What is your go too overlanding photography kit/setup? What is in your Camera bag?

[Immortal_Gideon]

Hey everybody, I’m curious what everyone is carrying and using on their overlanding and trail trips? My main camera is a Sony A6600 with just the stock kit lenses for now but Im Excited to be buying some new lenses soon and expanding my kit. I also have a handful of hand-me-down action cameras of various brands I just got that I’m going to be giving a try for now. But like I said I’m excited to start expanding your kit and want to know what everyone else is rocking.

what cameras are you using? What lenses? What tripods and other gear do you carry with you? What do you find is essential when your hitting the trail to take some pictures? And good gear you bags you swear by?

Please let me know below!

 

[Ubiety]

Great question! I am in a place that I don't like - my gear is so big and bulky that I rarely pull it out of the bag and am "afraid" to do lens changes out in the dirty places. Have considered a fixed lens camera but don't know if that would satisfy. I have become accustomed to the full frame sensor size and anything smaller does not satisfy. Basically I'm looking for medium format in an RX100 form factor. Hahahaha. Rented an RX100 for travel once and if it had a bigger sensor I'd be all over it - videos are great but stills are lacking IMO.

I use a Canon 5DM3 and have a selection of their L lenses but mainly stick to the 70-200 f2.8 and 24-105 f4 - the former is incredible but huge, the latter could be better but is so darn versatile. Its all bulky. Thanks to you I dug out my wife's long buried Rebel SL1 (tiny, tiny APSC DSLR) and am charging its battery. I have been wanting to throw a fast-ish prime 50mm on it and see how that does - should be about an 85mm on an APSC and I really like that focal length.

Really love my MeFoto tripod that can convert into monopod. Packs down to a small-ish size and (with upgraded head) holds heavy gear. Unfortunately my goto, for ease, is the iPhone 12 pro and the camera does not satisfy but is great for quickness/ease.

 

[MegaBug]

I, also, roll with Canon full frame gear (in my case a 6D I and ll). They're a little bit smaller and lighter than the 5D, but it's really the lenses that kill you weight-wise anyway. I have a good collection of Canon glass and agree the 24-105 f4 is a great all-around lens. It is my go-to lens for international travel (whenever that can happen again :-( The 16-35 f4 is A GREAT lens and is my favorite in less than ideal weather as it focuses and zooms internally. The 100-400L is extremely versatile and with the addition of an extender makes a great wildlife and birding lens. It also helps you zoom in for ” intimate” landscapes, and I have even used it for mushrooms! A basic Rokinon 14mm pairs very well with the original 6D for astrophotography. A good sturdy tripod and selection of filters pretty much rounds it out, plus a good backpack to store it in. Yes, it all weighs a ton, but I am not prepared to compromise on the quality this kit delivers. I know many have moved to mirrorless (or even their cell phones) and are happy with the result, but for me I still prefer the good 'ole DSLR. .... and our common interest is ”vehicle dependent travel” so I do have the beast to help carry it around most of the time :-)

 

[Ubiety]

I have the 16-35 f2.8 and have not used it much; never really became accustomed to it. But thanks @MegaBug - I'll give it another whirl. Forgot the mention the 100mm f2.8 is also a favorite - sharp as a tack. Love it. Have been running around snapping picks with the wife's Rebel SL1 and 50 f1.4 and that is kind of fun. May just throw that one in next time to see how it does outside of the house/yard.

Have a great weekend!

 

[Road]

Ha! I was thinking just this morning I need to write up a photography gear list for my site and was thinking about how to do it.

I have a mess of gear for photography. I had my own studio for years and taught photography and off-camera lighting techniques.

The adventure determines what gets to go.

Cameras:
Nikon D850 for my main camera
Nikon D300 as backup
Nikon D70s I just can't part with because it has some white balance quirks I love
Fujufilm X100F w leather case and accessories - Brand new; for sale here in Overland Buy Sell Trade / Gear.
iPhone X - I do a ton of shooting with this, too.

A bunch of lenses, the main trio of workhorses lately being:
Nikkor 14-24 / 2.8 - fav for night sky shooting lately
Nikkor 24-70 / 2.8 - great all purpose walk-n-shoot street shooter & studio lens. Needs repair or replacement.
Nikkor 70-200 / 2.8
and
Nikkor 12-24 / 4 - amazing lens, has helped me create some of my all-time fav studio work, but not a fast enough fav for night sky work
Nikkor 35 / 2 - a great prime lens to limit yourself to for a whole day of shooting. Will help you re-see things, compose your images better in camera, and not depend on zooming in and out, and more. Great exercise.
Nikkor 50 / 1.8 - one of the best lenses for the money
Nikkor 85 / 1.4 - amazing and effective portrait lens with stellar bokeh
Nikkor 200-500 / 5.6 - birds, distance

Manfrotto MTO55XPRO3 Tripod - not the best one can buy but man, I wish I'd had it years before. I love it for field work.
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head - love this, too.
Manfrotto 682B Monopod - nifty monopod with slide out stabilizers. Great for hiking as a quick steady aid, not for night sky work.

Current fav bag to work out of on the road: Think Tank Streetwalker Hard Drive - an amazing piece of kit to keep your gear in. I could write a whole article just about bags I've used and why this one kicks ass for traveling. It's on the table at right in the photo below.

a whole mess of Nikon Speedlights of varying strengths and age, along with Pocket Wizards and zone controllers, etc
MIOPS Smart Trigger
Cognisys Stop Shot Cross Beam high-speed trigger system
Roxant Spotting Scope
two Go Pros and a DJI Mavic Pro
remote triggers, wireless triggers, etc
a ton of light stands and light modifiers


Photo bunker set up in the Chihuahuan Desert


Yuccas


Milky Way Rising Over Camp, Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands

 

[Ubiety]

Fujufilm X100F w leather case and accessories - Brand new, never used; for sale

Why are you selling this and how much? ;) I have been looking at the X100 series for years and never pulled the trigger because I’m not sure I could cope with a fixed lens. Never shot with a range finder either, which might be different - an unknown.

Hmmmm, will have to give my 16-35 a try pointed at the sky next time I am out of light pollution.

I am a big fan of Gura Gear bags.

Thanks all! Great thread so far!

 

[Road]

Why are you selling this and how much? ;) I have been looking at the X100 series for years and never pulled the trigger because I’m not sure I could cope with a fixed lens. Never shot with a range finder either, which might be different - an unknown.

Hmmmm, will have to give my 16-35 a try pointed at the sky next time I am out of light pollution.

I am a big fan of Gura Gear bags.

Thanks all! Great thread so far!

.
I bought it for the same price they are selling it for now because it is highly prized and highly rated, a favorite of many, seemed like an intriguing challenge, and I wanted a good walk-around camera for street photography. A lot of photogs I've followed here and there use it for street shooting and I wanted to try it. I just never used it, though, always reaching instead for my phone or Nikon. Whole different sense of menus, etc, that I was resistant to learning properly after shooting with Nikon 35mm Rangefinders and DSLRs for so long. I bet it has less than 20-25 images taken with it and is in perfect, brand new condition.

When I got through a whole season of shooting and forgot I even had it or where it was in my cases, I figured it's time to let it go. It's the black version, has a nice new leather flip down front case made just for it, some accessories like a Lensmate Thumb Grip, mechanical shutter release cable with bulb lock, extra battery, straps, lens hood adapter rings, etc. I believe I may still have original boxing, too.

I've had great offers when traveling with comments like "What, you never use this?" But never let it go. Time to now, though, as I winnow down and lighten the load for more adventuring. I'll add it all up in a list for you tomorrow and shoot you a DM with what I'm asking.

edit: Now for sale in the Overland Buy Sell Trade / Gear sub-forum.
.

 

[goldman]

Funny you should ask, I"m in the market for a Sony A6600 and have a question. Is it true using the menu system on this camera difficult? I currently have a Nikon L840 which i've taken good photos for a entry level camera. I live in Arizona and do lot of photography of the desert in the evening when the sun not to bright, the a6600 has high ISO, dynamic range, good low light camera paired with fast lenes. I hope this camera works for you so I would like your opinon on your Sony camera thanks.

 

[Alanymarce]

For "big trips":

Cameras: 2 x Canon 5D bodies, 1 x Canon SX620 HS
Lenses: Canon 24-70mm f 2.8 Ultrasonic, Canon EF 70-200mm f 2.8 Ultrasonic, Canon EF 400mm f 5.6,
Tripod: Velbon FHD-52Q
Monopod: KEEP D’Classic
Camera bags: Sandstorm of Kenya.
We also have two foam bags which fit into the floor space in front of the passenger's seat which provide a secure protected place to hold the cameras when moving.

The Canon EF 400mm is good for wildlife and not too heavy (non-zoom so less glass).

For short trips we sometimes take only the Canon 24-70mm f 2.8 Ultrasonic, and the Canon EF 400mm f 5.6,

Prior to getting the Canon 400mm we took a Sigma 150-500mm on a "big trip" and have taken this with us on a couple of short trips recently. The Canon Mk II 400mm would be good to have however it's currently out of our budget : (

 

[thatbaldwinlife]

We use a Canon M6 Mark ii mainly for video. The lens we use the most is the Sigma 16mm f1.4. Also a GoPro Hero 8 and DJI Mavic Mini.

nate

 

[RoarinRow]

I no longer carry my Canon camera for trips, at least not for the family trips we've taken in the last 12 or so years (mostly beach vacations). My go to camera bag (actually small Go Pro back pack) is my Go Pro 8 and my iPhone 12 Pro. I have a Mavic Mini, which I got right before the pandemic and hope to use that for Overlanding trips, as well as local family trips depending on where we go, if there is crowds, and/or if safe to use drones.

 

[Alanymarce]

Good points in the last couple of posts - we also use a GoPro, mainly for capturing the roads/tracks we're on or for underwater video), an Osmo (not really taking full advantage of this , since the next item does a good job of video), and a couple of iPhones, whose capability both for still and video is amazingly good.

 

[spazegun2213]

I moved from Nikon to Sony about 2 years ago now... and this is what I roll with.

A7iii
Sony 70-200mm G OSS f/4 - I fall in love with this lens the more I use it
Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 - My carrying around lens, its ok... and I should probably work more with it. It makes me miss my 16-85mm Nikkor... loved that thing
Samyang 14mm f2.8 - I've captured some great shots, and its neat. Again I need to use it more.

I have a Peak Design 20l everyday bag (the v1) after an extended conversation with my wife about spending that type of money on "a bag." I've taken it all over the world, in just about every climate (no snow yet) and its a very well engineered bag and seems to fit everything. Its now my only bag, and all of my gear lives in it full time. My *only* dislike is it doesn't fit Nalgene's well... but they do fit and they've never fallen out... even if they look like they are going to, lol. I can fit all my gear and 2-3 Nalgenes for hikes.

I have some cheap Amazon special tripod as well, and its another thing I should use more often.

Given the Asto pics I see here, I may need to ask you all to teach me how to edit them... I can take them, but I've yet to edit one to actually make it less noisy (my edits seem to have the opposite effect).

 

[jwalla]

Nikon D500 and a host of Tamron lenses and of course a bag full of stuff I just had to have but haven't used more than once. Cameras are worse than vehicles for gear purchase black hole lol.

 

[Cypress]

GoPro 4 and 9 for video duty. A Nikon AW120 because it's waterproof, freezeproof, and shockproof while still shooting decent pictures. And my LG V60 phone, mostly because it's handy.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

We use only point and shoot/super zoom cameras for the reasons mentioned above. We want lightweight, easy to carry gear. Lenses are a pain to lug around. Right now, we are using a fujifilm X-S1 and x10. I am using a Panasonic FZ2500 in a video rig for our video shooting. I also have a sony RX10 iv and Nikon P950 on the way. For PP, on the road we use a dell 5638 2 in 1 notebook which has 32gb of ram and a 1tb ssd. Home base we just purchased a new Dell XPS 8490 with a core i7, 16gb of ram, 2070 max video card with 8gb of ram, a 512gb M2 ssd and a 2 tb Hdd. The hdd is getting upgraded to a 14tb ASAP as well as the ram. I would rather do that myself than pay dell considering they over price their upsales. Oh, on the move we will be using some sort of action cams mounted in and outside of our rigs.

 

[ThundahBeagle]

I used to take photos for work - not the way @Road does, but more for insurance damages and such. Back in the early days of digital photography, the courts still would not accept digital into evidence, so I was "stuck" with older film cameras.

My cameras 20 years ago were old even then, but worked well. I used a Canon AE1 and two Nikkon N2020. With the right film and a little patience and understanding, the pictures would come out nicely. If I needed to capture movement or pics in lower level lighting, I just used 400 speed Fujifilm. It seemed to work best for anything, really.

Then the courts allowed digital pics, and I moved to one of those cigarette pack-sized Canon PowerShots. They did a very good job, but obviously they weren't going to be used by National Geographic. These were the days when 5mp was still something to hope for.

Then I got out of the insurance business and have been using my cell phone for personal pics for the last 10 years or so.

I am planning a road/offroad trip to Montana in may, so I am looking for a relatively inexpensive but functional kit that will take respectable pictures of whatever landscapes I will encounter between Chicago, the High Plans, and the Rockies.

So I'll be following this thread.

Thanks

 

[ThundahBeagle]

Ha! I was thinking just this morning I need to write up a photography gear list for my site and was thinking about how to do it.

I have a mess of gear for photography. I had my own studio for years and taught photography and off-camera lighting techniques.

The adventure determines what gets to go.

Cameras:
Nikon D850 for my main camera
Nikon D300 as backup
Nikon D70s I just can't part with because it has some white balance quirks I love
Fujufilm X100F w leather case and accessories - Brand new; for sale here in the Overland Buy Sell Trade / Gear subforum.
iPhone X - I do a ton of shooting with this, too.

A bunch of lenses, the main trio of workhorses lately being:
Nikkor 14-24 / 2.8 - fav for night sky shooting lately
Nikkor 24-70 / 2.8 - great all purpose walk-n-shoot street shooter & studio lens. Needs repair or replacement.
Nikkor 70-200 / 2.8
and
Nikkor 12-24 / 4 - amazing lens, has helped me create some of my all-time fav studio work, but not a fast enough fav for night sky work
Nikkor 35 / 2 - a great prime lens to limit yourself to for a whole day of shooting. Will help you re-see things, compose your images better in camera, and not depend on zooming in and out, and more. Great exercise.
Nikkor 50 / 1.8 - one of the best lenses for the money
Nikkor 85 / 1.4 - amazing and effective portrait lens with stellar bokeh
Nikkor 200-500 / 5.6 - birds, distance

Manfrotto MTO55XPRO3 Tripod - not the best one can buy but man, I wish I'd had it years before. I love it for field work.
Manfrotto XPRO Ball Head - love this, too.
Manfrotto 682B Monopod - nifty monopod with slide out stablizers. Great for hiking as a quick steady aid, not for night sky work.

Current fav bag to work out of on the road: Think Tank Streetwalker Hard Drive - an amazing piece of kit to keep your gear in. I could write a whole article just about bags I've used and why this one kicks ass for traveling. It's on the table at right in the photo below.

a whole mess of Nikon Speedlights of varying strengths and age, along with Pocket Wizards and zone controllers, etc
MIOPS Smart Trigger
Cognisys Stop Shot Cross Beam high-speed trigger system
Roxant Spotting Scope
two Go Pros and a DJI Mavic Pro
remote triggers, wireless triggers, etc
a ton of light stands and light modifiers

View attachment 189107
Photo bunker set up in the Chihuahuan Desert

View attachment 189119
Yuccas

View attachment 189120
Milky Way Rising Over Camp, Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands

(Whispered): Daaaaaayyaaaam...

 

[Road]

(Whispered): Daaaaaayyaaaam...

.

 

[Road]

I used to take photos for work - not the way @Road does, but more for insurance damages and such. Back in the early days of digital photography, the courts still would not accept digital into evidence, so I was "stuck" with older film cameras.

My cameras 20 years ago were old even then, but worked well. I used a Canon AE1 and two Nikkon N2020. With the right film and a little patience and understanding, the pictures would come out nicely. If I needed to capture movement or pics in lower level lighting, I just used 400 speed Fujifilm. It seemed to work best for anything, really.

Then the courts allowed digital pics, and I moved to one of those cigarette pack-sized Canon PowerShots. They did a very good job, but obviously they weren't going to be used by National Geographic. These were the days when 5mp was still something to hope for.

Then I got out of the insurance business and have been using my cell phone for personal pics for the last 10 years or so.

I am planning a road/offroad trip to Montana in may, so I am looking for a relatively inexpensive but functional kit that will take respectable pictures of whatever landscapes I will encounter between Chicago, the High Plans, and the Rockies.

So I'll be following this thread.

Thanks

.
Very interesting to see you talk about changes in what was allowed or not in court and how what gear you had to use for insurance work evolved over time. I'd forgotten how skeptical the world was of digital when it began.

You might be surprised how much more you'll depend on your phone than any new kit you get when you head to Montana. Cell phone cameras have come such a long way. The advanced lenses, digital zoom features, processing apps, and so much more available on phone cameras is really amazing.

And, it's always in your pocket, ready to work.

I did these three with an iPhone X, with little to no in-phone processing, or on Mac with just Preview to adjust for monitor display (no fancy editing in Lightroom or Photoshop etc):


..

..


The newer iPhones and other phone cameras have even more potential, with multiple lenses for choice of angle; enhanced night and low light shooting capabilities; variable depth of field, and overall can produce some killer images.

A friend who shoots adventure work professionally in California saw these images and asked what gear/lenses etc were used. When I told him all done with an iPhone he said "Why the hell do I have all this expensive gear?"

I wonder the same thing, now, a lot of times, and reach for my phone more than anything. Though I do realize there are things, like extensive night sky work and extreme landscape images with long exposures that you're still better off with pro gear.

I'm seriously considering keeping my Fujifilm X100F now as my everyday keep-on-the-seat-next-to-me camera, instead of selling it, as it's a really stellar kit, too. It only has 200 shutter count so far and is brand new, really. Has a built-in 3 stop neutral density filter (for shooting longer exposures, smooth water, etc), shoots great movies, and simulates film grain, when you want it, better than any camera I know.

If anyone's interested, grab it now before I change my mind and keep it.

I hope you chime back in here and let us know what you got, how you like it, and show some images of your Montana adventure. I haven't been out that way in literally decades. Worked out there briefly..

.