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Anyone with F-stop bag?

BigJohno

BigJohno

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 1, 2007
1,454
540
San Francisco
Hi everyone, I am interested in purchasing the Loka UL bag. I have heard nothing but positive things about them. I will be adding a medium slope ICU to hold my camera and 2-3 lenses along with other filters and such.

My question is if there is a way to hold a laptop? I would like to only take this and not a separate computer bag.

Thanks!
 
mofunk

mofunk

macrumors 68020
Aug 26, 2009
2,421
161
Americas
That bag looks like a lot of other bags. Make sure you look and check off what's important. Like weatherproofing. Some camera bags also claim that the zippers are weather proof. I only saw the price on the search page. Kinda high.
 
C

Crank47

macrumors newbie
Nov 26, 2014
2
0
Croatia
Hi,
I have a F-stop Loka with large pro and medium ICUs. I would never buy another brand again, before I used Lowepro and hated how big their backpacks were with little inside depth... I use pro and griped bodies and had problems packing 2-3 cameras in a backpack. Bought a Lowepro Pro Runner 450aw that was deep enough but the pack was huge and clumsy for what it offers. Went at a workshop where an F-stop pro photographer showed me their bags... I bought my loka the next day! Absolutely love it! F-stop makes super modular backpacks and you can configure it as you need. Plus it's durable as hell. I even had mine in medium rain without a cover for 10-15min and the inside was dry. The Loka UL looks really nice and is a slimmer version of the Loka with fewer mollie straps and lighter construction. As for holding a laptop. there is a sleeve inside for a hydration pack or a small laptop. Since I have a 15" retina I just bought a slim sleeve for the macbook and slide it behind the ICU thigh fit with a pro ICU if you overpack but I had no issues so far, I also put my ipad in the dedicated sleeve. It really holds a lot of gear if you need it to and thats what I like about it. It can be super light or it can hold a ton of gear all in the same simple design. If you carry your gear in the outdoors a lot or shoot extreme sports... F-stop is the way to go in my opinion!

Im really digging the blue kenti for small jobs and guess I'll pick it up in the near future :D If you need any more information about the loka, feel free to ask.
 
BigJohno

BigJohno

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 1, 2007
1,454
540
San Francisco
Crank47 said:
Hi,
I have a F-stop Loka with large pro and medium ICUs. I would never buy another brand again, before I used Lowepro and hated how big their backpacks were with little inside depth... I use pro and griped bodies and had problems packing 2-3 cameras in a backpack. Bought a Lowepro Pro Runner 450aw that was deep enough but the pack was huge and clumsy for what it offers. Went at a workshop where an F-stop pro photographer showed me their bags... I bought my loka the next day! Absolutely love it! F-stop makes super modular backpacks and you can configure it as you need. Plus it's durable as hell. I even had mine in medium rain without a cover for 10-15min and the inside was dry. The Loka UL looks really nice and is a slimmer version of the Loka with fewer mollie straps and lighter construction. As for holding a laptop. there is a sleeve inside for a hydration pack or a small laptop. Since I have a 15" retina I just bought a slim sleeve for the macbook and slide it behind the ICU thigh fit with a pro ICU if you overpack but I had no issues so far, I also put my ipad in the dedicated sleeve. It really holds a lot of gear if you need it to and thats what I like about it. It can be super light or it can hold a ton of gear all in the same simple design. If you carry your gear in the outdoors a lot or shoot extreme sports... F-stop is the way to go in my opinion!

Im really digging the blue kenti for small jobs and guess I'll pick it up in the near future :D If you need any more information about the loka, feel free to ask.
Click to expand...

Wow! This is the feedback I was looking for. Thank you for such a detailed review. haha you did a better job summing up this pack than even f-stop does on their website.

I too have had issues with other brands as they compromise on critical areas. The ICU system is very nice as it can adapt to your needs.

Thanks for the help! Crank!
 
C

Crank47

macrumors newbie
Nov 26, 2014
2
0
Croatia
No problem!
Another great thing that I forgot to mention is that you can wash the pack, just pull the ICU out and hand wash it in warm water. Looks just like new after a rough day in the mud ;)
 
monokakata

monokakata

macrumors 68020
May 8, 2008
2,036
583
Ithaca, NY
I have a Loka (the regular one, not the UL) also -- it's amazing.

However, the large ICU won't take a 15" laptop. Well, it's true that I managed to jam my rMBP into the sleeve, but after I thought about it for a while I realized that was too dangerous. True, I could have put it in a sleeve and gotten it in, but I was carrying another small bag anyway (ThinkTank Urban Disguise 60) so I put the rMBP in that. If I'd had no choice, I'd have found a way, as Crank47 did.

Here's what I packed in mine, the last time I traveled with it - for 3 weeks, in car and plane:

D810
70-200
14-24
105 micro
Marantz PD661 field recorder with AC charger
Sony RX100 2 plus its own charger and extra batteries
D810 charger and 2 batteries
Garmin GPS
CF card reader
two 2.5" enclosures, with cables
small shotgun mike and some XLR cables
and a bunch of little stuff

The Loka is a great, great unit.

Also, I liked dealing with them directly. Unlike the majority of vendors I deal with online, they didn't rip me off on shipping to Hawai'i.
 
Last edited:
BigJohno

BigJohno

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 1, 2007
1,454
540
San Francisco
monokakata said:
I have a Loka (the regular one, not the UL) also -- it's amazing.

However, the large ICU won't take a 15" laptop. Well, it's true that I managed to jam my rMBP into the sleeve, but after I thought about it for a while I realized that was too dangerous. True, I could have put it in a sleeve and gotten it in, but I was carrying another small bag anyway (ThinkTank Urban Disguise 60) so I put the rMBP in that. If I'd had no choice, I'd have found a way, as Crank47 did.

Here's what I packed in mine, the last time I traveled with it - for 3 weeks, in car and plane:

D810
70-200
14-24
105 micro
Marantz PD661 field recorder with AC charger
Sony RX100 2 plus its own charger and extra batteries
D810 charger and 2 batteries
Garmin GPS
CF card reader
two 2.5" enclosures, with cables
small shotgun mike and some XLR cables
and a bunch of little stuff

The Loka is a great, great unit.

Also, I liked dealing with them directly. Unlike the majority of vendors I deal with online, they didn't rip me off on shipping to Hawai'i.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback as well. I will probably going with a loka UL with a medium slope ICU. I plan on taking my now sony a6000 (future a7r soon :)) with a Canon 70-200 + possibly Canon 17-40 and my sony 10-18. With a few filters and other stuff. Should be plenty of room.

Thanks again guys!
 
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