Preview: Gitzo Century Camera Bag Collection

For you camera bag and backpack lovers, just when you thought there would be nothing new and exciting between Back to School 2017 and CES2018 comes the Gitzo Century Camera Bag Collection from Manfrotto. For those of you who still aren’t familiar with Manfrotto or their partner brand Gitzo, it’s high time you become so. You probably own one of their tripods and not realize it. We at Beantown are fans and users of Manfrotto’s products. Should you be heading to NY this month for the upcoming NAB NY or PhotoPlus expos, then you’ll be among the first to see the Gitzo Century Camera Bag Collection in person.

Gitzo Century Traveler Camera Messenger

If you’re heading to PhotoPlus Expo, you can see the collection in Hall 3, Booth 855.

Manfrotto Introduces the Gitzo Century Camera Bag Collection for Fall 2017

A little over a month ago, the folks at Manfrotto did something that caused the genie to come out of its bottle. It turns out that Gitzo, a partner brand of Manfrotto, are celebrating their 100th anniversary. In honor of that celebration, they introduced the Century Camera Bag Collection.

Over the past two months, we’ve previewed a handful of back-to-school, urban professional, and travel bags from the likes of Speck and Moshi. (Inline related posts are sprinkled below.) All are beautiful, practical, and well-designed. And we’ve put many of them to good use. Unfortunately, we’ve gone many months without seeing anything new in the camera bag department until now.

The Century Collection takes the typical boring and drab camera bag and tosses it out the window. Per the press release “All the models in Gitzo’s new range are built to meet the needs of the world’s most style-conscious photographers. Made in Italy, they are an appealing combination of genuine Italian cow leather and wear-resistant nylon, guaranteeing high resistance to scratches and abrasions. The bags are water-repellent and were crafted to resemble the look of carbon fiber, reminiscent of the Gitzo Traveler tripod legs.”

Gitzo Century Compact Camera Messenger

Both bags and backpack come in black and are made of genuine Italian leather and carbon fiber designed wear-resistant nylon. If this isn’t attractive enough for you, pull back the straps, and a beautiful lining is revealed.  For those of you who not only care about the look of your bag but the internal quality, this collection has ‘Premium’ written all over it.

While each bag and backpack has something different to offer its user, there’s plenty in common. All three products in the Century Collection have a water-repellent coating applied to them. If being water repellent isn’t enough, each has a fold-out rain protector.

The bags and backpack also have either flexible, interchangeable, or removable dividers. You can customize the placement of your lenses and gear while also having the ability to fold or pull out the dividers when needed. They can accept a DJI Mavic Pro drone. The backpack and larger messenger bag even have an external tripod connection. In addition to the carbon fiber look, all three have a trolley strap to fit over a luggage handle. The backpack can hold a 15″ laptop with the messenger bags able to hold a tablet.

Introducing the Gitzo Century traveler camera backpack, Century traveler camera messenger bag, and Century compact camera messenger bag.

Gitzo Century Traveler Camera Backpack

Gitzo Century Traveler Camera Messenger

If you couldn’t tell, the two Windsor messenger bags are identical in every way except size; the ‘S’ is for Small, and the ‘M’ is for Medium. Whichever model you go with, you’ve chosen a beautifully designed bag.

Gitzo Century Compact Camera Messenger Bag

Final Thoughts

Pricing for the Gitzo Century Camera Bag Collection is as follows:

At a price range of $170-$300, the Gitzo Century Collection is slightly higher than comparable product lines from other manufacturers. Favorable factors here are its style, choice of materials (leather/nylon), and water repellent feature. For a list of compatible camera models for each bag, please visit the respective linked Gitzo product page, and look under Specifications. Don’t hesitate to head over to the Manfrotto website to see everything else they’ve got. Click the following link to see videos on the Gitzo Century Collection.

What do you think of the Gitzo Century bag collection? Let us know in the comment section below or via social media. We’re eager to hear your thoughts.

Manfrotto’s Gitzo Century Camera Bag Collection comes with a 5-year standard limited warranty upon registration.

All photographs are courtesy of and the copyrighted property of VitecGroup Italia Spa (Manfrotto.)