How I Pack Less Camera Gear on Vacation (And How You Can, Too)

Every time I go on vacation, I run into the same problem: I start with an empty bag, pack one camera, and think that’ll be enough. Five minutes later, I come back to my bag and pack another one. Just in case. Then I see there’s still room, so I pack a lens. Or Two. Then memory cards and batteries. Before I know it, I’m stuffing my bag to the brim like a Looney Tunes cartoon. I bring five cameras, but I only end up using one or two of them.

So what’s actually helped me get better at this? Asking the right questions before packing.

Where are you going? Who are these photos for? How present do you want to be with the people you’re with? When you ask yourself these things right before you start packing, your decisions get a lot clearer a lot faster.

Where Are You Going?

I used to bring a whole backpack, swap lenses constantly, and it got tedious fast. I was worried I’d miss shots and opportunities. But eventually I made it a challenge: Lock yourself to one camera and one lens for every time you go out.

If you’re hiking or chasing your kids around all day, that’s a very different situation than a relaxed afternoon doing portraits. A heavy medium format camera with a big prime might be the right call for one and completely wrong for the other. Think about the terrain, the pace, and what you’ll actually be doing, and let that decide what comes out of the bag.

On day one of this trip I had the GFX 100RF on a strap the whole time. Its fixed lens design allowed for quick, in-the-moment shots of my kid and my wife as we hiked around. On day two, I grabbed my Widelux FVI 35mm film camera. The exposure wasn’t always right for the ISO I had loaded, but that constraint meant every frame I captured was way more thought out than if I was just running around snapping freely. Plus the limitation of 20 exposures per roll made me more intentional with my framing.

When you don’t have as many options, you work harder creatively. You get closer. You reframe. You change your aspect ratio. You find shots you wouldn’t have looked for otherwise.

Who Are These Photos For?

Are you photographing for yourself? For family? For print? If I know I want portraits I can actually print and send to family and friends, that changes what I bring.

I did bring my Fujifilm GFX 100 II with the 80mm f/1.7 because I did want to capture at least one photo that I could print and send to others. It’s a beautiful camera and portrait lens, and the photos print great, but that camera weighs a ton. So I made a deliberate choice: keep it near the car, use it specifically for portraits, and don’t hike around with it all day.

How Present Do You Want To Be?

This is the one I think people skip over most. If you’re constantly swapping lenses, digging through a bag, or thinking about which camera to grab, you’re not actually there with the people you’re with. One camera on a strap means you’re present. You catch the moment because you’re already in it, and not because you were ready with the right lens. And the right type of camera support cuts down on all the juggling.

I hook Peak Design Anchors on basically everything – that means I can bring the same single strap and hook it onto any camera that I’ll be using for that day. If I do want to bring a second camera, I use my Spider Holster system on my belt. I still think it’s a fantastic system, especially when you don’t want to be carrying an extra bag. And for more technical stuff, like backcountry snowboarding or mountaineering, I switch to a Peak Design Capture system that hooks onto a backpack strap, so I can grab the camera without dropping my ski poles.

Also, when space is limited, I’d rather bring just enough batteries to swap through the trip and charge everything when I get home than haul extra chargers everywhere I go.

So before you even touch your bag, ask yourself: where you’re going, who these photos are for, and how present you want to be with the people around you. Those answers outline your decisions more clearly than any gear list will. Then challenge yourself to be more creative by limiting your choices. Our brains are very wired to push through boundaries and bounce off of creative constraints to make way more beautiful content than if we were left with infinite choices.

Lock yourself into just a couple of options, and you’ll come back from your trip feeling satisfied and creatively fulfilled.