My Camera Equipment List: What’s In My Gear Bag?

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As a photographer, I travel with quite a lot of camera gear!

Forget hand-luggage-only and packing light. If you can do it, then great, congratulations – you’ll be at your hotel while I’m still waiting at the carousel for my bag.

But if you’re a travel photographer, there’s no getting around it. I have to check a bag every time I fly because my hand luggage is already full to bursting with cameras, lenses, a laptop and all the other bits I need to take beautiful photos!

So what, exactly, is in that bag?

Here’s a full list of all the camera gear I currently own and use. I don’t travel with all of these items at once, but this is all stuff I have bought, use regularly, have tried and tested in the field, and would recommend.

If you want to find out more about some of the other travel products and brands I use and love, check out my Travel Resources page.

I buy most of my camera gear either new or second hand from Wex Photo Video – who have a huge range, great customer service, and the best prices. And even better – if you tell them I referred you using my full name – BELLA FALK – you’ll get £20 off your first order!

My camera equipment list: cameras and bodies

I’m a Canon girl, and always have been! I’m sure other brands are great too, but Canon has served me well, so I see no reason to switch.

• Canon R5 mirrorless camera body. I’ve had this for a year I love it. You can read my full Canon R5 review here. Canon now also do an R5 Mark II which is even better and at some point I may upgrade, but at the moment the Mark I is still very much good enough for me.
• Canon R6 II mirrorless camera body. I usually travel with a second camera so I don’t have to change lenses in the field, or as an emergency backup in case my R5 breaks or gets stolen. The R6 II is a fantastic camera, and while the resolution and image quality aren’t quite as good as my R5, it’s about half the price and still a wonderful bit of kit.
• I also used to own a Canon 5D Mark IV which I sold when I bought my R6. If you’re just getting into full-frame photography and your budget is tight, this is still an excellent camera and you can pick one up second hand for just a few hundred pounds.
• I also own a Fuji X100T. This little full-frame compact (now superseded by the X100F or V) has great image quality for such a small camera, and has been very useful for climbing up mountains when I don’t want to lug a lot of camera gear. I took it up Kilimanjaro and Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania.
• GoPro with head strap, suction cup and shortie stick, spare battery and 2x 32 GB memory cards. I don’t use my GoPro much but it’s very useful to have for underwater photography if I’m snorkelling.

Lenses

I’ve accumulated quite a few lenses over the years – mainly EF lenses to go with my Canon 5D, and now I have a couple of newer RF lenses to fit my new Canon R5 mirrorless.

The main drawback of carrying one mirrorless body and one DSLR body is that not all my lenses work on both. I do have an adapter (listed below) so that I can use my old EF-mount lenses on my new R5, but the new RF lenses won’t work the other way, so I have to think carefully about which lenses I want to bring.

Here are the options I have on my camera gear list:

• Canon RF 100-500 f/4/5-7.1 L lens. This is a great and versatile lens for wildlife photography. I’ve talked about what I love (and don’t love) about it in my R5 review.
• Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8 L lens. My go-to everyday walkaround lens for use with the Canon R5.
• Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 L II lens. This is the EF version of the lens above. I bought it to go with my Canon 5D and have kept it for that reason, since the RF mount lens won’t fit on the 5D (so annoying!).
• Canon EF 16-35 f/2.8 L lens. A fabulous wide angle lens for interiors and big wide shots.
• Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8 L lens. Widely acclaimed as the most beautiful lens in Canon’s arsenal. They just got this one right – the colours and sharpness and soft bokeh backgrounds are superb. I don’t use it much, but I can’t bear to part with it.
• Canon EF 100-400 f/4-5.6. This used to be my go-to wildlife photography lens (I used it to shoot these puffins, for example) but has now been superseded by the RF 100-500. I’ll probably sell it at some point.
• Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro. This little macro lens is the only non L-series lens I have. I use it occasionally for extreme close up shots of details and it’s pretty nice. I don’t shoot much macro photography so I don’t plan to buy a better one, and it’s not really worth selling. You can get a second hand one for about £300 from Wex.
• Canon EF to EOS R adapter. So that I can use my EF lenses on my new R5 body.

Camera gear list: cards and batteries

Once you’ve forked out for cameras and lenses, that’s not the end of it! Of course you need cards and batteries, and unfortunately the cost soon adds up!

This is not the place to buy cheap either. There’s no point in having a great camera if your battery dies all the time, or your cards aren’t fast enough to write the images you take. This is particularly important if you have a camera with a fast burst mode like the Canon R5, where shooting at 12 fps or higher requires a card that’s fast enough to keep up.

Here’s what I have on my camera equipment list:

• 1 x Lexar Gold CF Express Type B card – these are expensive, so I only bought one as my main card for the R5. I should probably buy another one at some point.
• 2 x Lexar Gold SDHC cards. The Canon R5 also takes SDHC cards, so I got two of these as spares (they’re cheaper, not as fast, but still fine).
• 2 x Sandisk Pro CF cards (for the 5D).
• CF card reader for the 5D.
• Dual CF Express and SD card reader for the R5.
• Battery grip for the R5. You don’t need one of these, but I find having a battery grip really useful for shooting portraits. It allows you to hold the camera in the vertical position much more comfortably, especially if you’re shooting handheld with a big zoom lens as I often am for wildlife.
• 3 x LP-E6NH batteries for the Canon R5. This camera does eat batteries quite quickly, and if you’re out shooting all day you will definitely need at least one spare. I bought two.
• 3 x LP-E6 batteries for the 5D. I can also use these in the R5, though they’re old now and don’t last very long.
• Don’t forget to pack the battery chargers!

Accessories

There are a million different accessories you can buy for photography, from tripods and monopods to filters, cases, straps and much more. I try to be frugal when it comes to shopping for camera gear because I don’t want to carry any more weight than I have to, but here are some of the things I think are pretty essential for your camera gear list:

• Lens cloths. I have masses of these, in every bag and pocket. A clean lens is vital!
• Dust blower. Especially useful in dusty places like Botswana.
• Lens pen DSLR cleaning kit
• 77 mm and 82 mm UV filters. There’s debate about whether you should use UV filters, as some people argue that they slightly degrade the quality of your image. I prefer to take the hit and protect my expensive lenses from scratches.
• 77 mm and 82 mm circular polarisers. CPL filters are useful for reducing reflections off glass and water, or bringing out contrast in the sky.
• Variable ND filters from Urth. These are my most used filters. You need an ND (neutral density filter) when you want to shoot with a slow shutter speed in bright daylight. They’re basically like sunglasses for the camera. I use mine mainly to get smooth water on lakes and waterfalls.
• Rain cover for the camera. I have a heavy duty rain cover for serious rain, but I also carry a couple of these smaller emergency rain covers when I don’t want to bring the bulky one.
• Universal plug adapter. Wherever I travel, I always have one of these for charging my batteries. I like the ones that have USB sockets for my phone too.
• 3-way socket extender cube. Many hotels don’t have enough plug sockets, so this is a great way to get more! I love the ones with surge protection as if there’s a power cut while your stuff’s plugged in, it can get destroyed when the power comes back on. Ask me how I know…
• Photography gloves for cold weather. These are quite a cool design with removable forefinger and thumb tips so you can operate buttons without taking your gloves off.
• E-tip gloves. If it’s only a bit cold, I prefer to wear thinner e-tip gloves which I can keep on while I’m taking photos.

Tripods and support

If you’ve read this far down my camera equipment list you must be a real camera geek like me. Congratulations and welcome! Now let’s talk about support – because you’re gonna need some…

• Benro Cyanbird travel tripod. A tripod is pretty much a must – but as a traveller I can’t carry a big heavy one. This one is carbon fibre and aluminium hybrid so it’s light but also has some strength for its size – perfect for travel when you can’t carry a big heavy thing around.
• Manfrotto BeFree travel tripod. This travel tripod isn’t perfect, but it’s a reasonable balance between portability, functionality and price. This was my old tripod before I upgraded to the Benro; now it’s my spare.
• Joby gorillapod – these are really great little portable tripods to have handy if you don’t want to lug a big one.
• Tripod mount for phone. I carry this little tool so that I can mount my phone on my tripod and take quick selfies or videos for Instagram.
• Canon BR-E1 remote shutter release. If you’re shooting with a slow shutter speed on a tripod, for example for waterfalls, or the night sky, a remote shutter release will help you avoid camera shake. It’s also great for taking self portraits!
• For safari photography, a beanbag is a great thing to have. Travel with it empty, and then buy beans or rice in the market to fill it when you arrive.

My camera equipment list: Luggage and storage

No camera equipment list is complete without some advice about where to put everything!

• Shimoda Action X 40 L backpack. I’m often getting asked about my backpack, and this is my newest acquisition. It’s really spacious for gear and clothes when you’re hiking or travelling to cold places and the colour is fab too!
• Tamrac Anvil 23 backpack. I love this one – it’s big enough to take both camera bodies, plus a couple of lenses and accessories, my laptop, and has plenty of extra pockets for other stuff. The downside is that it’s quite expensive and hard to get hold of these days.
• Mindshift Gear Backlight 26L backpack. Mindshift also do good backpacks – this 26L one is a bit smaller, so I use it when I don’t want to carry quite so much camera gear.
• Waterproof cover for backpack. If I think it might rain when I’m out – like it did when I went to Skomer Island – I bring a backpack cover to protect everything.
• 2 x 2TB portable hard drives. As part of my workflow I always back up my images onto these when I travel, so I can wipe and reuse my memory cards. I have two and keep them separate, so if one breaks or goes missing, I’ll still have the other.
• Air Tags. These bad boys are a MUST. They help you keep track of your luggage if your bag gets nicked or the airline loses it. Which seems to happen more and more these days!

Insurance

Now you’ve spent alllll that money on camera equipment, you need to protect it! I don’t travel anywhere without these two types of insurance.

• Travel Insurance. This won’t cover much of your kit – they usually have a fairly low single item limit that’s not nearly good enough for most camera gear. But it’s vital to have travel insurance for the protection it offers in the event of an illness, accident, delays, cancellations, or other travel mishaps. I like World Nomads insurance because you can buy at home or while traveling and claim online from anywhere in the world.
• Camera gear insurance. If you travel with lots of camera gear like I do, then this is a must. I’m currently with Eversure, but PhotoGuard and Towergate are other good options. Make sure you read the small print as some of them have some annoying exclusions – for example if you insure over a certain value of camera equipment, some require you to have a burglar alarm at home (which I do, so burglars beware!).

Read more: 11 Ways To Make Money As A Travel Photographer

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Where to next?

If you liked this camera equipment list, why not try some of my other travel photography posts?

• Travel Photography On The Road – My Photo Editing Workflow Tips
• 25 Brilliant Tips For Travel Photography
• 60+ Awesome Antarctica Photography Tips
• Best Camera Settings For Northern Lights Photography
• 13 Top Tips For Taking Great Travel Photos Of Markets
• Ethical Travel Photography: How To Capture With A Conscience