“What camera should I buy for my upcoming vacation or just walking around town?”
As a professional photographer, I get asked this question all the time. I used to reply with,”Just use your smartphone.” But the truth is, that’s not what I would do, and people are asking me for a reason. They want to know what a professional photographer brings when they’re not working. Fair enough. I’ll tell you exactly what I take on my trips and I’ll even provide affiliate links to the exact items (of which I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases). Not just the camera that I use right now, but all of the accessories that make taking photos on vacation or on a day trip a little more enjoyable are listed below. If I have it linked here it’s because I bought these items with my own money, use them regularly and I’m happy with the quality and features.
The truth is, I don’t always take the same photography gear on my trips. It depends on where I’m going, for how long, and what types of photos I want to capture. Increasingly I’m going on trips that I just want to enjoy without carrying a bunch of gear around with me. I’m trying to simplify my packing and walk around with just a few things in my pockets or at most a small sling bag. So here is a list of the essentials as I see it.
Sony ZV-1 - My best compact camera for travel and street photography
My main compact camera is now a Sony ZV-1. I had a RX-100 IV and I loved it, but it was stolen on one of my trips last year. After considering many cameras including all of the RX-100 series and similar ones from Canon and Fuji, I landed on the ZV-1. It’s touted as a great vlogging camera, and if you intend to make videos, it’s a no-brainer. The list of video-centric features is impressive. But I’m primarily a still photographer and that’s what I want this camera for, so why did I buy it? Instead of writing a long paragraph about the features and specs of this camera I’ll give a list of reasons.
24-70mm equivalent F1.8-2.8 lens - This focal length is Ideal for travel and street photography and f1.8 lets in tons of light for shooting at dusk and beyond.
20 megapixel 1” sensor - Plenty big enough for capturing images for serious editing and even decent size prints.
Fully articulating screen - Flips out for selfies and makes getting low or high angle shots more comfortable.
Hot shoe - Can use an external flash or even a wireless trigger for setting up one or more flashes in different locations.
Decent battery life - I can get over 250 shots on one battery.
Customizable buttons - professional shooters come to rely on dedicated buttons for quick settings changes. You’ve got two of them here.
Great autofocus - some of the best autofocus and face detection I’ve used on any camera, including full-frame mirrorless.
Great Time-lapse feature
Weight and Size - It’s super compact and lighter than other point-and-shoots. I want something that can fit in a jeans pocket.
Relatively low price for the quality and features
There are some cons. No EVF, not a super long lens, 1” sensor is bigger than your smartphone but 4/3” would be even better. I’m not complaining though. It hits all the notes for me. and here is a list of accessories that I have to take for it when I go out.
MEIKE MK-320S Mini TTL Speedlite
This is a powerful external flash that can fit in your pocket. Much smaller than an average off-camera speed light. It can go on the hot shoe of the ZV-1 and it takes two AA batteries. If you will be shooting with strong sunlight at the back of your subject or if you want to have some fill light for darker indoor or dusk photography this can be super handy.
Wasabi Power NP-BX1 Battery (2-Pack) and Charger
If you are going to be traveling or out shooting all day, you’ll need extra batteries for sure. I’ve been happy with Wasabi brand batteries in all of my cameras for several years now. The price point means I can have loads of them on hand. They last a long time and I have no issues at all with them.
Taisioner Super Camera Clamp Mount
This is like a tripod that can fit in your pocket. Not really a tripod, but you can usually find somewhere to clamp this thing onto and it’s super sturdy. It has a 1/4 20 thread adapter on it that fits all cameras including the ZV-1. You can use it as a handle for vlogging too. You can even attach it to your bike handlebars. This is sturdy and compact. The only con is the clamp doesn't open wide enough for some things so I put a link to a wider clamp that you can swap out. I love it for making time lapses, getting slow shutter speed light trail shots, night photography, panoramas and bracketing exposures for blending later, especially when I want to take a clear photo of a landmark but there are loads of people milling about. I can take multiple shots in a static position and then stack the photos and erase the people. Basically anywhere you would normally use a tripod but don’t want to carry one around all day.
MagFilter 52mm Threaded Adapter Ring and 52mm Circular Polarizer
If you’ve ever seen a beautiful sky with your sunglasses on, and then taken them off only to be disappointed with the non-sunglasses version, you know the power of the polarizer. If you are shooting scenes with lots of sky, water, windows, or other shiny surfaces, a polarizer filter can greatly improve the color, contrast and tame the highlights in your images. You can’t fix these things in editing, it’s something that can only be done with a physical filter on the end of your lens. This adapter comes with a magnetic ring that sticks onto the rim of the ZV-1’s lens and allows you to easily attach any filter to the front of the lens. The main reasons I like this one is that when the lens retracts, it doesn’t impede or affect the filter adapter and it’s easy and fast to snap on. No need to screw or unscrew anything once you already have your preferred filter on the adapter. I have also included a link to a good circular polarizer filter that you can use with the MagFilter adapter as it doesn't come with the actual filter.
These are the essentials for me. I could get away with leaving the flash at home if I know for sure I won’t need it but the rest is a must. As you can see I didn't even recommend a sling bag because you can fit all this in your pockets. It’s liberating not having to carry a backpack and a tripod and all of the accessories that I would normally take out for the day when traveling. And I’m getting high quality 20MP RAW files that I can edit until my heart’s content. I hope this has been helpful and let me know if you need any more recommendations for different scenarios.