F-Stop Tilopa – The Best camera bag for landscape photographers?

It took me ages to pull the trigger and buy the F-Stop Tilopa camera bag. The price was steep compared to other camera bags that I had owned previously, and I was really unsure if I could justify the price considering I wasn’t earning any money from my photography at the time. Fast forward 2 years and I will say it is worth every penny, that I wish I had bought it sooner and that I will soon be buying my next F-Stop bag!

F-Stop Gear have been in the market for about 15 years now, they brought a completely new vision to what a camera bag could be, and have spent years improving their design. F-Stop Gear are now renowned for creating some of the absolute best camera bags on the market, the quality, design and functionality all make it well worth the price!

In my opinion, F-Stop Gear are the first company to really deliver a complete solution for outdoor photographers, whether you are hiking, snow-shooing or scrambling to get to a location, F-Stop has you covered. F-Stop Gear came up with the idea of having an ‘ICU (Internal Camera Unit)’, this is a padded and fully adjustable insert which protects all your camera gear and comes in loads of different sizes, depending on your needs.

Since I am a landscape photographer, my priorities were simple, I needed a comfortable bag (Which I could hike with for several hours) with a huge carrying capacity (To fit all my gear in) that could still be used a carry on when travelling by plane.

The 50 Litre F-Stop Tilopa fit the bill perfectly. Its big enough to carry 2 bodies, 5 lenses, a filter system, remote triggers, star tracker, pano head, batteries and all my camping gear including a change of clothes, food and water.

Since buying this bag I have travelled to Tuscany twice, Rome, the Dolomites 3 times, Iceland twice and also to the UK twice, needless to say I have also used it all over Malta and Gozo too. I have never had any issues with having to gate check the bag (If you are unfortunate enough to find someone being difficult at the gate, you can always remove the ICU and just check the empty shell of the bag). It fits perfectly in the over-head bins on all the flights I have been on (20 different flights).

Rather than the ICU being an afterthought, it is clear that F-Stop has built their bags around the ICU itself. F-Stop have different ranges of bags available, the Tilopa is one of the 5 bags which are part of F-Stop’s Mountain series.

You can see F-Stop’s full range of camera bags here.

Tech Specs from F-Stop’s website

Protection

• WR-treated, 420D ripstop nylon with TPU laminate

• Industry leading zipper hardware

• Hypalon for extra protection in key areas

• Drainage weep hole

Carry

• 50 litre volume capacity

• Expandable side zipper pockets

• Reinforced carry straps

• Load adjustment stabilizer straps

• Easy to adjust sternum strap track with integrated whistle

Comfort

• Exceptional all-day support provided by an internal aluminium frame

• Enhanced EVA-padded jersey laminate hip belt and shoulder straps

• Jersey laminate EVA-padded back panel unzips for rear ICU/camera gear access

Expansion

• Trash stash / rain cover pocket

• Two metal D-ring attachment points on shoulder straps

• Angled MOLLE accessory attachment points

• Ten Gatekeeper attachments

Functionality

Having owned several other camera bags over the years, I can confidently say that the convenience and practicality of the F-Stop Tilopa are second to none. The rear access panel gives you quick and easy access to the ICU and all your precious camera gear. You can even access your camera gear without placing your bag on the ground, if the hip belt is fastened you can simply swing the bag round to your torso and pull any gear you like out. If you’ve ever shot from a small ledge, on a muddy shoreline or even knee deep in water, you’ll know how convenient this is as you literally can’t put your bag down!

Although the Tilopa has a huge 50 Litre capacity (More than most camera bags), the gatekeeper straps and additional attachment options (Metal D-Rings, Molle attachments, compression straps and elasticated attachment points) mean you can carry a huge amount of gear on the outside of the pack, such as a tripod, hiking poles, a tent, a water bottle, an Ice Axe, a helmet and even crampons!

The bag has an aluminium frame which is what makes it so comfortable, but also keeps it rigid and allows it to sit upright on the base which is made of a more durable material than the rest of the bag, most other bags I have had started to rip from the bottom, but the Tilopa’s base is designed to take a beating!

The are 2 huge pockets on the side which I usually use to store food, a jacket or part of my 2-layer tent. There is also a massive front pocket which I use for my tent poles and bottles of water.

The top of the bag is spacious and is great for carrying smaller bits and bobs, especially since it has additional mesh-lined pockets for small accessories / keys / compass / mobile phone.

I use the little pocket on the front to carry a rain cover, although the bag is weather resistant, if you’re caught out in a heavy shower, it’s always good to put a rain cover on to give you added protection.

ICU (Internal Camera Unit)

What a simple yet genius idea! F-Stop’s ICUs are interchangeable and you can actually use a number of different ICUs in the pack at once. ICUs come in different shapes and sizes and attach to the inside of the bag with hook and loop straps. They are completely adjustable with plenty of dividers which you could move around depending on what you are carrying.

A good example of this is if carry both your camera and a drone around with you, you may have a different ICU for each, if you just want to shoot some drone footage, you could take that ICU out and have all your drone gear in one small bag. The ICU system is what makes F-Stop packs so great. Without an ICU, the bag is just a good quality, heavy duty shell, but with the ICU it becomes a fantastic photography tool and I can’t imagine going anywhere without it!

I currently use the Large Pro ICU. It fits all the camera gear I need for most trips, and leaves a good amount of space at the top for other stuff like extra clothes / stove / food / first aid kit.

You can see F-Stop’s full range of ICUs here.

Build Quality and Comfort

I have never had a camera bag which was ‘light’, I always carry a lot of gear, especially when travelling, I ensure that I have redundancy in my gear, and for this reason, I always carry a minimum of 2 camera bodies (Sometimes 3 if I am shooting a lot of timelapse).

As soon as my F-Stop Tilopa arrived, I packed it to a decent 12 Kg worth of gear (25 + Lbs) and went for an hour-long hike. I instantly fell in love with the bag as it was super comfortable. The padded shoulder straps and thick waist belt sat perfectly with some minor adjustments of the load adjustment stabilizer straps.

Setting up the straps correctly makes a huge difference to the comfort of the pack, and can help make it feel like you are carrying a lot less than you actually are. The shoulder straps can be adjusted to change how high the bag sits on your back and how close to your back it is (The closer it is, the more this helps keep your centre of gravity over your feet and make it easier to keep balance when hiking on rough terrain).

The front, top and sides of the bag are made with 420D ristop Nylon, this has become the industry standard for high quality and durable, weather resistant bags. F-Stop have not cut costs with the materials use in these bags, the zips and buckles are all really high quality and have put up with some major abuse so far, from freezing temperatures to hot sandy conditions and the salty sea!

F-Stop know they have done a good job with these packs, so much so that they have a 20-year warranty on their mountain series bags, this is almost unheard of in this day and age! Kudos F-Stop!

What I love about the Bag

• The design and build quality of the bag

• The comfort even when carrying heavy loads

• The durability of the bag and high level of protection of my gear

• The number of attachment points

• The silky-smooth zips

• Loads of Internal pockets

• 20-year Limited Warranty 

• Removing the ICU allows you to use it as a regular hiking back pack

What could be better

• The bag is not cheap, especially for anyone just getting started in photography

• Considering the price, I believe the rain cover should be included with the bag as standard

• More choice of colours

• Buying additional ICU’s for different setups is quite expensive

Conclusion

The F-Stop Tilopa camera bag is epic! It is well designed, very well built and is everything I need in a camera bag. Whether I am out for a quick astro shoot or hiking and camping for 3 days, this is the bag I take! I don’t baby my gear, and it’s safe to say that my F-Stop Tilopa has taken a beating over the past 2 years, but still performs perfectly!

Will I buy another F-Stop Tilopa? No, I will actually buy the F-Stop Sukha next, the Tilopa’s 70 Litre ‘cousin’, purely because I need the additional storage space when going off the grid / camping for a few days here in Malta.

Note: This review is not sponsored and is based entirely on my opinion and experience using the F-Stop Tilopa. I am not affiliated with F-Stop and this bag was not a freebie, I bought this bag with my own money and genuinely believe its a great product!