Review: Nya Evo Fjord 36 Action Pack

I must admit I don’t often bring an ice-axe with me when I take my camera out, but I do usually take my bike helmet, and amazingly, Nya Evo’s new FJORD Action Pack has holders for both. They’re just two smart features on this do-it-all outdoor camera bag.

Based in Hong Kong, Nya Evo is the brainchild of three photography enthusiasts who sought to create a durable pack for transporting camera gear outdoors with a negligible environmental footprint.

The team began developing prototypes in 2016 before launching the backpack-style Fjord 36, which we were sent for review, on Kickstarter. As a mark of its popularity, crowdfunding raised an impressive $37,000, smashing the $25,000 goal.

The Fjord 36 is, (surprise, surprise) 36 litres, and is available in four colours (graphite, powder, midnight and pine). It can be sent anywhere in the world, and as tested with three inserts, the bag retails for US $419.

The outside

From the outside, the Fjord is a fairly typical looking urban-style backpack. On the sides, there’s stretchy pockets for water bottles, but these could be repurposed to hold a tripod or tent poles if you needed them to. There’s also straps on the front for the aformentioned ice axe or even bigger loads – I’ve seen images showing skis and even 70ft long ropes being strapped to them – so there’s no shortage of options here.

I’ve been using the bag for the last two weeks on my daily cycle commute of about 10km from my place to the train station. It’s not often you go out on your pushy hoping for bad weather, but the Fjord is certainly up for the task, and even on a day of persistent rain my gear stayed dry inside. Made of Nylon 210 Denier Ripstop with a water-repellent coating on the front and a highly water resistant 0.1mm TPU film laminate on the backside, there’s also a waterproof rubberised fabric (Hypalon) on the base.

If you’re paranoid, or find yourself caught out in torrential rain, the bag ships with an integrated rain cover that is seam taped for good measure. However because the base of the bag is rubberised and completely non-absorbent, it’s also quite effective at repelling water straight onto your clothes - it’s something to consider if you plan to cycle with it or use it in very wet conditions.

I’ve been storing my bike helmet in the clever stretchy pocket that tucks away in the front and clips to straps on the shoulders or the loops on the base, but Nya Evo reckon this is also a great storage option for a drone as well. With its metal frame the back is rigid and well padded, and unzips to reveal the main compartment, which you can separate from the smaller top compartment with an included fabric liner.

Add in the glove-friendly waterproof zippers, waist strap with a stretchy pocket for snacks or a wallet, along with the compression straps to help pack your load down, and the result is a bag that despite being quite heavy at 1700g, certainly feels up to the task of bush-bashing or hitting the slopes.

The inside

Recognising that we don’t always want to carry all our camera gear with us all of the time, the Fjord comes with a selection of different padded inserts that Nya Evo calls RCIs – Removable Camera Inserts. In essence, you choose an insert for the size of your photography load.

The large RCI will comfortably hold two DSLR bodies, a 70-200mm, three midsize lenses like a 16-35mm or 24-70mm and a flash. The small RCI by comparison will hold one DSLR, a flash and three lenses. The RCIs are contained in their own bags, fold down close to flat and are suitably padded on all sides with stretchy straps to ensure your gear doesn’t fall out when you open the main compartment zip.

The RCIs are a practical solution that means you can use the bag without them if you’re not carrying camera gear, and if you are, space isn’t wasted in the rest of the bag with padding you don’t need. The RCIs have handles and anchor D-rings so they can be used on their own too, quite handy if you want to put the bag down and climb up something for a better view.

However with the additional cost of the RCIs I imagine most users would probably not bother buying more than one. I was lucky to be sent all three sizes with our review bag, and I found myself settling for the medium size for shuttling cameras and lenses around most of the time. It’s worth considering how much gear you generally take when packing your camera and using that to help decide which is the best option for you.

The front pocket is my favourite part of the bag as its probably the section that bag designers struggle to optimise the most. Not with the Fjord. It’s quite roomy and offers two separate pockets, one of which is a dedicated laptop sleeve that fits up to a 15” MacBook Pro, and doubles as a storage space for a camelbak bladder.

There’s also a separate mesh pocket for valuables, and a pouch that can take A4 size documents. I found this pouch in particular perfect for storing a few copies of AP mag as I whipped across town for meetings, with the corners arriving safe and sound and dog ear free.

Overall

The Fjord 36 is an impressive camera bag. It’s sturdy, exceptionally well-made and packed with smart features that help make it really versatile.

That said, if your favourite type of photography trip is less mountain climbing and more mountain admiring, you might find the excess of straps and heavy duty waterproofing a bit overkill, and once you add in the RCIs, the Fjord isn’t cheap. But the bag itself can be purchased on its own and you could choose to buy just one insert to keep the cost down if you’re penny pinching.

Nya Evo describe the Fjord 36 as a bag that’s ‘as versatile as you want it to be’, and its hard to argue with this. You can strip out weight by ditching the inserts, and use it like I have, lugging a change of clothes and my laptop while out on the bike, or add an insert for your camera, strap on a tent and head out to the bush.

If it suits your needs, few backpack style camera-bags offer the functionality and spaciousness of the Fjord 36.

Find out more at www.nya-evo.com ❂

SPECS

Volume:
36 litres
Weight stripped down:
1490 g/ 3.30 lbs
Weight loaded:
1700 g/3.75 lbs
Dimensions:
32 (W) x 50 (H) x 25 (D) cm
Material:
Nylon 210 Denier Rip-stop fabric, Polyester 200 Denier lining, Hypalon base