Maximizing My Goruck GR1 26L for Photo and Video Shoots

There’s no secret that I love my GR1. I’ve owned it for years and always enjoy finding ways to push it to its limit. The versatility of having a single bag that can do multiple things, while (subjectively) looking good, makes me love this bag even more. I use it as an office bag, a travel bag, and now, a camera bag. This iteration is for when I have photo/video shoots for work.

The Backpack: A Brief Overview

Photo of how my Goruck GR1 looks when I'm going to a video shoot.

Just to recap, I received my Goruck GR1 as a bachelor’s party gift. My two best friends and brother pooled together to buy it for me in 2018. Since then, it’s been with me to Greece, Mexico, countless domestic trips, and every day I would go to the office. I’ve ventured off to purchase a GR2 and was actually awarded a GR1 21L in a contest. I’m all in on the Goruck methodology, keeping tools that last a lifetime.

What’s great about the GR1 is that it’s a big open hole that you can fill to best suit your needs. I wouldn’t say it’s the best for all cases, but I like that it’s flexible for my needs. I have a USA-made Goruck GR1 26L in black.

How all of my equipment fits inside of my Goruck GR1.

Organizing for Efficiency: Inside My Goruck GR1 26L I use a series of bags and attachments to organize my equipment. There are things that I’m not 100% in love with, but for the most part, this works with my system. Let’s start with listing out the pouches, and then I’ll break down what is in each.

  • Tenba BYOB 10 – Camera insert for primary camera equipment.
  • Garage Built Gear ‘The Mightier Pouch’ and ‘The Mighty+ Pouch’ – For various accessories.
  • Goruck GR1 Field Pocket – Additional gear storage.
  • Goruck Simple Side Pocket – Quick access items.
  • Vanquest Water Bottle Holder – Hydration solution.

The Specifics

  • Tenba BYOB 10: Houses my Canon RP with a SmallRig Cage, lenses, and SmallRig accessories.
  • The Mightier Pouch: Contains essentials like the Smallrig SD Card Holder, Field Notes, Fisher Spacepen, Smallrig Toolset, Leatherman Micra, and a 2TB SSD.

Additional items like the Portkeys external monitor, Powerwise Lavalier Mics, and the Anker M650, have their own cases but fit into the setup. My headphones fold up and fit wherever there’s space, sometimes alongside a water bottle to stay hydrated on shoots.

On the exterior, I use the Vanquest Water Bottle Holder and a strap to attach my tripod. The Goruck Simple Side Pocket is useful for my phone, keys, and wallet.

All of my equipment. Canon RP, Lenses, External Monitor, SSD, video equipment.

I sometimes won’t use my tripod, but I’m so happy with the water bottle holder solution that I still carry it on all of my shoots in case I need it. With MOLLE attachments still on the front panel, in theory, I could add a few more bags to add things like batteries and other camera accessories on the outside. Since most of my shoots are just a one-setup or in a pretty small area, I haven’t outfitted it to be mobile. More just like stop, find a spot, and shoot.

By no means is this an all-inclusive rig. I still carry a softbox, light stand, and light separately, but I love that mostly everything fits into this setup. This is really great for solo run-and-gun type shots where you are utilizing a small setup to capture some photo and video.

What I like is that it is really comfortable to wear to your shoots. When I get to my shoot, I lay out all my gear, and it’s easy to see since it’s a clamshell-style bag. The back still houses a laptop sleeve, so I’m able to carry my laptop and quickly backup footage after a shoot to my SSD.

This has worked really well for me for the past few months. That being said, this is probably the max I would want to carry. We’re pushing probably 25-30lbs, and as I’m getting more camera gear, I don’t want to keep weighing it down. I would recommend this for a camera, three lenses, and a few accessories. Anything more, I would recommend going to a dedicated camera bag with padding to completely protect your gear.

Photo of all of the gear and pouches that goes inside of my Goruck GR1.

As well as this has worked for the past couple of shoots, I’ve been accumulating more gear and will continue doing so. I will be setting up a hard-shell case for the company I work for. That way, other people can know where things are and don’t feel weird digging into my bag for items.

Goruck GR1 in action at a shoot for a client.

Next up in the series on how I use my GR1, I’ll talk about my GR1 21L that I use for rucking. In theory, I could use this same bag, but since I won the other one from a contest, I have it rigged up just for rucking and for when I go for walks.

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