There are really two questions here - how much room do you have for your camera equipment, and how many of the lenses will you really use?
If I'm heading out on a trip where my primary purpose is photography I'm likely to carry and use more lenses than I do if my primary purpose is cycling. Lately my trips are a blend of touring and photography, so I need to think about this.
On my June 2008 wander in Acadia National Park, I was taking day trips as opposed to traveling on my bike. I had two cameras with me - my Canon G9, and my Canon 40D. I was carrying three lenses for the 40D, a 10-22mm, a 24-105mm, and a 70-300mm. I used all of the lenses on this trip - but I was not carrying them on my bike. On any given ride I had the G9 in a fanny pack for quick shots, and the 40D plus maybe one lens in my TailRider. My choice of on-the-bike lenses was usually the 24-105mm on the camera with the 10-22mm riding along for quick changes.
If I'm on a trip where my transportation is my bicycle, then I think hard about my photography toys (OK, OK, maybe I should call them tools and not toys!). I always take a small point-and-shoot camera with me. That camera is carried in a fanny pack so if I see something interesting I can quickly put a foot down and grab the camera. (I know that many folks use a handlebar bag for this purpose, but I don't use one.) I always take a dSLR which is usually carried in a rack trunk. I sometimes carry a second lens for the dSLR, also carried in the rack trunk.
My longer lenses have built-in image stabilization. This means that for the most part I can get away without a tripod. But a tripod could be very useful for some shots. For right now, I'm traveling without one. But that could change at any moment.
How many lenses? Only you can answer that question. But on the way to answering that question, here are a few more for you:
- Will you use all of the lenses that you are carrying?
- Do you have room to carry them?
- Will the added weight of your camera equipment prove to be too much for you as you are happily pedaling along?
- If you're carrying expensive camera gear, do you have an off-the-bike bag you can use to take them with you as you are wandering off of your bike? I don't know about you, but my camera equipment doesn't get left alone in a camp site!
