Best Photography Gear for Travel: What I Actually Use as a Travel Blogger
If you’re a travel blogger or want to create travel images that inspire emotion, choosing the right photography gear for travel is one of the most essential first steps. A beautiful destination alone isn’t enough to create quality content, you need the ideal camera gear for travel, versatile lenses, and reliable accessories.
In this article, I’ll share what I bring on my trips, recommending only the photo gear for travel bloggers that I use and that has truly made a difference.
Choosing the best gear for travel photography is never trivial, especially when you’re trying to travel light. I’ll guide you through selecting tools suited for any type of situation, so you can tell your story with images and videos that capture real emotion.
Many people ask what Sony camera I use, which lenses I bring, and how I shoot my photos… and I’ve finally decided to share my real experience. Everyone has different preferences, but here, I’ll tell you about the photography gear for travel that goes in my suitcase every single time.
At first, I relied exclusively on my iPhone 6. It was light, convenient, and seemed good enough for decent shots. And with the right light, it actually was. For over a year, my only gear for travel photography was my smartphone.
Then came the turning point.
In November 2019, I started collaborating with various photographers across Italy, each with their own professional camera gear for travel. It was like discovering fire! The sharpness, the colors, the depth… it was a whole new world. That’s when I realized how much everything changes when you use the ideal Sony camera for travel.
And that’s how I landed on the Sony Alpha 6500. A choice that transformed my career as a travel blogger. It’s compact, lightweight, yet incredibly powerful. For me, it’s the perfect Sony camera to bring everywhere.
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COSA TROVERAI IN QUESTO POST:
Photography gear for travel
My Camera
Investing in a good Sony camera was a game-changing step in improving my content. My choice? The Sony Alpha 6500 with the popular all-in-one 18–135 mm lens. You can also buy just the body and then build your photography gear for travel piece by piece.
Shooting in RAW allows me to manage light and shadows during editing, giving a photo quality I never imagined before. It’s perfect for those who want to combine portability and performance — in a word, it’s my ideal camera gear for travel.
My Travel Lenses
I use three lenses that make up my essential photo gear for travel blogger life:
All-in-One 18–135 mm: Telephoto & Wide-Angle
This “do-it-all” lens covers a wide zoom range. Whether your subject is near or far, this lens can handle almost anything. It’s incredibly versatile — perfect for both landscapes and portraits. I consider it one of the must-haves in my gear for travel photography.
With a telephoto lens, backgrounds appear closer and more compressed, helping isolate the subject. For example, a distant tower will look just a few inches behind your subject. That’s the power of focal length!
Even if you don’t want to zoom into a subject, this lens is still incredibly flexible. Just note: it’s not great in low light due to its aperture, and for a nice blurry background, you’ll need to use longer focal lengths.
Sigma 56 mm lens
This fixed Sigma 56 mm lens is amazing for portraits or detailed close-ups. I discovered it while photographing food, and the results blew me away. The subject is razor-sharp while the background melts into a soft, bright blur.
The final effect? WOW.
Check out my food photos with it in these articles: MuMa Restaurant in Fano: Meat Takes Center Stage and La Mirage, Luxury Restaurant of Tuscan contemporary cuisine, at Villa Conti
16 mm Wide-angle Lens
Unlike telephoto, the 16 mm wide-angle lens optically expands space within your composition — perfect for landscapes. I use it whenever I want to highlight perspective and the vastness of the environment, rather than focusing on a subject.
GoPro Hero 9
My photography gear for travel wouldn’t be complete without the GoPro Hero 9. It’s perfect for action video with an amazing 5K resolution. However, for truly professional photo work, I still rely on my Sony Alpha 6500. The GoPro is ideal for video thanks to its impressive stabilization and excellent performance in natural light.
Tripod
A tripod is a must if you’re traveling solo or working with a photographer. I first tried a budget model (this one), but eventually upgraded to a more compact and stable tripod — now a fixed part of my photo gear for travel blogger setup.
It’s sturdy, lightweight, fits perfectly in my suitcase, and even includes a vertical shot mode.
Tip: skip the cheap ones and invest right away in something reliable and high quality. It saves time, money, and stress in the long run.
Extra Batteries
Extra camera batteries are lifesavers. Always keep a few charged spares in your bag. Just make sure they’re compatible with your Sony camera model.
External Hard Drive
If I hadn’t brought an external hard drive to back up my photos, I’d have run out of laptop space long ago! My current one is reliable, affordable, and has great reviews. I’ve used it every week for a year.
With 2TB of storage, it’s still going strong despite the thousands of photos I take on every trip — literally thousands per weekend.
I keep one drive for travel and one safely at home.
SSD Cards
Of course, you’ll need at least one SSD card with your camera gear for travel. My main one is 128GB, with two additional 64GB cards. Depending on how long my trip is, I choose how many to bring.
They’re all highly rated (no less than 4.5 stars on Amazon), and have been reliably storing my shots for over 18 months!
SSD Adapter
If your laptop doesn’t have an SSD slot (like my Mac), get a multiport adapter that includes SSD slots and extra USB ports.
Mine cost around €17 and now lives permanently attached to my laptop.
Micro SD Card
This Micro SD card is essential for the GoPro Hero 9, but if you only shoot with a Sony camera, you can skip it.
All these items are part of my daily workflow and essential for keeping my photography gear for travel organized.
Every trip is different, but having the right camera gear for travel, a reliable Sony camera, and a curated selection of tools can truly make a difference. You don’t need to bring everything — just bring what’s right. That’s the key to successful gear for travel photography.
Buy My Photography Gear for travel
Click on one of the products here to purchase directly through Amazon! It’s been incredibly valuable for my business, and I’m not sure I’d be able to maintain the same photographic quality on my blog and Instagram profile without that initial investment in my camera!
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