Total Weight?

[Bonzo]

For those that carry a camera and/or all the trimmings that seem to go with one: what do you currently carry, and how much does your total setup weigh?  I’ve begun to suspect that I’m terribly out-of-touch with the reality of camera system weights, so I thought I’d ask around and get some information and see exactly how unreasonable and delusional I really am.

[Kevin Babione]

Can you give us a little more detail about what kind of photos you want to take?  For example, are you doing time-lapse photos of the stars, epic landscapes that will be enlarged to poster size, or macro work of flora & fauna?

I think that will help refine the answers you receive.  I typically carry a Sony Rx100 (either a II or a V) and it meets my need for good photos to record the trip, but I don’t publish or mount anything I take.

[Paul Wagner]

I carry a tiny little Canon Powershot 780–it must be at least ten years old, weighs ounces, and fits in my shirt pocket–the very reasons I chose it.

But I suspect that’s not an answer you will find helpful.  I’ll leave it to more polished photographers to address the issue of their pack weight…

[Ian]

FWIW I’m just a hobbyist and novice photographer.  I don’t make any money doing this so my gear choices are a reflection of someone who has to acknowledge that the money spent on bodies and lenses won’t make me money.

My backpacking trips aren’t photo centric so I mostly just bring my iPhone 8, Moment lenses, and some small light weight tripod that can be weighed in a few ounces, tops.  If I were to go on a photography centric trip, my miles would be very limited to ensure I’m at the right place at golden hour twice per day or siting in wait for wildlife.

On the rare occasion that I do bring my for-realsies camera, I’d lean towards my A6600, both kit lenses and the 16mm f2.8, and Sirui tripod.  At some point I’ll swap out the 16mm for the Samyang 12mm f2.

I wouldn’t bring my full frame kit on a trip where we would cover more than five miles per day.  Beyond not wanting to carry that weight for 20+ miles, I’m not going to have the time to hike all that far due to the time spent taking pictures and waiting for light.

I’m going off the posted specs.  I’ve never weighed anything below.    Also, I’ll use full frame lenses with my APSC body all of the time.  My travel tripod can handle my full frame body and lenses.

APSC kit 

A6600 17.7 oz  (not including L bracket)

Kit lens 16-50 (APSC) 4.1 oz

Kit telephoto lens (APSC) 55-210 12.2 oz

16mm f2.8 (APSC) 2.4 oz

Sirui T-025x Travel Tripod about 2 lbs with ballhead

Full frame kit 

A7 16.72 oz (not including L bracket)

Tamron 17-28 14.8 oz

Sigma 150-600 Contemporary (lighter than Sport) 4.25 lbs

AS80C full sized tripod 3.3 lbs

Sirui K40x full sized ballhead 1.5 lbs

 

[Bonzo]

Can you give us a little more detail about what kind of photos you want to take?

I’m not looking for system suggestions in order to get better photos – and I have a near-theological opposition to that doctrine, for what it’s worth – rather, I’m just interested in seeing how much weight people are actually comfortable carrying, insofar as dedicated photo equipment is concerned.  If you’re carrying an RX100, then it’s about nine ounces or so, yes?

I carry a tiny little Canon Powershot 780–it must be at least ten years old, weighs ounces, and fits in my shirt pocket–the very reasons I chose it.  But I suspect that’s not an answer you will find helpful.  I’ll leave it to more polished photographers to address the issue of their pack weight…

That’s actually a perfect answer.  I may not be able to find an exact weight for that camera unless I find some older sales literature or a manual, but that’s unimportant: you got close enough and provided reasons for the choice.  Thanks!

My backpacking trips aren’t photo centric so I mostly just bring my iPhone 8, Moment lenses, and some small light weight tripod that can be weighed in a few ounces, tops…

I was figuring that some variety of this setup would be a popular combination.  Also, it looks like your “small” kit is about 4.25 pounds and the full-frame kit is about 11 or so…and that’s assuming that you can give or take a few ounces for caps, bags, clips, straps, and published inaccuracies.

[Ian]

I was figuring that some variety of this setup would be a popular combination.  Also, it looks like your “small” kit is about 4.25 pounds and the full-frame kit is about 11 or so…and that’s assuming that you can give or take a few ounces for caps, bags, clips, straps, and published inaccuracies.

The images from an iPhone are acceptable, occasionally great.

What I gain from my two cameras is better low light performance and the ability to zoom in up to 900mm (FF equivalent) without having to crop an image by some absurd amount.  The iPhone also really suffers in suboptimal light.

Something I assume everyone understands, perfect is the enemy of good enough.   If you can accept its limitations, cell phones can be incredible tools for photography, although it pains me anytime I see what could be a perfect shot but I don’t have the gear to capture it.

 

[Ian]

Gotta love software that automatically creates a Feathered Friends link in a conversation where FF means Full Frame.

[Kevin Babione]

I just weighed my RX100 and it came in just under 10 ounces (with the battery and SD card).  I keep it in my right hip-belt pocket to make it quick to pull out when I want a shot.  I’ve found it to be the perfect camera for capturing my trips, from landscapes to candid shots.

My first couple of trips with it I always carried an extra battery but realized that I get 150-200 shots out of a fully charged battery and I never take that many on a weekend trip so the spare battery stays home.  I figure I always have my iPhone with me too if my battery were to die and I came across that perfect shot (or wildlife).

[Bonzo]

I just weighed my RX100 and it came in just under 10 ounces (with the battery and SD card).

Excellent; thank you for doing that!

Something I assume everyone understands, perfect is the enemy of good enough.

When I find an image, I try to do the best job I can with capturing it; when I print it, I try to do the best job that I can do with my printing.  Over time, I get better, but if I waited on perfection I would never photograph anything.  I treat my equipment the same way; I do the best I can do with what I have at the time, and if I find a shot that I can’t make I realize that I still have the idea for it in my head, so I try to make it work the next time I see it.

Also, for reference, I just weighed my normal, carry-around-every-day-and-on-hikes camera, and it clocks in at 33.4 ounces with a 50mm lens.  I thought that was reasonably heavy for what I consider to be a “lighter” setup, but maybe it really isn’t, comparatively.  Hmmm.

[Bonzo]

Secondary question: what is everyone doing for body/lens protection when storing the camera?  I’ve had a real time with finding anything that actually fits into my packs and that also protects adequately; I could tell a story about a $1400 lens that had the entire front end crushed while in the padded bag insert that I was using, but if I bring it up I’ll just get upset thinking about it.

Great.  Now I’m upset…but this is why we invented day-drinking.

[Michael B]

Haha. I don’t do photography, but if I had to protect a lens, I’d likely get some CCF, some of that flexible cutting board, and a little pack material (pick your MYOG poison), and fashion a custom container to pad, seal from wetness, and prevent damage from any reasonable crusher events.

[NJ Drew]

A bit late to the topic, but I used to do some amateur photography many years ago for most car-related stuff, had a DSLR Canon 10d with all the fixings. Having carried it around, I’m not sure I could do it on a backcountry trip. Currently, I use a Nikon COOLPIX AW300 Camera base weight 7.5 oz and each battery is .75 oz. I usually carry 4 extra batteries, but admittedly don’t usually go through all of them. The AW300 is only a point-and-shoot but is waterproof/freezeproof/shockproof so it is pretty versatile.

[Bill K]

Hobbiest, shoot RAW and only print to 60″ max. typically 3’x4′. 99% of all viewing is on 4k or 5k monitors/tvs so I no longer use the Sony A7RIV. A7IV is better in many ways and RX100VII is much better then my iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I have 3 basic kits (ounces) so it depends on the trip specifics.

Good – Sony RX100VII (9.8) + Leofoto MT-03 & MBC-20 (9.7) + spare battery (1)

Better – Sony A7IV (25), Sigma 24(11), Sigma 45(10), Sigma 90(14) + Aoka CMP163C & KB20 (15) + filters(6) + spare(4)

Great – Sony A7IV(25), Sony 20G(15), Sony 35GM(20), Batis 85(18) OR Batis 135(24) + Gitzo GT1542T &Markin (48) + Filters(6) +spare(4)

I may add a CV15(12) if needed to either the Better or Great. Seldom take both the 85 and 135

 

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