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When I started Wanderlust While Working, I never really intended to do a bunch of gear reviews. However, I am so obsessed with my new Lowepro Photosport hiking camera backpack I couldn’t resist adding a review of the product to my blog.
I purchased this bag as an upgrade to my previous day hiking bag because I needed more room for a water bladder and storage as we did the Lake Placid 9er Hiking Challenge. I don’t have a ton of expensive camera equipment, but I wanted to make sure I was keeping my mirrorless camera safe while still having enough room to bring water, snacks, and a jacket if required on our hikes. This bag is absolutely perfect for hikers looking to bring minimal camera equipment along on hikes, but here’s my detailed review on all the features and pros and cons of the Lowepro Photosport 200.
Weight
The Lowepro Photosport 200 is not designed as an ultralight backpacking bag and therefore has some weight on its own with all the padding for the camera compartment. For the price, I wouldn’t necessarily anticipate it being ultralight anyway, but it can be a bit heavy on my small frame after a long hike, even with minimal items in the pack. Even if it isn’t a super light bag, the straps are strong and comfortable and the waist belt helps disperse the weight pretty evenly, unlike my previous sling bag.
Storage Capacity
It took me a surprisingly long time to find a hiking camera bag that had all the storage compartments I was looking for. Most general camera bags don’t have room for water bladders if you’re going to be hiking long distances and most hiking bags don’t have enough padding to protect a camera, even with multiple compartments. I looked at buying a regular hiking backpack and putting a small camera case in it, but that just seemed to provide a lot of unnecessary weight and made it difficult to access the camera while hiking. I didn’t need an overnight camping backpack, just enough to get us through some of our longer day hikes, so this bag ended up being a happy medium that was comfortable with ample storage space.
Water Bladder Pouch
One of the key things I was looking for in a camera bag was the ability to have a separate compartment to store my water so that it couldn’t leak onto the camera. As we started to do longer day hikes, I needed to hold more than a 16 oz bottle of water on our trips. We bought a pair of 1.5L water bladders. This compartment states online that it can fit up to a 2L pouch, but I’d be hard pressed to find someone who can squeeze it into the compartment completely full. The easiest way to fill these is to put the empty bladder in the compartment first and then fill the bladder once it’s inside. Just make sure that the seal on the tubing is tight to prevent any leaks.
Pro Tip: When this pouch isn’t being used for a water bladder, it’s the perfect size to stow a tablet as your personal item on the plane or for just traveling around the city.
Camera Compartment
I think the size of the camera compartment is likely to be the main complaint of serious photographers using this bag. I have a Sony a6000 mirrorless camera with the standard and zoom lens, and that’s about all that will fit into this compartment. The compartment itself opens from the side of the bag, is very secure, and can be cinched tight to prevent items from bouncing around. It also has small compartments to hold SD cards and a separator to keep different pieces of equipment safe.
Since I purposely like to carry light on my hikes and have a mirrorless specifically for the lighter weight, this is the perfect size for me. But for someone with a larger DSLR camera you will definitely want to look at the larger version of this bag or another bag altogether. While the bag is made by a camera bag company, it’s clearly for the hiker who wants to carry their camera along versus a professional photographer who needs to bring all their gear to the destination for the perfect shot. Lowepro claims this bag can handle DSLRs, but depending on your equipment and lens size it’s not likely to actually fit in the compartment.
Main Drawstring Compartment
In addition to the camera compartment, there is also an upper part of the backpack that closes in a drawstring. This is perfect for storing a light jacket, poncho, headlamp, flashlight, map, and/or first aid kit, although it is a bit awkwardly shaped around the camera compartment. The top of the bag then flips over the top of the drawstring to protect its contents and buckles in tightly to keep things safe.
Other Storage
In addition to the main compartments, there is also an easy access pouch in the top of the bag, a sleeve on the exterior of the bag you can quickly slide snacks or a jacket in without opening up the main compartments, and pouches on either side of the waist belt to stash extra cash, chapstick, hand sanitizer or other small items. A side pocket allows you to slide in a small tripod or 16oz water bottle for extra hydration on hot days or long hikes and loops at the bottom allow you to attach items or hang your poles horizontally if you don’t need them.
Design
Ventilation
Ventilation isn’t as huge an issue for me as it is for others, but it’s still an important design consideration for any type of hiking backpack. This backpack uses back panel ventilation with Lowepro’s ActivZone technology, but I don’t think the material is quite right to really make things effective. Lowepro has definitely made a concerted effort to include ventilation features which I think is impressive for a camera bag company. Where the design may lack a little here it more than makes up for this with its other features.
Durability
While it may not provide the best ventilation, one thing I do particularly like about the fabric used on the exterior of the Photosport is the strong and tear resistant material. Unlike other backpack type fabrics, the bag naturally feels more water resistant and seems to have less chance of catching on brush or thorns on the trail.
The Photosport is also very resistant to dust and sand. We brought this bag on our two week road trip through Utah’s National Parks, which is full of fine red dust and sandy desert environments. I spent a lot of time cleaning sand out of my shoes and socks, but even sitting the bag on the ground during snack breaks didn’t result in the bag gathering a ton of dirt.
Straps
The straps on the Lowepro Photosport are perfect for hiking and have a lot of nice features themselves. The main shoulder straps are sturdy, adjustable, and cushioned with loops to secure your water bladder tube. I also like that they can buckle into the top of the backpack for added security. There is also a chest strap with a whistle built into the buckle and a waist strap. Many waist straps on some of the cheaper bag options are just a thin strap meant more for securing the bag and less about helping you to carry the weight. The wings on each side of the waist strap of this bag allow you to carry a decent amount of weight on your hips, relieving some of the pressure on your shoulders. As an added bonus, each wing has a small pocket with a zipper for storing items for easy access. As someone who has had back issues, it definitely is helpful when carrying a backpack over long distances.
Waterproofing
One of the other key pieces of a good hiking camera bag is the ability to brave the elements, including sudden rain showers. A built in rain cover is hidden in a bottom pocket and can easily slide up and over the bag to protect it from rain. Since the camera compartment is already padded and located at the bottom of the bag it’s pretty safe regardless, but this attached cover is so simple and doesn’t add a lot of weight or take up a ton of space in the bag. I haven’t had to use the rain cover often, but it’s worked well in the instances when I needed it.
Price
This bag is phenomenal, but considering I’m an amateur photographer it wouldn’t quite be worth it if it was prohibitively expensive. Camera bags as well as hiking backpacks vary wildly in cost depending on what you are looking for. In general, Lowepro’s camera bags that hold minimal gear are relatively affordable. This was one of the cheapest and highest rated options I found that included all the features I was looking for.
Check out current prices for the Lowepro Photosport 200 on Amazon here.
Overall Score for the Lowepro Photosport 200
All in all, this bag is perfect for everything I need. I didn’t want a giant backpack when we just do day hiking, but my smaller sling camera bag wasn’t cutting it anymore as we started hiking longer distances. This bag is perfect balance between size and comfort and is surprisingly quite affordable for all the features packed into a hiking backpack. If you have additional gear or are looking for a more general camera backpack this may not be right for you, but if you’re an avid hiker like I am you really can’t go wrong with the Lowepro Photosport 200. I seriously love this bag and can’t wait to use it for all the adventures to come.