There are plenty of courier bags available, but the Manhattan Speedy-30 Messenger is one of the smarter ones and it provides a good level of protection for your gear.
Pros
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Comfortable strap
+
Plenty of storage
+
Room for laptop
+
Raincover
Cons
-
Tripod mounting clips are awkward to use
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The Manfrotto Manhattan Speedy-30 Messenger has an attractive, streamlined appearance. It’s perfectly sized for use as carry-on luggage or as an everyday commuter bag. Inside it has a removable padded section for housing a DSLR or mirrorless camera along with four or even five lenses – including a 70-200mm f2.8.
As usual, the dividers inside the camera holder have Velcro attachments so they can be configured to suit your kit. The red Flexi dividers are useful for moulding around items or sitting between two lenses – they’d be more useful if they had Velcro tabs, allowing them to be repositioned independent of the larger dividers that they’re stitched to.
Manfrotto has used dense foam inside the dividers, so although they’re quite thin, they protect your gear nicely. There’s a mesh zip-closing top to the removable camera section, which means your valuables won’t spill all over the place when you pull it out of the bag.
At the back of the bag there’s a padded laptop section that can accommodate a 15-inch laptop, and just in front of it there’s a padded pocket for a tablet. There’s another long zip-closing pocket on the inside of the bag lid, which is divided in two to help keep small items like pens, memory cards or business cards organized.
Manfrotto has given the Manhattan Speedy-30 a hide-away flap with straps that keeps a tripod like the Manfrotto BeFree Advanced secure, and prevents the legs from catching on things (and other commuters) when you’re traveling. However, the angle of the female part of the clips makes them rather awkward to use.
A broad strap with decent pad ensures the bag is comfortable on your shoulder. However, this pad appears to have to sit on your chest in order for the stabilisation strap to be used.
The fabric is water-repellent, but a rain cover is provided to give more serious protection.
Angela has been testing camera gear from all the major manufacturers since January 2004 and has been Amateur Photographer’s Technical Editor and Head of Testing for Future Publishing’s photography portfolio (Digital Camera Magazine, PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine, N-Photo, Practical Photoshop, Photography Week and Professional Photography magazines, as well as the Digital Camera World and TechRadar websites). She is the founder of SheClicks - a community group that encourages and supports female photographers.
