Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop Camera Backpack review

Hiking in the great outdoors and photography are two hobbies that go together like peanut butter and jelly. But adventurers looking to travel on a journey to incredible outdoor locations are often at a crossroads when it comes to choosing the right bag. Specific photography backpacks often don't offer enough dedicated storage space for non-camera-related items like clothes, jackets, food, and toiletries and lack attachment points for camping mats or cooking equipment. While hiking-specific backpacks are often brilliant for storing camping and hiking essentials but can be ill-equipped for storing camera kit without pockets to store memory cards, batteries, shutter release cables, and so on.

In this review, I got hold of the Summit Creative Tenzing Rolltop, which comes in 30, 40 and 50L models, though it was the middle 40L version I tested. The Tenzing Rolltop aims to strike the perfect balance for photographers who also need to hike, trek and camp en route to location, and also for serious ramblers looking for a more elegant solution to carry camera equipment on their adventures. It looks to be built from high-quality materials and has a unique way to shift storage space from the camera compartment to the general compartment. Here's how I got on...

Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop: Specifications

Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop: Build & Handling

The Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop is a backpack manufactured in China coming in black or orange colors. I got my hands on the latter for this review, which being nice and brightly colored would be a big help if you needed assistance out in the wild as its brighter color is easier to spot from a distance.

The first thing I noticed was the rugged 420D coated material which gives the bag its anti-scratch and waterproof properties. It does also come with a rain cover you fit over the top of the bag in a heavy downpour too, to give you extra peace of mind that your pricey camera kit is safe from harm.

It's quite a heavy backpack, tipping the scales at 2.8 kg, though it does have a metal internal frame to help aid support and keep its shape when fully loaded up with both camera and hiking equipment. One of my favorite everyday photography bags is the Lowepro Flipside 500AW II which even with its huge internal capacity only weighs 2.05 kg, though obviously omits the metal frame and ability to carry non-photographic items which would be beneficial to hiking and camping.

All of the components feel really high quality, from the waterproof YKK zippers to the EVA padding on the rear. The waist buckle is detachable and fits behind the back padding, using velcro to hold it in place. The waist belt is decently padded and also has a handy pocket on the left side large enough to stash a smartphone, but on the right, it has an anchor point to attach a camera carry system.

The shoulder straps are again very nicely padded and also have zippered, expandable pockets. This is also where you'll find the chest sternum strap, though it's not elasticated as it is on most of its competitors. With less give across the chest it's not so comfortable as there's no room for it to stretch as you move.

There's no shortage of space on the outside of the bag, with two large side pockets for stashing water bottles, tripods, walking poles or a monopod, plus buckled straps above each to keep long items tethered to the bag. Both side pockets also conceal zippered pockets – one grants you quick access to the internal camera compartment if you only need to grab your camera with the lens attached. The other opens to reveal a large pocket with a netted section, perfect for stashing large items like maps, guide books, compass or head torch. You don't want to overload it though, as it can have an impact on what you store in the external pocket, or hinder your access to the quick side access panel – if you intend to grab your camera from it frequently.

There a huge pocket on the front of the backpack which covers the entire front section – a zipper expands the pocket depth even further. Summit Creative says this is a good place to store gimbals and stabilizers such as the SC Ronin S or Zhiyun. As this front section doesn't benefit from the same beefy padding used on the internal camera section you will have to be a bit careful if you do choose to do this. The front pocket also has a large elasticated pocket and zippered net pocket, so there are plenty of storage spots for accessories and peripherals. In short, I never felt short of places to stash gadgets!

A headline feature of this 40L backpack is its rolltop. In addition to having weather protection from the folding rolltop and buckle, it also features a zip along the rolltop opening for added protection. This opening allows access to the top section of the bag which can be used for your non-camera items, such as clothes and toiletries. It's impressively roomy, especially with the rolltop expanded to its maximum capacity.

The Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop has a party tricky trick and one that I've never seen before. it gives users the option to trade space in the camera compartment for room in the top section for everyday items (clothes, food, toiletries etc). Unlike some other bags which feature modular padded camera cubes you can remove and swap out to change the camera capacity of your bag, the Summit Creative 40L employs a different tactic...

The dividing padding which separates the rolltop section from the camera compartment in the bottom, is sewn in – however, it can be pushed upwards allowing for more camera space for an additional row of lenses, still with reasonable room for other non-camera essentials in the top section. Or, some padding in the camera compartment can be removed and the divider can be pushed down making way for more space for non-camera equipment like clothes, toiletries food and so on. In this mode, there's still ample room for a camera with a standard lens attached plus up to three more standard lenses. With the camera compartment set to its maximum capacity, you have almost twice as much space to play with as it adds about 20cm to the camera section (but borrows it from the top), and makes it much easier to stow longer lenses such as a 70-200mm f/2.8.

Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop: Performance

Comfort was impressive – the EVA padding on the back has channels allowing decent airflow, the padding on the shoulder and waist straps was also substantial and made for a positive experience. I do however wish the sternum strap was elasticated to provide extra comfort across the chest as there's no give in it when moving. The metal frame also helped give the backpack some rigidity when loaded up with heavier kit.

The padding on the inside did a good job of protecting camera kit and its bright blue interior also helps you find kit in low light. Being able to flip between two storage modes for more or less camera equipment and creating more or less space in the top section wasn't novel either, I found it genuinely useful.

One downside of this system however is that it's not modular which could be an issue when flying. Summit Creative market this bag as being carry-on friendly – it even has a carry handle on the back acting as a luggage trolley pass-through. While in theory, you should be able to store the 40L Tenzing Rolltop in the overhead cabin of a plane (though always check to be sure), in rare occurrences you might be asked to check your luggage into the hold – this something you should avoid at all costs as luggage in the hold is much more likely to be knocked around and also exposed to extreme low temperatures during the flight.

With modular bags such as the Peak Design 25L and 45L Outdoor Backpacks, you can simply remove the camera cube module and take this smaller padded section with your core camera kit on the flight – your large backpack shell can then be checked into the hold. But as the camera compartment is sewn into the Tenzing Rolltop this isn't possible and something to keep in mind if you plan to do a lot of flying. It shouldn't be a problem... But it could be. That being said, if it is a concern you could add a removable camera cube of your own choice inside to get around this issue.

The camera compartment opens via a hatch door on the back which swings out to the left. The YKK zippers are large so these operate smoothly, though it's a little awkward to move the shoulder straps out of the way before swinging the door out. Doing so however, reveals the large 16" laptop storage compartment built into the hatch door, plus two see-through zippered pockets which allow you to see what accessories are stored inside them, and are a handy place to stash spare batteries, a memory card case, shutter release cables and so on.

The padding inside the camera compartment is High Elastic Hot Press Slim EVA material which does a good job at cushioning camera kit and lenses. There's definitely variety in dividers that come with the bag, from small dividers that can even be folded in half to protect two small lenses with one piece of padding, to a longer piece that has a metal rod in it for extra stability – more on that in just a moment. I did however, find that I would have liked a few more dividers – particularly when the camera section is extended fully, I was a few dividers short of being able to neatly fit in all the lenses I wanted to carry and have them fully protected. If you've folded the top section down so you have a smaller camera compartment this isn't as much of a problem.

Coming back to that long piece of padding that has a metal rod running through it. This in principle is a good idea as it gives the bag some extra horizontal rigidity and should keep the bag from warping. but in practice, I wasn't a fan. It was often a real faff to get the rod to line up with the holes to dock it and then would quite easily fall out. Not too much of an issue on its own, but the ends of the metal aren't rounded – they're not sharp but I wouldn't want them anywhere near my camera lenses as they definitely have the potential to scratch a glass element.

Water resistance was expectedly impressive from a backpack designed for the outdoors. The 420D coated exterior material, rolltop and YKK waterproof zippers all did a fantastic job of keeping water out.

If you need extra protection from the elements you can use the additional rain cover. This isn't built-in unfortunately so you have to find a space on your bag to store it. But fortunately, there's no shortage of anchor points on the outside of the bag for you to attach it to.

Summit Creative 40L Tenzing Rolltop: Verdict

After extensively using the 40L version of the Summit Creative Tenzing Rolltop backpack I can thoroughly recommend it if you’re a photographer who needs a solution to carrying your camera kit safely in addition to other camping and hiking essentials with enough expandable storage for bulky items like rollmats, tripods, hiking poles or stashing a jacket. It's clear to see it's built from high-quality materials, has professional features and the padding (and removable waistbelt) make it comfortable to use on daylong hiking adventures.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, the Summit Creative Tenzing Rolltop is an expensive camera bag, but is it worth it? In many circumstances, I think it would be, though there are scenarios I think it's best suited to, and others where I think one of its rivals may be the better option – let's run through the options...

The middle 40L costs £320, though believe me it’s massive and I can’t begin to comprehend how big the 50L version is! This puts it in a similar price bracket to the recently launched Peak Design Outdoor Backpack 45L which costs £329, though would also require the purchase of a Large Camera Cube V2 which costs around a further £100 but isn’t nearly as deep as the Tenzing Rolltop and less suitable to fitting a camera body with a battery grip fitted. One key difference is that the divider between the top and bottom sections of its backpack is sewn in, whereas on the Peak Design Outdoor Backpack the whole camera cube module can be removed so you can insert larger items such as a tent with ease and also remove the padded cube if your bag needs to go in the hold on a flight. So if you also intend to remove the camera insert and use the whole internal cavity for storing big pieces of camping kit then the Peak Design Outdoor Backpacks have the edge here, however, if you're taking your camera kit absolutely everywhere with you and you're happy with the half-and-half internal design then the Summit Creative Tenzing Rolltop is the far superior option.

Another outdoor photography backpack in the same price bracket is the f-stop Tilopa 50L DuraDiamond Adventure and Travel backpack which retails at £339 and has a removable camera padded insert (ICU) though it lacks its expandable rolltop top section which makes it a breeze to store gear that isn’t camera kit. However if you don't need quite so much storage space for other gear and having a removable camera insert is a must-have on your outdoor backpack checklist then the f-stop Tilopa 50L DuraDiamond Adventure would be a good choice.

Alternatives

If you’re an avid camper and your main camera rucksack has a GearUp insert, the LowePro RunAbout is a no-brainer. It’s a well-designed folding daypack that’s easy to stow and should appeal to photographers and dedicated hikers alike.