Let me make a statement first: I'm NOT a camera gear addict. In fact, I've been trying to reduce photo gear, or at least not buying anything new. Nevertheless, no matter how little photo gear I take with me, it's always way too heavy. After all, it's not my fault that DSLR gear is so heavy, right?

We went for a 'short' (10K) hike around Herb Parsons Lake in Fayette County (Tennessee) last week. This fishing lake is only 15 minutes from our house and it's a place we never visited before for some reason. There are already jokes in my family that I always take tons of photo gear but I either never end up taking any pictures or I only take a handful number of them. Last week wasn't much different. I ended up shooting 5 photographs and I liked only 3 of them. I don't think I took too much gear with me; I only had a Nikon d610, 24-70mm, 70-200mm, a light-weight tripod and a variable ND filter (the 2 last for long exposure). Nevertheless, my backpack was quite heavy and once we reached our 8th kilometer, my wife was constantly bombarded with one question: "Are we there yet?!" 

I've been planning on checking out the micro 4/3 camera system, which is much lighter and versatile than the DSLR system but I honestly haven't had time for that yet. Besides, when I think about investing in another camera system and/or switching to a new one, I think I prefer to carry my heavy gear (at least for now, until my back starts to give up).