Rucksack recommendations....

Bobsyeruncle

Bobsyeruncle

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Bob
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Guys, I'm thinking I might do some overnight wild camping combined with some photography.
Likely to be one night but possibly 2 at most.
Just wondering what size of rucksack is need to carry my m43 body and 2 lenses, tripod etc and camping gear such as tent, sleeping bag, mat, stove etc etc.
I'd get a padded insert for the body and lenses.
Any recommendations gratefully received.
Thanks
 
I use an Osprey Atmos 65, this holds
Primes Spider
Gas
Sleeping mat
Sleeping bag
Self inflating pillow
Vango Hydra 200 - I find a 2 man tent better space for gear
Trowel
2 or 3 pouches of dehydrated food
2 lt water bladder
MSR Trailshot (water filter)
X2 Lowepro utility 100AW to hold 5D mkiii 24/105 - 16/35. These fit with carabiner to the over shoulder straps and rest on your waiste.
Lee filter pouch
3 Legged thing travis
X2 walking poles
Various walking clothes, layers, water-proofs etc

All comes in around 18/20 kilos.

Thinks that’s about it....
 
Kev.s said:
I use an Osprey Atmos 65, this holds
Primes Spider
Gas
Sleeping mat
Sleeping bag
Self inflating pillow
Vango Hydra 200 - I find a 2 man tent better space for gear
Trowel
2 or 3 pouches of dehydrated food
2 lt water bladder
MSR Trailshot (water filter)
X2 Lowepro utility 100AW to hold 5D mkiii 24/105 - 16/35. These fit with carabiner to the over shoulder straps and rest on your waiste.
Lee filter pouch
3 Legged thing travis
X2 walking poles
Various walking clothes, layers, water-proofs etc

All comes in around 18/20 kilos.

Thinks that’s about it....
Click to expand...
Thanks for that.
Does the tent fit inside the rucksack or strap on the outside?
 
Think about 65 - 75l - everything inside (tripod being a compact one, like a befree). Assuming an inflatable mat.

If in mountain country & high up in the uk, no need for a water filter - the water's mostly as fresh as it gets. Just take it from high in the catchment where there's constant flow and preferably in sunlight when available (uv is a purifier). No need for a pillow either (fold up some clothing) or a trowel (sheep crap wild, why shouldn't we?). There's an ethic here - never bury anything in the wild. If it's that nasty, take it home. See my point?
 
Sheep don't move a stone, crap, and replace the stone - but we can. Osprey sacs are hugely popular, and for a good reason. Personally I'd go for 50-65 litres and simply not take stuff that doesn't fit; basically you choose whether you want to be uncomfortable by carrying too much, or by not having something you might like. 15 kilos is a good target weight. And a large drybag inside the sac.
 
This depends so much how how portable your gear is generally. Small tent, small sleeping bag, tiny stove and cookware and 50-55l might be fine. But personally I go 60-65l just to be on the safe side. Much like camera bags, there is rarely a one size fits all so probably better to err on the side of caution. if you're just going to have one .
 
As others have said, it really depends on the size of your camping kit, mores than your camera gear. I can get all my stuff in an Osprey Exos 48 but my camping kit is pretty minimalist. the camera stuff goes in a F stop insert inside a dry bag inside the sac. If I was to only take one lens I'd get that down to a 40 litre sac. Tripod goes on the outside.
 
Thanks for the replies folks.
Would be best to get the tent, sleeping bag, mat and pillow first, then look at rucksacks.
 
I've got a 65l (+15) and generally summit camp and that just about right volume wise.

Is winter camping part of the plan?
 
Primarily for rucksack size and total weight carried.
For example a summer only camper might find 50l size adequate as you don't necessarily need such a thick mat or more insulation, thermals, crampons, axe or sturdier tent.

Conversely carrying a winter set-up in summer can be quite exhausting in the heat.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Thanks for that.
Does the tent fit inside the rucksack or strap on the outside?
Click to expand...

It fits inside, I generally choose outside (horizontal across the bottom), makes standing up the rucksack easier.

If winter camping, tent, sleeping mat and sleeping bag must be looked at closely.
 
Last edited:
Glad you asked this Bob, looking at getting into wild camping too. Hard to know where to start but the replies have been very helpful here.
 
Kev.s said:
I use an Osprey Atmos 65, this holds
...
All comes in around 18/20 kilos.
Click to expand...

20kg! That's heavy! How far do you go?

I'm looking at getting into longer hikes and wild camping, I'm aiming for sub 12kg.


If you want a sensibly sized backpack that's easy to find in a physical shop I'd look at something like an Osprey Exos 38/48.

Go and try a few packs out at an outdoor store. Perhaps even take some gear with you to look at what size you really need. Ideally you'd buy the pack after you have everything else otherwise you'll get the wrong size!

My own opinion is to go as light as you can with gear. My personal reason for this is that I believe if I have a big heavy bag I won't want to walk very far, and that somewhat defeats the purpose of going wild camping.
 
Exos is a lovely pack but as you say the largest is only 48 litres. I had one and couldn't get everything in with the camera gear too. Hence I bought the Kestrel that did.

Getting to 12kg though? Thats a whole other thread given a tripod and camera gear alone is going to be over 2kg if not more, a 3 season bag is going to be 1kg without spending £400 on one, 1 litre of water is a kg so thats assuming you have a sawyer water filter and you're going to find water while wilding plus the pack itselfs 1kg plus. You can save a lot if you go for a tarp but many don't like them so any tent under 1.5kg is going to be again 200/300/400 etc.
 
Donnie said:
Exos is a lovely pack but as you say the largest is only 48 litres. I had one and couldn't get everything in with the camera gear too. Hence I bought the Kestrel that did.

Getting to 12kg though? Thats a whole other thread given a tripod and camera gear alone is going to be over 2kg if not more, a 3 season bag is going to be 1kg without spending £400 on one, 1 litre of water is a kg so thats assuming you have a sawyer water filter and you're going to find water while wilding plus the pack itselfs 1kg plus. You can save a lot if you go for a tarp but many don't like them so any tent under 1.5kg is going to be again 200/300/400 etc.
Click to expand...

Exos comes as a 58 as well.

I don't actually carry a huge amount of camera gear, so the weight isn't terrible, it's still a good few kg though. 12kg doesn't necessarily mean all consumables as well, but it's a reasonable target to aim for. I have fairly lightweight kit (eg. custom PHD minibus bag), but am really still building it up now. You can easily get a sub 1kg tent, sub 800g bag (eg. phd, western mountaineering, etc...), sub 400g pad (thermarest uberlite, neoair, etc...), sub 800g pack (eg. atom packs, gossamer gear, etc...).

It's an expensive game. Much like photography!
 
Donnie said:
Exos is a lovely pack but as you say the largest is only 48 litres. I had one and couldn't get everything in with the camera gear too. Hence I bought the Kestrel that did.

Getting to 12kg though? Thats a whole other thread given a tripod and camera gear alone is going to be over 2kg if not more, a 3 season bag is going to be 1kg without spending £400 on one, 1 litre of water is a kg so thats assuming you have a sawyer water filter and you're going to find water while wilding plus the pack itselfs 1kg plus. You can save a lot if you go for a tarp but many don't like them so any tent under 1.5kg is going to be again 200/300/400 etc.
Click to expand...

There is an exos 58 too., Really nice compromises between weight and robustness.

The weight thing is interesting. I've put a load of effort into this recently to try to get pack weight down. My bag is an Osprey Levity 60 which is very light but not ideal if you fill it with heavy stuff but that suits me as I hate carrying massive weight these days. My pack weight for a two nighter next week is just under 11kg. That includes food, gas, some fire logs (staying in a bothy) and 2 litres of water. No tent but actually if I were camping my pack would be lighter as tent would weigh less than the fire wood which wouldn't be going. I've spent a little bit of money on lighter gear (maybe £500 total) but have literally shed a few kilos from my pack weight. Have saved 1.3 kg alone by buying a lighter sleeping bag (same warmth as older one) and lighter thermarest. Rucksack is 1.2kg lighter than my old one and I choose what food and clothing I carry more carefully than I used to.

One big differentiater is the camera gear. If I take my Olympus camera with one zoom lens and tiny travel tripod (800g!) I save several kilos vs. taking my DSLR and a small 3LT tripod. It really depends what sort of trip I'm doing. Sometimes the DSLR is justified.
 
Matt. said:
20kg! That's heavy! How far do you go?

I'm looking at getting into longer hikes and wild camping, I'm aiming for sub 12kg.


If you want a sensibly sized backpack that's easy to find in a physical shop I'd look at something like an Osprey Exos 38/48.

Go and try a few packs out at an outdoor store. Perhaps even take some gear with you to look at what size you really need. Ideally you'd buy the pack after you have everything else otherwise you'll get the wrong size!

My own opinion is to go as light as you can with gear. My personal reason for this is that I believe if I have a big heavy bag I won't want to walk very far, and that somewhat defeats the purpose of going wild camping.
Click to expand...

Depends really up to 15 miles.
 
My first wild camp had my pack coming in at 22.75kg, since then I've made a number of changes, tripod, boots, poles etc. and significantly the rucksack. As others have pointed out, the Osprey Exos 58 comes in at 1kg, which is superb in comparison to my old Berghaus Khumbo Atrek Pro 70+10, which was a hefty 2.15kg.

Also, the smaller Exos 58 forces me to be frugal with the kit, less water etc.
 
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