Review F-Stop Satori Camera Bag review

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Simon
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Well the Satori showed up in the post yesterday, not bad - 7 days from order to delivery from the States and no Customs charges to be seen :D

This thing is huge, and will last me for a looooong time in terms of expansion room for kit and build quality, it is very very well built and I am somewhat happy with it :)

I ordered the Satori with the XL Camera Pack - this comes as standard, but will take the Large Camera Pack that they do, but you would have to talk to FStop directly to order in this configuration I think.

The pack cost about £200 delivered with no customs charges

(Excuse the crappy photos, but my decent camera was packed in the bag)

Outside Front

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This is the bag fully packed, with my 1L Thermos in the side pocket and a Manfrotto 055XB legs and 804RC head combo strapped to it, the front has Ice Axe loops on it, with top and bottom straps to hold the legs in place, and they are quite securely held once strapped down. There are also straps on either side of the bag above the pockets (where the coffee is) to hold things in place there, so you could put your legs on the side if you wanted. I did try this, but it unbalances the bag when you do.

There is also a set of loops on the bottom of the bag, so if your tripod is shorter, then you could easily strap them to the bottom of the bag - again I tried this, but the legs overhung the edges of the bag by quite a way, and I would no doubt get stuck trying to negotiate a style or something....

Bag Back

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The back of the bag is quite padded and contains a rear access panel to the Camera pack inside the bag, on the reverse of the access panel are 2 see through storage pockets for anything slim (CF cards, batteries, filters...)

Once you unzip the cover of the Camera pack, you get full access to the contents

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The Camera pack itself has velcro loops on the side of it, which fasten through plastic clips on the inside of the bag to hold it in place inside the frame. My only gripe about the access with the XL pack is that it is sometimes difficult to unzip the interior cover as the pack is larger than the rear access, but I guess with practice this will become easier.

The waist straps are really strong as well, so you can actually slip your arms out of the shoulder straps and sping the bag round to the front to access the kit, I've tried this and it does work :)

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The straps themselves are very well padded and walking round the village last night with everything strapped in was very comfortable, I will be taking it out this weekend to test it on a hill, but the weight distribution seems very good, and there is an internal metal frame like all good hiking bags that helps with this.

Top Pockets

If you open the top of the bag to access the Camera Pack, there is lots of space above it to hold a rolled up jumper, or trousers, or anything else you want to store in there

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With the smaller Camera Pack, this would obviously be a bigger storage space, but I think it is sufficient for what I will need (and lets me store more camer kit)

At the very top of the bag is another large pocket that will take a lunch box (I stuffed my Large Tesco Quick Clip box in there and it closed no problems)

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The Camera Pack

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The Camera pack itself slips out of the inside of the bag without problems (once you have unfastened the Velcro side ties to it) and is enourmous. It currently holds every bit of camera kit I own, and has space for more!

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I managed to get stored...

Canon 40D Body
Canon 10-22
Sigma 70-300 APO DG (With hood)
Canon 28-135 IS USM
Sigma 18-50 f4-5.6
Canon 50mm f1.4 (with Hood)
Canon 430ex Speedlight
Kenko 1.4 Teleconverter

Tesco Large Quick Clip lunchbox

All the lenses with the exception of the 70-300 went in the bag upright - this is a deep case, even the Speedlight goes in stood up straight....

The sections are all configurable, and I could quite easily take the lunch box out, move the lens section to the top and kit a body and LONG lens down the centre of the case, I measured it at about 10 inches by 4 inches

Laptop Compartment

With the Camera case out, the Laptop Compartment is easy to see - you can access this while the Camera Pack is inside, but its easier to photo with it out...

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This should quite easily take a 17inch laptop, and there is a split section infront of it for other related gubbins

Other pockets

There are also 2 large front pockets running most of the length of the fron of the bag, one overlaps the other - I could fit 2 of the Thermos flasks inside one of them and cables etc in the other, and there is a small pouch on the waiststrap for coins / keys or a phone.

The bag is also festooned with loops for attaching a miriad of other bags and attachments to, I have a lowepro lens case, and the loops on the bag act like belt loops, so these can be attached easily.

Overall Impression

If I ever manage to fill this bag and think I need another one, then I hope I am going on Safari for a long time, seriously, this bag is designed for hard core mountain use by snowboarders and skiers and is well up for that job, so should definitely suffice for the long hikes and odd weekend away.

I really like the fact that the Camera Pack is removable, which means that when going on holiday, you can take the Camera Pack out and on as hand luggage and fill the rest of the bag with 2 weeks worth of clothes.

I am well chuffed :D
 
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