CNET’s ultimate travel photography kit guide

Whether you’re jetting off to an exotic island, heading into snow capped mountains or simply taking a long weekend away in the country, your holidays can provide some brilliant opportunities for photography. With only a limited amount of time in your location however, you need to make proper use of your time.

In the first part of our handy two-part guide, we’ll take you through the essential kit you need to take with you on your travels, as well as some extras to consider if you want to return home with creative pieces of art, rather than just plain holiday snaps. Look for part two to focus on the mechanics of taking great shots.

Get the right camera

Choose your camera well. A pro-level dSLR like a
Canon EOS 6D
can take incredible shots and has the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, but its hefty weight makes it a little too cumbersome for a lot of travelling. Many compact cameras, like the
Sony RX100
, can take superb shots, and most will fit in your pocket but they don’t have the in-depth features and flexibility of higher end dSLRs. A solid compromise then is to look toward micro four-thirds and compact system cameras.

On a recent trip to Italy, I took
Sony’s Alpha 6000
, a 24-megapixel camera that’s small, lightweight, has interchangeable lenses and takes fantastic shots. Being able to swap your lenses allows you to tailor your shooting for a much wider variety of scenes. You’ll want to choose your lenses well though. I paired the a6000 with Sony’s 18-70mm Zeiss lens — I only took one lens, but it’s wide angle at the 17mm end, but has a good zoom range too, giving me scope to cover a range of situations without needing to carry multiple lenses.

Sony’s RX1
camera has a full-frame image sensor — something you’ll typically only find in high-end professional dSLRs — which allows it to take stunning photos. The body remains extremely small however making it brilliant for travelling. It’s worth considering (assuming your budget can stretch to its $2,800/£2,000/AU$3,000 asking price), although bear in mind that it has a non-interchangeable 35mm lens, which some may find limiting.

Tripod

A tripod isn’t essential for a lot of travel photography, but when the light goes and you need to slow the shutter speed down in order to get a good exposure, you’ll need to secure your camera on a tripod. You’ll definitely need one if you want those nighttime shots overlooking a gorgeous bay, or to capture the stars over those snow-capped mountains.

You don’t need a big one though, a joby gorillapod will fit easily into your backpack among your sandwiches and will support a compact system camera easily. You’ll need something more robust if you’re taking a dSLR with a heavy lens attached. Look for tripods that are designed for travel (they should pack down small) and are made from lightweight materials like carbon fibre.

Bag

A dedicated photo bag should be high on your list — after all, you don’t want your fancy new kit being knocked around and breaking, do you? A good bag will have compartments to keep your camera safe and secure, but will let you access it quickly. It’s important too to find one that also has plenty of space to keep other items you’ll need while out and about.

Crumpler’s Proper Roady Half Photo Backpack is a great all rounder as it has easy access to camera storage in the bottom half of the bag — room for a dSLR, plus two lenses — with the top half providing room for general storage. It’s hard wearing too and has a water-resistant coating which is handy if you find yourself caught out in a sudden downpour or flurry of snow.

Extras

The kit list above is really the essential stuff you will need to take with you. How much more you take with you will really depend on how seriously you take your photography. A spare battery (or even two or three) is definitely worth having in your bag. There’s nothing worse than getting to a beautiful afternoon destination, only to find you exhausted your power in the morning. Keeping a spare in your bag will let you swap it out and keep on shooting into the evening.

If your goal is to capture stunning landscape vistas then graduated neutral density filters are well worth considering. These filters will darken only the top half of photograph — to help control an overly bright sky — helping you capture an evenly exposed scene. Shop around for square filter sets that will allow you to use adapter rings for a variety of lens sizes.

If you want to experiment with long exposures then you’ll benefit from solid neutral density filters. These will dim the light across the whole scene, allowing you to use longer shutter speeds without resulting in a photo that’s completely washed out. The Big Stopper by Lee Filters is a superb filter so dark it allows you take photos several seconds long — or even a lot longer — in broad daylight. For capturing cloud trails streaking across the sky, it’s worth checking out, although it doesn’t come cheap.