The guys over at F-Stop have been busy working with their pro team on a new web series called Life In Focus. The first episode will be online on April 22nd but they have launched a teaser to give you a feel of things to come. Check it out!
Life in Focus Teaser from f-stop || Gear on Vimeo.
If you aren’t familiar with the F-Stop photo packs then first you might want to take a look at my extensive reviews :
Guru – 28 liter all purpose mountain pack for small & medium ICU
Tilopa BC – 48 liter backcountry specific pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Loka- 37 liter all purpose mountain pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Satori EXP – 58 liter expedition photography pack for small, medium, large, XL and Monster ICU
Dakota Components – Accessories designed to compliment the Mountain Series.
Kenti- Dual side access lightweight pack
F-Stop has continued to expand its brand in the last year or so and they now have several lineups of bags. There are many more on their website but I tend to stick with talking about their Mountain Series gear here since I only like to review products that I actually use myself for my work and hey, I live in the mountains !
Right from the very beginning of their brand, F-Stops stand-out feature to me was the ICU system that allowed you to purchase the shell of the bag with any combination of internal ‘units’ . If you are having a day where you need more supplementary equipment than camera equipment then you can easily outfit any of the packs with a small ICU and take just a couple of lenses and a camera. If you’re going ‘all out’ then you can slot in an XL ICU and roll with a 500mm, two camera and several other lenses. This winter F-Stop has rolled out an update to all of their ICUs as well as adding a few more to the lineup. I have been checking out the new version of the XL ICU and a brand new size L in the Slope series which has a tapered design. Overall the changes to existing ICUs are relatively minor but nice nonetheless. The ICU padding is now a much lighter shade of grey. This helps immensely when you have lots of gear in the ICU as the black color so often used for camera trinkets and accessories now has much more contrast against the padding so you can easily see things. Another change is removable foam padding in the ICUs lid. Whilst the foam in previous ICUs was removable it wasn’t really designed with that intent. Now it is! The foam from the lid slides in and out so those who are content with the padding offered by the packs shell can leave the foam behind. In a great little piece of forward thinking, the foam inserts are color coded so you can easily spot which one belongs in which ICU by matching the colored tab on the ICU with the colored piping on the insert. Well played F-Stop ! Metal D-rings have also been added in a couple of places to facilitate easy and stronger addition of a shoulder strap if you need to port gear around in the ICU on its own.
Colored insert matches with the colored tab on the ICU for the removable foam padding in the lid
ICU Large Series from f-stop || Gear on Vimeo.
The Slope series of ICUs now features two sizes as well. Previously there was just a medium but now there is also a large size. The slope means that a pro-sized camera body will only fit at the ‘tall’ end of the ICU but a regular sized camera will fit anywhere. The tapered design of the Slope series leaves much more room free in the pack for other gear such as clothing and food. With today’s move towards higher spec regular sized cameras (think Nikon D800, Canon 5DMKIII , Nikon D7100) I see a lot less people using pro-sized bodies these days anyway so I think that this Large Slope ICU will actually be the new sweet spot in the lineup and in particular will work GREAT in the Loka.
New metal D-rings for strap attachment
The Slope Large is still big enough to fit a 300mm f2.8 horizontally at the ‘tall’ end.
Slope Large – Other configurations
Profile of the brand new L Sloped ICU. My new favorite !!
The new Dakota components are designed to compliment the Mountain Series packs that I have reviewed in the past. As well as the products that I’m about to show you, F-Stop have also released a belt system featuring several new lens cases, a large padded waist belt and optional supporting shoulder straps. I have not had a chance to see or test the lens cases for the new belt system but you can view these on their website.
This bag is available in either black or foliage green for a modest $49 and will work with just about any bag you can imagine. Whilst it’s called the tripod bag, its sufficiently large enough for a two or possibly a three man tent, or perhaps a bedroll. Those who own one of the previously reviewed Mountain Series packs such as the Tilopa or Loka will be familiar with the tough nylon that this bag is also made from and this version takes it one step further with water proofing rated to 15000mm. The bag has been designed to handle just about any size size of tripod you can imagine, including larger video specific variations with hefty fluid heads on top. Any excess material can be neatly rolled up and because the material is thin, there is no real leftover bulk to speak of.
I’ve seen a few tripod bags before and they tend to be bulky, heavily padded unwieldy things. Well that doesn’t really jive with the Mountain Series packs that this is designed to complement. These are packs that you want to take anywhere, however far or however wild the ride may be on the way. As such, this tripod bag offers little in the way of padded protection and instead concentrates on protecting your 3-legged investment from the mud, sand, rain, dust and snow that mother nature might chuck at you while on your adventure. The line of loops down the side of the bag means that there is always one in the right place for threading a side strap or Gatekeeper through to secure it to your chosen pack.
As the bags from F-Stop become more and more popular the company is expanding to set up distribution networks around the world. I know there is a fair number of readers based in Australia so I just wanted to quickly pass on the contacts for F-Stop’s Australian distributor Rod Thomas. You can e-mail Rod HERE or give him a call on 0417 677966. The Australia specific website for F-Stop is fstopgear.com/au. Give Rod a shout and he can help you figure out the best place to pick one up.
Happy bag hunting !
For a list of all my F-Stop bag reviews please click through to this page.
Beginning immediately, F-Stop will now be shipping all their products internationally for a flat rate of only $5 ! A crazy bargain !
I know you guys are fans of these bags so now is a great time to grab one if you have been holding back. Here is a list of my previous reviews of their current Mountain Series lineup.
Guru – 28 liter all purpose mountain pack for small & medium ICU
Tilopa BC – 48 liter backcountry specific pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Loka- 37 liter all purpose mountain pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Satori EXP – 62 liter expedition photography pack for small, medium, large, XL and Monster ICU
These reviews have been incredibly popular so here’s a quick index to remind yourself of your options when you need a new photography backpack!
Guru – 28 liter all purpose mountain pack for small & medium ICU
Tilopa BC – 48 liter backcountry specific pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Loka- 37 liter all purpose mountain pack for small,medium & large ICU.
Satori EXP – 58 liter expedition photography pack for small, medium, large, XL and Monster ICU
Dakota Components – Accessories designed to compliment the Mountain Series.
Kenti- Dual side access lightweight pack
Last week we took a look at the newly released Guru 28 liter backpack. This week I’m giving you guys a first in-depth look at the soon to be released F-Stop Satori EXP which is due to be on sale this coming July. This pack sits at the opposite end of the Mountain Series to the Guru, with a Capacity of 62 liters and as the EXP designation implies this one will hold everything you need on your next expedition. The pack might be larger than the Tilopa BC but by forgoing the waterproof TPU base seen on the Loka and Tilopa BC the shell is actually lighter. If your main outdoor pursuit is skiing or snowboarding then the TPU base of the other two is a really great feature. If on the other hand you spend your time hiking into the wilderness to shoot landscapes and wildlife then the Satori is going to be more up your alley and provides a wealth of options for attaching additional gear and accessory bags.
The Satori EXP will be available directly from F-Stop as a shell only for $359 (in Grey Mist, Foliage Green or Black) or with various configurations of ICUs, prices of which will be detailed closer to it’s release. If you are unfamiliar with the ICU system, all will be revealed below. Essentially it allows you to decide the size of the padded camera compartment in the bag depending on how much camera gear you need and how much other gear. One you have an ICU or two you can just purchase Shells on their own when you decide you need a different pack. Perfect if you are a bagaholic photog!
F-Stop have started to ship a new pack in their Mountain Series lineup a couple of weeks ago. Firstly I should disclose that I am a member of F-Stop’s Faction pro team and as such this pack was given to me to use for my work. So as I have done in the past, I’ll keep this as more of an informational post about the pack so you guys can get a good feel for it before you place your order 
In all seriousness , given the traffic spikes I see on my site whenever I post about new F-Stop gear, I know you guys love this stuff anyway!
If you aren’t familiar with the other Mountain Series packs from F-Stop you might want to take a quick look back at my previous posts covering the Tilopa BC and the Loka. Both of these packs have been incredibly popular and have quickly become the default pack for adventurous photographers all over the world.
As you would expect then the Guru is designed and manufactured to just as high standards as the other packs in the lineup. The main difference here is that the Guru is the smallest pack of the series with a 28 liter capacity compared to the 37L of the Loka and the 48L of the Tilopa BC. Towards the bottom of this post you will find some comparative photos showing all of the packs together. The Guru is designed to work well with either the small or medium ICU for those with a minimal amount of gear who want to carry a few extra items with them, food, extra clothing etc etc. As you’ll see from the images below, either of these ICUs still leaves plenty of room in the pack. The Guru also features a comprehensive organizing pocket in the front with multiple internal zippered pockets and slots for all sorts of things. You could fill it with pocketwizards and cables, or even take it to school with some pens and other stationary in it. Due to it’s smaller size and inconspicuous looks, the Guru can be used for any number of uses. A great pack for a day in the city or an all day mountain bike adventure. Shredding pow in the mountains or carrying a camera around your school or college. It features an unpadded laptop sleeve that will fit up to a 15″ laptop. Guru features the same ripstop nylon as the Loka and Tilopa and let me tell you, it’s tough stuff so this is going to last you a long long time. F-Stop packs are available exclusively through their own store. And prices for the Guru start at $245 for the shell + 1 ICU. Of course if you already own ICUs for your other packs you can also just grab the shell for $195.
Now please take a scroll through the 50 odd photos below which detail every part of the new Guru including comparisons with F-Stops other bags, possible uses and a look at the all new Gatekeeper functionality.
