Gear Review: Lowepro Fastpack 250 AW III

A solid, lightweight bag with only a couple of minor quibbles.

I’m going to do a quick review of the catchily titled Lowepro Fastpack BP 250 AW III, which from now on, I will refer to as the “backpack” or  the “bag”!

I bought this bag as I wanted something that would work as both a camera bag and a day-bag for when I am out walking. Being the owner of a couple of other bags from Lowepro (the equally catchily titled Tahoe BP 150 and the ProTactic BP 450 AWII), they were really the only brand that were in the running for me. 

Admittedly, I’d been spoon-fed some social media ads before I made this purchase, so it was at the front of my mind when I was making the decision.

It’s a well constructed, light backpack which comes in at 1.5kg, which is a reported 33% reduction on its predecessor and it’s almost all black/dark grey, except for the webbing which is a stone grey colour and some orange detailing around some of the seams. The zips are solid and it comes with a grey waterproof cover. I am yet to test it out in poor weather, so will report back on that when I find out whether or not it passes the weather test!

It’s fairly roomy inside, but the layout, even with some adjustments means that my 70-200 f/4 will have to live on my camera (a Canon 80D which is quite large; mirrorless owners may be a little luckier here), but there is plenty of room for my 24-105mm f/4, my 18-55mm kit lens and my 10-18mm f/4.5 super-wide.  

If you want to take a drone, then this is either going in the top section of the pack, or you’ll be leaving lenses behind. Or just not taking your drone. My 50mm f/1.8 doesn’t make the cut if I’m going out to shoot landscapes as there just isn’t enough room. But maybe I just want to take too much kit. Better to have it and not need it and all that… 

The bag benefits from a “2 stage quick door”, which you can access easily by slinging the bag across your body for those quick lens changes, or when you need your camera 10 seconds ago.

This does mean that you lose one of the side pouches to allow for the access, but I feel like this is a small sacrifice to not have to take off my bag, lie it on the floor and open up the whole back of it. 

You do need to make sure that you know where the zips are and then take care when opening so that you don’t just pour your camera gear out all over the trail that you’re walking. So far so good though, and I appreciate the convenience that this is affording me.

Inside the bag is the stuff you would expect from a bag like this by Lowepro. The colour is a light grey with some orange details and I was really impressed with the feel of the updated adjustable dividers. These are now much more solid than previous iterations and feel like they will hold up a bit better when the bag is full. 

A decent sized front pocket adorns the top of the bag, and this will certainly hold your filters and the other photography accoutrements that we all seem to carry (camera tool, lens cloths etc). Those of you with smaller drones might find that yours fits in here, but there isn’t any padding and your drone case isn’t fitting inside.

The laptop compartment is generous and well padded and should take anything upto a 16” laptop for when you need to do your edits on the go. My ipad is my go to for this now and this fits more than comfortably.

The top section of the bag is a fair size and would allow you pack in a lightweight waterproof, small flask and something to eat. It’s difficult to say what will fit in here because we all carry different things, but the pictures should give you a bit of an idea.  

In summary, it’s a well built, well made bag, is comfortable to wear and provides quick and easy access to your kit when you’re out walking. The top “day pack” section is great and allows you to take out enough stuff for a day’s walking and the laptop section is well protected. I’d like to see some improvements to the strength of some of the clips. If you’ve got long lenses and a DSLR then you might want to consider something a bit bigger. Am I happy with it? Yes, absolutely!

At a glance:

Lowepro Fast Pack 205 AW III

Price: Currently available at good camera retailers from £95.00 to £115.00. I got mine from Amazon

• Total Volume: 20.5 L

• Internal Dimensions: 30 x 19 x 53 cm

• External Dimensions: 31.5 x 20 x 54 cm

• Camera Compartment Dimensions: 29 x 12.5 x 22 cm

• Laptop Compartment Dimensions: 27.5 x 2 x 41 cm

Who’s it for?

Photographers who want to get out walking for the day, with a decent sized handful of gear but who also like to pack fairly light.

Those of you who want a decent sized bag at a reasonable price point.

Who should avoid it:

Wildlife ‘togs with a bunch of long lenses might struggle with the small size of the camera compartment.

Those of you who want to take the kitchen sink out on a walk and still have room to take some food and a waterproof.

Pros

Good sized camera gear section with a further decent sized day pack for clothing/food/drink or a drone.

Lightweight.

Solid construction.

Waterproof cover included.

Updated internal dividers feel much nicer and much more solid.

Cons

Uses of larger cameras and lenses may struggle with the smaller size of the gear section in the bottom of the bag.

Plastic clip on the chest strap looks a bit flimsy

Tripod pouch on the side isn’t over-generous so you might need to take something a bit smaller.