Best Travel Camera Kit (What’s in my camera bag 2023)

What you need to capture your travels as a hobby travel photographer

Are you planning your next trip but are overwhelmed with the decisions around what to bring to capture it in a beautiful way?

You are ready to level up your photography game but have no idea what camera gear you really need?

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

And: This article will help you get more clear so you don’t lose time researching the camera talk rabit hole (which is a really deep one).

This is the packing guide exactly for you.

For hobby travel photographers (or ones to be). For creatives who are ready for more than phone pics but don’t want to go full-blown photographer.

It summarizes every item I swear by, as the creative girl next door who is not a professional photographer but takes way above-average travel pics 😉

To fellow hobby travel photographers

I would consider myself an expert hobby photographer at this point 😉

Traveling is my passion and I love nothing more than to capture my trips in an authentic way.

I’m by no means a professional photographer with a big gear backpack and no travel influencer. Not planning the trip around a shooting schedule but capturing what happens while I’m on the go.

Just the creative girl next door, taking way above average photos with the simple camera setup that has proven itself over years.

I’m following the big photo and cinematography Youtubers. Reading travel influencers’ packing guides.

I’ve questioned if I need to scale up my gear pack to level up my travel photos (honestly before every big trip). But until now, always realized that their extensive gear lists are not for me. It’s too much and I don’t need more than a decent, lightweight camera with one versatile lens.

So this is what I use and recommend for travelers who want to take great photos:

Best Camera For Travel: Sony A7c

Alpha 7C – Full-frame Interchangeable Lens Camera & Lens Kit 24.2MP, 10FPS, 4K/30p, Compact, Model: ILCE-7CL

The Sony A7c is the camera I leveled up to a few years ago.

The best small camera for travel, in my opinion.

With all the specs needed for high-quality photos, able to do good quality videos, and is very compact.

❯❯  If the price is too high for you, there are a lot cheaper options out there that are very good as well. Look at the models that are not the newest, and consider secondhand camera stores.

Now, before you youtube and get even more confusion around what travel camera you really need (don’t worry about the Canon vs. Sony discussion), here are the specs and features that really matter, in my experience:

• Ability to shoot .raw format
  This is how you can level up your photo game simply because it allows much more flexibility in editing. Even if you’re completely fine with .jpg at the moment, buy a camera that could do raw, when you evolve your photo skills in future
• Ability to exchange the lens
  This is THE key investment for the future of your camera kit. Compact cameras with decent specs have attached lenses. A good camera, however, allows you to exchange the lens. For now, you have the flexibility to choose the one lens that fits all your needs. And in the future, you can grow your set without having to re-invest in a camera.
• If it matters to you: Ability to shoot video AND photo
  If you consider capturing your trips with videos, I recommend investing in a camera that can do both, photo and video, instead of buying two separate cameras. If you’re interested in video, take special attention to the video capabilities of your camera (does it take video? Does it have autofocus? Can you attach an external microphone further down the road?). That’s actually the reason why I invested in the Sony A7c.
• DSLR or full-frame, nothing below
  DSLR used to be the gold standard over the past decades. Now that tech evolved, full frame became the new gold standard. I recommend sticking to either one of these 2 proven technologies
  …go for the full frame if you can afford it. It’s the more future-proof option.

Tip #1

Research if there’s a kit lens for your chosen camera. It’s the defined lens that the camera manufacturers bundle up with camera bodies and the bundle can be a very good deal!

For the Sony A7c kit, this is definitely true.

Lens: Sony FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6 Lens

FE 28-60mm F4-5.6 Full-frame Standard Zoom Lens, Model: SEL2860

That’s the lens that comes with the Sony A7c if you buy the kit (camera + lens).

It’s an all-rounder and has decent quality.

This lens is everything you will need to start out – it’s a zoom lens covering the most common focal lengths (portraits, city, landscapes) and it supports autofocus in photo and video modes.

❯❯ If you buy the lens in a kit with the camera, it’s an unbeatable deal! Decent lenses are usually quite expensive.

Best small camera bag for travel: Nomatic McKinnon Accessory Case

With this small camera, I’m not a fan of having a fully dedicated camera bag. I love the flexibility this hard case gives!

The Peter Mc Kinnon accessory case is a hard case that’s meant to store accessories inside a larger camera backpack. The Sony A7c is just small enough to fit in, with the kit lens attached.

The accessory case (or camera case) fits into your favorite backpack, your go-to tote, and even into larger handbags.

It’s how I use it in my every day and on travels.

Fun fact: I bought the whole PM camera backpack but ended up only using the accessory case. Sometimes, less is more…

SD card for the Sony A7c: San Disk Extreme Pro

SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO SDXC UHS-I Card – C10, U3, V30, 4K UHD, SD Card

External hard drive: San Disk Extreme Portable SSD

SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD – Up to 1050MB/s – USB-C, USB 3.2 Gen 2 – External Solid State Drive

When one of the most valuable things you carry around on your travels is your photos, I would strongly recommend backing up your photos every day.

Just imagine this: You stroll the city on your last day of an amazing 3-week trip. Your backpack gets stolen and your camera, along with all SD cards, were in there. All your photos are gone, just like that.

How to safely and easily back up photos during travels is a huge topic.

I tried multiple methods.

The one I always came back to was to bring an old, small laptop that does the job of copying photos from the SD card to the external SSD. After copying, I keep the photos on the SD card.
This safety backup is needed, just in case one of the luggage pieces gets stolen or lost (of course, always put the SD cards and the external SSD in separate bags!).

Mini tripod: GorillaPod

A tripod is nice to have which I only recommend bringing when needed.

If you’re filming or photographing yourself, plan to shoot time lapses, HDR photos, or in the dark (low light), a tripod is sometimes necessary to get a good shot.

My go-to is the Joby Gorilla Pod.

It became famous in the golden days of vlogging as THE setup for self-held videos for talking headshots on the go. The reason I chose it years before vlogging was big are different ones:

It’s very handy on uneven grounds, for example on rocks, it can be wrapped around railings or branches, and it doesn’t have a base plate (which you must screw in and can get lost), you simply screw your camera on.

Best Camera Backpack for Travel: Bernt by Sandqvist

Bernt 25l black

Full disclosure: This is a streetwear backpack, NOT a camera backpack! But I love it and think it’s the absolute best backpack to carry my camera while traveling and exploring!

With the Camera Cube listed in this article, your camera will be absolutely safe.

And on top, you can carry your personal stuff (water bottle, sweater, personal belongings) and you don’t look like a tourist with expensive camera equipment.

With the Sony A7c and those must-have camera accessories, you have an amazing beginner photography kit for traveling. Have fun shooting your next big (or small) trip!

more for your travel kit: