Matin Photographers Shooting Vest - £65
This lighter-weight garment is better suited to warm weather shooting than some of the other jackets in this test, although you could just as easily team it up with your winter layers to keep on using it all year round.
Constructed from lightweight poly/cotton material, the Matin Photographers Shooting Vest features a Teflon coating for water resistance and – internally – a cool mesh lining for added breathability.
The cut is shorter than that of some other vests, providing a closer fit that some may favour over some of the longer and occasionally bulkier alternatives. The added benefit of this is that the weight of the larger kit is stowed around your hips, feeling well balanced with all of the pockets fully loaded.
To improve the fit further, adjustable straps - fastened with metal poppers - provide scope to tighten or loosen the vest around the waist. The shoulders of the vest feature popper-fastened loops to help secure your bag strap(s) - if you're carrying one - a useful feature that counteracts the somewhat slippery nature of the vest's material.
Externally, there are two good-sized pockets towards the bottom hem, each featuring a Velcro-fastened flap and elasticated opening to enable larger items such as lenses and camera bodies to be slipped in easily. Internal padding provides some protection for your hips too.
Three further differently-sized pockets - also with Velcro-secured flaps - provide additional storage space for small lenses and other accessories, and there's also a removable laminated press pass holder attached to the left-hand chest pocket.
A smaller zipped pocket - ideal for memory and/or business cards, for example - with a handy key ring attachment, is also provided.
Around the back there's a large, secure, zipped pocket with an additional Velcro flap that's ideally sized to accommodate a medium-sized telephoto lens: this also provides some balance for the kit stowed in the front pockets, although we would have preferred it if there was some padding in this area, as there is around the front.
Two further good-sized internal pockets, plus a smaller zipped pocket, offer space for any additional accessories.
Overall, this is a reasonably priced, snug-fitting vest that feels very comfortable to wear.
