f-stop Gear DuraDiamond™ Lotus 4 Core Essentials Bundle with Medium Slope
f-stop Gear DuraDiamond™ Lotus 4 Core Essentials Bundle with Medium Slope
f-stop Gear DuraDiamond™ Lotus 4 Core Essentials Bundle with Medium Slope

f-stop Gear DuraDiamond™ Lotus 4 Core Essentials Bundle with Medium Slope

Regular price R 11,197.00 Sale price R 10,899.00
/
Tax included.
12 in stock

f-stop Gear bundles let you take advantage of our experience to choose the perfect f-stop setup at bundle pricing. DuraDiamond™ Lotus 4 Core Essentials Bundle with Medium Slope includes the following items –

We recommend pairing the Lotus with a shallow medium insert. It can take Pro ICUs, but it is a tight fit. 

The NEW Lotus 4 CORE combines speed, agility, and Mountain Series capabilities in a streamlined 28-liter profile. When paired with a removable f-stop insert, the Lotus 4 CORE is configurable for any photographic adventure with flexibility to pack other travel essentials. An internal aluminum frame and multi-point suspension system distributes weight evenly for comfort while on the move. Sewn in side straps and multiple attachment points allow convenient external transport of outdoor and sporting gear.

The new Lotus answers what so many people in the fstopgear community have been asking for - a compact and light shell, but with mountain series & Duradiamond durability. It features a narrower and shallower profile than the other mountain series packs, while still being as tall in order to retain the comfort that mountain series packs are known for. Why is length so important? A backpack's weight should be distributed between your shoulders and hips and it is critical that the pack transfers a lot of the weight to your lower back. If it is too short it transfers that weight to your middle back - this is where the excruciating back pain comes from that has made many of us want to burn a camera bag after a hike. 

If you're looking for that legendary fstopgear comfort, durability and practicality in a bag that will take a basic kit with the essentials for day outings, this is it.

We recommend pairing the Lotus with a shallow medium insert. It can take Pro ICUs, but it is a tight fit. 

Features

  • Durable weatherproof protection with DuraDiamond® outer shell and abrasion resistant Hypalon base Heavy duty zippers with easy grip shrink wrapped pulls for quiet movement
  • Comfortable carry with internal aluminum frame and adjustable suspension system
  • External vertical zipper storage pocket with padded device sleeve
  • Dual sided zipper storage pockets on top lid
  • Integrated MOLLE web and zipper storage pocket on hip belt
  • Dual sided external elastic mesh pockets to hold water bottle or tripod legs.
  • DuraDiamond® padded handle wrap

Dimensions

  • Volume: 28 liters
  • Height: 58cm
  • Width: 32cm
  • Depth: 23cm
  • Weight: 1.3kg

Specifications

  • Proprietary DuraDiamond® 315D HT ripstop nylon
  • Abrasion resistant Hypalon base layer
  • 70D nylon ripstop lining fabric with 500mm Polyurethane (PU) coating
  • BLOOMTM algae-based dual density EVA foam padding

ICU Compatibility

f-stop Shallow (Small, Medium) size inserts are recommended for the Lotus 4 CORE.

 

Do you have the item in stock? 

Products are either in stock, out of stock (sold out) or special order. 

  • In stock: We have stock at our local warehouse. You can see how many we have in stock, add these products to your cart and check out. 
  • Sold out: We usually carry stock of this item but it has sold out. Please get in touch to get an ETA and reserve and incoming product. Or use the "Email me when available" button to get an email when new stock arrives. 
  • Special order: We don't carry local stock of this item. Get in touch to confirm stock availability and ETA to place an order. 

Delivery options and what they cost

We pride ourselves on lightning fast shipping, FREE on all orders over R1000. For orders under R1000 a courier fee of R120 will apply. Apart from large f-stop gear orders and large tripods, most of our items ship overnight and the daily cutoff is 13:00. You can read more on the deliveries page

Can I collect my parcel? 

Yes, you can collect your order from our warehouse in Saxenburg Park, Blackheath (08:00 - 14:00). Just choose the collection option at checkout- we'll follow up with the specifics. Please note that we are very strict about payment if collecting. We will not release any goods if we are not 100% comfortable about payment. We accept the following as payment confirmation in order to release the goods. 

  • Payfast Card Payment (any customers, new or returning)
  • EFT from FNB to FNB, pending fund clearance (any customers, new or returning)
  • Normal EFT from other banks to FNB (return customers only)
  • Instant EFT from other banks to FNB, pending fund clearance (Any customers, new or returning) 
  • Cash (any customers, new or returning)

What payment options are available?  

  • EFT
  • EFT via Payfast
  • Credit card: VISA & Mastercard
  • Payflex
  • Float

What is your policy on returns and or exchanges?

We are more than happy to exchange any product for something else or a full refund* if you feel that the item you chose isn’t quite right for you. See our Return Policy page for more. 

*If paying with any card, 4.5% of the transaction value goes to the credit card payment facilitation company. "Full Refund" means that we will return the full amount we received after the credit card service fees. If you are at all unsure that what you're buying is ideal for you, rather opt for EFT payment to be safe. 

Where is my order? How can I track my order?

You will receive an email with your tracking number once your order has been collected by our couriers. You can also find tracking number for your orders under "My account" 

You can also shop NiSi Filters at the following retailers & dealers. 
Orms Cape Town
Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
0214653573
Orms Bellville
Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
Fritz, 0219101380
FilmFlow (Cinema Specialist)
Boskruin, Randburg
Deon Truter, 0823148308
Kameraz
Rosebank Mall, 50 Bath Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Martin Wright, 0118802885
Photoquip
28 Pearce St, Berea, East London
043 726 2200
Lime Photo
Kloof, Durban
Emil, 0844849959
 
You can also shop Leofoto Tripods at the following retailers & dealers. 
Orms Cape Town
Shop 5 Roeland Square, Cnr Roeland and, Upper Canterbury St, Cape Town
0214653573
Orms Bellville
Victorian Towers, 2 Palm St, Bellville, Cape Town
Fritz, 021 910 1380
Lime Photo
Kloof, Durban
Emil, 0844849959
3% Tactical
Durbanville
Bernard Kotze - 0727156743
Ivan Fourie - 0825290593
Pretoria Arms
1032 Silvergrass St, Montana, Pretoria, 0182
Wayne Lesch – 0798834407

Damien Bradshaw 
Eastern Cape (Hunting Products Only)
0835749134

Approved Arms
Pretoria
Dirk Pio  – 0730556726
 

We have a no-nonsense approach. If a product breaks due to a manufacturer defect, we will replace it without asking any questions. If we have any reason to believe that the product was put through unreasonably heavy usage, we will have to follow the manufacturer's standard warranty procedure. 

Find more info on proper care and use for each brand below. 

NiSi Care & Use

F-stop Care & Use

Leofoto

The manufacturer offers a 10-year limited warranty on all products and we extend that warranty to our customers. Please read the below very carefully, so you understand your position when something breaks or doesn’t work ideally anymore.

It is critical to understand that this warranty only applies to factory faults and not to standard wear and tear. Tripods are subject to a lot of gray areas in this regard as tripods used outdoors, particularly in sand and sea water, are subjected to extreme wear and tear. We will e.g. replace the affected part of your tripod if a carbon tube snaps or cracks without much pressure applied to it or if the apex breaks. We will not replace your tripod or the affected part if e.g. a joint locks up due to sand or salt build up or if a hinge becomes corroded or stiff/floppy and unserviceable due to corrosion or salt build up. 

In sum, if we see that you took good care of your tripod and something went wrong, we will go out of our way to fix or replace it for you. If we see that you dragged it through the mud (literally or metaphorically), then we are unlikely to fix/replace it for you. How you handle your tripod and take care of it, is all the difference between 3- or 20 years of service. 

The best of tripods will not last longer than 2/3 years if used regularly in the sea, INCORRECTLY, and never serviced. Always make sure to extend the lowest leg section first, so you keep the joints out of the water/sand. Always rinse with freshwater after use in the sea, wipe down with a wet cloth, leave extended to dry and ENSURE YOU KEEP THE HEAD AND APEX DRY. If your tripod’s joints start feeling sandy/gritty, open them up, give them a proper clean and lubrication and fine-tune the tension on the joints.

If travelling on dirt roads, ensure that your tripod is in its carry-bag when not in use.

Your tripod will not take care of itself – it is up to you to do so. All our tripods ship with an info-sheet on taking care of your tripod. We also offer a full tripod disassembly and service for R1000, including shipping both ways.

Why are f-stop Gear products so expensive in SA?

People like to jump to the conclusion that it is because someone in the local supply chain is making a lot of money, but unfortunately for us, that is not the case. *Photo
by 
Brendon Wainwright

The real answer is import duty.

Virtually all backpacks or backpack systems are subject to a whopping 30% import tax. These taxes are supposed to protect local manufacturers by giving them a competitive edge against the rest of the globe. It works well to protect local businesses and jobs, but unfortunately in a situation like this, where there is no local competition for a product like fstop gear, it just enriches the tax collector.

If you consider the cost of the Tilopa in America at $399, you can calculate the correlating local price by multiplying it by x1.45 (15% VAT + 30% import duty).

$399*US price x 1.45*tax = $578
$578 x R18.40*exchange rate = R10 653
Our price R8 595

*based on prices and exchange rate as Feb 2023

We know it’s tempting to buy it in the US and have it shipped here, but you will be slapped with the same 45% taxes when it has to go through customs. It is also worth noting that in a small market like SA, importers have smaller margins because we cannot benefit from the economy of scale as similar brands can in the large first world markets.

We barely scrape a profit on this brand - we import it because like most photographers, we tried multiple bags from multiple brands and hated every single one. Fstop gear is the only company that makes a comfortable, practical, high quality backpack for adventurous photographers.