Review of the Vanguard VEO Select 35 Shoulder / Messenger Camera Bag

Great landscape bag - this is my 5th Vanguard bag and the first of the 'large' messenger type.

I bought this from picstop.co.uk after shooting a sunrise and found that changing lenses/bodies from a backpack slowed me down a little. I realised that what I needed was a simpler top loading camera bag for this purpose. Indeed, swapping cameras etc with the Vanguard Veo Select 35 on the fly is very speedy. Its shape also makes it very stable. No falling over as gear gets added or removed

What's great about this bag is the size, number of compartments, pockets and general storage ability. Camera gear storage inside the bag and zippered pockets on the outside for phone etc. Also has a pocket for the (included) rain cover. This bag swallows 2 large mirrorless bodies (with lenses attached) plus additional lenses and general 'stuff'. I can see the Select taking 1 or 2 DSLR's and quite possibly a 70-200 too.

A lot of thought has gone into the design. For example, the top handle feels very strong and able to lift heavy loads, but all that weight would be supported by the Zip - so Vanguard have included clips to take that load to prevent the zip from breaking - smart. Also, the shoulder strap has been offset so that the bag is more comfortable to carry (you can really feel it, if you wear the bag the wrong way round!).

Being a big-ish camera bag, it will fit quite a bit of kit and therefore get heavy quickly. I couldn't imagine using this for trekking up a mountain or walking medium to long distances (That's what a backpack is for). This bag is for lugging quite a bit of kit from the house to the car, or from the car a short distance to the shoot (I'm talking hundreds of metres only here)…which I'm pretty sure is what Vanguard designed it for.

As is the case with Vanguard products, it feels well-made and durable. I can see it lasting a few years at least. At this price point - what's not to like?

Review by Justin L