When picking the best camera equipment for travelling, it’s important to choose wisely, based on size, functionality, and of course, price. You don’t need one of everything—just one of a few, selected items. I use each of the products below, and they have been hand-picked for my travel camera kit for very specific reasons.

In most cases, I travel not only for photography, of course, I like to explore along the way. so having the minimum sets of gears will help me to give space for my other stuff.

Now to the list. Obviously, this all depends on your budget, but here’s the basic list of equipment that I think novice travel photographers & video makers will need.

Camera Backpack –  Case Logic SLRC-206 SLR Camera/Laptop Backpack

The Case Logic SLRC-206 SLR Camera/Laptop Backpack (Black) is designed to carry and protect an SLR camera body with attached lens and accessories. The bag is made from nylon with a memory foam interior on backpack lid helps protect the LCD screen and a water-proof base that withstands the elements and allows the backpack to stand up on its own. There are removable shelves and flexible walls that create a fully customizable interior.

The bag can be customizable to contain one camera body with attached lens, one telelens (70 – 200mm), one wide angle lens, and a prime lens. plus you can drop in few accessories in the compartments such as ND filters and your GoPro. and there is a dedicated area for a 16″ laptop. There are pockets for SD cards, cleaning kits, batteries, mini gorilla pod, and cables.

If you have a mini-drone such as Mavic air, you could fit in in the bag using the space for the telelens. 

I have been using the bag for over 4 years, travelled to many places and it is still as good as new. 

Camera – Canon EOS 650D The Best Budget DSLR Camera

An entry-level DSLR with an 18 Megapixel, APS-C sensor and 1080p video recording (HD Videos). The body with an 18 – 55mm kit lens only costs around 2500AED.

The camera is best for both taking photos and videos, the best thing I love about this camera is the wonderful responsive touchscreen, which can be tilted to any directions. This helps me a lot in taking photos or videos in different angles.

It weighs 510g without the lens, which is bit heavy comparing with mirrorless cameras, but way cheaper and affordable than those big guys.

Zoom Lens – Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 the best Kit Lens Replacement

Well, I had the kit lens came with my camera as a combo pack, which is really a good lens kit. Over time I got bored of it as It has few limitations such as the aperture (f/3.5-5.6). So I replaced it with the Sigma 17 – 50mm lens and I am happy I made the right decision.

Its been almost a year and I still did not regret the capability of this baby. As an entry-level photographer and video maker. This lens is one of the best available on the market.

This lens is good to shoot Portraits, Architecture, Street and to shoot videos.

Well yes, you have the baby but you will need a beast as well. You will need to have a wide angle lens as you may encounter some breathtaking sceneries or even a modern architecture.

WIDE Lens – Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 the wide lens you need on your backpack

The Tokina 11-16 mm lens has been available for several years. It is a wide-angle zoom lens with a large aperture. One of the best alternatives for those expensive canon lenses, although it does its job the very best.

If you are a person who loves to capture landscapes, architectures and milky ways. You need to have this. Unfortunately, the lens is bit heavy and will put some weights on your gear sets.

Joby GorillaPod for GoPro and Mobile Phones

Compact Flexible Tripod for Point & Shoot and Small Cameras, this design features a stainless steel reinforced ball head for compact cameras and devices weighing less than 1lb.

This is one of my new addition to mount GoPro and Mobile Phone also can be used as a stabilizer in worst cases, a lightweight small and handy gear which you can throw into your backpack and will never make a weight difference.

Tripod – Sirui T-025X Carbon Fiber Tripod with Ball Head

Tripods are probably the single most useful photo accessory you can own, helping to capture everything from crisp landscapes to long exposures of the night sky. I use the Sirui Carbon Fiber Tripod.

This is a compact, ultra-lightweight, and stylish tripod with an included head. With upward-folding legs, it collapses to just 13.2″, with the head attached, and weighs just 2.0 lb. Supporting loads up to 13.2 lb, this tripod is capable of holding DSLR cameras with lightweight lenses and is ideal for compact and mirrorless cameras and camcorders.

If a tripod could fly and this will be the first to fly, it is light as a feather. And small as a minion. Easy to use and carry.

ND Filters – Hoya Neutral Density Filter

It didn’t take me long to learn that a landscape photographer primarily needs a glass polarizing filter to help reduce reflections from water and glass as well as rendering blue skies darker and making clouds more defined.

I was using cheap quality ND filters but they did not do the job well, so I had to put some money on a quality filter. Hoya has the perfect affordable ND filters which will definitely help you to up your photography game to the next level.

Extra Batteries

You’re going to want to make sure you’ve got enough batteries and memory cards for the trip. Bring your charger and top-up your batteries overnight (make sure to bring an adapter if you need one for where you’re travelling.)

Memory Cards – Eyefi Mobi Pro 32GB WiFi SD Card, Lexar 16GB, SanDisk 8GB

The Eyefi system syncs wirelessly across all your devices and simultaneously backs up your photography to the Eyefi Cloud (an SD card comes with a year’s free subscription).

Action Camera – GoPro Hero 5

GoPro is no more a camera to shoot just actions, as you may know, travel vloggers have already shooting cinematic videos from these tiny but handy cameras. They are easy to use, they’re no hassle to set up and all of the this means that you can capture breathtaking moments at total ease. You don’t need to know anything about cameras to reap the benefits of a GoPro.

And on a plus note, GoPros have tons of accessories, as you can fit a GoPro on your backpack, car or anything moves or stable.

And they can shoot 4K videos and also 120FPS, best for slow-mo and low angle shots.

GoPro Selfie Stick / GoPro 3-Way Camera Mount

Selfie sticks and mounts are best tools to take stunning shots from GoPro’s, I use the mounts and selfie sticks to take as first-person shots as well as third person shots, as sometimes I travel alone.

the 3-way mount can also be used as a tripod, so it is kind of an all in one solution.

Chargers for Camera and GoPro

You do not want to get to somewhere epic and realize your GoPro or Camera battery AND spare batteries aren’t charged! – don’t you?

I use a dual battery charger for my camera and a triple charger for my GoPro. both the chargers are small and can fit in a tiny space.

Multi Pin Adapter

I do not need to enforce the importance of having a tiny multi-pin adapter, especially when you travel to countries of different corners of the world. I learnt this good lesson on my last trip to Azerbaijan since in Dubai we use 3 pins on most of the power accessories, but in Azerbaijan, they use only two round pins. then I literally had to make jokes and then beg them to buy me a multi-pin adapter. having a universal adapter is always a wise choice for a frequent traveller.

Camera Strap

This allows me to distribute the weight of the camera across my body and carry the weight on my hip. It’s quick release, more secure and even has a memory card holder on my shoulder strap. This allows me to keep my hands free for other things and it doesn’t kill my neck.

What are your favorite pieces of travel photography gear? Would you add anything to the list? Let me know in the comments below!

Author

I am a young, passionate individual with an enthusiastic attitude who thrives in creative environments. I hold a solid understanding of the design process and display a keen interest in emerging technologies and innovative products. I'm considered to be a 'Jack of all trades' and a complete creative nutcase!

Write A Comment