I carry two camera bodies and I have narrowed it down to the Canon 5D MK3 and the 7D MK 2 WITHOUT the vertical battery grips.
I mainly carry the Canon 28-70mm 2.8 Mk 2, Canon 70-200mm F4 is and the Canon 500mm f4 is Mk2 or the 100-400mm is Mk2 lenses.
If I carry the 500mm F4 is Mk2 lens, which I think is the best lens for wild life photography, and airline travel (combined) I now use the Manfrotto Pro light backpack 120 which can easily accommodate this lens without the lens hood.
The weight of the backpack is 1.8kg and the total weight of the lenses and cameras excluding the 100-400mm lens would be 9kg which could be passed by the airline staff with a little bit of luck.
Tripods and monopods
The tripod and monopod I frequently use are the Sirui T2204X carbon fiber tripod, which weighs about 1.2 kg and the monopod being the P 326 carbon fiber six section piece. The ball head on the tripod is the K 20X and the tilt head on the monopod is the L10. This set can carry loads up to 10-15kg, which makes them Sturdy and lightweight, ideal for travel.
Sirui Tripod & ball head……… below: Sirui Tilthead & 6 section Monopod.
If I pack the 500mm f4 then I take my Induro gimbal sidekick, which is much lighter than a gimbal head. It could be attached to the Sirui ball head and taken out when I need to use the ball head on its own, especially for landscape photos.
(Gimbal sidekick attached to Sirui Ballhead)
(Gimbal sidekick attached to Sirui Ballhead)
If I happen to take the Canon 100-400mm is Mk2, which I think, is a fantastic lightweight lens and in combination with the 7d mk2 , I then use the Manfrotto Pro backpack 20 (photo shown below), which is extremely light and with two camera bodies and the 70-200mm f4, 24-70mm f2.8 weighs only a maximum of 8kg with my MacBook 12 inch. I believe this is an ideal lightweight set up for fantastic professional photography.
