Camera gear for travel photography: what we use as full-time travellers

best all-rounder travel camera: Canon R6 Mark 2

This is our ultimate travel camera, an incredibly versatile mirrorless body that we use for the vast majority of our photography! With a 26.2MP full-frame sensor, in-body stabilisation, and crazy-fast autofocus, the R6 Mark II delivers professional image quality in a relatively compact, weather-sealed body.

James has been a devoted Canon user for the last decade and, after shooting a lot on his old 6D, I came to LOVE the Canon colour science— photos are warm and beautifully rendered straight off the camera, and I think they look far better than the cold, overly-sharpened look of Sony or Olympus images.

We’ve put this camera through every environment (sand, snow, rain, altitude), and it just keeps delivering. Whether it’s hand-held hiking shots, slow shutter astrophotography, or portraits with the perfect bokeh, this is our favourite everyday travel camera!

best all-rounder travel lens: Canon RF 24-105mm f/4 USM

This lens lives on our Canon R6, and unless we’re shooting wildlife with our telephoto, this is what we use for daily photography.

The 24–105mm range is incredibly flexible for travel— wide enough for sweeping vistas, long enough for portraits or distant details. The f/4 aperture also delivers that creamy background blur and reasonable low-light results, especially when paired with the R6’s stabilisation.

*I highly recommend protecting your expensive lens against scratches using a high-quality glass protector; this lives on our camera 100% of the time and doesn’t have any impact on image quality!

best wildlife lens: Tamron 150-600mm f/5-6.3 (Canon EF) with Adapter

This large but powerful telephoto lens only joins us on our travels when we’re going on safari or otherwise trying to achieve major compression on our shots. It has surprisingly fantastic handheld performance and we have been consistently impressed with the results on everything from birdwatching in Rwanda to gorilla trekking in Uganda!

*To use this lens with the Canon R6, you’ll need to use an adapter (since it’s designed for the Canon EF mount).

best compact travel camera: Fujifilm X100VI

The second camera in our lineup is an ultra-compact fixed lens system from Fujifilm that delivers mind-blowing low light shots with stunning depth of field. It performs in a totally different way than our Canon, which makes for a super-diverse 2 camera set-up that we absolutely love.

With a 23mm f/2 lens (35mm full-frame equivalent) and a stabilised 40.2MP sensor, the X100VI offers incredible image quality for a camera that literally fits in your pocket. I also love having physical dials for all manual settings— digging through digital menus to change the ISO drives me crazy, and the X100VI feels like a return to classic photography.

This is my favourite camera for wandering through the city, mountaineering trips where every gram counts, or anytime we want to shoot without drawing too much attention!

*Protect your expensive fixed lens against scratches using a high-quality glass protector— I chose this one because it has a built-in adapter that ensures your camera remains fully weather-sealed.

The Fujifilm X100VI broke sales records and it can be extremely tricky to get your hands on one, even though it’s quite new. If it’s not available through the Amazon links above, you can try eBay or even order through international camera sites.

best drone: DJI Mini 4 Pro

The Mini 4 Pro is a spectacular travel drone that balances size and weight (249g!) with incredible video and image performance. It shoots 48MP RAW stills, 4K/60fps video, and is packed with features like obstacle avoidance, vertical shooting, and ActiveTrack.

We love using it to capture dramatic mountain ridgelines, remote campsites, and overhead scenes you just can’t get from the ground. It’s also surprisingly quiet, so you don’t drive other people mad with the buzzing.

*I highly recommend purchasing the “Fly More” package that includes extra batteries, a fast charger, and a remote control— you can operate this drone entirely from an app on your phone, but you’ll get superior performance and a vastly improved user experience with the designated touchscreen RC!

best action cam: GoPro Hero 13

This is our choice for wet, wild, or adventurous shoots— canyoneering, snorkelling, and diving— when using our other cameras would be totally impractical. The Hero 13 offers 5.3K video, built-in stabilisation, and great time-lapse settings, all in a bombproof package.

Most often, we use it with a dive housing and a telescoping pole, making it ideal for POV adventure content and underwater photography.

best travel tripod: Peak Design Tripod

The Peak Design Travel Tripod comes in an ultralight Carbon Fibre model (1.27kg / 2.81lb) and an Aluminium model, which is significantly more affordable and only about 300g heavier. Both pack down to the size of a water bottle and will stow nicely on the side of a backpack.

I’ve carried this tripod on countless backpacking trips to capture solo shots, for group photos on our guided adventures, and of course when we’re trying to shoot slow shutter or astrophotography. With the built-in phone adapter, it also works brilliantly for taking videos on the go!

best quick-access camera attachment: Peak Design Capture Clip

This is one of my all-time favourite pieces of gear to recommend because it does its job better than anything else on the market. The Capture Clip mounts to any backpack strap (without damaging the strap) and locks your camera in place, keeping it secure but ready to go at a moment’s notice. No more digging in your pack or juggling a swinging camera on rough terrain!

I have mounts on multiple backpacks so I don’t have to swap around before each trip, and I always hike, climb, scramble, and even via ferrata with my camera attached right under the shoulder for easy access. This system has never failed me!

best camera protector: Peak Design Shell

This stretchy rain cover fits snugly over your camera and lens, protecting it from dust, snow, and rain without restricting access. It pairs perfectly with the Capture Clip and gives us peace of mind when the weather turns (our cameras are weather-sealed, but this is a great layer of extra protection).

I also love this when I’m scrambling, since it protects my camera against light bumps that damage the paint!

best tech organiser: Peak Design Tech Pouch

This definitely isn’t the cheapest organiser out there (at $60), but it’s by far the best and I use it every single day to keep my cords, powerbanks, hard drives, SD cards, chargers, and adapters organised neatly in my bag.

I have stuffed this pouch to the absolute limit and it’s held up to 5 years of full-time travel abuse. The quality justifies the cost for me and has made my life on the road infinitely less tangled.

best SD cards: SanDisk Extreme Pro + SanDisk Extreme Pro MicroSD

We exclusively use SanDisk Extreme Pro cards— full-size SD for our Canon/Fuji and MicroSD for our GoPro and drone. These cards offer UHS-I/U3 speeds, meaning they’re fast enough for burst shooting high-res stills and 4K+ video.

They’re also rugged: waterproof, shockproof, and resistant to airport X-rays. We carry 3-4 of each size (stored in this handy little SD case) and rotate often to minimise risk of corruption.

best external hard drive: Samsung T7 2TB SDD

Backing up is non-negotiable when you’re shooting hundreds of RAW photos and dozens of videos daily, so I use a 2TB Samsung T7 SSD. It’s crazy tiny (the size of a credit card) and lightning fast (read and write speeds up to 1,050/1,000 MB/s).

I use it to offload every shoot at the end of the day and then back that up to cloud once we have good internet. You only need to lose photos once to develop an airtight, redundant system!

James prefers to his SanDisk Extreme SSD, which is slightly larger but admittedly integrates a little nicer with our MacBooks.

best camera backpack: Sandmarc Travel Backpack

This is the backpack that carries everything— our cameras, drone, chargers, tripod, tech pouch, and even two laptops when needed. James has been using the Sandmarc Travel Backpack as his main carry-on for over 6 months now and it’s easily the best camera backpack we’ve ever had.

It’s made from weatherproof ballistic nylon, with smart internal organisation (approximately one million pockets) that makes it easy to keep all your gear protected and accessible. And still sleek enough to fit under the seat or in the overhead bin on a plane!