I enjoy watching "what's in my bag" videos on YouTube, so here's what's in my bag when I travel. As a note - this is what I bring when I'm on vacation with my family, and the goal is travel. (Like my recent trip to Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.) A trip entirely dedicated to photography, like my recent photo tour of Venice to photograph Carnival, needs more equipment.
Jump to:
- What I'm looking for
- Summary of what I bring (TLDR)
- The Two-Lens Bag
- The tiny body: Sony A7CR
- The walking around lens - Sony 40/2.5
- The All-Purpose Lens: Sony 20-70/4
- The sometimes lenses
- The travel tripod: Peak Design Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod
- The camera bag is...a work in progress
- Odds and Ends
- Lenses I'm considering
- What's in your bag?
What I'm looking for
As an enthusiastic photographer, when I'm traveling on vacation, I have to fight the urge to pack ALL the equipment "just in case". I've lugged pounds of gear through airports, only for most of it to stay in my bag, because my midrange zoom and compact prime covered everything I needed. Nowadays, I try to bring the least amount of gear I can. (It's easier said than done - I always want to fit in an extra lens or two.) My goal is for all my camera equipment to fit in a 6L to 7L sling, and for the camera and lenses to fit in an under-seat personal item bag, along with my laptop. (I'll put the tripod in my suitcase - the airport baggage gorillas can toss it around as much as they want, a tripod will survive.)
Summary of what I bring (TLDR)
The 2-lens bag
- Sony 40mm f/2.5 - Walking around lens
- Sony 20-70mm f/4 - All-purpose lens
- Sony A7CR - Compact camera
The extra lens - I'll bring one of these if I know I'll need it
- Sony 70-200mm f/4 - If I know I need reach
- Sony 16-35mm f/4 - If I know I need extra-wide
The tripod
- Peak Design Travel Tripod (carbon fiber)
The bag
- Shimoda Side Street 22L with Medium Top Loader Insert (integrated 6L bag)
The contenders - other lenses I'm considering
- Sony 16mm f/1.8 - Instead of 16-35 f/4 - for a compact extra-wide
- Sigma 20-200 f/5.6-6.3 - Truly "all-purpose" instead of 20-70
Interested in the details? Read on...
The Two-Lens Bag
The tiny body: Sony A7CR
Sony’s compact "A7C" camera line is part of why I came back to Sony. (I was a Fujifilm shooter for years). The Sony A7CR is 60 megapixels packed into a small rangefinder style body. It is as compact as the FujiFilm X-T series I was using before, with all the advantages of a full-frame sensor and Sony Autofocus.
The A7C line - C for compact - is what makes this system work for me as a Travel photography kit. It is noticeably smaller than the regular A7 bodies, without giving up any of the core features. What it loses is the focus joystick and some of the programmable buttons. (There just isn’t enough space on the A7CR to fit any more buttons or dials). I miss the joystick the most, because moving the focus point by clicking on the 4-way pad feels old-fashioned, and the touchscreen never seems to get exactly where I want it. (Darn my big fingers!) But, for a travel camera, I'll trade those issues for the size any day.
The walking around lens - Sony 40/2.5
The Sony 40mm f/2.5 is an excellent walking-around lens. I love it with the Sony A7CR, where the small lens and rangefinder-style body make a great compact photography kit. This is what I carry when I'm sightseeing with my family, so I can take slice-of-life travel photos while we visit the city, and not feel weighed down with camera gear - or stand out too much. (I also get an occasional "cool camera" compliment because of the retro look of the A7CR with the 40/2.5.)
The 40/2.5 replaces the Sony-Zeiss 35mm f/2.8, which is (physically) smaller and (optically) a touch wider, but isn't as sharp or as fast autofocusing. I thought I preferred a 35mm field of view for street photography, but I keep picking the 40/2.5 when I go out, so it is obviously my new favorite.
The All-Purpose Lens: Sony 20-70/4
The Sony 20-70mm f/4 is my all-purpose travel lens. It replaces the 40mm when I'm going out specifically for photography. (This usually means when I head out on my own, but if I know I'm going to a photo-rich location with the rest of the family, I'll bring it along.)
I used to carry the Sony 24-105 f/4 as my all-purpose lens, and would often bring the Sony 16-35 f/4 for wide angle cityscapes. Once I got the 20-70, the 16-35 sat unused in my camera bag, taking up space. I stopped carrying it when I travel, unless I know I'm going to need those extra 4mm. More o the 16-35 in the next section...
These three lenses were the ones I carried this summer to Germany...I needed the extra reach of the 70-200/4
The sometimes lenses
A compact telephoto: 70-200/4
The Sony 70-200 f/4 is my compact telephoto lens. It's the "maybe" lens, in that I don't always bring it. I'll pack it when I have a specific reason that needs more reach. For example, on our recent trip to the Romantic Rhine in Germany, I knew I'd be taking pictures of castles on the opposite bank of the Rhine. And, I knew I'd make time for dedicated castle photography. So the 70-200 went in my bag.
The 70-200mm f/4 is very compact for a telephoto zoom. The advantage of shooting an f/4 instead of an f/2.8 is size and weight - f/4 doesn't need as much glass. And, especially when I'm traveling, I don't need the bokeh of a f/2.8 lens; I'm usually shooting at around f/8 for the depth of field anyhow.
A compact ultra-wide zoom: 16-35/4
The Sony 16-35/4 PZ used to be an important lens in my travel kit, right behind the all-purpose zoom. When my all-purpose had a 24mm wide aperture, the 16-35 would come out a lot for wide angle shots. And, I still bring it when I know I'm going to need extra-wide photos, like a sweeping city skyline at night. But, with the 20-70/4, I'm not bringing it out as much, so it is now a "sometimes" lens.
All that said - the 16-35 is so small and light, and still a sharp lens. It is not quite the quality of the Sony 16-35/2.8 GM ii, especially shooting wide open. But the PZ is about half the weight and size of the GM ii. Also, I'm rarely shooing wide open when I travel - I'm using it for wide cityscapes, and I need more depth of field. Shooting at f/5.6 to f/11, the PZ catches up to the GM ii in sharpness. It's an easy trade-off to keep my travel kit light.
Oh, and PZ stands for Power Zoom. I never actually use the power zoom; I use the zoom ring for everything.
The travel tripod: Peak Design Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod
Peak Design Travel Tripod (carbon fiber): buy the best and only cry once. Yes, it has some Peak Design quirks, and it is frightfully expensive. But, it is my favorite tripod of all time. It folds down into the size of a water bottle, and easily fits in my carry-on suitcase or in the tripod sleeve on the side of my camera backpack. The PDTT has accompanied me from the skyline of Seattle to the Academia bridge in Venice, and on many trips in between. It is the oldest piece of camera equipment in this kit.
I have gear acquisition syndrome, and buy too much new equipment in the hope of making my photography life better. I've bought other tripods that are supposed to be the "Peak Design Killer", but nothing has been able to replace this tripod’s combination of portability and stability. I don’t usually use a tripod for travel photography, but when I need it, I need it. (I do love a good nighttime cityscape, and a tripod is essential for those shots.)
My only complaint is the tripod bag that comes with the PDTT. It is perfectly sized for the tripod - too perfect, in fact. It's like squeezing sausage into a casing. This is great when I'm packing it in my luggage, because it doesn't take up any more space than it needs to, and protects the tripod. But when I go out to take pictures, and I just bring the bare tripod. Wrestling the tripod back into its bag waits until I get back to the hotel.
The camera bag is...a work in progress
I have a bag problem. (Like I said above, a bad case of gear acquisition syndrome). I am constantly buying new bags, but what I want for day-to-day use is a 6 to 7L sling bag, which is just barely big enough to fit the body and lenses listed above.
For years I would fly with my camera and lenses in my daily carry bag, a Peak Design Everyday Backpack, along with my laptop and other personal electronics for the trip. (Noise cancelling headphones are a must.) I would undo all the velcro dividers and pack my Peak Design Everyday Sling flat in my suitcase, along with the aforementioned Peak Design travel tripod. (Yes, I have a Peak Design problem.) I don't consider the Everyday backpack my "camera" bag, it's my personal item bag that carried the camera equipment until I got to my destination, where I would switch it to my 6L day bag. That bag is...
Shimoda Side Street 22L backpack
The Shimoda Side Street 22L (starter kit) is my "kill two birds with one stone" bag, replacing both my Peak Design Everyday Backpack and 6L Sling. The Side Street has a Shimoda Medium Top Loader bag inside of it - an integrated 6L bag that I can pull out if I need it. I tried this on my trip to Europe last summer, and it worked well, the only downside being...I never actually pulled the Top Loader out of the Side Street. The bag stayed in my room while I wandered with one camera and lens (and occasionally a tripod). Or, the backpack went in our rental car and I pulled equipment from it. In other words, I have not really tested the Top Loader as a camera bag. It's coming with me this summer on a trip to Japan, though, so I'll be able to put it through its paces.
More to come on this bag as I use the Top Loader as a true camera bag.
Odds and Ends
Other things I carry:
- Power: spare batteries, along with a universal travel adapter, usb-c cable, usb-c battery charger, and usb-c PD battery so I can charge the camera through its USB-C port.
- Storage: spare memory cards, along with a pair of SSD drives, a USB-C hub, and an iPad or laptop so I can do backups on the road. (Back up your cards! Daily! I'm a fanatic about backups, and dump my memory cards to the SSDs daily, in case of disaster.)
- Straps: A peak design leash and cuff. The leash is my walking around camera strap, and I want to have my hands free most of the time. The cuff is when I'm out specifically on a street photography walk - when I force myself to hold the camera in my hand, I take more pictures.
- Cleaning supplies: lens wipes, microfiber lens cloths, and a small rocket blower. (On my first trip to Venice, I came back to find a big dust spot in all my pictures, and I've been twitchy about sensor dust ever since.)
- Remote shutter: I bring it, but I keep forgetting to use it; I need to make it more of a habit. Instead, I reduce camera shake with the 2-second shutter delay when I'm on a tripod. Or, I'll open up the remote control app on my iPhone and use the shutter button in the app.
- Tools: An Allen wrench and a spare peak design camera plate with a peak design anchor attached. Just in case - the tripod doesn't help if I don't have an arca-swiss plate.
- Filters: I use Maven magnetic filters, and bring a linear polarizer plus the 3, 6, and 10 stop ND filters stacked together. The stack (plus a front cap and back cap) take up less than an inch in diameter, so I can always have filters if I need them. (It helps that all my f/4 lenses have a 72mm filter thread, so I can use the filters on my 16-35/4, 20-70/4, or 70-200/4.
Lenses I'm considering
I have Gear Acquisition Syndrome, and am always lusting after new lenses. Here are two I'm considering for the future:
Small Prime ultra-wide: Sony 16/1.8
The Sony 16mm f/1.8 may take the place of the 16-35/4 in my "sometimes" list. The 20-70/4 covers such a wide range that I might as well just go with the 16mm instead of the zoom. (Do I really need 17, 18, and 19mm specifically? No - looking at my catalog of photos, most of the shots on the 16-35 are at 16). This will get my kit smaller and lighter, and sharper at 16mm.
The downside is the versatility of the 16-35/4 as a potential walking-around lens. While I usually carry the 20-70, 16-35 is a good zoom range for city photography too. I do like using it as the walk-around lens sometimes.
Do-everything: Sigma 20-200/3.5-6.3
When I saw the Sigma 20-200/3.5-6.3, my jaw dropped. It is a true do-everything zoom range, from my beloved 20mm wide out to an amazing 200mm. It covers my 20-70 and 70-200 in one lens. (And it's smaller than the 70-200/4 on its own.) Is it as sharp as those two lenses? No, probably not, but the reviews say it is acceptably sharp. This lens is really tempting, especially in conditions where I will not want to be swapping lenses.
What's in your bag?
That's it, my travel camera setup. It's much more compact than it sounds (after 2,000 words about it - yikes). Let me know what your travel camera setup is below in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
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