Manufacturer: Gitzo
Model: Photographer’s Waterproof Jacket
Price: £330
www.gitzo.com

These Gitzo-branded garments are made to a high standard with quality materials and boast many useful details, such as reinforced shoulders and elbows, mobile phone holders and zipped pockets on the arms for squirreling memory cards away during a shoot. And should you wish to look like a member of the French CRS riot police, they are ideal.

I hope this waterproof works well as a raincoat, as it is rather limited in regards to carrying equipment. It is a shame; they are wonderful, well-padded, expandable pockets with internal partitions. But once you have your 70-200mm and 24-70mm in one pocket and a camera body in the other, all the gear thumps against each thigh as you walk. The pockets need to be at least seven inches higher so that the bottom of them is more in line with the wearer’s waist, with a belt incorporated to transfer some of the weight from the shoulders to the hips.

The jacket also lacks a way of transferring pressure away from the nape of your neck by elastication or a harness. The Vested Interest’s Xtrahand range tackles this more effectively.

The two breast pockets, which are much better positioned than the lower ones, are scarcely large enough to contain a wallet. Again, the Xtrahand is far superior in this respect with upper pockets big enough for a 105mm macro lens and a flashgun. I would like to have praised the long cargo pocket around the back but since it lacks padding and is hard to reach, I wouldn’t trust it with anything more than a filled baguette.

Our Verdict:
The design is flawed owing to the very low position of the main cargo pockets.

What Digital Camera Score: 70%