Choosing Travel Photography Gear
Every photographer has to figure out what type of travel photography gear they need. With so much many choices, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
I started out with Nikon, then Canon, and am now using Fuji and Sony cameras. Hmmm… maybe I just like new cameras! It’s kind of like waving a new toy in front of a child! I like new toys!
Seriously though, there is always going to be the newest, latest, greatest model of something. I recommend renting a few different brands before many a purchase you will regret. Borrowlenses has a great selection, decent prices, and will ship the gear to you.
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My Photography Gear
I still bounce back and forth between my travel photography gear depending on where I’m going, and for how long. Sometimes, I like to travel light, and don’t want to deal with a bunch of gear.
This is the gear that works best for me:
Fujifilm’s X Series has many great cameras to choose from. These are my favorite models.
Fujifilm X100F
I love this camera. The compact lightweight design of the Fujifilm X100F is perfect for those days when you don’t want to lug around the heavier gear. It’s a great little camera for street photography too.
It has a premium fixed-lens, and is filled with great features. It’s retro design is reminiscent of 35mm film cameras, including the exposure controls, ISO, aperture ring, and shutter speed dial.
Fujfilm X-T4
The X-T4 camera is impressive to say the least. It features in-body image stabilization, and has a 3 inch fully articulating screen. The touchscreen works wonderfully for vlogging and for selfies.
It also has the same retro design, and classic controls as my Fujifilm X100F, so it’s easy to bounce between the two. Plus, with the X-T4, I can changes lenses.
Fujinon XF18-55mmF2.8-4
Considering this is referred to as a kit lens, Fujifilm has done well with it. It’s versatile lens that’s convenient lens for everyday use.
Fujinon XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS
Pretty much everything about this lens is great. It’s a telephoto len with variable aperture, has a fantastic optical image stabilization which provides great hand-holding stability, the image quality is excellent, and you’ll get some gorgeous bokeh with this lens.
And, because I’ve wanted a Sony full frame mirrorless camera forever, I had to add some Sony gear to the line up!
Sony a7R III
The Sony a7R III is a full-frame mirrorless camera packed full of features, including excellent image quality, 42MP sensor, 10fps subject tracking, Tilting touch LCD, ISO range of 100-32000, with extended settings ranging as low as ISO 50 and as high as ISO 102400, dual memory card slots, 4K video capture, and so much more. What’s not to drool over? It’s one of the best mirrorless cameras around!
Sony 24-70mm F2.8
This lens is wide enough for landscapes, and zooms enough to cover short telephoto distances. It’s also great for portraits. Plus, the image quality is fantastic!
DJI Osmo Pocket
The DJI Osmo Pocket is an easy to use pocket sized all-in-one camera. it has a built-in stabilizer, can shoot 4K video and still images in a variety of shooting modes, and works well for vloggers.
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
The DJI Mavic 2 Pro is the best small drone on the market. It shoots amazing high quality images, and video. It’s folds up nicely, and fits easily into a camera bag.
Here are the tripods I use when traveling.
MeFOTO GlobeTrotter Tripod
MeFOTO is a compact travel camera tripod that folds up inversely, and turns into a monopod. It’s small enough to carry just about anywhere!
Manfrotto Mini Tripod PIXI
The PIXI is super lightweight, small, portable, and easy to use. If you need to shoot video, close up the legs, and it becomes a grip. It’s primarily for compact cameras, however I have used it with my Canon DSLR. It can handle the weight.
And, because editing images has to be done, the laptop has to come along.
Apple MacBook Pro
Apple MacBook Pro is one of the most powerful laptops you can have if you do multimedia editing. It has an awesome retina display, is thin, light, and very portable.
Whenever I travel, I always bring an external drive or two along to back up my photos.
LaCie Rugged Mini External Hard Drive Portable
The LaCie is a small, portable and fast hard drive. You can get them with up to 5TB of space. LaCie says the Rugged Mini can keep data alive under the weight of 1-ton car. I find that pretty impressive. I figured if it can survive that, it can survive me dropping it several hundred times!
And, last but not least… Something to carry it all in.
Lowepro DroneGuard BP 250
There’s lots of space for gear in this backpack. It has removable dividers, so you can customize it to your own gear. I can fit my DJI Mavic 2 Pro, 15” MacBook Pro, Osmo Pocket, a couple cameras, lens, and other miscellaneous stuff.
ONA Camera Messenger Bag
I like this bag for when I’m out shooting street photography, and don’t want to carry a lot of gear. Plus, it doesn’t look like your typical camera bag. There’s enough room for a camera, an extra lens a few small items.
This is just some of the gear I use. I have lots of gear for studio, and portrait photography that wouldn’t be useful while traveling. I try to keep it as light as possible.
If you’re new to travel photography, start out with the basics, and add more gear when you’re able to. The last thing you want to do is blow the budget on a bunch of stuff you may never use.
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