I’ve been an expert journey photographer since 2010, and in that point my digicam bag has been on African safaris, out within the Arctic evening in Finland and Iceland ready for the northern lights, and round extra European cities than I may sensibly record.
I’ve additionally been a Vanguard ambassador for a variety of years and a Peak Design person since 2015, so a variety of luggage, straps and tripods have handed by means of my fingers on the way in which to the package I exploit now.
What I truly pack modifications fully from journey to journey. The bag I tackle safari has isn’t the identical because the one I take to Rome for a weekend, and packing for a northern lights journey is a unique train once more. So somewhat than offer you one lengthy record of every little thing I personal (that record exists if you would like it, over on our images gear web page), I’ve damaged my package down by journey sort.
The 4 loadouts beneath are those I mostly pack: safari, European metropolis break, northern lights, and the fast weekend away. For each I’ve listed what goes within the bag, what every merchandise is doing there, and what intentionally stays at dwelling. Carry whichever loadout matches your subsequent journey and adapt it from there.
All the things right here is gear I personal and use, and it’s the package I’m travelling with in 2026. The place my precise mannequin has been discontinued (I are inclined to chase images, not gear), I’ve mentioned so and linked the present model as a substitute.
My Journey Pictures Package at a Look
If you happen to simply need the contents of every bag, that is it. The reasoning behind each selection follows beneath.
Journey sort
Digital camera and lenses
Help
Bag
Energy and extras
Safari
Canon EOS R5 + EF 100-400mm (wildlife); Canon 6D + EF 16-35mm f/4 (large)
Bean bag (no tripod)
Vanguard Alta Sky
INIU P63 energy financial institution, double spare batteries, additional playing cards
European metropolis break
Canon EOS R5 + EF 16-35mm f/4
Peak Design Journey Tripod (provided that I’m capturing at evening)
Peak Design Journey Backpack 45L, small daypack for days out
INIU P63, Epicka journey adapter
Northern lights
Canon EOS R5 + EF 16-35mm f/4
Sturdy full-size tripod (Vanguard Alta)
Vanguard Alta Sky
Double spare batteries saved heat, headtorch, distant launch
Weekend away
Canon EOS R5 + one lens (normally the 16-35mm)
None
No matter daypack I’m travelling with
INIU P50 energy financial institution, one spare battery
My Digital camera: Canon EOS R5
Each loadout begins with the identical physique. I shoot a Canon EOS R5, a full body weather-sealed mirrorless digicam with a forty five megapixel sensor, and it’s the one piece of package that comes on each single journey. It handles safari mud, Arctic chilly and metropolis drizzle with out grievance, and the in-body stabilisation means I can hand-hold photographs I’d as soon as have wanted a tripod for. It travels alone more often than not, too; solely safari and the occasional occasion shoot get a second physique alongside it.
Canon has discontinued the unique R5 now, so if you happen to’re shopping for in the present day the equal is the Canon EOS R5 Mark II, the present model of the identical digicam. I haven’t upgraded, partly as a result of my R5 nonetheless does every little thing I ask of it, and partly as a result of I’ve seen what the Mark II prices.
After all, the R5 isn’t the one good selection. If you happen to’re weighing up digicam choices extra broadly, my information to one of the best journey cameras covers the complete vary from compacts upwards, and Jess has a great round-up of one of the best mirrorless cameras over on our sister website.
Alongside the physique, just a few issues are within the bag earlier than I’ve even thought in regards to the journey: two spare batteries, reminiscence playing cards, a cleansing material, and my Peak Design Slide strap. Extra on these additional down.
My Safari Pictures Package
Safari is the heaviest bag I pack, and the one the place the packing choices matter most. You possibly can’t nip again to the lodge for the lens you left behind, and the themes have a behavior of showing precisely as soon as.
It’s additionally the one journey the place I intentionally carry two our bodies. I run my Canon R5 with the 100-400 for wildlife, and a second physique carrying the 16-35 for the large, panorama and camp photographs. The reason being mud as a lot as velocity: I’m by no means unscrewing a lens on a dusty plain with a leopard doing one thing fascinating fifty metres away, and my sensor by no means sees open air out within the discipline. Two our bodies, two jobs, no lens modifications.
On the R5 sits the lens that does virtually all of the wildlife work, the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II. Attain actually is every little thing on safari, and 400mm on a full body physique is in regards to the minimal I’d need. It’s sharp, the stabilisation is excellent, and since it zooms with a twist somewhat than a push-pull motion, it doesn’t pump mud into itself the way in which older lengthy lenses do. Mine has earned each scratch on it (I don’t deal with my gear notably kindly).
The second physique is an older Canon 6D, which is a digicam Canon stopped making years in the past. I’ve truly bought two of them. They have been my major our bodies for a very long time, Jess shot one too, and once I lastly moved to mirrorless I couldn’t carry myself to promote cameras that also take a stunning picture.
I wouldn’t inform you to hurry out and purchase one new in the present day, the purpose is {that a} second physique doesn’t should be new, or be the identical as your major digicam, or value you something in any respect if it’s already on a shelf at dwelling. On safari my 6D wears the EF 16-35mm f/4, the identical large I exploit in cities and below the northern lights, which makes it my panorama and “animal in its setting” digicam, all the time prepared within the different hand.
My attain didn’t begin at 400mm, both. For years it was my EF 70-200mm f/2.8 (I shoot the Mark II; the present model is the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III) with a 2x extender screwed onto the again, an inexpensive method to stretch a lens I already owned out to 140-400mm, albeit at f/5.6 and down two stops of sunshine. It bought me photographs I’m nonetheless pleased with, puffins in Iceland most memorably.
After I realised how a lot I beloved photographing wildlife, I purchased the 100-400, and the 70-200 went again to being the occasion lens it’s for me in the present day. If you happen to already personal a 70-200, an extender is a great (and cost-effective) method to discover out whether or not you need the attain earlier than spending on a devoted lengthy lens. Plus you may throw the 2x extender on the 100-400 for whenever you need a very sluggish 800mm (nice for moon photographs!).
The bag is my Vanguard Alta Sky 49D, which has carried this package for years, up hills, by means of mud and rain, and out and in of many mud coated safari autos.
Vanguard has discontinued the 49D, so if you happen to’re shopping for now, the Alta Sky 51D is the closest present bag in measurement, and the Alta Sky 45D is closest to mine in design if you happen to carry a bit much less. As a Vanguard ambassador I can even offer you 20% off something purchased direct from vanguardworld.com with the code FindingTheUniverse.
Two safari-specific objects spherical it out. The primary is a bean bag as a substitute of a tripod: there’s no room for legs in a safari automobile, and a bean bag resting on the window body or roof rail is steadier anyway. It packs flat and empty, you fill it with rice or beans from a neighborhood store whenever you arrive, and I’ve written a full information to images bean luggage for safari if you would like the element.
The second is extra energy and extra playing cards than feels affordable. Recreation drives are lengthy, charging between them isn’t all the time assured, and my INIU P63 energy financial institution plus double the same old spare batteries covers it.
Selecting safari glass from scratch is a much bigger choice than copying my bag, and I’ve coated it individually: my information to one of the best safari digicam lenses goes by means of the choices at each finances, and my safari images suggestions cowl truly use all of it on the market.
My European Metropolis Break Pictures Package
Metropolis breaks are the place the 100-400 stays at dwelling, and it doesn’t get a vote. The images is large: streets, squares, church interiors, viewpoints throughout rooftops. It additionally includes carrying every little thing in your again for eight hours a day, which shrinks the packing record quick.
My lens for cities is the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS, which is my main large angle for each form of journey. It’s sharp into the corners, the stabilisation lets me shoot interiors hand-held, and at 16mm it may possibly make a cramped medieval alley really feel like a boulevard.
If I do know I’ll need attain for element photographs or rooftop views, the 70-200 comes as a second lens. Most of the time it stays within the resort secure, and I don’t miss it.
For getting there, my journey bag is the Peak Design Journey Backpack 45L, which swallows digicam package and garments for a brief journey in a single carry-on.
For the precise days of wandering I desire one thing smaller and fewer clearly filled with digicam gear. Vanguard’s VEO Metro B20L is the one I’d level you at: it matches a physique with a lens hooked up, converts to an on a regular basis daypack, and doesn’t shout “costly digicam inside” on a crowded metro. The identical 20% Vanguard code applies, and my full information to one of the best digicam luggage for journey compares a lot extra.
The tripod query depends upon whether or not I’m planning any blue hour or evening capturing. If sure, my Peak Design Journey Tripod comes alongside. It folds right down to the diameter of a water bottle, so it slips down the facet of a daypack somewhat than asserting itself. I reviewed it absolutely right here.
If the value makes you wince, the Vanguard Vesta GO 264CB is a carbon journey tripod at round half the price, and my greatest journey tripods information covers the remainder of the sphere. If you happen to fancy silky daytime lengthy exposures of fountains and crowds, you’ll additionally need a impartial density filter, and I’ve a full information to ND filters for journey images too.
The final metropolis important is charging. European sockets plus a UK photographer plus digicam batteries, a telephone and a laptop computer used to imply a pouch filled with adapters.
Now it’s one Epicka Pulse Duo, a common journey adapter with sufficient output to cost the laptop computer and digicam batteries on the similar time. There’s a full round-up of choices in our greatest journey adapter information.
My Northern Lights Pictures Package
Northern lights journeys have the shortest package record of the 4, however the least forgiving situations. All the things will get used at midnight, within the chilly, normally carrying gloves, so every merchandise needs to be easy and dependable.
My aurora lens is identical 16-35mm f/4 I exploit for cities, pushed more durable on ISO than it might like. An f/4 lens isn’t the traditional selection for aurora, and a sooner large angle would make life simpler.
If I shot the northern lights each winter I’d purchase one; for the quantity I’d truly use it, I can’t justify the price, and the R5’s excessive ISO efficiency covers the hole. If you happen to’re tempted to purchase a quick lens for a single aurora journey, run that very same maths first.
The tripod, however, isn’t the place to avoid wasting weight. Aurora images means lengthy exposures in wind, typically with the legs planted in snow, and I’ve shot the northern lights from a sturdy full-size Vanguard Alta somewhat than my journey tripod for precisely that cause.
One thing just like the Vanguard Alta Professional 263AB G2 is what I’d advocate: aluminium legs, a correct ball head, and sufficient mass {that a} gust doesn’t shake the legs mid-exposure. The Peak Design is okay for a relaxed metropolis night; it’s not what I would like holding my digicam in an Arctic wind. The Vanguard code works right here too, direct from vanguardworld.com.
The remainder of the aurora bag is small however non-negotiable. Chilly kills batteries at a startling charge, so I carry double my common spares and hold them in an inside pocket the place physique warmth retains them heat, swapping them into the digicam as wanted.
A headtorch is subsequent (ideally with a purple mode, which preserves your evening imaginative and prescient and the goodwill of everybody standing close to you). And a distant launch, or at minimal the two-second timer, as a result of at these shutter speeds even urgent the button strikes the digicam.
Digital camera settings for aurora are their very own matter, and I’ve coated them intimately in my information to photographing the northern lights, with the broader night-sky methods in my astrophotography information.
My Weekend Away Pictures Package
The weekend package is admittedly an train in restraint: one physique, one lens, one spare battery, and an influence financial institution. That’s the entire record. After years of packing for each eventuality, I’ve discovered that for a two-day journey the eventualities principally don’t occur, and the lighter bag means the digicam truly comes out extra.
The one lens is normally the 16-35mm f/4, as a result of it covers the photographs a weekend truly produces: locations, streets, meals, individuals. If I can’t take the image with that, I most likely wasn’t going to take it anyway. The digicam rides in my Peak Design digicam dice inside no matter daypack I’m travelling with, and the one concession to gear is the INIU P50, a pocket-sized energy financial institution that tops up telephone and digicam batteries.
For distinction, I additionally personal the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro. It’s a stunning lens. It has additionally by no means as soon as made the minimize for a weekend bag.
If even a full body physique appears like an excessive amount of for a weekend, a great compact or a small mirrorless digicam is a wonderfully wise reply, and Jess has guides to one of the best compact cameras and greatest mirrorless cameras that cowl these choices in depth.
The Gear That Goes on Each Journey Regardless
4 bits of package don’t care which journey it’s. They’re within the bag earlier than I’ve determined the place I’m going, and a few them contain guidelines that surprisingly few photographers appear to learn about.
Reminiscence Playing cards
The R5 has twin card slots, so I run a 128GB CFexpress Kind B card alongside a 64GB SD card. Playing cards are the most cost effective insurance coverage in images. My information to one of the best reminiscence playing cards for images explains speeds, varieties and what you really want.
Energy Banks and Airline Battery Guidelines
My daily-carry energy financial institution is the INIU P63, a 25,000mAh unit that fees the laptop computer in addition to every little thing else. The capability issues for a cause past comfort: airline guidelines.
Spare lithium batteries, and that features each energy financial institution, should go in your carry-on bag, by no means in checked baggage. Below the FAA’s PackSafe guidelines, batteries as much as 100 watt-hours fly with none approval. Between 101 and 160 watt-hours you want the airline’s approval and also you’re restricted to 2 spares in that band, and something over 160 watt-hours doesn’t fly on a passenger plane in any respect.
The P63’s 25,000mAh works out at about 92.5 watt-hours, intentionally just below that 100 watt-hour line, so it boards with out paperwork. One factor to maintain straight: the “100W” on the case is its charging velocity in watts, which has nothing to do with the watt-hour capability restrict, and complicated the 2 at a check-in desk helps no one.
Digital camera batteries are tiny by comparability and fly with out a second thought, although spares ought to nonetheless be in your hand baggage with the terminals taped or in a case. Airways can set stricter limits than the FAA ground, so examine yours earlier than you fly with something huge.
For a weekend, the little P50 does the job at a 3rd of the load. Extra choices in my information to one of the best energy banks for journey.
Digital camera Strap
I first purchased a Peak Design Slide strap again in 2015 and I’ve not used one other strap system since. The Slide works as a sling, neck or shoulder strap, and the anchor system means I can strip the strap off in seconds when the digicam goes on a tripod. Over ten years of each day use is about as thorough as gear testing will get. Different choices are in my digicam straps information.
Packing and Charging
Two small issues end the record. The Peak Design Packing Dice retains the garments facet of the bag compressed and separate from the digicam facet, which issues greater than it sounds whenever you’re repacking in a darkish lodge at 5am. And the Epicka Pulse Duo adapter talked about earlier lives completely within the bag, as a result of the journey the place you neglect the adapter is all the time the journey with the vital shoot.
What All This Packing Has Taught Me
A number of classes from getting this mistaken in many of the accessible methods over time.
The gear you retain “simply in case” stays dwelling now. For a very long time my large angle was the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L, and I nonetheless personal it, however as soon as the 16-35 arrived the 17-40 merely by no means left the shelf once more. Proudly owning a lens isn’t a cause to hold it, and each loadout above bought higher once I began asking what every merchandise would truly do on this journey.
Batteries and playing cards finish journeys; lenses don’t. I’ve by no means misplaced a shot to having the mistaken lens, however a useless battery on the mistaken second is a photograph that doesn’t exist. Spares weigh virtually nothing. Double them earlier than you double the rest.
Two our bodies is the exception, not the behavior. Nearly every little thing above runs on a single physique; there are solely two occasions I double up. Safari is one, for the mud cause above. The opposite is the occasional journey constructed round an occasion, a avenue social gathering, Hogmanay, a pageant like SXSW, the place I’ll run the 70-200 and the 16-35 on two our bodies so I’m by no means caught mid-swap when the second occurs. If you happen to’re not capturing to a quick, one physique may be very almost all the time the fitting reply.
And the improve I hold not shopping for is a sooner large angle for aurora work. Each northern lights journey I give it some thought, and each time the maths comes out the identical: the cash buys extra images as flights than as glass. It’s a helpful take a look at for any gear buy, and it applies properly past aurora lenses.
Regularly Requested Questions
What digicam gear do you want for a safari?
A digicam you realize properly and a lens with not less than 400mm of attain on full body are the 2 issues that matter most. I truly pack two our bodies: a Canon R5 with the EF 100-400mm for wildlife, and an older Canon 6D with a 16-35mm for the large and panorama photographs, so I by no means have to alter a lens within the mud. Add a bean bag for capturing from the automobile, and double your common batteries and playing cards.
A tripod is the merchandise most first-timers pack and by no means use, as there’s no room for one in a safari automobile. A bean bag on the window body does the job higher.
What images gear must you pack for the northern lights?
A large-angle lens, the sturdiest tripod you may carry, and not less than double your regular spare batteries, saved heat in an inside pocket as a result of chilly drains them shortly. A headtorch with a purple mode and a distant launch full the package.
The digicam issues lower than the assist: any digicam with handbook controls can {photograph} aurora, however no digicam can do it from a wobbling tripod.
How a lot digicam gear must you tackle a weekend journey?
One physique, one lens, one spare battery and a small energy financial institution. I’ve packed extra for weekends many occasions and I can’t keep in mind an event the place the additional gear produced a photograph the one lens wouldn’t have gotten.
A lighter bag additionally modifications the way you shoot: the digicam comes out extra when carrying it isn’t a chore.
Are you able to fly with energy banks and spare digicam batteries?
Sure, in your carry-on bag solely, by no means in checked baggage. Energy banks and spare batteries as much as 100 watt-hours want no approval, these between 101 and 160 watt-hours want airline approval with a restrict of two, and something over 160 watt-hours is banned from passenger flights.
Most energy banks as much as about 25,000mAh sit below the 100 watt-hour line, and digicam batteries are far smaller nonetheless. Particular person airways could be stricter, so examine yours earlier than flying.
Do you want a tripod for journey images?
Provided that you’ll be capturing in low mild: northern lights, astrophotography, blue hour cityscapes or lengthy exposures. For daytime metropolis breaks and safaris I don’t pack one, and fashionable picture stabilisation covers most hand-held conditions right down to surprisingly sluggish shutter speeds.
If you do want one, the necessities flip: for aurora work, carry the sturdiest tripod you may, not the lightest.
Additional Studying
If this has you refining your personal package, these are the pure subsequent reads:
And if you happen to’d prefer to get extra from no matter package you find yourself packing, my on-line journey images course covers every little thing from digicam fundamentals to enhancing, with private suggestions from me alongside the way in which. No bag area required!
