Lowepro Compact Courier 80 review

Compact cameras with interchangeable lenses, such as the Olympus PEN and Sony NEX series, have been very popular over the last couple of years. However, their slim bodies are dwarfed by most SLR bags, while their non-retractable lenses make them a poor fit for most compact camera cases. This often meant your only option was to buy a bag directly from the camera's manufacturer, which can be expensive.

Lowepro has designed the Compact Courier 80 specifically for these more compact cameras. In particular, it's modelled on the dimensions of the Sony NEX series, to hold the body with the 18-55mm kit zoom as well as store an extra pancake lens. Despite this, we managed to squeeze in our far chunkier Olympus PEN E-P1 with a large 14-140mm zoom mounted, along with its pancake lens, so it should fit any camera of a similar shape. A single padded Velcro divider is provided to keep your various camera bits separate in the bag.

The bag feels well made, and there's a layer of firm padding inside. It's not terribly chunky padding, but this keeps down the size of the bag. The mouth of the bag has a very wide zip, with two zippers, so it's easy to get the camera in and out. You can leave it unzipped if you want quicker access and rely on the Velcro flap instead. The flap has a small pocket to hold a spare memory card and there's a little lens cleaning cloth tucked into a recess just below this.

The bag measures a compact 165x80x205mm and weighs just 200g - so it won't add much unwanted weight to your camera gear. It comes with a basic shoulder strap, though the bag's small size means it bounces about quite a bit on your hip when walking. Alternatively, there's a belt loop at the back, so you can wear it on your waist.

This flexible little bag's final trick is that the inner padding is removable, forming a lightweight carry case just big enough for a camera with a pancake lens - our big PEN just squeezed inside. It comes with a small clip so you can attach the bag to your camera strap, and it will dangle from it while you're taking a shot.

Even if you're happy to carry your camera around on just a strap for the day, it's good to have a bag to protect it. The Compact Courier 80 is only big enough for the basics, but that's all most owners of such cameras need.