On this Slanted Lens product review, I am talking about Vanguard’s Sedona 45 backpack. This bag would be great for taking your camera equipment with you on a day hike.
This is a top-loading bag, which I love. There is also a front pocket and a tripod holder. There is a back panel that allows you to access multiple compartments at once. The padding on the back is great and very comfortable. It also comes with a waterproof cover.
The only downside I noticed was that I wished the top compartment had some padding. I felt like my camera was exposed without the padding, so I started adding a t-shirt on top to create the padding myself.
Thanks for watching! Keep those cameras rollin’ and keep on clickin’.
Video Transcription
Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan. Today on The Slanted Lens Review, we’re going to Vanguard’s Sedona 45. This is a great little backpack. They sent one of these to me, I decided to take it out and field test it. So I used it when I went to Yellowstone. What I had in here was my Mark III with my 150-600mm lens. It’s nice because this is top-loading, I can unzip the top, and I can just shove this straight in and zip it up. It was really nice that way. The one thing I did wish that it had, there’s no padding on the top here. I felt like my camera was just exposed on the top. So I started putting a t-shirt on there, just to protect my camera a little bit. But I loved the fact that I can just pop this up, pull it out. I started putting it in this top pouch here, all of my cards, so I had extra cards. In the front pouch right here, I put all of my batteries. So I had batteries. It did have a tripod holder, but I would just grab my tripod and run. And it didn’t have the tripod attached to this. So I had batteries and cards, and I also put my 7200mm lens in here, just in case, and another body. I felt like if I saw a buffalo and I wanted to jump out of the car, I would just grab this and the tripod, and run. And I had pretty much everything I needed to do. Before I started doing that, I was jumping out of the car, and I’d get over there and my battery died. And I would have nothing. And my wife’s going, “Why don’t you put it all in the little Vanguard bag, so you can just take it with you when you run out to take the picture of the buffalo.” That proved to be a really good piece of advice. And my wife always gives me great advice, there’s no doubt about that.
So, it is interesting though, how you get into the bag. You have a top load. So you can do your top load to be able to get your camera in and out. That’s got my main camera in it. If I want to get to the other things in the bag, you turn the bag over on its back, and there’s a zipper pouch back here that you can take and get into the bag, back here. And that gives you access to the other compartments in the case, and that works out pretty nicely. Now for me, I was having a hard time getting used to this being in the inside rather than on the outside. I’m used to laying the bag down like this and opening it up, being able to get inside there. But eventually, I got to where I was laying it down like this and I started to figure it out. But it was a little hard for me to get used to in the beginning. Great padding on this, as far as if you pull it on as a backpack. As far as the padding for my back, the shoulder pads have great pieces right here, that hit your shoulders just right. I found that very useful and I thought it was very nice in that way. It just fit my body well and it worked well for me. I think it’s a nice sized backpack because it’s not too big. It really gives you the space to carry the few things you need to be able to photograph. If you’re going on a day hike, this is a great backpack, to be able to take just enough equipment to be able to photograph with. And underneath, we have attached to the bag, a large water hat for the shower. Or a water cover for your bag which zips right out. It’s attached to the bottom. Makes it so it’s water-tight. Take that baby back in, shove it right back in the bottom, and you’re good to go. This is well-thought through. It’s got your carabiner hooks if you’re going to hook things on the bag, which I love. Lots of straps and buttons to be able to attach everything. I don’t know what this one does, but it does something. It has a thing on it here, pulls out like that. Yeah, I have no idea what that does. But it does something and I’m sure it’s cool. I wish I knew what it did because then it would be just cool to know. But I don’t. But it does hook on here, so we’ve got that going for us. All right, there you go. What else? Oh, and we’ve got another one over here. There are two. So that’s been another review by Jay P. Morgan. Another review. And remember, it is a Vanguard bag, so it has a bit of orange, right there.