How I Pack for a Multi-Day Commercial Shoot

A multi-day hotel or travel campaign means living out of the same cases for a week or more, across multiple flights, hotel rooms, and shoot locations, with no easy way to run to a camera store if something gets left behind. The packing system matters almost as much as the gear itself. Here's how I actually organize it.

One Case, One Job

Every case in my kit has exactly one purpose, and I don't mix contents between them. That sounds obvious, but on a rushed morning load-out, a system that forces things back into a fixed spot is the difference between knowing instantly that a battery is missing and discovering it mid-shoot in a different city.

The Carry-On: Camera Gear

The Pelican 1510 is carry-on sized specifically so it never gets checked. Every body, lens, battery, and card has a fixed foam cutout inside it. This case never leaves my side on a flight, which means the most expensive and hardest to replace items in the kit are never subject to lost luggage.

The Checked Case: Everything Else Bulky

Tripod, light stands, and anything that doesn't need to survive a flight in the cabin goes into a hard case built for checked baggage, roughly 40% lighter than a comparable case of the same protection level, which matters over a week of repeated airport handling.

The Working Bag: What Actually Comes On Set

The Pelican stays in the car or the hotel room during the shoot itself. A lighter shoulder bag gets loaded with whatever that day's setup actually requires, so I'm not carrying the full kit's weight into every location, just what's needed to move fast on the day.

The Personal Item: Never Checked, Never Out of Reach

A slim backpack goes under the airplane seat on every flight: laptop, tablet, cables, chargers, anything that needs to stay with me no matter what happens to the rest of the luggage.

Storage Discipline in the Field

Cards offload to multiple portable SSDs throughout the day, not at the end of it. One drive stays in the working bag, one stays at the hotel. If a drive fails or a bag goes missing mid-trip, the images exist somewhere else. On a multi-day commercial job with no reshoot option, that redundancy isn't optional.

Tracking Every Case

A tracker goes in every case and bag. Knowing exactly where each piece is at baggage claim or during a tight layover connection is worth far more than the cost of the tags, especially on a trip with multiple flight segments.

For the full breakdown of every camera, lens, and light in the kit, see the complete 2026 gear list.