Updated 2023/11/11. All photographers need tools. Away from home, a hotel stay invites a big toolset; a car camp likewise. A moderate-volume sea kayak with oval hatch openings can carry the gear you need. With backpacking — or with minimalist-type sea kayaking — it’s essentials only.
Below is my current backpacking camera gear list for the Sony a6700, which for backpacking has replace my Sony a6300. The a6700 camera is incredibly versatile, weighs only 17 ounces, and, with the 1.5 crop factor and mirrorless design, allows for smaller, lighter lenses. Compared to full-frame, noise can be higher, with less pixels, but the image quality is so good you’ll need to inspect a huge print close-up for it to matter. My two lens systems consists of the Sony 15mm f1.4, (22.5mm full-frame equivalent), and a Sony 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 (27mm to 202mm). The zoom is a light-weight 11.5 oz, and together with the 15mm gives me a nice focal length range from 22.5 to 202mm (35mm equivalent), nice wide coverage for scenics and a short tele for wildlife.
As I’ve often said in the past, I no longer carry split ND filters, preferring to take two to several exposures for combining in Lightroom (or Photoshop). Another weight saver is my wood panorama tool, which simplifies single-row vertical pans while allowing close foreground elements that blend smoothly when merged. Technology keeps pushing what’s possible in the remote backcountry. We live in exciting times.
I don’t have a specific sea kayak camera list. Sea kayaks can carry a lot of gear, and my equipment changes to meet the needs of the trip.
Backpacking Camera Gear List
Getting quality shots on backpack trips is a game of ounces: how much gear can you carry into the wild; how far are you willing (or able) to carry it. Optimizing a shoot almost always means an SLR (or mirrorless) and tripod, but it also demands trekking lightly. Forget about covering all contingencies — think 80-20 rule. Sometimes you should simplify and just take one lens.
For three-season backpacking, my pack weight is about 22 pounds for a 3-night trip: 11 pounds for pack, clothing, shelter, stove, etc.; 5.6 pounds for camera gear; 5 pounds for food. I wrote about light-weight backpacking photography in the 2009/10 tip, with an update in 2010/11 and 2012/01. Here’s my current backpacking camera list based on the Sony a6700.
| Camera gear | Weight (oz) |
|---|---|
| Sony a6700 w/battery | 17.4 oz |
| Batteries (1 extra) | 3.0 oz |
| Sony 15mm f1.4 | 7.9 oz |
| Sony 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 | 11.5 oz |
| 55mm Polarizing Filter (both lenses) | 1.5 oz |
| Samsung phone (multi-use including remote) | 5.5 oz |
| Cleaning cloth | .4 oz |
| Tamrac Jazz Zoom 25 camera bag | 5.4 oz |
| Oben CT-2331 tripod | 22. 6 oz |
| Oben BE-108 ballhead w/Newer FXC-25 | 8.1 oz |
| Newer PU-70 plate | 1.7 oz |
| Wood pano tool | 2.7 oz |
| cloth bandana | 1.5 oz |
| 64GB SD card (1) | .15 oz |
| Total: | 89.4 oz |
| 5.59 lbs |
Gary