F-stop camera pack - my latest love!

Photo 1 (above): A ravishing model (self portrait) sporting my F-stop Tilopa camera backpack on the shoreline of Georgian Bay in Bruce Peninsula National Park, Ontario.

When the guys at F-stop Gear contacted me to see if I wanted to try one of their packs, I initially brushed them off. I already had a gear room full of camera packs, at least a dozen, and I didn’t really think another would add anything but more clutter.

A few days later, curiosity lead me to the F-stop website and I was pleasantly surprised to see that their packs didn’t look at all like the traditional camera packs I already owned. Intrigued, I called them back and they sent me their Tilopa pack to test drive. That was nearly a year ago and I’ve been using it ever since. In fact, the F-Stop Tilopa has become my every-day camera pack. I’m hoping they don’t call and ask for it back, I’m not giving it up without a fight!

F-Stop’s packs are designed for outdoor adventure-nature type photographers who hike (or ski, snowshoe, dogsled, mountain climb, etc) with their gear. The packs look and fit like a typical hiker’s daypack or small backpack but are fitted with a removable ICU (Internal Camera Unit) to securely hold camera gear. All of my other pro-quality camera packs are bulky and rectangular-ish, which makes them top heavy and clunky for hiking. F-stop is a refreshing new approach to camera pack design. As a photographer who hikes often, and sometimes long distances to get to my shooting locations, I'm shocked to now know what I was missing before owning (hoarding?) an F-stop pack!


Photo 2 (above): The F-stop pack in action, that's me on a recent winter photo hike.

What I like most about the F-stop pack:
1. It’s comfortable on long hikes due to an excellent harness system, padding and weight distribution. In my opinion, this is the very best camera pack on the market for hiking.

2. It doesn’t look like a camera pack so potential thieves won’t suspect that it’s full of expensive gear. It also doubles as a great prop in hiking photos, which is why I chose a red one. They refer to this color as "Cranberry". I wish they'd butch-up and rename it "kick-ass red".

3. There’s room in the pack for other gear (clothing, food, etc). Several secure zippered compartments are perfect for small accessories like car keys, a GPS or cellphone.

4. Interchangeable ICUs of various sizes make it easy to customize the pack according to the gear you need to carry. I have both a large and extra-large ICU. They fit plenty of gear and are deep enough to fit pro bodies. See photo 4 at bottom.

5. The ICUs are great on their own for shooting out of a car or in a studio.

6. You can access your gear in the ICU through a zippered hatch on the back of the pack. With the pack on the ground (or snow, see photo 3 below) your gear and the camera harness stays clean and dry.

7. Outer side pouches and quick-release straps make it easy to attach a tripod to the pack.

8. The pack is high quality; mine has stood up to months of heavy use and it's still in great condition.

9. Take the ICU out and you have a great backpack for carrying groceries or smuggling souvenirs across the border, if that's what you're into.

Ideas for improvement:
[Note: the guys at F-stop told me these have already been fixed in updates to the pack since I received mine]
1. The dividers in the ICU need Velcro on both sides for greater customization.
2. The ICU needs to fit the pack better when accessing it from the rear hatch (the frame gets in the way a bit).

So what's the bottom line?
There's no better camera pack for an outdoor/nature photographer who hikes with their gear. I love the Tilopa and just ordered the smaller "Loka" as an additional pack for short treks and around-the-town shooting.

If you bump into me in the field, be sure to check out my "Cranberry" Tilopa. If you're the folks from F-stop and you want your pack back, I'll already be around the next bend!
Photo 3 (above): The back hatch of pack opens for easy access to camera gear in the ICU.


Photo 4 (above): The interchangeable ICUs (Internal Camera Unit) loaded with gear. That's a large on the left and extra-large on the right. I often use them just like this if I'm shooting from my car or in studio.

Happy New Year's Eve!

It's New Year's Eve.... so let me start by saying Happy New Years! I'm hanging out with my best friends... we're drinking unbelievably great wine and eating spectacular food. Bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin lusciously cooked via fondue. Life is good!

Today I bought a new camera, which doesn't happen very often. (about once every 3 years). I don't tend to get excited about gear, I'm the guy who preaches "It's not about the gear...". However, after my trip to Kenya, where my buddy Craig (www.canonrumors.com) dusted me with his 1D4 body, I have had a new camera on my mind ever since.

So I stolled down to Downtown Camera in Toronto today and picked up a brand-spanking new Canon EOS 1D mark IV. First off, let me give a kudos to that store.... co-owner Harry dealt with me personally and gave me a very good deal. I like smaller indie stores with personal service.

I'm sitting here on New Year's eve, several glasses of good wine down the hatch, playing with the 1D4. It's a wild camera with a frame rate that puts machine guns to shame. The next few days I'll be chasing birds to work out the AF.... more to follow!

I'm

Kenya bound...

My bags are packed and off to the airport in a half hour en route to Kenya for a couple weeks of photography. Here's what I travel with (above).... 

Bag 1 (left) Carry-on is a Gura Kiboko bag with all the really expensive, fragile stuff (bodies, lenses, filters). Gura is the best bag for traveling with a ton of gear! I've got a 500/4, 300/2.8, 70-200/4, 24-70/2.8, 24TSE, 17-40/4, 1DS mark III and 5D mark II in there... amazing that it all fits! 

2) Personal item (second carry-on) has laptop, documents, point and shoot, etc.

3) Checked bag is a large MEC duffle bag (very little weight in the bag iteself) with tripods, heads, reflectors, chargers all padded with underwear, t-shirts, pants, etc!

Dust is always a problem for me on photo shoots and I expect it to be bad in the dry African savannah ecosystems. Dust is especially problematic for shooting video with tee 5D mark II.... it's a serious pain to remove dust spots from HD video! To save me the agony, I'm now using a product called Dust-Shield, which is an optical quality thin plastic film that seals the camera chamber and prevents dust from getting on the sensor. I just had my camera cleaned and put a fresh dust shield on... see next two photos. It works great and makes life so much easier! 


The next photo is the most important item I'll be traveling... Imodium! In foreign countries, you're exposed to a range of 'bugs' that will inevitably result in gastro-intestinal distress. Imodium has saved me on many trips, so I could keep photographing and spent less time in agony in third-world washrooms! 

Be sure to follow the blog and my facebook page over the next couple weeks to see the photos and hear the stories from the trip!

Random photo tip: label your camera gear

I've lost plenty of camera accessories over the years, surely amounting to hundreds of dollars worth of lens caps, hoods, cable releases, etc. Sometimes I accidentally leave them on location, especially when I'm out in the dark. Other times the gear simply gets mixed up when I'm shooting with friends (interestingly, I never seem to end up with their stuff in my bag!!).

I finally smartened up a while ago and bought a label maker from an office supply store for about $40. I spit out dozens of labels with my website address and stuck them on every piece of gear I own.  It's a cheap insurance policy that pays for itself quickly!