot a phrenology head in my back garden, starting with the widest available aperture and stopping down to a medium aperture in single f/stop increments. The results give good indications of sharpness and the quality of bokeh for defocused areas. Moreover, fast lenses often suffer from axial/longitudinal chromatic aberration at the widest apertures, also known as bokeh fringing. This displays as color fringing around high-contrast transitions, just in front of and behind the plane of focus. The black lines and writing on the white porcelain of the phrenology head are a good test for this as well.

The following gallery contains shots taken at full f/stop steps from f/1.4 to f/8. The lens does well in most respects but if you zoom in to the images for an enlarged view, you’ll notice a serious lack of wide-aperture sharpness. I initially suspected autofocus inaccuracies but repeated the entire sequence, focusing manually with maximum magnification in preview, and got much the same results. Wide-aperture vignetting (darkened corners) is also very severe.

Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4: Sample Images

Images in the sample gallery below were taken on a bright, sunny morning at the ‘floating harbor’ of Bristol Docks in the south west of England. I used a selection of wide aperture settings for a tight depth of field when shooting close-ups, and narrower apertures where I wanted edge-to-edge sharpness for more expansive subjects.

Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4: Lab Results

We run a range of lab tests under controlled conditions, using the Imatest Master testing suite. Photos of test charts are taken across the range of apertures and zooms (where available), then analyzed for sharpness, distortion and chromatic aberrations.

We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration).

Sharpness:

Sharpness in the center of frame is excellent, but it soon drops off as you move towards the corners. Even in the mid-frame image quality is very soft, and it's downright dire as you reach the corners.

Fringing:

There's visible fringing in the corners of frame when you stop down past f/2.8, but it's not severe.

Distortion: 0.75

The lens produces a touch of pincushion distortion, but not enough to be distracting.

Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4: Verdict

I think that the Sirui Aurora 35mm f/1.4 looks and feels a highly impressive lens. It’s beautifully presented and robustly built with an anodized aluminum barrel and comprehensive weather-seals. It also features a wealth of handling exotica, including an AF/MF focus mode switch, customizable function button and an aperture control ring with an iris lock and click/de-click switch.

All in all, the Sirui looks unfeasibly great value for money, but I found a sting in the tail when it came to actual performance. Autofocus accuracy proved a little inconsistent in my tests, and sharpness across the image frame was a moveable feast, even when the lens was correctly focused. All in all, I think the Sirui looks a great lens, but it’s not really as good as it looks.

Alternatives

As a photographer who shoots with multiple camera bodies depending on the scenario, I’m forever moving a camera strap from one body to the other – and that’s not always the easiest task. But the new Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap uses a clever anchor design to attach and detach from the camera in seconds.

The most unusual feature of the new strap series is right in the name: The anchors are magnetic. While that may be the most unusual part of the design, that’s not the feature that won me over. The real magic is in the number of different ways this strap can be worn.

As someone who uses the Wandrd PRVKE as my go-to camera bag, I was pretty excited about the launch of the Wandrd Magnetic camera strap – and I wasn’t disappointed.

Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap: Price

The Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap retails for about $69 / £59 / AU$95.64 / CA$95.36 for the standard 30mm size.

The narrower 15mm strap retails for a little less – about $49 / £42 / AU$67.92 / CA$67.72.

The wrist strap comes in at $39 / £34 / AU$54.06 / CA$53.90.

Each strap has enough links to attach to two cameras, but if you need more or the original ones wear out, replacement links are $13 / £11.17 / AU$18.02 / CA$17.97 for a four-pack.

Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap: Specs

30mm camera strap

• Weight: 3.5oz
• Length: Min 31" (79cm) - Max 52" (133cm)
• Strap Width: 30mm (3cm)
• Weight Capacity: 200lbs (90kg)

15mm camera strap

• Weight: 2.2oz
• Length: Min 29" (74cm) - Max 51.125" (130cm)
• Strap Width: 15mm (1.5cm)
• Weight Capacity: 200lbs (90kg)

Wrist strap

• Weight: 0.8oz
• Length: Min 9" (23cm) - Max 13.78" (35cm)
• Strap Width: 15mm (1.5cm)
• Weight Capacity: 200lbs (90kg)

Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap: Design

There are hundreds of different strap options for photographers, but Wandrd is joining the ranks of straps built for easy attachment. The Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap is designed for photographers who regularly swap cameras, swap straps, or often want to remove the strap for tripod shooting.

At the heart of the new strap system is a magnetic Torus Anchor. The magnets don’t hold the weight of the camera, but rather guide the circular anchor point into position so that there’s no fiddling to get them in the right spot before the strap clamps down. The clamp uses two interlocking pieces that go through the open center of the magnet, and the design feels very secure.

That system means that, once you get the anchors installed on your camera, it’s easy to change strap styles from neck to wrist, swap which camera is attached to the strap, or remove the strap in order to shoot on a tripod. The neck straps each come with four anchors and the wrist strap with two, so out of the box, it comes with enough to use two cameras on the same strap system without buying additional anchors.

Wandrd includes split rings to help connect the loops to cameras that have strap lugs that are too small.

In addition to attaching to the camera’s lugs, the anchors can also attach to the camera’s tripod mount using a screw-in mount. The lug itself is attached to a metallic piece that’s separate from the screw-in mount. This is important because twisting the camera around on the strap won’t accidentally unscrew the tripod plate and cause a disastrous strap failure.

That baseplate should be tightened with a screwdriver or a coin and checked periodically, but even with rigorous tugging, I couldn’t get the baseplate to loosen once I had tightened it with a coin. Unfortunately, it’s not Arca-Swiss compatible, so it will need to be removed to use the camera on a tripod.

In addition to supporting both lug-mounted straps and tripod plate-mounted anchors, the strap can also connect to itself. That means the strap will also work with compact cameras that only have one strap lug. And, if I remove the strap to shoot from a tripod, I can wear the strap on my body for storage by looping it to itself.

The clamps at the end of the strap, the strap lugs, and the length adjustment are all made from plastic. This is by design to prevent metal from scratching the camera. The plastic feels less luxurious than metal, but I like the softer edges on the plastic to help avoid scratches.

The strap itself is made from comfortable nylon webbing. The standard neck strap is 30mm wide, while the smaller neck strap has half that width and is made for compact camera systems.

The length of the standard neck strap can be adjusted from both sides of the strap with a simple tug on the adjustment. The dual-sided length adjustment is nice because you can still adjust the length when wearing the strap cross-body. The narrower 15mm neck strap only has one length adjustment rather than two.

In addition to the two different sizes of neck straps, Wandrd also offers a wrist strap version. This uses the same anchor system in a single-anchor wrist strap.

Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap: Performance

I tested all three Wandrd Magnetic Strap designs with both neck straps and the wrist strap. I used the strap system with a variety of cameras – a mirrorless with a compact lens, a portrait prime, and a heavy telephoto lens, as well as an old film camera.

Wearing the strap is comfortable. The nylon material is soft, flexible, and doesn’t chafe my skin. I prefer the standard, wider strap for its better weight distribution for most cameras, while the narrower strap works fine for compact cameras and a lightweight mirrorless with a pancake lens. I do wish the standard strap was a little bit wider for even more weight distribution.

I love being able to switch from a neck strap to a cross-body sling – this is really a must-have feature for me, as it allows me to adjust the weight of the gear from pulling on my neck to my shoulders.

But as someone who regularly switches between different cameras depending on what type of shoot I’m doing, I loved the ability to swap straps in seconds using the magnetic link system. There’s no tedious lineup needed. It’s fast enough to separate the strap from the camera before packing it into a bag.

I’ve now spent around two weeks with the straps – that’s not enough for long-term durability tests, but so far I haven’t spotted anything that suggests premature wear. Wandrd’s warranty against manufacturer defects doesn’t have a time limit – normal wear-and-tear isn’t covered, but manufacturing defects are covered under a lifetime warranty.

The anchor system does use color-coded threads inside, so when the black loop starts to show yellow, it’s nearing time to replace the links.

Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap Vs. Peak Design Slide

As I attached, unattached, and reattached the Wandrd Magnetic system to my cameras, I couldn’t help but be reminded of another popular strap system that also uses anchors to easily take the strap on and off: The Peak Design Slide.

The Peak Design Slide and Slide Lite is about 15mm wider than the Wandrd strap. It also uses a few metal pieces, and that choice, plus the wider, thicker material, gives the Peak Design Slide a slightly higher-end feel. But, one of our complaints with the Slide Lite is that the metal can scratch, so Wandrd's use of plastic may be a smarter choice.

On the other hand, Wandrd’s magnetic strap anchors feel a bit faster to swap – not dramatically so, but a bit faster. Wandrd also gives the strap a place to anchor to itself so it can support cameras with a single mounting point – and this is also another option to make the strap a more cross-body style. Peak Design’s Form straps do this, but the Slide doesn’t.

The Wandrd Magnetic strap also comes in a little cheaper – in the US, the full-size strap is about $10 less.

Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap: Verdict

The Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap system makes strap swaps – or camera swaps – quick and easy, all while keeping a comfortable, versatile design. I love the ability to wear the strap as a neck strap or cross-body, and the soft nylon material is comfortable.

I only had a few small complaints about Wandrd’s magnetic strap system. The tripod mounting plate doesn’t double as an Arca-Swiss quick release and has to be removed for tripod use. I do wish the standard strap was a little wider.

But overall, I love the magnetic camera strap system. It’s a good buy if you regularly want to remove the strap or use a single strap for multiple cameras. But it’s also a comfortable nylon option with multiple ways to wear, even for single-camera users.

Wandrd Magnetic Camera Strap: Alternatives

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For more camera-carry solutions, take a look at the best camera straps or the best camera backpacks.

A photography vest can be a brilliant alternative to a camera bag or heavy backpack, bringing all of your key and core camera items and paraphernalia onto your person within quick and easy reach.

The Campco Humvee Safari Photo Vest is one of the world's most popular photography vests on the market, no doubt due to its capacious 21 pockets for storage and budget-friendly price, which helps it deliver maximum bang for your buck.

Some photography vests on the market are padded and insulated gilet types, great for keeping warm in winter. However, as the name suggests, the Humvee Safari Photo Vest is designed for use in warmer climates, and ventilation and breathability are top features found here.

Having your key camera kit at your fingertips means you won't spend time rummaging around in your camera bag, which could potentially cost you the shot. This means the Humvee Safari Photo Vest could be a great option for wildlife safaris, long summer days spent in bird hides, adventures and hikes in the great outdoors, and even fast-paced sports and motorsports events. I got hold of one to find out if this popular choice is the one you should go for...

Humvee by CampCo Safari Photo Vest: Specifications

Humvee by CampCo Safari Photo Vest: Price

The CampCo Humvee Safari Photo Vest comes in either Khaki or Black and no fewer than seven sizes, ranging from XS to XXXL. The RRP of the vest is $66 / £66 in the US and UK; however, retailers often sell it a little cheaper.

While it’s brilliant that CampCo makes the Humvee Safari Photo Vest in such a wide range of sizes, some of the less popular sizes aren’t always readily stocked, which can make them hard to get hold of.

It’s about half the price of the competing Moment Exposure 10L Vest, which will set you back around $120, though the Humvee comes with significantly more storage, with over twice as many pockets to stash items like batteries, SD cards, and lens caps. So the Humvee Safari could be a great option for those looking for maximum storage, without leaving a huge dent in the wallet.

Humvee by CampCo Safari Photo Vest: Design & Handling

Following CampCo's sizing guide, I ordered the Small size, though I found it was about seven inches too big around the chest area for me – this may not be an issue if you want it to be loose and baggy for better ventilation and airflow.

The vest is made from 100% cotton, which is lightweight and breathable, plus there are metal accents from D-rings and a carabiner. The back is also vented to encourage airflow, while the zippers are heavy-duty, and the seams have also been reinforced in key areas to enhance durability.

A photography vest like this is, of course, inspired by fishing vests, and indeed CampCo states the vest can be used for everything from fishing to family outings, camping, shooting, and hiking, as well as photography. Whatever hobby you use it for, there are no fewer than a staggering 21 pockets to stash your key items and accessories, plus loops and D-rings to attach to as well.

With 21 pockets at your disposal, you should have no problem stashing and reaching items like a passport, lens, phone, memory cards, and batteries, so it could be a brilliant lightweight solution if you don’t want to carry around a bulky backpack.

I've also been testing out the Moment Exposure 10L, which also features a large pocket on the back that can be used to stash a 14” laptop or hydration bladder. There’s no such luck with the Humvee, so it’s not quite as accommodating of those extra-large items where a backpack comes in handy.

The Humvee Safari Photo Vest does, however, have two open inside pockets that can’t be sealed. There’s also a large pocket on the back underneath the mesh venting, which can be buttoned up, and on the other side of this, on the inside of the vest, there’s a hidden pocket with a zipper that can only be accessed by taking the vest off, so it’s a good choice for stashing valuables.

Humvee by CampCo Safari Photo Vest: Performance

The CampCo Safari Vest is made from cotton and weighs 21 oz. This makes it 35% heavier than the cycling-vest-inspired Moment Exposure 10L, which is sportier and more trim. In practice, you're not going to feel bogged down by those extra five ounces. What you put in its 21 pockets, however, could weigh you down, depending on what you load the vest up with, and with an almost overwhelming number of pockets to choose from, it's quite easy to move your kit around so that it's evenly balanced and loaded up correctly.

While not as sleek and sporty as the Moment Exposure 10L, the CampCo Safari Vest is much more breathable and has many more size options to choose from. Unlike the Exposure 10L, the Safari Vest has a breathable mesh material on the back, making it easy to ventilate, ideal for the hot safari climates it's been named after.

Looking at the number of pockets alone, the CampCo Humvee Safari comes top of the pack, boasting 21 of various shapes and sizes. It is only beaten in this regard by the PortaBrace VV Vest, which is aimed at videographers – and also costs nearly five times the price of the Humvee Safari! For purely photography vests, the Domke PhoTOGS vest comes in second place with 18 pockets, and while it has less stash storage, its pockets are padded and better for protecting delicate lenses.

There are multiple zippers for a selection of pockets, including a hidden pocket on the back panel for storing valuables. All of the zippers have plastic teeth with a metal sliding mechanism. A very large and chunky zipper is used to bring the two breastplates together – the large zipper teeth ensure this runs smoothly and doesn't get jammed or burst open – it's also a two-way zipper, so it can be opened from the top or bottom quickly, for more control over ventilation.

Only four of the 21 pockets have zippers; the others mostly use Velcro tab openings, with the exception of the large back pocket, which features two metal poppers to keep its flap secured. The back pocket is the largest featured, measuring 11x7.5" – while this is probably most useful for maps, notebooks, documents, or a rain shell, I was surprised to find I could fit my Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. As a side note, it's not very protected or comfortable, as the pocket isn't padded. You could likely stash a tablet in this pocket, though it definitely doesn't match the 14" laptop pocket on the Moment Exposure 10L vest, which I also reviewed recently.

Many of the front pockets have elasticated openings, which means they can be stretched open to fit larger items like lenses and snap back shut to keep them securely in the jacket – these are ideal for larger smartphones or small lenses.

There's no shortage of spaces to put documents, maps, notepads, pens, and multi-tools, as well as camera equipment like small lenses, memory card cases, cleaning kit, and spare batteries – you really can customize it to your heart's content. There's also plenty of D-rings and carabiners to attach key rings to.

Humvee by CampCo Safari Photo Vest: Verdict

The Campco Humvee Safari Photo vest doesn't feel like the highest quality or most premium product on the market, but this is perhaps to be expected at its budget-friendly price. The cotton isn't wax-treated for waterproofing, the plastic zippers feel a little clunky to operate, and the stitching isn't the most precise, but without paying big bucks for a more premium product, I suppose this is to be expected.

While it might not feel the most luxurious or look the most stylish, the Humvee Safari Photo Vest is highly practical and is a great alternative to a photography backpack on wildlife safaris, adventures, and hikes in the great outdoors, and even some sports or motorsports scenarios where you need fast access to your core equipment without losing time by diving into a camera bag.

Alternatives

A photography vest can be a very practical and lightweight alternative to big and heavy camera bags; however, let’s face it, they can often look a little… how should I put it… 'goofy'. While perfect for a safari, bird hide, press pit, or trackside at a racecourse, your typical photography vest doesn’t fit in quite so well in urban environments, and that makes them rather limiting for many photographers looking to ditch a heavy camera bag.

Well, Seattle-based camera accessory manufacturer Moment might have the answer. The Exposure 10L is inspired by cycling vests, so it's designed to be sleek, sporty, and allow you to be agile with your camera while you work.

Moment got its start in 2014 with a successful Kickstarter campaign for wide-angle and telephoto lenses for early-generation smartphones. The company has since diversified its offering to an entire ecosystem of bags, outdoor apparel, and camera accessories, all made from high-quality and sustainable materials, designed to put the creator first.

The Exposure 10L vest belongs to Moment’s 'Fast & light' collection, sitting alongside the Moment Sequence 23L Camera Backpack and sling bags of varying sizes.

Packing light is something I struggle with, so the Exposure 10L is the most interesting item of the bunch for me personally, forcing me to pare down my kit and change my shooting habits. It should make for more enjoyable shoot days and allow me to be more nimble and quick to fire off my shots – let’s find out how it performed...

Moment Exposure 10L Camera Vest: Specifications

Moment Exposure 10L Camera Vest: Price

Moment makes its Exposure vest in two variations to accommodate different chest sizes, with the S/M version for 38-45” chests and the L/XL version for 45-55” chests. Both sizes have the same 10L capacity and cost $120 / £120.

In the US, where Moment is based, I found the Exposure 10L readily available in both sizes and in both its black and desert styles; the latter has a sandy beige colour with black accents, while the black is more stealthy and is completely black all-round – great for keeping a low profile in urban settings. In the UK, the black iteration was readily stocked; however, I couldn’t find the desert colorway anywhere this side of the pond, but hopefully we'll soon see stock of this version too.

The Moment Exposure 10L is pretty much twice as much as the CampCo Humvee Safari Photo Vest, which I've also reviewed. Looking at the two vests side-by-side, the Moment Exposure 10L does feel and look both more stylish and more premium, so I think it could be worth the extra money.

A spokesperson for Moment told me that the company likes to make rolling changes to its products based on customer feedback. While the Moment Exposure 10L initially shipped with one zipped front pocket and one mesh pocket, the Exposure 10L has since been updated to have two zippered front pockets instead after taking into account feedback from its customers; this is the version I got hold of for review.

Moment Exposure 10L Camera Vest: Design & Handling

The Moment Exposure 10L is a lightweight photography vest inspired by the practicality of fishing vests, which allow you to carry key items without the need for a bulky backpack. The team at Moment has also taken inspiration from sleek cycling vests, with rear pockets that can be accessed without having to first take the vest off.

The Moment Exposure 10L vest only comes in two sizes: S/M, which fits chests between 38-45” (96.5-114cm) and L/XL, which fits 45-55” chests (114-140cm). Compared to the Humvee by CampCo vest, which is available in seven sizes ranging from XS to XXXL, this does make the size options for the Moment vest seem a little scant. It also has far fewer pockets than the Humvee’s 21 – at just eight. However, these numbers alone don’t tell the full story – many of the Exposure 10L's eight pockets have netted sub-pockets within them, so it doesn’t feel like you're missing out on storage and your accessories can be organized neatly.

One zippered pocket on the back also has two sub-sections that run the full length of the back panel – Moment claims this can fit up to a 14” laptop, though it has to be a very thin and lightweight laptop, such as a MacBook Air M3, which has a thickness of just 1.15cm – much thicker and you’ll struggle to fit it in. This was actually surprisingly comfortable, and it’s also more than spacious enough for a tablet like an 11” iPad.

The laptop pocket can also be fitted with a hydration bladder to help you stay hydrated on long walks and adventures.

The Moment Exposure 10L has some pretty unique tricks of its own, and whether you use the S/M or L/XL version, it’s been designed to hug your body to distribute the weight evenly across your front, back, and sides.

The vest material is a LightWeave ripstop fabric with DWR coating that acts as a ‘rain guard’ to keep you and the contents of your pockets dry in a downpour. The laptop compartment has some much-needed extra protection with its magnetic flap, which prevents water ingress. The inside is nylon ripstop fabric, while the vest exterior is 210D ripstop nylon.

Moment Exposure 10L Camera Vest: Performance

The Moment Exposure 10L certainly hugs the body and is a lighter, more enjoyable way to carry core camera kit compared to a backpack. That said, it comes in just two size options (S/M and L/XL). I have a chest of 40”, which falls within the recommended 38-45” chest size with the S/M model, though this did feel quite tight.

The Exposure 10L uses elasticated bungee sternum straps that adjust to be more or less snug to your body. Some users might have preferred a zipper to tether the two breastplates, but the elasticated straps make it feel nimble and flexible.

Modeled on cycling vests, the Exposure 10L certainly feels very agile. However, Moment has made one big change for photographers by putting the large waterproof laptop compartment on the back, and while this is certainly handy for photographers looking to edit on the go, it means the back isn’t breathable, so you probably wouldn’t want to use it for cycling or while doing extensive exercise. Other photography vests have better ventilation, so if you’re shooting on safari or in hot locations, the Exposure 10L might look cool, but perhaps it's not the best at actually keeping you cool.

While the black version is great for keeping a low profile in urban settings, it gets hot in direct sunlight, which can be uncomfortable. You may therefore want to consider the desert option with its lighter beige colorway, which will do a better job of reflecting the midday sun away from your body.

The vest incorporates an ‘AirLift’ back panel, which basically means there’s some perforated foam covered in an open grid of abrasion-resistant mesh and has channels to enhance airflow. Moment says this helps wick away sweat and promote evaporation; however, the padding is extremely thin, and once you put something heavy in it, like a laptop or a water bottle, you are going to feel it – it’s just never going to be as comfortable as a big photography backpack and all the cushy foam padding that comes with one. However, if you need that functionality, it’s good to know it’s there.

Each breastplate has a large pocket secured with YKK zippers for extra durability and weather resistance. The inside of each of these pockets is bright salmon pink to help you find your kit, and items such as a smartphone or compact camera can fit in these with ease. There are also sections within the pocket for organization, making it easy to stash items such as pens and spare batteries, and there’s a carabiner tied to the inside of one of the pockets for attaching items such as a penknife or multitool.

The right-hand-side chest pocket can have a cable threaded through it and up inside the shoulder strap, all the way to the back pocket, where it can be connected to a battery pack, which has its own stretchy pocket inside the back panel. Alternatively, you could route a hydration hose through here to a water bladder in the back.

On the front of the two main chest pockets are two stretchy net pockets that have a flap covering; these are handy for stashing items like snacks. There are also two stretchy pockets built into the webbing around your waist. The official imagery from Moment shows a user stashing a compact camera in this for quick access, but note that none of the pockets are particularly well padded, so your camera and laptop aren’t best protected; the vest trades protection for speed and agility.

The pockets are naturally snug, so a full-frame interchangeable lens camera is off the cards, though Moment does suggest some specific point-and-shoot compacts like the Canon G7 X, Ricoh GR, and Sony RX100 series cameras, along with popular cameras for street photography, such as the Fujifilm X100VI and Leica Q3.

Photographers with larger kit, such as full-frame cameras, might be thinking that a device like Peak Design's Capture Camera Clip would be a good workaround; however, this is sadly incompatible, as the shoulder strap material is too thin to have such a heavy load placed upon it. It's also a bit of a shame that there isn't a reinforced area for a Capture Clip on the waist, but then the vest is designed for premium compact cameras, so I can't really mark it down for this.

The bottom half of the back panel has a large stretch pocket with a rain cover flap over it – this looks like two separate stretchy pockets for water bottles, and while it could be used for this, it’s actually a pass-through pocket, which means that larger items such as a rain jacket could be folded up and put inside it. This large pocket also has a reach-through or ‘no-look’ style, with holes cut on either side allowing you to grab your water bottle from the back without having to take the entire vest off – inspired by cycling jerseys.

This large, netted pocket also has two elasticated bungee cords with tensioners on either side of its openings, allowing you to secure a rolled-up raincoat or wind shell, or larger items like walking poles. While you could technically use this to lash a tripod to the vest, I think that, due to its thin padding, you would find this uncomfortable, even with a very small, lightweight carbon fibre model. A Gorillapod, though? Maybe…

Moment Exposure 10L Photography Vest: Verdict

I really enjoyed testing out the Moment Exposure 10L, and it’s been in regular rotation for those times when I want to head out to take photos without carrying a heavy backpack. Limiting my photography kit to carry only the essentials in this photo vest has helped me realize what equipment really is necessary, and I've found photography to be liberating and enjoyable, traveling light without getting worn down by a heavy photography bag.

I think the Moment Exposure 10L nails both style and substance, and will be a hit with younger photographers. If you’re looking for a flexible photo vest that packs the core essentials with ease and looks good too, the Moment Exposure 10L is perfect for those who like to travel light and shoot in urban settings, but you do pay a bit of a premium for it.

Alternatives

I’m a photographer, not a videographer, but as I began to create more behind-the-scenes videos for social media, one thing became clear very quickly: I needed a microphone. When action camera giant GoPro launched its first wireless microphone system, I jumped at the chance to pair the action cam that I use for behind-the-scenes footage with a mic from the same maker.

The GoPro Wireless Mic comes from a well-known brand but enters a very crowded market. The rise of social media videos has created a number of people just like me – audio newbies who need a quick plug-and-play mic solution. There is no shortage of options, from camera makers like DJI to longtime audio experts like Rode and Hollyland.

GoPro’s first wireless mic brings multiple connection options, with two different receivers, two different cords, and Bluetooth for connecting without a receiver at all. Naturally, the mic connects seamlessly to most GoPro action cameras, but it also works with smartphones, computers, and advanced cameras as well.

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Pricing

The GoPro Wireless Mic is available in a few different setups.

The most affordable option is to buy just a Transmitter and use Bluetooth to connect it with a GoPro. That kit sells for about $50 / £45 / AU$80 / CA$70.

One step up is a single mic with a USB receiver to plug into a phone or camera. This option costs about $80 / £73 / AU$125 / CA$110.

Finally, the GoPro Wireless Mic Complete Kit includes two mics, two receivers, two different cords, and a charging case to put it all in. This is the kit tested in the review, and it retails for about $160 / £140 / AU$250 / CA$220.

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Specifications

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Compatibility

The GoPro Wireless Mic is compatible with cameras that have a USB-C port or 3.5mm TRS receiver using receivers, including smartphones and mirrorless cameras.

Naturally, as a GoPro accessory, the mic is readily compatible with most newer GoPros and some older models, depending on the connection method. Using Bluetooth, the GoPro Wireless Mic is compatible with the Hero13 Black, Hero12 Black, Max 2, and Mission 1 series.

Using a wired 3.5mm TRS Receiver, the mic is also compatible with the Hero13, Hero12, Hero11, Hero10, and Hero9, but those cameras will also need the Media Mod or Pro Mic Adapter in order to have the proper port.

Some budget cameras, including the GoPro Lit Hero, do not support mics.

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Build and Handling

I tested the GoPro Wireless Mic Complete Kit – though it is also available in a more affordable USB kit with a single transmitter and a single receiver. The Complete Kit comes with a lot of different options in the box.

For starters, there are two mics for doing interviews and other two-person soundtracks. But there are also two different types of receivers. There’s a simple USB dongle that plugs in without any cords but doesn’t have any controls; then there’s a larger receiver that requires a cord but has a dial to adjust levels and status indicator lights built in, and also has a jack for wired headphones. The full kit also includes two cords for that second larger receiver, a USB-C and a 3.5 mm TRS.

The mics and transmitters tuck nicely into a charging case that holds extra charge and automatically begins charging when tucking the mic back in. The cords and wind muffs don’t fit inside that charging case, however, so GoPro also includes a zippered case that will house the entire charging case as well as those smaller accessories.

The GoPro mic itself is a small, lightweight transmitter that weighs about 0.4 oz / 10 g. The Mic can be worn using a built-in clip, or using a magnet. The mic is light enough that it only has a minor pull attached to a T-shirt. The magnet is strong enough to attach over a thicker sweater, but more prone to being bumped off with thicker materials.

The larger transmitter can slide into a camera’s hot shoe slot or the cold shoe slot on the GoPro point-and-shoot grip or Media Mod. But the receiver doesn’t use any sort of magnetic attachment for phones.

The only feature that I wish GoPro would have included is some splash resistance. With a Bluetooth connection, GoPros maintain their waterproof status, unlike using a Media Mod and wired connection, but the mics themselves aren’t splash-resistant. Waterproofing is hard to do on a mic, but some splash resistance would have really set the GoPro Mic apart from competition options.

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Performance

I used the GoPro Wireless Mic for several social media videos, as well as for recording podcasts. As someone who isn’t an audio expert, I appreciated the mic’s simple plug-and-play design, but I found myself using the more advanced receiver in order to turn the levels up.

Pairing with either receiver was very simple – they connected automatically right out of the box. I did have to reconnect to the receiver after trying out the Bluetooth connection, which I had to search for instructions for, but it's a simple three presses on the button on the side of the mic.

Connecting via Bluetooth wasn’t quite as straightforward as the physical receivers. To connect to Bluetooth, I had to press and hold the mic button in order to enter the pairing mode with a flashing blue light. The trick to that was letting go of the button early enough that I didn’t just turn the mic off, as a long press will also power off the mic. But, once I entered the pairing mode, the Mission 1 Pro located the camera right away.

While I was able to pull the mic out of the box and get started right away as an audio newbie, diving into the mic's instruction manual was a must for figuring out options like turning dynamic noise reduction on and off and entering into the mono recording mode that also records a safety track.

The mic made a world of difference compared to recording with just a naked GoPro, my iPhone, or my mirrorless camera. Volume is good, though I tended to leave the levels at +12 in most scenarios for the most volume.

Background noise is somewhat well controlled with a lavalier, though I did notice a difference in the audio quality when recording in a larger, echoey room compared to a smaller one.

The few times that I recorded outdoors, the mic with its wind muff did a good job of not picking up wind noise. Wearing the mic tended to be better than hand-holding to avoid accidentally catching a too-loud breath.

The Bluetooth range was good enough for how close you would typically stand to record a video from a GoPro. Walking towards the edge of my yard, I did get garbled audio when I got too far for the Bluetooth connection. The connection also works best with line of sight – it dropped once I got a building between the mic and the camera.

Using the physical receiver was more reliable. I was able to walk beyond where the Bluetooth lost connection using the receiver – the only time that it dropped was losing line of sight and walking behind a building and standing near a metal propane tank.

While the receiver is the more reliable option, I’m still glad that the mic includes Bluetooth as well. Using a corded connection to a GoPro requires either a Media Mod or leaving the side access door open, both of which ruin the GoPro’s waterproofing. The mic itself isn’t waterproof, but when recording near water such as in a boat or on a beach, using Bluetooth rather than a wired connection will ensure the GoPro keeps water and sand out.

But, it’s worth noting that the Bluetooth connection only works for a single mic and won’t work to use both mics at once. Another note on using both mics at once is that the GoPro Mission 1 Pro’s user interface only shows one audio level indicator, even when both mics are connected and working. That’s a feature missing on the camera itself, not the mic set.

The battery life of the mic itself will well outlast a GoPro camera’s battery life. I had the mic powered on for about two hours with no issues. Each mic has a 6.5-hour battery life. The charging case also stores quite a bit of extra battery, and if you use the mics separately, GoPro says you can get 20 hours of use out of the two-mic set before needing a recharge.

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Sample Recordings

In this podcast, Hillary is using the GoPro Wireless Mic:

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Verdict

The GoPro Wireless Mic is the action camera giant’s first dedicated wireless mic, but it’s a highly capable mic for beginners. While the mic may lack high-end features like 32-bit float and the option to save an audio backup, it’s a straightforward way to get better audio from a GoPro as well as a smartphone or mirrorless camera.

The GoPro’s wireless mic range is plenty for recording with a GoPro or a mirrorless camera with a standard lens. But the mic isn’t as far-reaching as some competitors at 150m – the DJI Mic Mini, for example, has a much longer 400m range. The GoPro Wireless Mic is also fixed frequency, so there’s no switching to a different channel if there’s interference.

But among similarly priced, beginner-friendly mics, the GoPro Wireless Mic also offers Bluetooth for connecting without any receivers, which may be particularly important in scenarios where a GoPro needs to maintain its waterproofing even as the mic stays dry.

The GoPro Wireless Mic is an easy choice for creators already working with GoPro thanks to that support for Bluetooth. But it’s a crowded arena for wireless mics that support smartphones and high-end cameras, and for creators not looking for Bluetooth, longstanding options like the DJI Mic Mini offer a longer range and more competitive price.

GoPro Wireless Mic Review: Alternatives

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For more mic recommendations across all skill levels, take a look at the best wireless mics.

Peak Design is a Californian company founded in 2010 on the principle of ‘building happy and meaningful lives for the people that work there’, while also bringing joy and satisfaction to the people who buy their products. That ethos sounds pure Californian and the products in question are often photographic in nature, from camera bags and backpacks like the minimalist Peak Design Travel Backpack 20L and versatile Peak Design Travel Backpack 2-in-1 to the innovative and highly acclaimed range of Peak Design Slide camera straps with their quick-release mechanisms.

The full Peak Design portfolio also covers general travel luggage, outdoor gear, phone cases, wallets and even gadget mounts for cars and motorcycles. I’ve also been thoroughly impressed by the Peak Design Pro Tripod, available three different sizes. Like the tripod kit, the Peak Design Everyday Sling is also available in three different sizes, comprising 3-liter, 6-liter and 10-liter options. Call me Mr Average, but I went for the middle 6L option, which suits me down to the ground (even if the ground is wet, thanks to the waterproof bottom liner featured in all three bags). The 6L is small enough to take anywhere and everywhere, while naturally holding more stuff than the 3L version and adding an internal sleeve for an 11-inch tablet.

Both of the 3L and 6L sizes are available in black, coyote, eclipse, ocean, and kelp colorways. The largest 10L bag adds a 14-inch laptop sleeve in addition to an 11-inch tablet sleeve, but is only available in black, eclipse, or ocean. I chose the eclipse version, which, celestial events aside, I’d probably call plum with orange accents. Regardless of size and colorway, all of the options aim to be among the best messenger bags for photographers on the market.

Peak Design Everyday Sling: Specifications

Peak Design Everyday Sling: Price

Whether or not you’re a believer in ‘bigger is better’, bigger is generally more expensive. That’s certainly the case (or rather bag) here, which is only to be expected as there’s more material and extra storage spaces for a tablet and then a tablet plus a laptop, as you go up in size through the range. The bottom line is that the Peak Design Everyday Sling 3L will set you back about $99 / £85 / AU$819, the larger 6L comes in at $129 / £109 / AU$249 and the largest 10L costs $135 / £139 / AU$319.

I reckon the pricing is very reasonable, considering the high-quality textiles and hardware that go into making the bags, and that they’re Climate Neutral and Fair Trade certified.

Peak Design Everyday Sling: Design & Handling

A dedicated camera bag can feel a bit like a non-essential luxury if you only use your camera occasionally, compared with your daily routine of work, rest, and play. The idea behind the three sizes of Peak Design Everyday Sling is that they work equally well as ‘everyday’ bags as they do as camera bags, so you can really get the most out of them on a daily basis.

Built to last, the bags are made from quality, climate-friendly materials including a weather-resistant 400D double poly-coated DWR-impregnated nylon canvas shell, 100% recycled post-consumer. The hardware is made from anodized aluminum and tough glass-reinforced nylon. The bags have a really high-quality feel and finish, although they’re not completely rain-proof and no waterproof slip-over covers are supplied with them.

The zippers for the main and external front compartments are advertised as ‘super-durable UltraZips with abrasion-resistant UHMPE thread’. In practical terms, that means that they glide freely without catching; they’re very weather-resistant and should give years of trouble-free service. As shown above, the zippers have accented color pulls which make them easy to grab and use, even in really cold weather when your fingers are numb. A neat trick is that you can poke the pulls of both zippers of the main compartment through one of the lower attachment loops to add security. Nobody’s going to undo them without you noticing. The zippers are also compatible with travel locks.

Open the zipper of the main compartment, and you can dive right in. The bag comes complete with internal dividers, which you can adjust to fit camera kit or anything else that you want to take along for the ride.

Living up to its ‘everyday’ billing, the bag’s dividers can be completely removed in just a few seconds, transforming it into a more general-purpose but still very plush daily bag. You’re essentially just getting one big empty compartment, along with several additional internal and external pockets, for stashing all of your daily essentials.

The dividers are a piece of work in their own right. Instead of being the usual straight padded blocks with a Velcro strip at each end, these are ‘origami-inspired’. Their complex fold lines and double-wall top sections enable you to bend and fold them in many and varied ways, using them as pass-through and shelf options as well as just regular dividers, as shown in the pair of images below.

Even with the dividers removed from the main compartment, you can still store fragile and precious items in protective comfort. For starters, there’s a pair of stretchy pockets, one at each end of the main compartment, ideal for stashing treasured possessions.

Next up is an internal front pocket. This has a secure zipper that runs almost the whole length of the main compartment. Open it up, and it reveals a neat organizer section with individual padded inner pockets plus a full-width padded slot. It’s the perfect home for small items like camera batteries, memory cards, and other little gizmos.

Sticking with the inside of the main compartment of my 6L edition, there’s a padded sleeve with a magnetic closure to accommodate a tablet up to 11 inches in size. This is omitted in the smallest 3L version, while the largest 10L bag adds a 14-inch laptop sleeve to supplement its 11-inch tablet enclosure.

So far, all of the extra pockets and sleeves that I’ve mentioned have been arranged around the interior of the main compartment, with access through the main zipper. The final, exterior front pocket bucks the trend. This one has its own zipper on the outside front of the bag and serves as a separate stash-and-grab pocket for the likes of books, notepads, a phone, and other daily items.

Another neat trick is that the bag squashes down flat, which can be handy if you want to pack it away in a suitcase for use when you reach a distant destination. While the bag itself and its zippers are very weather-resistant, the bottom of the bag is advertised as being entirely waterproof, with a high-density 900D waterproof liner. That can come in useful if you need to put the bag down on wet ground.

Going from bottom to top, something I’m glad to see is the upper grab handle. Sure, you can pick up the bag by its strap, but I always like to have a grab handle that enables carrying it easily and securely in the hand, without any risk of it swinging around and getting into mischief.

As well as the grab handle, there are two further exterior handles with a relatively flat profile, fitted to the sides of the bag’s exterior. These serve as Peak Design Capture points, so that you can fasten a PD Capture Clip on either side. The bonus here is that you can securely fasten your camera to the outside of the bag while you’re on a shoot, rather than having to continually put it away inside the bag and get it out again. It’s a quick and easy time-saver that adds yet more versatility.

Refinement extends to the connection of the main carrying strap. Instead of simply being stitched into place, the strap is mounted on two axial pivots, enabling the strap to turn freely for the most comfortable, streamlined fit.

Depending on what you’re carrying and how and where you’re carrying it, you might like to adjust the length of the main strap. That can be a bit of a faff with many bags, but this one has a really neat hinged clasp that enables you to adjust the length on the fly, one-handed.

Another smart part of the main strap is that it features a secure but quick-release splitter. Combined with the axial pivots and reversible strap connections, this enables an extra option for how you wear the bag, in addition to using it as a shoulder bag or cross-body messenger, tailored to either your left or right shoulder. That extra option is that you can separate the quick-release splitter, remove one section of the shoulder strap, and turn it into a waist strap, so that you can wear the bag around your waist instead of over your shoulder.

Despite the multiple options of how you can wear the bag, it remains neat and tidy in all configurations. To help with this, the ends of the main strap tuck away into pockets adjacent to the axial pivot points on either side of the bag.

I’ve touched on a pair of attachment loops at the bottom of the bag already, through which you can pass the zipper pulls to add security. However, there’s actually an extra pair of attachment loops on the bottom of the bag, making four in all.

Making the most of the four attachment loops, the bag is supplied with Cord Hook carry straps. These are adjustable in length and enable you to carry larger items that are safely secured to the outside of the bag. As a photographer, I’m thinking a tripod or a large telephoto lens in a soft case, but it could equally well be general items like an umbrella or a rolled-up picnic blanket.

Peak Design Everyday Sling: Performance

Size-wise, I found the Peak Design Everyday Sling 6L was a satisfyingly snug and secure fit for my full-frame Nikon Z6 III with a mounted Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S lens (unretracted), along with a separate Nikon Z 70-180mm f/2.8, using just one of the two supplied dividers. The organizer section also came in useful for storing extra batteries, memory cards and other bits and bobs. For a fairly small, single camera with an attached lens, the 3L edition should suffice, whereas the 10L option is a better fit if you’ve got a larger camera and additional lenses.

Likewise, I found the tablet sleeve of the 6L quick and easy to use, and I really liked its magnetic closure. It offers safe and secure stowage, and therefore peace of mind. If you want to add a laptop into the mix, you’ll need to upsize to the 10L bag.

One thing I often like to take for the journey is my Peak Design Pro Tripod. I have the ‘Tall’ version, which matches my above-average physical height, but even this is a doddle to stash beneath the bag, using the secure Cord Hook carry straps and the bag’s four attachment loops.

All in all, I found the bag’s performance to be excellent. Although it’s not entirely rain-proof, I did encounter some heavy showers, and the inside of the bag stayed safe and dry. The zippers work really well, in addition to being impressively weather-resistant. Everything just works, and works in a very satisfying way.

Peak Design Everyday Sling: Verdict

I feel that how much somebody likes a particular camera bag has as much to do with personal preference as anything else. There are a lot of factors that boil down to taste rather than anything more quantifiable. However, I also think that the Peak Design Everyday Sling is a particularly attractive option that’s easy to fall in love with. I like that there are three different 3L, 6L, and 10L size options and, for me, the middle 6L proved ideal.

The bag works supremely well as a camera bag but is equally adept for everyday use to carry daily essentials, with or without a camera in tow. It’s wonderfully versatile and adaptable, both in what it can carry and how your stuff is accommodated. And that adaptability extends to how you wear the bag, with options that include using it as a shoulder bag, a cross-body messenger bag, or even a waist bag. It’s quick and easy to select any of the options, and equally simple to adjust the length of the carrying strap on the fly, thanks to its hinged clasp.

The bag isn’t completely waterproof and doesn’t come with a slip-over rainproof cover, although it does have a waterproof bottom liner. Even so, I got caught in some heavy showers, and the material didn’t soak through, and the zippers proved impressively weather-resistant. All in all, it’s a great bag at a very attractive price.

Alternatives

Based in California, Peak Design has that sun-soaked West Coast vibe and laid-back lifestyle. The company was founded in 2010 on the self-proclaimed principle of ‘building happy and meaningful lives for the people that work there’. The intention is that the feelgood factor spills over in equal measure to the people who buy and use their products.

Those products include camera bags and backpacks like the minimalist Peak Design Travel Backpack 20L and the versatile Peak Design Travel Backpack 2-in-1. There’s also an innovative and highly acclaimed range of Peak Design Slide camera straps and I’ll freely admit to absolutely loving my Peak Design Pro Tripod. The bigger picture, or at least the full product catalog, also includes general travel luggage, outdoor gear, phone cases, wallets and gadget mounts for cars and motorcycles.

The Peak Design Everyday Backpack that I’m reviewing here is available in 20 liter and 30 liter options, and aims to be among the best camera backpacks on the market. I chose the smaller one, which is nevertheless large enough to stash a lot of camera gear, or none at all if you remove the dividers, or you can mix and match, giving some space to photo kit while also packing your daily essentials. Both backpacks are expandable, thanks to a clever MagLatch upper section.

For other everyday tech, the 20L has internal sleeves for a13-inch tablet and 15-inch laptop (16-inch MacBook Pro), while the 30L combines the same tablet size accommodation with a larger 16-inch laptop sleeve. Colorway options include black, charcoal, ocean, kelp, coyote, eclipse for the 20L, while the 30L omits ‘eclipse’ from the range.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Specifications

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Price

Top-quality camera backpacks don’t come cheap but I feel that the Peak Design Everyday Backpacks are very good value for money. They’re made from top-notch textiles and hardware, choc full of smart design flourishes and clever tricks, and are both Climate Neutral and Fair Trade certified. With all that in mind, I think the price of $279 / £249 / AU$529 for the 20L edition is extremely reasonable, and the larger 30L is only slightly pricier at $299 / £269 / AU$569.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Design & Handling

In two words, I’d describe the design as neat and tidy. There are hidden magnetic closures pretty much all over the place, including magnets that stick the shoulder straps to the backpack when you’re carrying it by one of the grab handles. That avoids them dangling around all and potentially getting hooked up on one of life’s obstacles. The shoulder straps themselves are fairly slim yet comfort-padded, and have stylish good looks to match the rest of the backpack.

The shoulder straps are compatible with the Peak Design Capture Clip system. This enables you to quickly and easily attach or remove your camera from one of the shoulder straps instead of having to stow it away in your bag every time you want to stash it for a few moments. Another nice touch is the axial mounting points that attach the top of the shoulder straps to the bag. These enable full and easy movement to ensure the most comfortable fit throughout a generous range of adjustment. The breathable section of the backpack that rests against your back is similarly comfortable, as well as acting as a baggage trolley pass-through sleeve.

Equally neat and tidy is the sternum strap. If you don’t feel the need to use it, you can clip both ends of it to one of the shoulder straps, or unclip it altogether and stash it in one of the pockets. It’s quick and easy to fit when you want it, and again has a generous range of adjustment for a good fit. Apart from anything else, the sternum strap avoids the risk or one or both of the straps slipping off your shoulders while you’re moving around. However, the backpack doesn’t come with a waist strap, although Peak Design offers one to buy separately as an optional extra.

Although I generally prefer a backpack to a shoulder bag for carrying camera kit, especially if there are more than a couple of lenses and other accessories in tow, I do often find it more convenient to pick up the backpack with one hand and move it around, instead of wearing it. I’m therefore glad that this one features a full-width grab handle up top, ideal for the purpose.

Given that access to the main compartment is through either side of the backpack, rather than through the front or rear, I’m also pleased that there are additional grab handles on both sides.

A smart little extra is that the bag comes complete with an ‘anchor key tether’. It’s looped around one of the side grab handles by default and drops into a side pocket, but you can reposition it as you see fit. The design will be instantly familiar if you’re accustomed to Peak Design Slide camera straps, as it features the same quick-release system.

There’s more magnetic attraction up top. The front opening to the top of the main compartment has a ‘MagLatch’ closure. This enables quick and virtually silent access, without the fuss and noise of using a zipper. It’s really neat: a small tug on the metal handle opens it, and the same motion locks it shut again.

Open the MagLatch and the first thing you’ll notice is a rack of four connection strips underneath, on the outer front surface of the backpack. Arranged like a ladder, these enable immediate, fuss-free expandability, so you can select the optimum closing height to accommodate whatever you’ve put inside.

The floor of the top section of the main compartment revealed by the MagLatch is adjustable on Velcro strips, and there are additional organizer pockets on both sides and at the front. Again, these have magnetic closures for secure but easily accessible storage.

There’s a separate zipper at the top of the bag but this is positioned towards the rear and gives access to the dedicated laptop and tablet sleeves. In fact there’s more to it than that, as the rear opening also gives access to additional organizer pockets as well as to the dual protective sleeves for a tablet of up to 13-inch size, plus a laptop, up to 15-inch for the 20L backpack and up to 16-inch for the 30L.

As I’ve touched on, access to the main compartment is via both sides of the backpack, each having a full-length zipper. There’s a neat security feature in that you can thread the zipper pulls through the bottom attachment loops of the bag, so nobody will be able to undo them without you knowing about it, while you’re wearing the bag. Once opened, you’ll have access to one side of the bag, as shown below.

Not missing a trick, the designers have also included a pair of pockets on the insides of the full-length side flaps, both left and right. When opened, the flaps therefore not only give access to the main compartment, but also feature an upper pocket with a magnetic clasp and a lower pocket with a zipper closure.

One thing that’s entirely conventional, on the surface at least, is that the backpack has adjustable dividers with Velcro strips. Again, though, there’s more to it than initially meets the eye, as the ‘origami-inspired’ dividers have fold lines and a dual wall in their top and bottom sections, or at each side, depending on which way you look at it. The net result is that you can flex and fold the dividers to create the requisite shapes for shelf-style and pass-through dividers, adapting them to various bits of kit of different sizes.

On the outside, there are more stretchy pockets for accommodating items ‘outside the box’, as it were. There’s a pair of these pockets, one on each side, for the likes of a drink bottle, a scrunchy waterproof jacket, or whatever else you want to stash. Yet again, the external pockets have magnetic closures to keep them shut when empty, or when smaller items are stowed in them. Small holes at the bottom of the external pockets enable liquid to drain out if the going gets wet.

In addition to the two side pockets, there’s an extra pocket built into the lower part of the front of the bag. And yet again, it has a magnetic closure. It’s worth noting that the backpack’s shell is made from high-quality 400D double poly-coated DWR-impregnated nylon canvas, and is 100% recycled post-consumer material. However, it’s not completely waterproof. I’d have liked to see a completely rainproof slipover cover supplied in the bottom front pocket, but that’s not featured. On the plus side, the bottom panel of the backpack does include a 900D waterproof liner, which stops moisture from getting in if you stand the backpack on wet ground.

To extend the carrying capacity of the backpack, there are multiple loop attachment points above, below, and in between. Some of these are at the top rear and bottom rear of the backpack; others are inside the side pockets and at each side of the bottom front pocket.

An ideal use for the loop attachment points is to fasten a tripod or maybe a big telephoto lens in its soft case or pouch to the outside of the backpack. With that in mind, Cord Hook external carry straps are supplied with the backpack: two long ones and two short ones, to cover different needs. They’re stowed inside the external side and front pockets, fastened to the respective internal attachment points, and ready for use.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Performance

I’m mostly delighted with the performance of this backpack. Access to my camera and mounted lens is quick, easy, and soundless through the top opening of the main compartment, thanks to the clever MagLatch closure. I also like that this top section is so easily adjustable in terms of height, to accommodate different sizes of camera body and attached lens. That’s not the only option, however, as you could stow your camera further down in the main compartment if you prefer.

The full-length zippers enable access to either the left- or right-hand side of the main compartment. A further bonus of this is that you can slip one carrying strap off your shoulder, swivel the bag around on the other shoulder, and get access to the full length of the main compartment without having to take the bag off your body and lay it down on the ground. That’s particularly good news if you’re on mucky or muddy ground.

I do like the dual-side access, but my joy’s not complete. The fly in the ointment, as far as I’m concerned, is that there’s no full access to the entire main compartment through the front or the back of the backpack. The problem I found was that if I configured the FlexFold dividers so that smaller lenses could be ranked on either side of the backpack, as shown above, you can only get at them from that respective side.

If you’re chopping and changing between different lenses, you might lose track of which lens is on which side of the backpack. It can then become a little frustrating if you’ve shuffled the bag around and opened a side flap, only to find that the lens or accessory you want is actually on the other side and that you can’t access it. You then have to flip the bag over and go through the process all over again. Ultimately, it can be a test of your short-term memory as you play the game of ‘which side did I put it in?’.

Back on the plus side, it’s certainly easy to remember where your laptop and tablet are stowed. And they’re stowed in fine style with separate, adjustable sleeves within the rear compartment of the backpack, which has its own zippered closure.

I love to take my Peak Design Pro Tripod along for the ride, and being a tall chap, I’ve got the ‘Tall’ version of this excellent carbon kit. Even so, it’s dead easy to strap it securely to the bottom of the bag, or onto one or other of the sides, using the Cord Hook straps provided, and choosing between the numerous loop attachment points.

Peak Design Everyday Backpack: Verdict

I feel that the Peak Design Everyday Backpack is more than just a camera backpack, because it is. Don’t get me wrong, the FlexFold dividers are endlessly adjustable to accommodate all manner of cameras, lenses, and photographic accessories with a custom fit. But I love that it only takes a few seconds to remove all three dividers and convert the bag into an ‘everyday’ backpack for daily life, with or without a camera in tow. The Climate Neutral and Fair Trade certifications add an extra feel-good factor.

If I’m using a backpack for everyday living, robustness and long-lasting quality become paramount. I’m glad that the backpack has a tough yet luxurious look and feel to it, with a 400D double poly-coated DWR-impregnated nylon canvas shell made from 100% recycled post-consumer material. Hardware is made from anodized aluminum and glass-reinforced nylon, and there are tough ‘super-durable UltraZips with abrasion-resistant UHMPE thread’. On top (or rather bottom) of that, the backpack sits on a 900D waterproof bottom liner. The main shell doesn’t claim to be entirely rain-proof, but I took the backpack on a few trips with heavy showers along the way and water didn’t seep through to the inside.

I’m a fan of the many magnets that keep the straps neat and tidy when not in use, rather than dangling around all over the place, and are used for many and varied closures. The MagLatch top opening is wonderfully quick, easy, and virtually silent in operation, while also enabling a good range of height-adjustable expansion. My only gripe is that while full-length openings on both sides offer good access to kit, there’s no front or rear access to the whole main compartment at once. That can be frustrating if you can’t remember which side of the backpack you’ve stashed any particular item that you need in a hurry. Apart from that, these backpacks are absolutely excellent. The only tough choices are which size and color to go for.

Alternatives

The iPhone Duo, Apple's first folding phone, is probably the most significant new phone from Apple since the line divided into Pro and standard models in 2019. The the division was was all about offering a premium camera spec, so it was easy for me – and photography and video creators – to understand the distinction. This time it's very different.

The iPhone Duo is clearly now the top of the tree in pricing and desirability terms, but is it actually the phone that you should want? That's what I've been deciding since mine arrived.

Spoiler: the answer is going to be different depending on your needs. For example, if you like to carry an iPad Mini to review your work, but you do most of your photography on a 'real' camera, you might find there is an advantage – even a cost saving here.

For those who prefer to do their photography on their phones, the compromises (and, believe it or not, advantages) are going to involve weighing more complexity...

Price

The iPhone Duo starts at a shockingly expensive at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,499 with 256GB storage, rising to $3,199 / £3,199 / AU$5,899 for the maximum 2TB tier. Personally I'd suggest the 512 or 1TB are the way to go.

By comparison a brand new iPhone 18 Pro Max – with a telephoto camera and a variable aperture – comes in at $1,299 / £1,299 / AU$2,299 for the 256GB tier, and the current (at time of the Duo's launch) mid-tier iPhone, the iPhone 17, is less than half the price of the Duo at $899 / £899 / AU$1,399.

Looking beyond the Apple sphere, the Samsung Galaxy Z-fold, a similarly-sized passport fold from the company, is priced a little lower at $1,899 / £1,699 / A$2,699.

iPhone Duo Specs

iPhone Duo: Build and handling

I've been using iPhones since the start, and it won't surprise you at all that I've found this the most significant change since then. For younger readers the switch to my iPhone, by the way, was a matter of getting used to a touch screen instead of physical buttons, which was a big change! New to me was pinch-zoom and all sorts. Even the 2MP still-only camera felt like a step up from most phones of the day.

As an iPhone user, though, I've not risked switching my main phone account to phone until now. I've tried them, been impressed in some respects, but never enough to switch from iOS.

The upshot is that, by switching, I've got Apple's new version of iOS and the device to experience all at once – and both need to work.

The good news is that, as you'd expect, first impressions are excellent (I don't seem to be one of the unlucky few who had a cracked screen).

The handset itself, when closed, looks a little like a sawn-off hybrid of the iPhone Pro Max (the same kind if width) and the shiny metal edges of the iPhone X generation. Except, of course there are two layers!

If you've seen an iPhone Air you'll know what I mean (and I'll feel good about my suspicion that it was 'just half a folding phone').

As a right-handed user, my thumb sits very naturally on the protruding TouchID scanner. A little lower down is the camera button, while the volume controls move from where your instinctive press is (the left hand side), because that is now the hinge, to the top.

The 4 main apps (task bar?) is on the right, and just above it is room for a new round battery and signal graphic that, er, I'm sure I'll get used to, and, finally, at the top right a round punch hole camera. It's a lot smaller than the notch and looks elegant since Apple have opted for the passport design with rounded corners opposite the hinge.

iPhone Duo's camera features

I knew that the iPhone Duo came with one fewer main camera than I was used to, but there are some other aspects of the camera system which were new to me.

For example, the iPhone Duo lets you open it and use the main 7.6-inch (1878 × 2670 pixel) display to shoot and the outer display will now face your subject. Some, like my wife, love this feature as an opportunity to check their look before I shoot.

The option to fold the camera, put it down, step back and let the AI decide on the perfect moment to grab a shot is actually pretty cool. I tried it with mixed results, though once I realised that if I opened the phone nearly all the way I could rest it on a surface and use the main camera, the Duo Preview and the AI 'Smart Take' to get an idea of what it might capture.

As you may imagine, things like the peace sign help the AI, but the most important thing to do is be sure you're looking at the right lens (with the device at an obtuse angle, you'll have sight lines to both the main cameras and the punch-out selfie camera on the outer display).

iPhone Duo: Main camera performance

The main camera system consists of two 48MP cameras, a main 26mm EFL 'Fusion Lens' with a fixed f/1.6 aperture and hybrid focus pixels, and a 13mm f/2.2 wide angle lens that supports macro.

In so far as there is any telephoto, there is a center crop of the 26mm EFL which digital zoom will extend all the way to 10x zoom (but remember the 10x is only working with 12MP at 2x, and the results were exactly as bad as I anticipated.

The camera does boast optical image stabilization, though, so if you're not looking to shoot subjects at longer distances, and don't need a variable aperture, things should be fine.

For me, I'm coming from an iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I did regularly use the tele lens, but of course there were no variable apertures on any of the three cameras and that never posed an issue for me.

Next are a couple of very telling comparisons between the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the iPhone Duo (swipe between). In essence the A20's extra power might give the iPhone Duo a slight edge when it comes to the computational photography for portraits, but there is nothing that the lack of a 200mm efl lens can do when it comes to telephoto.

iPhone Duo

iPhone 17 Pro Max

Overall, though image quality is impressive where you'd expect it. I don't feel it's a step backward – save for the telephoto – from the generation that impressed me most, and whether the variable aperture really offers much more is open to doubt too.

Video footage I captured also seemed to cope well with complicated lighting conditions and that, in essence, is what iPhones – including it seems the Duo – are good at: color science.

Just as before, this phone makes it easy to pick up and take a photo of the scene you can see, from face to sunset.

That said I found some things frustrated me personally that I'm going to keep testing – the speed that the focus point changed its mind in Cinematic Mode video, for one, was dizzying. It's great to have fast AF, but for a cinema shot you're also likely to want a focal point!

iPhone Duo: Selfie camera performance (outer)

The outer selfie camera is the better of the two selfie cameras, though at 12MP it is still a step down in resolution from both the Pro Max and (perhaps more surprisingly) the iPhone Air!

The pictures I took generally seemed to get color tones about right, though perhaps exaggerated imperfections in skin with a bit too much saturation, and the image sharpening really seems to go to town on my beard and hair in general. Apple's software accentuates skin pigmentation at this resolution for some reason, so if you're proud of your frekles this is your lucky day, but, to be fair, this was also true of the 17 Pro Max.

iPhone Duo: Selfie camera performance (inner)

The 1824 × 2432 pixel inner front camera is, in its way, a technical marvel, seeing as it can 'through' a screen. But the results are, inevitably, not the quality you hope for.

The 4MP pic here is comparable at first glance to the one we shot with the outer camera, but detail isn't as clear (not that I'm especially upset about that given what it did to my skin). Where the inner camera struggles more is when you're indoors – darker environments, pinpricks of light coming from lamps etc. do seem to create a halo effect.

Overall verdict

It's not easy to sum up this device in one go because, for the first time in a while, it isn't a matter of slow perfection and of polish but of compromise. In fact the elegant styling refinements seem to suggest a phone that isn't first generation, but after living with it as my main phone, certainly has some oddities.

Some of those are just the inherent strangeness of changing form factor, so my advice there is to go into that open minded. You're going to need to get used to things you expected to – bigger screens, deciding when to open it and the like – and you're also going to find little niggles that go with that.

The keyboards seem a little more sensitive to me, or less, depending on which way round I'm using the phone and there are a lot of ways to be doing that. If you're using it open you might also rotate it a bit and then be surprised to find the lock button somewhere inconvinient. My personal tip is to make sure you register both the thumb and first fingers with both hands with TouchID as soon as possible.

In my first days of use, I found the cameras very limiting, but a week on I'm already seeing merit in the things you can only do on this. Side-by-side multi-tasking is useful for social promotion, and a bigger matte screen is great (indoors anyway) for browsing photos. The A20 processor blasts through things and at the end of each day I'm always surprised to find a good chunk of battery (generally about 40%) left even if I've been using it a lot.

I can only imagine that a combination of the familiarity that comes with time and taking advantage of unique features will prevail for me, despite the camera compromise, but that's because I'm a tech nerd and I'll see it as an opportunity to use other cameras more often too. At the same time I might get some more pictures of my beautiful wife who is was usually fond of the photos I capture on my iPhone 17 Pro Max, but could definitely be persuaded by the opportunity to use the dual-screen preview.

Is this a great overall camera phone? No. Is it great for portraits? Yes. Is it a brilliant device for a photographer to have with them? Definitely. Ideally all those would be a yes, but it's a great start.

iPhone Duo Alternatives

Lexar Pexar is no stranger to producing the best digital photo frames. In fact, at the time of writing, the Lexar Pexar 11-inch model took pride of place as the winner in the best high-resolution photo frame category. We called it a "beautiful hi-res screen, and 100% sRGB color gamut should do even the finest of fine art photos justice."

Following in the same vein, Pexar has now released the VivKeep Pro 12.5 model, which offers not only a larger image size but also a higher resolution. Almost all other specs are the same, so the only reason to opt for the 12.5-inch model is if 11 inches doesn't quite cut it for the photos that you have in mind.

The VivKeep Pro 12.5 offers a sharp resolution, true color, and anti-glare glass that aims to keep photos looking the way they were taken. The display also comprises etched anti-glare glass that is fully laminated and boasts touchscreen functionality. It's a premium frame, but does the performance match the specs?

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Specifications

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Price

The VivKeep Pro 12.5 launched in September 2026 and retails for $249.99 / £229.99. At this price, the frame sits at the more expensive end of the market, although that's to be expected given the quality of the unit and the resolution of the display.

One of the very best alternatives around this size is the Aura Aspen, which scored an impressive five stars in our testing. Or, if you'd like something completely different, then you could opt for the Homture Magic Frame, which converts still images into short videos courtesy of AI technology.

This specific model is not available in Australia at the time of writing, although the slightly smaller VivKeep Pro 11-inch is available to Australian customers and is very similar in terms of specs.

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Design & Handling

The VivKeep Pro 12.5 is one of the most premium-looking digital photo frames on the market. The frame comprises four individual parts, each of which is beautifully designed and expertly engineered. Pexar has clearly given a lot of time to thinking through what customers want and how the design affects the viewer's enjoyment.

At the heart of the frame is a large 12.5-inch touch display that is fully laminated and etched with anti-glare technology. It features a 2120 x 1590 resolution, 100% sRGB color gamut, 1600:1 contrast, and a 170-degree IPS viewing angle. We'll cover the quality of the output in the performance section below.

The display is surrounded by a thick white plastic mount with a gorgeous textured finish that looks similar to an art canvas. The result is that it provides a warm, rooted feeling and perfectly frames any photo on the display. The mount also features a bevel in each corner to accommodate the recessed screen.

The mount is then surrounded by a refined and elegant soft gold metallic-like finish, which delivers a refined and elegant look. The material offers a soft reflection, which helps it blend effortlessly into any space. Recessed into the top of this frame is the power button.

You might have expected Pexar to have stopped there with the design details, but they've actually given as much thought to the back as they have the front. The unibody plastic panel contains an innovative cross-shaped recess that holds the upright bracket. It's easy to switch between portrait and landscape orientations, and the absence of any movable parts means the stand isn't going to fail after a little while.

The panel contains four ports: power, USB-A, USB-C, and SD card. This offers a solid selection of means by which users can display their digital photos. That is, of course, if you'd prefer not to use the app. There's also a small speaker, which offers rudimentary sound quality for videos.

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Performance

Moving onto what most people care about when they're considering a digital photo frame, the quality of the displayed images. Where it matters most, the VivKeep Pro 12.5 excels in abundance. Photos are delivered in beautiful clarity thanks to the 212 PPI capabilities, and no matter the angle you're viewing them at, they remain as vibrant as if they were being viewed straight on.

Colors are replicated with expert accuracy courtesy of the 100% sRGB color and 1600:1 contrast specs. This is ideal for people who care deeply about the color representation of their photos and those who want synergy between how their photos look on their phone as well as their photo frame.

The image quality benefits from the use of an etched anti-glare glass, which means photos stay legible even under direct light. It's amazing to see how well the images maintain their strong contrast even when exposed to bright light sources. In addition to this, a built-in light sensor auto-adjusts brightness to match the room, with the display able to push out up to an impressive 400 nits of brightness.

The frame is incredibly easy to set up, taking just a matter of minutes to plug in the device, download the app, create an account, and send some photos to the frame. Even the least tech-savvy of users will have little problem setting the device up.

The ease of use continues with the general operation of the frame. Menus and settings are easy to access and navigate, and the screen is responsive to the touch. Photos are auto-rotated at the exact moment that you change the orientation of the frame itself.

The app allows users to invite friends and family to upload photos to the frame. All you have to do is share the frame code with your loved one, who then has to enter it into their own version of the Frameo app. This is perfect for grandparents who might like to share photos with their grandchildren.

The only downside to the whole experience is that some features are restricted to paid subscription plans. If you'd like to manage frame photos remotely, access a cloud backup, send 100 photos at once, or send two-minute videos to the frame, then you'll require a Frameo+ subscription. This costs $7.99 / £7.99 per year, which isn't a significant amount, but when I've paid $249.99 / £229.99 for the device, I expect those features to be included as standard.

Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5: Verdict

Digital photo frames don't get much better than the Pexar VivKeep Pro 12.5. My only gripes are that it's very expensive for a photo frame, it requires mains power, and a subscription is required for some of the features, which I believe should be included as standard. These are small quibbles that are quickly forgotten after just a few days of use of the frame.

The device is beautifully designed with Pexar utilizing a set of high-quality materials that are paired together to deliver a pleasing and elegant finish. Every part is masterfully engineered with a generous set of ports for maximum connectivity. As for image quality, the VivKeep Pro 12.5 serves up bright, vibrant, true color photos that look fantastic thanks to the high density PPI and etched anti-glare glass. If you can afford it, the frame is guaranteed to impress.

Alternatives

The Nikon Z5IIC launched following rumors of a Nikon camera without a viewfinder. While there were whispers of a fixed-lens full-frame compact camera and a stills-focused Nikon ZR, nobody could have predicted a ‘viewfinderless’ clone of the Nikon Z5 II.

Viewfinderless cameras have always been divisive. Photography purists cite the stability and sun-glare-free nature of shooting through the viewfinder as too crucial to pass up. But plenty of modern photographers ignore their EVF in favor of their mirrorless cameras’ rear LCD and a more dynamic method of shooting.

What works for you, works. But the big question I’ll be trying to answer is what benefits the Nikon Z5IIC’s viewfinderless design brings to the table. One such benefit is price. With reports of the Nikon Z5 reaching the end of its lifecycle, the Nikon Z5IIC could soon become the most affordable entry point into Nikon’s full-frame mirrorless lineup at $1,399.95 / £1,349 / AU$2,399 (body only).

And that entry point is exactly what Nikon is targeting. The ‘C’ in the camera’s name is supposed to represent ‘Casual’, which is why the Nikon Z5IIC is also the very first full-frame Z-series camera to feature Scene Modes.

I took the Nikon Z5IIC for a spin around the beautiful city of Bath to find out how its viewfinderless design fared in a street photography setting. Read on for a deep dive into the camera’s specs and to find out how it performed in real-world scenarios.

Nikon Z5IIC vs Z5II: Specifications

Nikon Z5IIC: Price

The Nikon Z5IIC is priced at $1,399.95 / £1,349 / AU$2,399 (body only). Compare that to the Nikon Z5 II, which is typically listed around $1,599 / £1,499 / AU$2,699, and that’s a decent saving of around $200 / £150 / AU$300. But one thing I’ve had in mind is where the Z5IIC will end up. As time goes on, we could see that body-only price creep towards the $1,000 mark.

You can also opt to choose from various kits or bundles, such as the Nikon Z5IIC + Nikon Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 ($1,699.95 / £1,609 / AU$2,949). This prime-sized zoom is a great choice for the camera’s viewfinderless design. While the Nikon Z5IIC + Nikon Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR ($TBC / £2,049 / AU$3,699) might seem like a great all-in-one option, I’d be wary of any lens bigger than the Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S, which I used during my review.

When you stack the Nikon Z5IIC against the Panasonic Lumix S9 and Sony A7C II, it’s priced between them. Overall, I think it’s competitively priced given its specs and the economic challenges the consumer tech industry is currently facing.

Nikon Z5IIC: Design & Handling

The Nikon Z5IIC largely follows the same formula as every other mainline Z-series camera: it’s solid, bulky, has a deep grip, and plenty of physical controls. The big difference is that it doesn’t have a faux pentaprism bump in which to house an electronic viewfinder.

It’s less bulky and inherently more ‘riggable’ than any other full-frame Z-series camera (Nikon ZR aside). This allows it to occupy marginally less space in a backpack, weigh marginally less in the hand, look marginally less professional and intimidating, and cost marginally less than its blueprint, the Nikon Z5 II. The big question I had when using this camera was: Is ‘marginal’ enough to warrant the downgrade in functionality?

I get it. Not every photographer wants to use a viewfinder, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. If you’re prepared for bright, sunny conditions reflecting off the rear LCD and that doesn’t faze you, who am I to tell you otherwise? But the difference here is that the Nikon Z5IIC is a beefy, full-frame camera and that does change things.

Take the Panasonic Lumix S9 for example; a viewfinderless full-frame camera that’s roughly 135g lighter than the Nikon Z5IIC. That does make a difference. I’ve handed the Z5IIC off to various colleagues, and they’ve all been surprised by the same thing: its weight. The camera’s body weighs 538 g, which is a not-insignificant 82 g lighter than the Nikon Z5 II.

And yet, the way you handle a viewfinderless camera is just different. Peer through a viewfinder and you’ll instinctively cradle a larger camera with both hands, but viewfinderless cameras need to be held farther from the body. The Z5IIC might be lighter than the Nikon Z5 II, but I noticed its weight more.

That’s not to say the weight is a constant pain point, but it is a consideration. I used the camera with the Nikon Z 40mm f/2 and Nikon Z 24-120mm f/4 S. The latter is as heavy and bulky as I’d want to go for regular, handheld shooting. And even then, this is a relatively hefty setup for an everyday carry.

Use the Nikon Z5IIC for video, though, and the form factor isn’t an issue. Again, you tend to hold a camera differently when shooting video. Your forefinger doesn’t have to rest on the shutter button, meaning you can hold it in any way that feels comfortable to you. And of course, if you mainly shoot stills from a tripod, the form factor won’t be an issue at all, and most tripod users compose via the rear screen anyway.

Ultimately, the lack of a viewfinder won’t be a turnoff for everyone, but the size and weight of the camera could be. I recommend trying it on for size in your local camera shop before buying, and considering very carefully what lenses you want to use with it. A telephoto-friendly camera this is not.

A disappointing oversight from Nikon on paper is the Z5IIC’s rear screen. It’s actually lower resolution than the Nikon Z5II’s 2100k-dot screen (it’s 1040k dots). This really is a curious decision from Nikon and one that I can only assume was a budgetary measure. Still, you’d think the rear screen on a viewfinderless camera would be a core spec. And yet, despite my displeasure, if I’m going to be truly honest, I didn’t find this to be an issue out in the field. An oversight, yes, but not one that will impact the camera’s day-to-day usability.

Now that I’ve addressed the elephant in the room, let’s move on to some of the positives, of which there are plenty. As you’d expect from a mainline Z-series camera, the entire body feels solid. It’s built from magnesium alloy and durable-feeling plastics, while the grip is deep and covered in Nikon’s grippy leatherette.

It’s also weather sealed, and while I’m not going to leave a $1399.95 / £1,349 camera out in a downpour, the UK’s dreadful weather meant I spent a lot of time using the Z5IIC in light showers. I never advise letting any camera get saturated, but I felt entirely confident using the Z5IIC in wet conditions.

As per usual, Nikon has churned out a utilitarian device that’s built like a tank. But what’s unheard of from a mainline Z-series camera is that the Z5IIC comes in two colors. That’s right, it’s not just all-black with the classic red stripe; you can also opt for a silver variant. This paint job is only applied to the top plate, giving the camera a definite Sony A7C II vibe. Some of my colleagues think the silver looks plasticky, but as somebody who often moans about silver cameras looking cheap, I’d opt for the silver variant. Consider me a fan.

On the aforementioned top plate, you’ll find a fairly minimalist setup that’s functionally almost identical to the Nikon Z5 II. You’ve got a chunky mode dial that’s satisfyingly stiff, albeit slightly different to the Nikon Z5II’s in that it has only two U options instead of three. This is to facilitate the new Scene Mode icon (more on that later).

Like the Z5 II, there’s also a very handy Picture Control button. Simply tap it and use the rear command dial to scroll through 31 ‘looks’ which are applied to images in real time. The left side of the top plate is typically bare, but without the viewfinder bump, it might have been nice to have included an ISO or exposure comp dial.

Moving on to the rear, it’s standard fare except for the lack of a joystick. This is a real backwards step as far as I’m concerned. I can’t imagine it would have been an expensive addition. It simply means you’re forced to use the d-pad, which isn’t always as comfortable for your thumb, when holding the camera to accommodate its viewfinderless design. Thankfully, though, the buttons are solid and pleasantly spongy.

The Nikon Z5IIC has a single SD-card slot, which is a downgrade from the Z5 II. However, this isn’t a pro-grade camera, and if you’re a stickler for pro features, you’re going to want a viewfinder anyway. As such, I think this is a sensible cost-saving measure that won’t bother most, especially with the ever-increasing price of memory cards these days.

On the front of the camera, you’ve got two Fn buttons, which can be reached by extending your middle and forefinger from the grip, so they can be activated one-handed. And, like other Z-series cameras, the Z5IIC’s controls are highly customizable, so you can make the setup work for you.

The camera uses Nikon’s standard EN-EL15c rechargeable Li-ion battery. According to the CIPA Shot Rating, it’s rated for 350 shots, which isn’t much different from the Nikon Z5II’s 330-380. During use, I can confirm that the battery held up as well as could be expected. Any concerns you might have about the rear LCD always being on can be easily dispelled. Firstly, by getting into the habit of switching your camera off when not in use. And secondly, by the fact that a standard mirrorless is constantly switching between an EVF and a rear LCD, the power usage isn’t going to be much different.

Nikon Z5IIC: Performance

Nikon’s second-generation Z-series lineup consists of the Nikon Z9 at the very top of the pyramid, with varying degrees of tech trickling down to other cameras in the range. As such, all of Nikon’s cameras boast very solid core performances and the Nikon Z5IIC is no different.

In a world of high-megapixel sensors, you could look down upon the Z5IIC’s 24.5-MP sensor, but like all of Nikon’s full-frame image files, the stills you get from the Z5IIC really are top tier. RAW files stand up to generous cropping and are extremely pliable in post; they’re just an all-around treat to work with.

And if editing RAW files isn’t your thing, the Nikon Z5IIC is loaded with Nikon’s Picture Controls. Think Fujifilm Film Simulations, but not as good fresh from the box. Thankfully, Picture Controls can be edited so you can come up with your own ‘recipes’, and you can even download examples from other creators.

A fairly recent update that debuted on the Nikon Zf is Film Grain. This complements Picture Controls by adding retro film grain to images. Not only does it look the part, but the grain isn’t uniform, so each application is different. I tested this myself and can confirm that it does indeed hold up to scrutiny. You can customize the grain by choosing from three different sizes and seven different intensities. I wouldn’t recommend using everything maxed out, but the default settings do look very convincing.

Another feature that really lives up to the Nikon Z5IIC’s ‘Casual’ moniker is the presence of Scene Modes. The Z5IIC is the first full-frame Nikon camera to feature Scene Modes, and while that might not seem like a big deal, I think it’s a great addition. These modes are a great way for novice photographers to exercise a little creative agency beyond the one-size-fits-all Auto Mode.

There are 15 Scene Modes in total, allowing you to adapt quickly to a variety of shooting situations. For example, I photographed my dog using the Pet Portraits Scene Mode. The camera instantly opened up the aperture and switched to Animal-Detection AF, so all I had to do was compose my image and fire the shutter.

Similarly, I tried out Night Landscape and Autumn Colors; the camera instantly adapted to both scenarios, raising the ISO and opening the aperture in low light, and warming the image and boosting the saturation when capturing autumnal foliage. Picture Controls and Scene modes aren’t for everyone, but I think they fit the Z5IIC’s intended demographic and are definite selling points for the right photographer.

When it comes to autofocus, the Nikon Z5IIC performs very well. Sure, it can get a little stuck or confused at times, like any AF system, but provided you take the time to learn Nikon’s various modes, you’ll be well rewarded. I enjoy using 3D tracking, Wide-Area AF, and Single-Point AF, swapping between modes depending on the subject or scene at hand.

I own a Nikon Z8, and while the Z8 will certainly perform better in a side-by-side comparison, I didn’t find myself bemoaning the Z5IIC’s performance, which is high praise indeed. And of course, the Nikon Z5IIC has an autofocus mod con that currently no other Nikon camera has – not even the flagship Nikon Z9 – and that’s fish subject-detection.

Now, I initially found this quite the novelty, but in a world of ever-expanding AF algorithms, why not? I actually used to know a professional photographer who photographed fish for fish-keeping publications, and I’m sure he’d be very happy indeed with this development. It’s exciting news for underwater photographers, too, because put a camera with fish AF in an underwater housing and you’re golden.

Speaking of gold, I did my due diligence and found myself a fitting subject to test out this new autofocus mode. Thomas is a rescued fairground goldfish who resides in a local art studio owned by incredibly talented wildlife artist Jacqueline Byrne (@jacquelinebyrne.art). Jackie kindly allowed me to use Thomas as a model and I was pleased to find that the camera not only detected the goldfish’s body, but also locked onto his eyes.

It did struggle at times, but the conditions were challenging. Reflections and scratches on the tank glass, not to mention underwater foliage, and my need to shoot wide open in low light, all contributed. But fish AF works and isn’t quite the joke addition it may at first seem.

The Nikon Z5IIC’s form factor certainly lends itself to videography, and just like the Nikon Z5 II it boasts some decent specs. Arguably the biggest selling point is internal 4K 30p full-width RAW video. And while it’s nice to have, I always thought it was a little out of place on the Nikon Z5II, and I still think it’s a little out of place on the Nikon Z5IIC.

A lot of pro videographers don’t shoot RAW video. After all, it fills up storage as a pastime, creates increased internal heat, and is power-hungry in the edit. That said, it’s nice to have as an option. Although, a word of warning: make sure you’re using a capable SD card. The Nikon Z5IIC will only record RAW video on a memory card that’s over 32GB. And if your memory card isn’t fast enough, it’ll stop recording before time.

When it comes to overheating, ambient temperature and camera usage will always affect the outcome, but I shot 13 minutes of uninterrupted RAW footage in real-world testing without issue. The Nikon ZR is proof that Nikon knows how to build a camera that’s very hard to overheat, and while I cannot comment on long-term video usage due to my very short time with the camera, I don’t have any immediate concerns. I also shot some 4K video. As you’d expect, the autofocus performed well; just be aware that 4K 60p enforces a 1.5x (DX) crop.

Another video boon is in-body image stabilization. It’s not surprising given that the Nikon Z5II also has it, but it was a crucial inclusion because the Z5IIC’s direct competitors also have IBIS. What they don’t have is 7.5 stops of stabilization, with the camera beating the Panasonic Lumix S9’s 6.5 stops and the Sony A7C II’s seven stops. This is a great feature for photographers, too. I’d argue it’s essential for the Z5IIC given its viewfinderless design, because you’re not holding the camera up to your eye, which is the most stable shooting position.

While the lower-resolution LCD screen didn’t really bother me when shooting stills, I do think it matters more for video. Metering is such an important part of videography, and while you’ve got aids such as zebras and histograms, every little helps if you’re not resorting to an external monitor.

One thing I would suggest that any Nikon Z5IIC owner does is head into Menu>Setup>Monitor Brightness and set the latter to its maximum setting. This will reduce battery efficiency, but you’ll get a brighter and more visible screen. As a photographer, I lament the flip-out screen craze, much preferring a tilting screen, but the Nikon Z5IIC is a camera built to adapt to both worlds, and a flip-out screen is definitely preferable for video.

Nikon Z5IIC: Sample images

Nikon Z5IIC: Lab Tests

Nikon Z5IIC lab test data

For this test, we have compared the Nikon Z5IIC with its closest competitors, the Nikon Z5 II, Sony A7C II, and Panasonic Lumix S9

Resolution

ISO

Nikon Z5 IICNikon Z5 IISony A7C IIPanasonic S9

Resolution Data

Timestamp (ISO)	Nikon Z5 IIC ()	Nikon Z5 II ()	Sony A7C II ()	Panasonic S9 ()
1	28	28	30	26
2	28	28	30	26
3	28	28	30	26
4	28	28	30	26
5	28	28	30	26
6	28	26	30	26
7	28	26	30	26
8	26	26	28	26
9	24	24	26	24

Dynamic Range

ISO

Nikon Z5 IICNikon Z5 IISony A7C IIPanasonic S9

Dynamic Range Data

Timestamp (ISO)	Nikon Z5 IIC ()	Nikon Z5 II ()	Sony A7C II ()	Panasonic S9 ()
1	12.51	12.52	12.21	12.19
2	12.5	12.52	12.62	12.02
3	12.51	12.27	12.51	11.95
4	12.5	12.37	12.52	11.99
5	12.12	11.99	12.45	11.71
6	11.79	11.59	11.88	11.32
7	10.9	10.26	10.9	10.99
8	9.82	9.35	10.02	10.03
9	8.81	8.59	9.26	9.16

Signal to Noise Ratio

ISO

Nikon Z5 IICNikon Z5 IISony A7C IIPanasonic S9

Signal to Noise Ratio Data

Timestamp (ISO)	Nikon Z5 IIC ()	Nikon Z5 II ()	Sony A7C II ()	Panasonic S9 ()
1	46.32	46.16	41.44	44.88
2	43.03	43.42	39.27	42.35
3	40.68	40.51	36.44	40.49
4	37.75	37.31	34.04	37.64
5	34.82	33.99	32.35	34.41
6	31.38	30.65	29.31	31.51
7	28.45	27.23	25.95	29.06
8	25.5	24.44	23.14	26.37
9	22.68	21.78	20.46	23.24

Resolution: It’s not surprising that the Sony A7C II comfortably beats the other full-frame cameras thanks to its 33-MP sensor, with the Panasonic Lumix S9 bringing up the rear with its 24.2-MP sensor. The bigger surprise is the Nikon Z5IIC’s performance in relation to the Nikon Z5 II, exhibiting sharper images between ISO3200 and ISO12,800. However, this could simply be a variation in optics, and in a real-world scenario, the difference is going to be negligible.

Dynamic Range: Each camera boasts impressive dynamic range and despite differences in resolution, there really isn’t much to separate them. The Sony A7C II just about wins, as to be expected, but the Nikon Z5IIC more than holds its own, performing better than both the Nikon Z5 II and Panasonic Lumix S9. Again, the race is so tight, you’re unlikely to notice much difference in a real-world scenario.

Signal to noise ratio: The lower-resolution sensors come out on top here, with the Sony A7C II’s higher resolution proving its undoing, although it doesn’t lag far behind. When it comes to the two Nikons and the Panasonic Lumix S9, you’d have to defer to a photo finish to work out who’s pipped who to the post, but it does look like the Nikon Z5IIC has outperformed the Nikon Z5 II once again.

Nikon Z5IIC: Verdict

The Nikon Z5IIC is a tale of two halves. On the one hand, it has a slightly awkward design. On the other, its performance punches above its weight. I’m no stickler for always looking through the viewfinder, but the biggest benefit of viewfinderless cameras is their increased portability.

And yet, losing the viewfinder doesn’t impact the size and weight of the Z5IIC enough; it’s still a big lump. The upside of this is that it’s built like a tank and feels like a premium, weather-sealed product. I’m not saying the heft is a dealbreaker; just make sure you try it on for size before you buy.

Under the hood is where the camera really gains some ground. It’s a fantastic all-around performer, with great autofocus, gorgeous stills, solid video specs, and impressive in-body image stabilization. Plus, you get the rather unusual (if superfluous) bonus of RAW video.

Scene Modes is an unlikely standout for me. It really lives up to the Z5IIC’s ‘casual’ moniker and allows anybody to get creative with the camera from the offset. Picture Modes and Film Grain serve as the next step in creative agency, allowing you to apply ready-made or custom presets to your images in real time.

Finally, the Nikon Z5IIC is competitively priced. At $1399.95 / £1,349, it sits between the Sony A7C II and Panasonic Lumix S9. It’s not a cheap camera by any means, and I do wonder how appealing that price point is to its ‘casual’ target audience. But it’s got the specs of a more expensive camera.

Overall, I was ready to hate on the Nikon Z5IIC when it was announced, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed my limited time with the camera. That said, I wonder if its size and weight could be its undoing.

It’s too big to be an everyday carry, and I fear it may be too intimidating for its ‘casual’ target audience. I hope I’m proved wrong, because this is a well-built, exceedingly capable full-frame camera. Just like its blueprint, the Nikon Z5 II.

Nikon Z5IIC: Alternatives

Check out our guide to the best mirrorless cameras, and our rundown of the best Nikon Z lenses

The first time I encountered SmallRig was when I bought its add-on hand grip for my Nikon Z fc a few years ago, which also serves as an L-bracket and Arca-Swiss compatible QR plate. It transforms the handling of this otherwise slippery camera and I’ve been so impressed that I’ve never removed it. Nikon was evidently also enamored, to the extent that when they launched the full-frame Z f, the accompanying SmallRig hand grip was bundled as a free extra with the camera.

Apart from hand grips, the Chinese company SmallRig has been making a growing range of gadgets since 2013, specializing in camera supports and stabilizers, smartphone accessories, lighting and control systems, and mobile power solutions. I’ve also been impressed by its SmallRig Camera Desk Mount and innovative SmallRig x Potato Jet TRIBEX Hydraulic Carbon Fiber Tripod Kit.

The SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L that I’m reviewing here currently seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. I’ve also seen it advertised as the SmallRig Outra 25 Outdoor Camera Bag 25L Backpack with Modular Pouches and Comfortable Harness (on SmallRig’s official website, no less). Whichever moniker it goes by, it’s designed to be a rugged and extensively customizable backpack for the great outdoors, suited to enthusiast and professional photographers and content creators. In short, it aims to be one of the best camera backpacks that money can buy. I’ll come back to the ‘money’ bit in a moment, after going through the specs.

SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L: Specifications

SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L: Price

Typical of kit from SmallRig and other Chinese photographic manufacturers, the SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L looks like good value for money at $199 / £180 / AU$295. Sure, it’s not cheap and costs around the same as some other dedicated camera backpacks on the market. However, the quality of materials and all the neat little extras that you get with this backpack (including three standalone gadget cases) mean that you’re getting a good deal.

SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L: Design & Handling

At first sight, the SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L looks big and bulky for a backpack of its ‘medium’ 25-liter capacity. First impressions are proven correct when you pick it up because at 3.8kg / 8.4lb, it’s relatively heavy for a 25L backpack, even when empty. The flipside is that the SmallRig is robust and very well padded, and packs a lot of neat extras that add to its overall size and weight. Quality materials and parts include Cordura (well known to outdoor adventurers and to me as a motorcyclist) and YKK zippers.

Considering that the SmallRig is a backpack, it seems logical to start with how you wear it. Unlike the relatively basic strap arrangements of many camera backpacks, this one has a fully adjustable harness. In fact, it adjusts here, there, and everywhere, starting at the top with an extending upper section that has adjustable straps, as shown in the image above, enabling you to customize how the pack sits on your shoulders. In the image below, you’ll see the adjusters at the bottom of the shoulder straps, which set their overall length.

A common theme throughout the design of this backpack is that there are pockets and pouches in pretty much every place it’s conceivable to put them. This includes a mesh pocket on the front of one of the shoulder straps. Pull the shoulder straps to the side, and you fully reveal the deeply padded and well-ventilated cushioning that adds comfort for your upper and lower back. There are also three rear straps that serve as grab handles, as well as teaming up to form a baggage trolley pass-through.

Adding further security and comfort to the fit, the backpack features a sternum strap that can slide up and down the shoulder strap and has its own fastening clip and length-adjustment clasp. Suffice it to say that the sternum strap is fully adjustable and works well to avoid the risk of the main straps slipping off your shoulders.

A pair of shoulder straps plus a sternum strap isn’t always enough to keep a backpack in place, especially if loaded with heavy kit, when you’re negotiating tricky terrain or climbing over obstacles. With this in mind, a similarly comfortable and well-padded waist strap is supplied with the bag. I like that it’s fully removable, so you don’t have to attach this additional bulky and space-hungry element of the bag unless you really need to. Conversely, you can detach the waist strap and use it on its own, taking advantage of yet another zippered pouch and optionally attaching one of the three supplied cases to it for quick access to items of your kit, which you can do with the waist strap attached to or detached from the backpack.

With so much emphasis being given in the design to how you wear the backpack, it’s good that there are also a generous number of grab handles. After all, it’s often a lot more convenient to simply grab a bag and move it around than to put it on and take it off every time. As well as the grab handles around the back, there’s a full-width grab handle up top.

There are two straps with magnetic clasps, one on each side of the upper section of the backpack. The lengths of these straps are individually adjustable, so you can use them to tether items to the side of the backpack.

Undoing both of the side straps gives access to the roll-top front pocket, which is pretty cavernous despite folding flat to the front of the bag. It also features a magnetic closure in addition to the roll-top and has internal organizer pockets. With a 4-liter capacity, the front pocket is designed to be able to carry an assembled stabilizer or similarly large item.

Moving down the left-hand side of the bag, there’s another large zippered opening. This one doesn’t give access to the main compartment, but it does feature an organizer section with yet more pouches and zippered pockets for small items, including a color-coded section for blank and full memory cards.

Just behind the left-hand pocket, there’s a specialized selfie stick holder with a flip-over cover that has a magnetic closure. Inserting a selfie stick into the holder enables you to extend the stick above your head and shoot when you’re on the move, while wearing the backpack as normal.

Moving from left to right, the side pocket on this side of the bag looks just like the one on the left from the outside, and has the same expandable outer carrier for the likes of drinks bottles. However, open the zipper, and you’ll find a flap with a different organizer layout. It’s a better fit for spare camera batteries or other items of a similar size.

A more fundamental difference is that the right-hand-side pocket has an internal flap that hinges out to give side access to the main compartment in which you’re likely to store your camera, lenses, and other main bits of kit.

As well as offering an additional access point to your camera, lenses, or other accessories, an advantage of the side-pocket access is that you can retrieve items from the backpack by swiveling around on one shoulder, instead of fully taking it off and lying it down on the ground. To finish off the side pocket collection, there’s a further pair of tall, slim pockets, one on each side of the backpack towards the front. Again, these have their own zippers for gaining access.

Up on top, there’s guess what? Yes, it’s yet another zippered access point. This one enables you to get into the top of the main compartment. Off the shelf, the backpack comes with one of the dividers acting as a floor, making the top section a separate space in its own right, complete with the largest of the additional cases fitted to its floor. However, you can reconfigure the divider to change the height of this area, or remove it altogether.

The top zipper not only gives access to the top pocket or the top area of the main compartment, depending on how you configure the dividers, but also to the dedicated laptop compartment. This is large enough to accommodate a 16-inch laptop and comes with a Velcro securing strap.

The largest of the lift-out cases that’s supplied in the bottom of the top pocket is just under 12 inches wide. It has securing straps with poppers, MOLLE loops, and Velcro strips to enable a wide range of attachment options, along with a Velcro closure. Furthermore, it has yet another selection of five organizer pockets on the inside, in addition to its main compartment.

Full access to the main camera compartment of the backpack is through the rear. That’s my personal preference because, if you need to lay the bag down on mucky ground to get at your gear, you’re not laying it on the surface that you’ll then need to wear against your back. I also like that you don’t have to fold the shoulder straps forward, out of the way, before you can undo the main zipper, which I feel is a failing of some other backpacks that have a rear-access design. Even then, the SmallRig goes one better by featuring an internal baffle panel that runs the height of the main compartment and attaches top and bottom by Velcro. This hinges outwards to enable access, while also reducing the risk of items moving from their designated positions when the bag is closed.

The main compartment itself has three main lateral dividers. These attach to the outer shell via durable loops and Velcro strips. You can use one, two, or all three of them to best fit your kit. Alternatively, you can remove all of the main dividers and use the backpack for general-purpose duty, such is the modular nature of the design.

Opening the main rear panel of the backpack also gives access to the laptop sleeve, as shown below. The upshot is that if you need to grab some of your camera gear as well as your laptop, you don’t need to open both the top and rear zippers.

To customize the main compartment and make it a tailored fit for your kit, the backpack is supplied with six smaller, folding dividers, each with Velcro attachment strips. They’re nicely padded and easy to move around to accommodate whatever you want to stash.

You might well be able to spot a theme developing at this point, if you’re not already ahead of the game. The additional medium and small cases follow the example set by the largest one. They have attachment straps with poppers, Velcro attachment strips and a Velcro closure plus Molle loops. They also feature multiple internal organizer pockets. Some might say ‘the more the merrier’. Others might wonder just how many separate storage areas, pouches, and pockets you actually need.

Although Cordura is renowned as a very hard-wearing and water-resistant fabric, the backpack nevertheless comes complete with a tailor-made, slip-over rain cover. This folds in on itself, wrapping up small and snug when not required, so it takes up fairly little room in a spare corner of one of the backpack’s many pockets and pouches.

Even though the backpack is voluminous, not everything’s going to fit inside. For large items that could be anything from a tripod to light stands or even a rolled-up picnic blanket, there are four attachment loops up top and another four at the bottom. That’s in addition to the four strips of MOLLE loops at the sides near the top of the bag, and the adjustable side straps. A pair of adjustable straps is supplied with the backpack, with hooks that are specially made to work with the attachment loops.

Yet more add-on attachments are featured, with two pairs of cords that run down the backs and fronts of each side panel. The cords are sewn in so that they form rows of additional loops for latching stuff onto. Alternatively, you could use the loops for securing the backpack to something else while in transit.

SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L: Performance

Getting right down to business, the zippered rear panel and its internal baffle, along with the main and supplementary dividers, enable quick access to all your main camera gear. The easy fitment or removal of the dividers, both the main lateral ones and smaller folding ones, enables a tailored fit for kit, as well as enabling you to convert the bag into a general-purpose backpack or a split camera/daypack, adding versatility.

You’ll notice in the image shown above that the top compartment is separated from the main compartment in the standard configuration of the backpack. You can change this and break through between the two compartments, merging them into one if you remove the top lateral divider, which by default also acts as the floor of the top compartment.

As you might remember from earlier, the right hand side pocket also acts as a side entry point to the main camera compartment, as shown above. It makes sense, therefore, to keep items that you want to grab quickly and most frequently ranked down the right hand side of the compartment.

When you need your laptop, it’s nice that you can access its safe and secure sleeve through either the top opening or the main rear opening of the backpack. Either way, an additional Velcro strap adds an extra layer of safety, ensuring that it doesn’t slide out accidentally.

In practice, I found that the magnetic clasps on the side straps, which you can use for tethering a tripod, were rather less secure. The smallest movement of the cord that releases the clasp is all that’s needed to undo the latch, the result being that the tripod can become untethered accidentally while you’re wearing or carrying the backpack. To avoid this potential pitfall, I tend to use the separate adjustable straps in conjunction with their partner attachment loops at the top and/or bottom of the backpack, which provides a much safer and more secure solution.

In general, all areas, compartments, sleeves, pockets, pouches, organizer sections, and the three additional cases work very well. My only problem from a performance standpoint is that there are just so many of them. Sure, it’s nice that ‘there’s a place for everything and everything in its place’. However, with so many pockets, sub-pockets, and sub-sub-pockets on the agenda, I found it easy to lose track of exactly where I’d stowed some of my items, which made it troublesome to locate them.

SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L: Verdict

Living up to its outdoor billing, the SmallRig Professional Outdoor Backpack 25L is robust, hard-wearing, and very weather-resistant, based on quality materials and components, including Cordura and YKK zippers, along with a tailored slip-over rain cover. I like its modular design, which enables you to remove some or all of the dividers and switch between use as a dedicated camera backpack, a general daily backpack, or a split camera/daypack. The ‘modular’ approach even stretches to the provision of three smaller cases that you can use inside or outside the bag and a large, padded removable waist strap with its own additional pocket and attachment points.

As a consequence of the many and varied parts, the backpack is quite bulky and heavy, even when empty, although you don’t need to use or carry the additional cases and waist strap if you don’t feel the need for them. Either way, the fully adjustable harness with adjusters at the top and bottom of the shoulder straps, plus the adjustable sternum and waist straps and deeply padded body contact areas, make the backpack very comfortable to wear even when fully loaded, for long periods of time.

My only real problem with this backpack is that it’s just so complicated. I feel it’s actually over-designed and over-engineered. I do appreciate the fact that SmallRig wanted to bring a sense of order to large collections of kit by featuring a myriad of pockets within pockets, to give every little thing its own special place. The idea is that this approach makes items quicker to find and easier to access. However, I actually found that the opposite was often the case. Instead of making everything quicker and easier, it took me longer to find bits and pieces, in what often turned into a game of hide-and-seek and something of a memory test.