Here’s a list of photography gear that we will typically bring with us while traveling.

This is Canon’s new entry level full-frame camera. It’s one of the lightest full-frame (non-mirrorless) cameras out there and is perfect for an amateur to professional photographer that wants to capture high quality images. This will be coming with us on every trip.

This was our first DSLR camera, and was a perfect fit for us while exploring and studying the craft of photography. Now that we are confident in photography, we will stick with bringing the above 6D Mark II, while this one sits at home and collects dust as a back-up.

The above two cameras can be cumbersome when hiking through the mountains or exploring a city all day. Because of this, we decided to buy a mirrorless camera. Mirrorless cameras are much slimmer and lighter than the standard DSLRs, but can still capture similar (or better) quality photos.

This is our go-to lens when traveling. It’s an ultra wide, high quality L-series zoom lens that’s perfect for dramatic wide angle landscape shots (like when we went to Iceland) or for navigating through narrow city streets (like when we went to Lisbon, Portugal).

We use this lens if we need a bit more range, or if we’re doing any portrait or micro work and want that nice bokeh.

I take this one out if we are in a low light situation (like being indoors). Being able to open up the aperture to 1.4 is helpful if you don’t want to bump up your ISO. It’s also on the edge of being a wide angle and will give you enough space to shoot in smaller spaces.

We don’t capture as many sunsets or long exposure shots as we plan on taking while traveling, but when we do, bringing the tripod is totally worth it — e.g. the cover shot from London. I have packed this in my checked bag and my carry on bag with no issues.

I like having a big 128GB memory card when traveling, especially if it’s for 7+ days. Sometimes we don’t have time or access to upload our images to an external hard drive or laptop everyday, so it’s good to have peace of mind of not running out of space. A 128GB memory card can hold around 4,500 RAW photos (I usually take anywhere from 200-400 photos per day when traveling).

Think Tank Photo Retrospective 7 – $165

When I was looking for a camera bag to use for travel, I wanted something that was small and discreet, something that didn’t look like a classic camera bag carrying thousands of dollars worth of gear. It’s comfortable, and can carry up to 2 small lenses and camera.

Accessories

In addition to the above items, we bring:

• Extra camera batteries – we don’t always have time or access to charge our cameras, so back up batteries are a must.
• Lens filters – we buy Hoya filters, and bring a UV filter (for general protection of the lens from sand, dust, water, etc.), a neutral density filter (typically for long exposure work), and a circular polarizing filter (generally to reduce glare and bright spots on your photos)
• Extra memory cards – we bring a couple back up 32/64GB memory cards in case our 128GB cards fill up or break down.
• Lens hood, battery chargers, microfiber cleaning cloths

There are many other camera accessories and gear that photographers will bring. It all depends on what photos you want to capture. We typically stick with generic travel, landscape, and night photography.

Have questions about cameras? Email us.