- In this video we're going to be taking a look
at the internal camera units from F-stop,
specifically the shallow and small version.
I'm Tom, the founder of Pack Hacker
and we do travel gear reviews like this
all the time. So if you're new here, consider subscribing.
Nathan, our video editor and contributor,
has been using this thing now for a couple months
and he's going to walk us through and share
his findings with us. So I'm excited
to get into it; let's jump in!
[upbeat music playing]
- F-stop are the perfect example of a company
that focus on doing one thing really well.
And that one thing is carry solutions
for camera gear.
They offer an urban series for daily carry,
a mountain and ultralight series for traveling,
and a wide range of internal camera units
that are designed to organize, protect, and store
all of your camera equipment inside your pack.
We've been testing the Small Shallow size
of F-stop's ICU, which stands for
Internal Camera Unit, for the last three months.
It's accompanied us on trips to Spain and Belgium
and whenever we've had our camera gear
out and about with us.
These ICUs are engineered to function
seamlessly with F-stop's Mountain Series packs.
But the great thing is, you don't need one
of F-stop's bags to utilize these things.
They can turn any bag into a camera bag
just by dropping one of these things in.
This idea of course got us really excited.
Can you really turn any bag into
a camera bag with one of these things?
Let's find out.
The F-stop ICU features a sleek, minimal design.
It's really just a box, but a great-looking box at that.
F-stop only offer one color across all of their
ICU range, which is, unsurprisingly, black.
They also offer the ICU in various sizes -
ranging from a Micro Nano, which is perfect
for small mirrorless cameras, to a Cine
Master that will hold everything
but the kitchen sink.
It's safe to assume that no matter how much
camera gear you have, F-stop will have you covered.
The Small Shallow ICU that we've been testing
is 11.5 inches in width, eight inches
in height, and five inches in depth.
And we found this to be a perfect size
for one bag travel.
The ICU features a tough, weather-resistant
ripstop nylon on the outside, high density
crosslink foam padding with a brushed
polyester lining on the inside,
and heavy duty industrial cross stitching.
Basically, it's made of some pretty
great materials and F-stop put
a lot of thought into how they
put this thing together.
And to only .71 pounds when empty,
it's also incredibly light weight.
The first thing you'll notice on the outside
of the F-stop ICU is the top handle.
This thing will come in really handy when
you're grabbing it out of the bag.
It's nothing fancy, but it does the job really well.
The top handle also features metal D rings
on either side for you to attach a shoulder strap
to, creating a messenger bag style carry.
This is a great feature if you ever
want to take the ICU out on its own
as opposed to having it in another bag.
It's not something we would do a lot
but it's nice to have the option.
Just below the metal D rings you'll find
a couple of Velcro tabs.
These are here to attach the ICU to F-stop's
Mountain Series packs.
If you have one of these, then great,
if not they're pretty much rendered useless.
We weren't overly upset by this though,
as you don't really notice them.
The zip that opens the main enclosure
is a nice chunky YKK 8-RC-zed,
ensuring reliability and a smooth opening.
The plastic tabs on the zipper pulls
are a nice touch too, making them
easy to find and grab a hold of.
Open up the F-stop ICU and you will find
five foam dividers; four short and one longer one.
And the idea here is to organize these
in a configuration that best suits
all of your camera gear.
It can get a little bit tricky trying to figure out
the best place to put everything in,
but with the five foam dividers,
every configuration is pretty much possible.
So it will take a little while but once you crack it,
you're good to go.
The configuration we came up with for our needs
actually involved taking two of the small dividers out.
We were able to fit everything you would
need for a day out shooting - which ended up
being a DSLR, two lenses, spare batteries,
shotgun mic, lavalier mic, mini tripod,
and a small LED light.
A pretty solid kit for a relatively small unit.
One thing we've been very impressed with is
how well the Velcro secures the dividers
to the brushed polyester material.
It can actually be quite tough
to remove the Velcro at times.
These things are seriously grippy.
This all adds to how well built and
well designed this thing is.
You do pay premium prices for F-stop gear
but they return the favor by delivering
you a premium product.
Something here at Pack Hacker we're always
on the look out for.
The Small Shallow ICU
also comes with two Velcro elastic straps.
They're designed to secure items within the dividers.
They're a nice touch but, honestly,
we just don't think they're needed.
When packed well enough, items inside
of this thing fit really well and quite tightly.
Maybe they would work better when you've got
heavier items in the larger ICUs but for our small,
shallow one we just don't think they're necessary.
One last little touch that F-stop have done
is include a removable foam insert
in the top part of the unit.
This foam sheet adds additional protection
when used for storage and transport
and can be removed to save space if needed.
We've never actually taken ours out.
Honestly, it doesn't really add
that much bulk, and when you've got
expensive camera equipment inside,
who doesn't want more protection?
We do think that this could have been
executed just a little bit better though.
Sometimes when you open it up the
foam insert can slide out a little bit.
We'd like to have seen a zip here,
maybe that would have fixed the issue.
It's not a huge gripe but it's a little bit annoying.
We've been testing the F-stop Small Shallow ICU
for around three months now and it's held up really well.
You can tell it's clearly built to last.
It's also done a solid job of protecting
our camera gear.
The dividers secure everything tightly
so nothing moves around and the high density foam
puts our mind at ease knowing our gear is safe in the pack.
One downside to this thing is that
if you've got it in a bag,
there's really no quick access feature.
You've got to open the bag up first,
take this thing out, undo this thing,
and then get the camera out to take the shot.
But quite frankly, the durability and added organization
that this thing brings to just your standard backpack
heavily outweigh any of the cons.
The best thing about this F-stop ICU
is undoubtedly its versatility.
You can put this thing in a 40 liter
travel bag, in a 15, 20 liter day pack,
you can have it on its own, or you
can use it for storage around the house.
Our camera gear now only leaves
this thing when it's actually in use.
Now onto some pros - the configuration
possibilities are endless.
It's got great durability with top-notch materials.
And this thing will turn any bag into a camera bag.
Onto some cons - it's not ideal for quick access.
The foam insert can slip out occasionally.
And the Velcro straps are a bit useless.
The F-stop ICU does a great job at organizing
and protecting your camera equipment
while out on the road.
And with the capability of transforming any
pack into a camera bag, this has become an essential piece
of kit that comes along with us
whenever we leave the house with a camera.
We found the Small Shallow ICU to be perfect
for one bag travel, but F-stop does have you covered
with their full range of sizes if you need
anything in particular.
The heavy duty industrial cross-stitching
and weather resistant ripstop nylon
ensure that this thing is built to last.
If you're after a camera carrying solution
the versatility, durability, and added
organization that the F-stop ICU provides
is too good to pass up.
- Thanks for taking a look at our review
on the F-stop ICU.
Be sure to head over to packhacker.com/newsletter,
sign up for that newsletter
and never miss an update.
Thanks for checking this out,
we'll see you in the next video.
Never missing, never missing an update.
- That's a wrap.
Woo.
[upbeat music playing]