Voygr 1 Camera Bag review: Luxury meets practicality in an almost perfect marriage

With its butter-soft leather and tasteful gold hardware accents, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Voygr 1 Camera Bag was merely a stylish messenger bag. Happily, this is exactly what the team behind Voygr designed the bag for. There is no unnecessary bulk or drab technical fabric here – only premium materials and a sleek, compact profile.

As one of only a small handful of products by Voygr, this bag was created for photographers and creators who do a lot of traveling. Accordingly, I can absolutely see this as being excellent for the best cameras for street photography, especially with its low-profile design. As someone who loves a good city break, I would also rate it as one of the best camera bags for travel (as long as you’re someone who doesn’t need to carry a huge amount of kit).

Despite its elegant exterior, this bag is far from being all style and no substance. Inside is a Mary Poppins-esque array of artfully designed nooks and crannies that made me verbally note “oh, that’s useful” to myself multiple times. I’ve hoisted many a camera bag upon my shoulders in my time, but I fear the Voygr 1 may have spoiled me for the future. After all, if other camera bags don’t come with pebbled calf leather memory card holders, then I don’t think I want them.

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Voygr 1: Specifications

Voygr 1: Price

The Voygr 1 Camera Bag is available for $281 / £179 / AU$395 with free shipping. This is on the more expensive side for camera messenger bags, but I would say that it’s a fair price when you consider the leather exterior and the suede interior.

When you compare it to the Billingham Eventer MKII bag (currently billed as the luxury option in our best camera bags guide), which retails for roughly $834 / £662 / AU$1,171, I think it’s practically a steal.

Voygr 1: Design & Handling

The Voygr 1 can hold one DSLR or mirrorless camera and two lenses. There are suede-covered inserts that can be adjusted to create smaller and larger pockets within the bag. As opposed to some other bags I’ve tested, the velcro holds really nicely and it takes a significant tug to take it away from the bag’s interior fabric. There are two small cupholder-like pockets on either end of the bag. These are a nice idea in theory, but when the bag is filled with kit, there isn’t really room to put anything substantial in there.

There is a front interior pocket that can fit an iPad Mini, but will not house a laptop or tablet larger than 10 inches. The rear interior pocket has three leather SD card holders and four more cupholder-like pockets that could house tripod plates, rolls of film, cables, and other various accoutrements. I would say that they run on the smaller size, so they are unable to fit in filters (especially those with larger circumferences). I would have personally preferred three slightly larger pockets than the smaller four. However, the rear pocket as a whole is more than big enough to store multiple filters if necessary – they just won’t have individual homes.

The rear exterior of the bag has a zipped compartment that contains four slots for bank cards or photo ID. It’s a relatively roomy pocket, but I would be hesitant to put too much into it for fear of stretching the leather. However, it would be perfect for holding a phone and passport.

The zip on the back pocket of the bag is smooth and uninterrupted. However, my one major quibble with this bag regards the zip for the main compartment. The end of the zip is tucked into the interior of the bag itself. This means that there is no clear ‘stop’ for the zip to come to when the bag is opened. When drawing the zip back and forth along the back, it noticeably sticks for the first couple of inches while being closed. Additionally, if the zip is tugged fully open, then the end of the zip needs to be untucked from the bag in order to close it. For me, this isn’t a dealbreaker. However, it is an irritation.

The leather strap is adjustable and features a shoulder rest. However, that rest doesn’t appear to contain any additional padding. There are also four studs on the bottom of the bag to protect the leather from being placed directly on the floor. These studs also help to easily keep the bag upright rather than tipping over.

One of my favorite features of the bag is the clip-on camera strap that can be attached to either the D-rings at each end of the bag, or to the spare adjustable clip on the shoulder strap. For me, this really highlights how perfect this bag is for travel and street photography. If you’re ever in a location where you want to keep a tight hold on your camera, you can attach it to your shoulder strap and take photos without worrying that it could be yanked from your hands mid-shot.

Voygr 1: Performance

Even without any kit inside the Voygr 1 camera bag, I immediately noticed that it felt relatively weighty in the hand. Considering the premium materials used, this isn’t a surprise. However, my perennial bugbear with all camera messenger bags is that it’s a lot of weight to put on one shoulder, especially if you use DSLRs. If this is something that you think might bother you, then you might be better off with something like the Bellroy Venture 10L Sling Camera Edition bag, which weighs almost 200 g (7 oz) less (although is also far less stylish!).

When the bag was fully loaded up, it felt a little boxy to carry. I walked with it for an hour, and found myself pretty aware of it the entire time. However, when carrying lighter kit that has a smaller profile, this is less of an issue.

With a DSLR and two lenses packed inside the Voygr 1, I will say that room inside the bag felt tight. Those additional pockets are great, but realistically, it’s tough to actually fit anything extra inside them. In fact, when I tried to add in a couple of filter holders, I started to struggle to be able to close the zip. I think that this is partially due to the material of the bag. If you take the aforementioned Bellroy Venture as a comparison, the external material has a level of give that the leather of the Voygr 1 bag just doesn’t.

On the leather, I would be remiss not to mention that the pebbled calf leather exterior isn’t going to be the most practical material when caught in a downpour. While it will typically handle a light shower of rain relatively well, repeatedly taking it out in inclement weather may result in damage to the leather (and to the camera kit inside). This is a shame when rain can provide some excellent street photography opportunities, but it’s also much of a muchness if you’re considering a leather camera bag in the first place! It would be nice if Voygr included a rain cover for their bags to ensure that users aren’t limited to shooting solely on non-rainy days.

Another material consideration is the bag’s zip. While the large-toothed zip looks great, I did find myself wincing as I pulled my camera in and out of the bag. More than once, my camera body scratched against the zip, which isn’t ideal. If you’re a little too laissez-faire with your lens cap like me, then this could be a recipe for a lens-scratch disaster.

Ultimately, while Voygr’s assertion that the bag can fit a DSLR and two lenses is correct, I think users will be more comfortable sticking to kit with a smaller profile.

Voygr 1: Verdict

The Voygr 1 Camera Bag is a beautifully crafted messenger bag that prioritizes good quality materials and plenty of thoughtfully designed pockets. The removable inserts mean that this is a bag that will live a lot of lives with me, rather than just being relegated to my closet whenever I’m not shooting.

During testing, I appreciated how discreet the Voygr 1 is. There was no way that the strangers I passed were able to tell that I was carrying camera kit worth thousands. Considering that some camera bags can feel like I’m hoisting a flashing advert crying “please rob me” onto my back, I was surprised at how calm I felt with the Voygr 1.

My only significant frustration revolved around the zip, which did tend to stick when fully open. This is a real shame, because it’s something that could have been resolved with a shorter end that didn’t need to be tucked into the bag. I would also caution users to be careful when lifting delicate glass in and out of the bag, as I could foresee issues with lenses potentially being scratched.

Alternatives

Billingham Eventer MkII
If you’re looking for a luxury brand with heritage, this Billingham will tick those boxes – and it’ll also offer more space too, with two 1.5-liter capacity front pockets and room for a 14-inch laptop.

Bellroy Venture 10L Sling Camera Edition Although far less stylish than the Voygr 1, reviewer Dan Mold notes it as being “one of the most comfortable bags” he’s ever worn – high praise when he was testing with kit weighing 2.6 kg (5.7 lbs).

See our full guide to the best messenger bags for photographers