Vanguard Alta Sky 42 Backpack Review

The Vanguard Alta Sky 42 joins the popular ultra-tough and comfortable Alta Sky range. This model is a little more focused than your average camera backpack. Vanguard has designed, and is aiming this backpack at anyone who uses a DSLR or mirrorless camera with a large telephoto lens, such as a Sony 200-600mm, Sigma 150-600mm, or similar.

What makes this bag different is that it has been designed to carry longer lenses without the need to pack the body and lens separately, so the camera kit is primed and ready to use as you need it. Alongside the camera setup, there’s also room for up to four additional lenses, making it ideal if you’re a wildlife or sports photographer and are likely to trek with heavy, specialised equipment.

As always, inside the bag, there are a few extras, including a removable sleeve to protect long lenses. When it comes to access, the bag features top and rear access, making it easy to grab your kit when out in the field. The large shoulder straps make it comfortable and easy to swing the bag around without having to fully remove the pack to access the kit.

While the bag is designed for any level of photographer, keen enthusiasts with an eye for wildlife and sport will most benefit from its focused design and usability.

The first thing that strikes you about the Vanguard Alta Sky 42 is just how compact it is. Its slim, tall design instantly gives you an impression of the bag’s intended use.

The bag follows the usual grey styling with heavyweight materials that I’ve seen in the rest of the range. Sure enough, checking the bag over highlights the quality, with plenty of padding that is far beyond most other camera backpacks. Vanguard designed this range to stand up to more than most but ultimately to protect your kit in all conditions, and once again, this bag highlights that quality.

Opening the top section of the bag gives you instant access to your camera with a larger lens attached. While I hunted for a 200-600mm or similar, I settled on the Canon EOS R5 with an EF 100-400mm fitted and a 1.4x extender. This combo slotted easily into the pack without issue and was joined by a couple of other lenses.

Out in the field, the top access is the main port of call when it comes to getting your kit, but for kit loading, the whole back of the bag unzips and folds down, revealing all sections of the bag and the kit within. There’s even a pocket for a larger tablet, such as an iPad Pro, although you could also pop in a small MacBook Air.

The internals offer a 17-litre capacity, which provides plenty of room. The bag has essentially been designed for carrying these larger camera and lens combos, with Vanguard highlighting the popular 200-600mm range as an ideal fit for the bag.

Material design and quality are big features of these Vanguard bags. With an anthracite finish, the bag looks very sleek while maintaining the durable quality that this range has become known for. While the materials are tough, the actual weight of the bag is relatively lightweight at 1.9 kg; this weight obviously rises rapidly once fully loaded. One of the key features of the Vanguard bags is the comfortable fit of the back and straps, which you can easily tailor to your fit. This fit also includes the ergonomic back, waist belt, and harness system, which all help to ensure comfort if you’re carrying your kit for a full day when trekking.

While there’s no large personal kit section, there are plenty of points where you can slot or attach accessories. On each side are large slot pockets that can hold a travel tripod and water bottle. Then, on the front, while not huge, there is a large slot pocket for cards, spare batteries, a wallet, and a few other items.

One last part of the design that is well worth mentioning is the bright orange interior, which makes it easy to see your gear in low light.

When it comes to features, the Alta Sky is finely tuned for its intended use. Most notably, it has a full rear opening for loading kit and a fast-access top, which enables you to draw out your camera equipped with a 200-600mm lens.

Inside the bag is a removable sleeve, which Vanguard has designed to cover the lens and add a little more protection, especially if you’re on a longer trek.

On the rear flap, there is a tablet slot that measures 240 x 25 x 380mm. It will easily fit an iPad Pro and my small MacBook Air slotted in without too much effort.

While the bright inner colour is designed so that you can easily locate the kit in lower-light conditions, the contrast between the material’s colour and the camera kit’s is great enough to make it easy to see. In daylight, it’s also handy. Smaller items that can get lost in the pit of other bags are easy to see and locate.

On the back of the bag, there’s a strap system and a pull-down pocket at the base, which is especially handy for mounting a full-sized tripod. Otherwise, you can pop a travel tripod into one of the large side pockets.

As with the rest of the Alta Sky range, comfort is a key feature of these bags. Here, once again, we see the Air System back, harness, and waist belt. The comfort of these is essentially in another league, which is why the bag range has become one of our go-to options.

As with other bags, a rain cover is included and can be quickly deployed when needed. It’s worth noting that throughout this test, it rained quite a bit, and on the occasions when I didn’t use the rain cover, the bag’s materials were still able to repel the lighter rain absolutely fine.

When it comes to internal dimensions, the bag measures 235 x 150 x 470mm with an exterior size of 270 × 240 × 505mm and a total capacity of 17 litres. Inside, the inner space is divided with padded velcro dividers, enabling you to configure the inside as you see fit.

Before it’s fully loaded, it weighs a reasonable 1.9kg.

To test out the bag, as previously mentioned, I popped in a Canon EOS R5 with EF 100-400mm lens, a 24-70mm and Sirui 150mm Anamorphic. Laying the bag down, the entire back of the bag unzips and gives you instant access to the inner cavity. The layout of the inside is easy enough to configure with the padded divides, all featuring the usual velcro fixings, enabling them to be moved and attached with ease. After rearranging the inside and then putting it back roughly to the configuration that it arrived with, the kit was placed inside.

The tablet slot at the back, while small, has room for a MacBook Air 13-inch, which slipped in before the back section was zipped and closed. On the front of the pack is a small slot pocket, which does have a bit of depth and will fit a surprising amount of accessories, such as a memory card case, filter or two, and a few other items, including dog treats and a bar or two for myself.

Putting the bag on and adjusting the straps instantly highlights why I have been so keen on the other Alta Sky bags. The fit, once adjusted, is snug, and the padding and design of the straps spread the load well. Then there are the chest and waist straps, which further elevate the weight so that if you are off the trek, then you can be sure that this pack will stay comfortable throughout the duration of the day. The Air System enables decent airflow across parts of your back to help keep you as cool as possible. However, this is a backpack and fully loaded, so it is going to be heavy. So, while the air system is good, expect a little sweat on a longer hike.

I popped a VEO travel tripod into one of the side pockets and a 500ml standard Chilli bottle into the other.

Out in the New Forest, the weight of the bag was apparent, but that weight was distributed extremely well, and throughout the afternoon of walking in a relatively cool environment, the bag remained comfortable at all times. The rear straps, designed to hold a full-sized tripod, also came in handy for strapping in my coat when the sun did decide to make a brief appearance.

The bag excels at carrying the kit. The space inside is ideal for packing in a camera body and 600mm lens. It’s also worth noting that the bag’s slimline nature makes it extremely comfortable when walking, so if you are prone to swinging your arms as you stroll, then with this bag, you can do so without issue.

When it comes to kit access, the bag again works well with the top access, making it quick and easy to access the camera when needed by swinging it around your shoulder. One not here is that some sort of quick catch on the opening would have been good, such as a hook or latch that meant that you didn’t either have to leave the lid open or zipped closed. This would also have further sped up the speed of access when out and about while also offering you a small level of security when you swing the bag around to extract your kit.

The camera bag market is packed, so to stand out these days, you have to offer something special. Vanguard has done that with the superb Alta Sky 42. The bag’s design follows the rest of the line, which instantly appeals to me. Likewise, the materials, colour, and overall design have proven to be exceptional for years, so it’s great to see that this new addition sticks to the formula.

When it comes to use, the Alta Sky 42 is a highly functional bag, perfect for wildlife and sports photographers using bulky telephoto lenses, which is what it has been designed for. There’s plenty of space for kit when loading the bag, but some might find the lack of space for personal items—aside from the small front pocket—a little limiting.

However, when it comes to pure function, few bags come close. For sports and wildlife photographers, the Alta Sky 42 offers a bag that has been specifically designed for longer lenses. It’s comfortable to carry, even when fully loaded, and the bag is tough, well-padded, and extremely durable and protective, even in inclement weather. Most of all, it enables you to easily access your kit, both when loading and when out in the field. When it comes to its specific use, this bag absolutely excels.