Gitzo has plumped for a dual compartment design for the Légende Backpack. The top half has a flip-back flap and draw-string inner to keep personal items safe while the camera compartment is accessed via a side opening and features a customisable insert.
There are two clever magnetic latches on the top compartment flap. To open it, you just pull the flap down and then lift it away from the main bag. If you just let the flap drop, nine times out of ten, the latches catch so the flap is secure.
Inside the top compartment, there are some useful organisation features. These include two simple slip-in pockets for housing things like batteries, a filter or two or a slim memory card wallet, a small slip-in pocket that can take a memory card or two, a wide zip-close mesh pocket and a couple of rows of elastic loops to hold pens and the like.
There’s also plenty of room for an extra layer, a packed lunch and your wallet or purse.
When the backpack is on your back, the camera compartment is accessed via a zip-opening on your left side. In a neat touch, there’s a mesh zip-closed pocket on the side of the compartment flap.
The camera compartment is designed to take a mirrorless camera and up to three lenses. It’s deep enough to take a full-frame camera such as the Sony A9 or Nikon Z7 II with a 70-200mm f/4 mounted, but if you carry your camera on a strap or in the top compartment, there’s enough room for a 70-200mm f/2.8. I was able fit in a Sony A7 III with a 70-200mm f/2.8 mounted.
There’s also room for another couple of lenses alongside the 70-200mm, but keep in mind that they have to be slid in one behind the other and there’s only access to them from one side.
Gitzo hasn’t stinted on pockets and pouches around the Légende Backpack. There’s a roll-top expanding pocket on either side of the pack, a small zip-close pocket on the right side, an expandable zip close pocket on the left (behind the roll-top pocket) and a large zip-close pocket on the front of the backpack.
The roll-top pocket on the left of the pack forms part of the tripod carrier. It’s large enough for all three legs of the Légende Tripod to be slide in before the top of the tripod legs are secured using a strap. There’s also a lower strap if you feel the need to use it or if you’re carrying a larger tripod and only one or two legs can fit in the pocket.
Between the padded backrest of the pack and the two main compartments, there’s a dedicated laptop sleeve that’s accessed via a zip near the top of the straps. This has room for a 15-inch or smaller laptop and there’s a thin sleeve to hold a tablet safely.