What would you take?

[Photo-John]

Are you considering buyig new equipment? Because if not, just bring it all. That's what I do if I'm doing a road trip. The only time I cut down on the amount of equipment I carry is when I have to travel by plane - especially if I'm taking my bike. But in the car - no reason to leave anything at home.

[SirMike1983]

What I've found helpful is to be able to get everything I need into a single utility bag. I have the camera, one or two other lenses, film, exposure calculator (you may not need this). A telescoping tripod is very useful because your bag may have a strap or sling on the side to hold the tripod. But I wouldn't weight myself down with much more than that. A bag and a folded up telescoping tripod will be about all you want to carry in the woods, especially in summer or fall when all the leaves and branches are at the fullest.

[dmm96452]

What I've found helpful is to be able to get everything I need into a single utility bag. I have the camera, one or two other lenses, film, exposure calculator (you may not need this). A telescoping tripod is very useful because your bag may have a strap or sling on the side to hold the tripod. But I wouldn't weight myself down with much more than that. A bag and a folded up telescoping tripod will be about all you want to carry in the woods, especially in summer or fall when all the leaves and branches are at the fullest.

I have several bags all of which will go on the trip. One that is weatherproof and has a place for my tripod.

[dmm96452]

I will be buying some new equipment. I'm just trying to get a general idea of what the more experienced types would take.

What I have now:
20D
50mm f1.8
Tamron 17-50 f2.8
Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6
Bogen/Manfrotto tripod and 3265 Grip action ball head
Bogen/Manfrotto monopod
Canon 220EX
BP511 batteries (2)
2GB CF cards (2)

What I will add before then:
Tamron 28-75 f2.8
Battery grip for the 20D and 2 batteries
Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS
Canon 2x TC
CF cards (at least 2 more)

What I would like to add before then:
Backup body (10D or 300D)
Speedlite 430 EX or 580EX

[dmm96452]

Rick - No backcountry just a tent at campgrounds most nights and day hikes. So I won't be away from the car for an extremely long time.

Charles - Thanks for the input. I don't know how soon I would be able to get back so I'll probably have to travel a little heavier then you do.

PJ - I will probably take it all with me. I'm just trying to find out what others would take so that I can see if there are any glaring omissions in my list.

AV - No back country and there will be three nights of hotel stays. At least. I'm also going to have a way to secure the gear I leave behind. Not just locked in the trunk but in a locked box or something like that bolted in the trunk. Lots of batteries - check.

[another view]

If you're doing back country camping and feel comfortable leaving equipment in the car, then bring a bunch of it. As is probably obvious, just be careful about people seeing you play with a bunch of camera gear, throw it in the trunk and leave. You never know who's watching...

On my version of back country stuff, space is an issue (traveling by kayak). I've used film in the past for this but sold that gear so now I'd probably bring the wide zoom, 50 and hopefully 80-200. Tripod and bubble level too, of course - and a lot of batteries. You may want to consider one hotel night halfway in the camping part of your trip so you can let camera gear really dry out, charge batteries and clean lenses (shower is a nice bonus!).