It’s been a bit quiet around here recently. Those of you following along with me on my newsletter or on social media (particularly on Instagram) know that I have been travelling through Northern Europe since the middle of June. It has been an epic adventure that has so far spanned 12 countries…and I still have a week left to go!
So if I’ve been doing so much travelling, why haven’t I kept up with this blog? After all, it’s a travel blog and I have so many experiences to write about that it’s hard to know where to start.
In action at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon in Iceland.
The answer: I’ve also been working as a professional travel photographer. I’ve finally been able to realise my dream of doing landscape photography as a job, even if it is only a part-time one. Nearly every waking moment has been consumed by planning shoot locations, re-planning those shoots when the weather doesn’t cooperate (which is often), actually taking photos, and organising and processing the photos at the end of each day. It’s been hard work, but it’s work I love doing.
Since I get a number of questions about the travel photography gear I use — and since most of that gear has become an extension of my arm in the last few months — I thought it would be handy to share it here. This list encompasses everything that comes along with me on a shoot as well as necessary tools that don’t make it into the field but are needed to get the job done.
Note: This is not a list of gear that I recommend all travellers take with them; it’s entirely too much for most sensible people. Stay tuned for a post about what I recommend for the travelling non-professional photographer.
Cameras
My standard travel camera setup.
Nikon D750 24MP FX (full-frame): This is my go-to camera body. Purchased in June to replace my ageing (and failing) D700, this camera made me realise how much I’d been missing. HD video, a tilting LCD screen, and incredibly fast burst speed have all come in handy on my trip, and it feels significantly lighter than my D700 as well. Also, its full-frame sensor means I can capture night skies and other low-light scenes with minimal noise.
Nikon DF 16MP FX (full-frame): Until June, this was my main camera body, but now I use it mainly for telephoto images, time lapses, or the times when I want to use my old manual-focus lenses. It’s a fantastic camera and it looks so beautifully old-school that people regularly stop me and tell me that they love my camera, and is it film?
GoPro Hero 4 Silver: Such a great camera in such a small package. Attached to the suction cup, it can capture hours of images from driving that can be turned into a time-lapse (or simply capture a moment that I may not have been able to stop for, like a sheep in NZ wearing a high-vis vest on the roadside). With a helmet mount or chest mount, it can do virtually any activity with me. Plus, its case is waterproof, so it fills the void left open when I gave up on waterproof cameras.
Canon Powershot SD100: A pocketable camera that can go with me when I can’t take my dSLR. It shoots RAW and transfers photos via wifi straight to my phone.
iPhone 6: I used to shoot Instagram exclusively with my iPhone, and as a result took thousands of photos with it. The 6 has a very good camera and it’s useful for times when my other cameras are not accessible, like at dinners or on plane flights.
Note on mirrorless cameras vs. traditional dSLRs: The mirrorless vs. dSLR debate still rages on, especially with the huge success of the Sony a7 range of full-frame mirrorless bodies. Despite the fact that I used to shoot with an Olympus OM-D as my second body — and the fact that I would love to lighten the load so I didn’t have to break carry-on weight limits every time I fly — I’ve stuck with dSLRs. I’ve mainly done so because I don’t want to re-invest in a whole new lens system when I already have so many Nikon lenses (including a number of manual-focus, 1970s-era lenses), and carrying around equivalent lenses for 2 different systems was a pain.
Lenses
My ultra-wide 16-35mm lens helps me capture more of the night sky (seen here in Gardur, Iceland).
24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor: This is my go-to lens and one that I will use in 80% of situations. Some sites will tell you you’re not a real pro if you use a mid-range zoom, and frankly, that’s bullshit. Primes are not often practical for travel and the range on this means I won’t be stopping to change lenses every five minutes. Plus, it’s a bright lens, so in darker settings I can open the aperture up to f/2.8 and still get great photos.
16-35mm f/4G VR Nikkor: My wide angle landscape lens and go-to night lens. The ultra-wide scope of this lens means I can take longer exposures of stars without turning them into streaks.
70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G AF-S VR Nikkor: I don’t shoot telephoto lengths enough to justify the expense (or weight!) of a 70-200mm f/2.8, and in most situations this lens will get the job done when I need it. It’s useful for telephoto landscapes, wildlife photography, and for capturing slightly different perspectives of city scenes.
50mm f/1.4 Nikkor, 20mm f/2.8 Nikkor, 65mm micro: All tiny, manual focus lenses that come in handy in less rushed situations when autofocus is not a must.
Tripods
My D750 and the BBH-300 ballhead in action in Reine, Norway.
I now carry 2 tripods with me on most trips — one for day-to-day shooting and the other for time lapses (since I still want to be able to shoot other compositions while the time-lapse is running).
The Vanguard Alta+ 254CT with BBH-300 ballhead is a sturdy and flexible rig that is still relatively small in terms of tripods. The carbon fibre makes it reasonably light and it can fold down to fit in a medium-sized suitcase. The BBH-300 ballhead is a breath of fresh air after the Markins ballhead I used previously that gave me no end of trouble, particularly in the icy cold environment of Lapland. The BBH-300 moves smoothly and is quick to lock into place, and you can even set it to lock when level to ensure straight horizons.
My Vanguard VEO tripod setup at the Slieve League Cliffs in Donegal, Ireland.
The VEO 265CB travel tripod is my new day-to-day tripod, particularly in cities. This tripod has been designed for the regular traveller with strict weight and size allowances to deal with, yet it doesn’t sacrifice much in terms of stability. I’ve successfully packed it in a daypack (and tripods have never fit in my daypack) and have used it to take photos in cities with no wobbling or other obvious issues stemming from its light weight. That was definitely put to the test in the crazy weather of Iceland last month though, and I’ll be writing a much more in-depth post about using the VEO soon.
I also like that, even though the built-in ballhead is smaller than I’m used to, it doesn’t have issues steadily holding my camera in portrait orientation. The D750 + 24-70mm is a heavy combination and other ballheads have not been able to hold its weight, instead slowly letting the lens sink towards the ground. While this gives photos an abstract feel, it’s usually not what I’m going for!
Bag
My gear packed into the Vanguard Skyborne 49 bag.
Everything in this article, bar my tripods, fits into my Vanguard Skyborne 49 camera bag. This bag is an absolute trooper, and I tested within my first week of having it whether my cameras would survive when I fall and land on it (they did — nothing even budged!).
The main compartment of the bag is the typical camera bag layout, with various different sections that you can move around to fit your particular gear best. It’s huge, and easily holds two camera bodies, three large lenses, an array of smaller lenses and flashes, and my GoPro.
The waist straps on this bag are much heavier-duty than on my previous bag, so even though my bag is a bit of a brick, it doesn’t feel quite so heavy on the shoulders. However, the bag is slightly too short for me, which means that the waist straps sit a bit too high, which can be annoying.
The only other gripe I have with this bag is that, if I fill the front pocket, it will not fit in standard overhead bins on airplanes. That caught me unaware the first time and nearly resulted in me having to check the bag; now I have to be vigilant and make sure this pocket is much more carefully packed.
Filters
The Lee Filters kit and Big Stopper mounted on my Nikon Df at Ravadas Falls in Finnish Lapland.
ND screw-on filters: Until June, my Hoya ND-16 and ND-400 have been my go-to neutral density filters. Essentially, neutral density filters are dark pieces of glass that you put in front of your lens to darken a scene and allow longer shutter speeds. The ND-16 removes 4 stops of light and is often perfect for slowing down moving water without it turning into a complete blur; the ND-400 removes 10 stops of light. As you’ll see below, I don’t use these as often now, mainly because they both have a sickly green colour cast that I have to remove in post-processing. I also find screw-on filters to be much more difficult to clean well.
Lee filters & adaptor kit: I just bought my first Lee filters in June and I’m now a convert. Even though the kit — which involves a massive bracket that attaches to the lens — takes a bit of getting used to and is more fragile than a screw-on filter, it’s worth it. While there is a colour tint to my Big Stopper (a 10-stop ND), it is a blue tint that is much more easily removed with white balance than the green tinge of my Hoyas. I’ve also branched out and tried graduated filters for the first time because of this kit.
Circular polariser: Very useful to have in the kit, even though I don’t use it very often. It adds contrast to scenes, cuts the glare on water, and makes rainbows significantly brighter.
UV filters: Many photographers use these to protect their lenses (since the UV filtering is no longer necessary on digital cameras), and for travel photographers they are highly recommended since you never know quite what environment you’ll be shooting in. They are especially helpful in dusty and salty environments. Just make sure you have good quality ones — it sort of defeats the purpose to buy a fantastic lens and then put a dodgy piece of glass in front of it.
Step-up rings: Filters can be incredibly expensive, so buying them for each width of lens can break the bank. Step-up rings, on the other hand, achieve the exact same thing for around $5-$10. The ones I have screw into a 67mm filter ring on one side and into a 77mm filter on the other. It looks a bit silly and you have to take extra care not to bash your filter into anything since it’s wider than the lens, but the cost savings is worth it.
Memory Cards
Memory cards, backups, backups, and more backups.
I have a huge pile of memory cards, all organised in two Ruggard cases for quick access. Since both of my dSLRs use SD cards, that’s all I carry, but they are in a variety of sizes — anywhere from 2GB to 64GB.
The cards are a variety of brands, but the majority are made by Sandisk. I have used them for years with no issues until this trip, when one of my 32GB Ultra cards failed in camera. One minute, I was snapping photos on the Isle of Skye, the next minute my camera was flashing “card error” at me. Plugging it into the computer was no better; the computer didn’t recognise that anything had been plugged in at all so no recovery software could see the drive to do a recovery from.
I ended up having to send the card into the Sandisk Recovery Pro centre in the US. For $275, they recovered more than 1000 JPGs and 400 raw files from the card and told me that the controller circuit of the card had failed (less than 3 months after I’d purchased it). That’s a hell of a lot of money for a few photos, and I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been on a job at the time.
So, even though I still recommend Sandisk, it is no longer a whole-hearted recommendation. I also highly recommend using both memory card slots in your camera if you have them; I was only writing to one card but I have now changed my settings so my photos are immediately backed up to a second SD card when the photo is taken. It slows down the photo-taking process because the buffer fills more quickly, and it means I have to have double the memory card capacity, but I’d rather not go through the stress of having lost my photos again.
Other Accessories
Wearing my Black Rapid Yeti camera strap in front of Skógafoss in Iceland. I know it’s not how they advertise wearing it, but it was what I found most comfortable.
Black Rapid Yeti strap: After carrying a camera on each shoulder all through Lapland — and after having one camera fall off my shoulder every time I tried to use the other one — I decided I needed a better solution. That solution was the Black Rapid Yeti strap, which makes life with two cameras so much easier. This harness goes over one shoulder and holds a camera to each of your hips; when you want to use one, it slides up the strap while the harness itself stays in the same place. While I think the “Double” strap would probably be more stable when only using one camera — since I’ve found this one gets a bit lopsided in that case — the Yeti has made it so I actually bring both cameras along rather than leaving one stashed in my bag.
SB-500 flash: I don’t use a flash very often, since my style of photography often doesn’t call for it. I used to have an SB-600 that died disappointingly quickly (and spectacularly, since it started firing willy-nilly any time it was turned on and then eventually stopped turning on at all). I downsized when I replaced it so I still have an off-camera flash, but the lightest one possible.
Spare batteries: I carry at least two spare batteries for each camera. Often that’s overkill because I’ll go through one (and at a stretch, two) in a day, but it’s very handy for cold climates when batteries go flat much more quickly than usual. The last thing you want is to have dead batteries in the middle of the best northern lights show you’ve ever seen!
Hahnel Cube battery charger: This was a fairly expensive alternative to the battery chargers that came with my cameras, but it charges two batteries at a time, can charge the batteries for both of my dSLRs, and shows me the exact percentage of charge in each battery. Worth it.
Even the trolls of Norway like my Speakeasy scarves (although they probably don’t use them to hold camera gear like I do).
Lens cloth & tissues: I keep both of these on hand at all times. I find lens tissues tend to leave less fluff behind than lens cloths, but cloths are essential to get rid of any water droplets on the lens (which tends to make the tissues disintegrate). I needed at least three cloths to keep my lenses clean in Iceland!
Lens pen: Very handy for more stubborn blotches (think fingerprints) on filters or lenses. This is essentially two tools in one — a brush for removing debris that may scratch the lens if you try to remove it with a cloth, and a charcoal tip to remove gunk from the lens.
Allen keys: If a tripod plate (the plate that attaches to the tripod head on the bottom of the camera) isn’t screwed on with an Allen key, my camera is heavy enough that it will quickly come lose. Therefore, I keep multiple Allen keys around my bag to make sure I can add or remove the plate as necessary.
Torches: I carry both a Black Diamond head lamp and a high-powered Maglite. These are handy for finding my way around sites in the dark, illuminating my camera to check settings (particularly focus), and light painting on dark foregrounds.
Speakeasy Travel Scarf: While this is more an item of clothing than a camera accessory, I’ve found it very useful on photo shoots. Not only is the material soft enough that I can use it when desperate to clean my lens (that happened a few times in Iceland when my camera was dripping from waterfall spray), but it has a handy pocket in it where I can keep small necessities like my Allen key and tripod mount.
Danbo: This little guy hasn’t appeared in many photos recently, but he always lives in my bag in case an opportunity arises to pose him in a photo.
Computer Gear
MacBook Air 11inch: While I would love the screen real estate that a 15 inch MacBook Pro Retina would give me, I love the size of the Air even more. It’s one of the lightest pieces of gear in my bag and is so small that it can squeeze into the hydration pouch pocket in some of my non-camera backpacks. It’s started to struggle a bit more with the 24MP RAW files from my D750, but all in all, it’s fast enough to do all the processing I need to do on the road.
More hard drives than you can count: On this trip alone, I have taken roughly 2TB of photos and videos. I don’t trust having a single hard drive when I travel, so I’ve got complete backups of both 1TB drives that live elsewhere in my luggage. I tend to use Seagate drives since I’ve always found them to be pretty reliable, but anything featuring USB 3.0 will do.
Lexar memory card reader: One downside of the MacBook Air is the lack of SD card reader, so I have to pack a USB 3.0 reader as well. Or I can not pack it, like I did in NZ when it took me three days to find a shop that sold one…
So there you have it. That’s everything that I’ve needed on my four months of photography gigs around Europe, and some variation of this gear goes with me on every shoot, both at home and abroad. It’s also the reason I have a sore back and a lot of conversations with check-in agents about why I am over the 7kg carry-on limit — but that is a whole post on its own!
The Vanguard tripods and bag, as well as the Speakeasy scarves, were provided as part of a sponsorship, but all opinions stated about them are my own. All other gear — as well as memory card recovery — was paid for by me. Some links in this article are affiliate links, which will give me a small fee for referring you but will not change the cost if you make a purchase.