Camera Backpack

[Kayaker72]

I am currently looking to get the f-stops tilopa and having large icu on it. Mostly when going to shooting i have noticed that i need quite some extra stuff to carry. Clothes etc. And with tilopa can easily fit all my current gear to it. Currently i have 40litre flip backbag but that is way too small for my needs. Good with those f-stops bags is that you can get smaller/bigger icu to it and that way carry more extra or more lenses etc.

In my readings, I have heard nothing but good things about the Tilopa. At its capacity, it would be great for travel, especially car travel. If fully loaded, it would need to be checked in for airline travel. But, that is one thing that I really like about the ICU system, if you can't carry on your pack (I fly a lot of smaller commuter planes) you can remove the ICU and carry it on while checking in the larger pack.

If you have already settled in on the Tilopa, congrats. If you are still looking, Atlas and Shimoda both have larger packs. Atlas being a 70L Adventure and Shimoda being a 60L pack. I probably would have already purchased the Atlas Athlete, the smaller of their packs, except you cannot remove the camera unit. As I do a lot of air travel, I really like the removeable ICUs.

But that brings me to another option that I am currently investigating (I am in no rush, my current packs work, and my next trip is first week of August). But I've come across several photographers that take their ICUs and put them in non-photography packs from Osprey, Gregory, or Deuter. Just a thought, but I've come across several reviews of f-stop, Shimoda or Atlas stating they are the most comfortable camera backpacks they've ever had, "almost as comfortable as their Osprey."

That said, something like the tilopa would have attachment points for the ICUs, rear access sized for the ICUs, places for tripods, etc. So, I am likely to end up with a dedicated camera bag myself.