A lot of people ask me about my photo gear – what do I use, where do I buy it, what do I recommend for this or that purpose. I have previously given photo gear recommendations in this blog in the “Photography Advice” section. As for where to buy, if you are in the US, few retailers can compete with Amazon – perhaps B&H or Adorama, but price-wise, you are likely to find better deals on Amazon as there is more slightly-used second-hand gear available there. And if you are outside the US or Canada and if Amazon doesn’t ship to you, well, there are other big online retailers that might be more suited for your country or even big electronics department stores.
In this post, I would like to talk about my own personal photo gear that I am using in my travels. As you probably already know, I am a Sony photographer. I have switched from a Canon DSLR system that I had used for about 8 years to Sony A7 camera back in 2014 due to weight and size constraints and never looked back. Well, I did have my fair share of issues with that camera – autofocus, shutter lag, loud shutter sound – but they were still outweighed by the advantages of not having to lug a brick-heavy Canon 5D MkII plus lenses on my trips.
My current camera is a Sony A7r Mark II. I know there are a Mark III and Mark IV available now, and it’s quite possible that I will switch soon enough, but I’m not one of those people who must have the latest and the greatest gadget. I feel that camera is enough for my kind of travel photography and then some. 42 megapixels of top-notch image quality is reason enough to use it. On top of it, it has the silent photo mode (although not perfect), and a huge array of lenses you can have with it with or without an adapter. Another reason I can recommend the A7rII is its price. Since the release of Mark III and Mark IV, it has dropped significantly while still offering probably 90% of the features of its newer siblings. One gripe I do have with the Sony is its build quality – it’s just not robust enough for extreme field conditions. My camera is so banged up after 3 years of use it looks like its been through a war, but that could also just be because I am generally very hard on my equipment. When the time comes, I will likely upgrade to the next one up.
The main lens I use with the Sony is the native Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 24-70/4 zoom. It’s an amazing deal for what it is: lightweight, well-built travel zoom that won’t break your bank. I find f4 to be enough for most travel light conditions, and with the Sony, you can never hesitate to bump up the ISO to 1600 and even higher for darker situations. Of course, I do have a few manual focus lenses that are much faster, and I will talk about them below.
Another zoom I use often (although less so lately) is the super-wide angle Sony Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar 16-35/4. It’s slightly bigger than the 24-70, but I still take it on my trips, because you never know when you will be in shooting conditions that require a lens wider than 24mm. It’s a great lens for landscapes or interiors, but always beware of the inevitable distortions of any lens of that width. I used to kind of “abuse” the super-wide angles in my early shooting years, using them for a lot of street photography. I have since tried to be a bit more careful with that, but it’s still a fun lens and also a great deal for what it offers.
On some trips, usually if I drive, I take my third zoom – Sony FE 70-300/4.5-5.6. It’s not optically as great as some other long-range zooms, but it does a job when you need it. One limitation I have with the 24-70 is that 70mm is just not enough a lot of times. On backpacking trips I just live with that, although there is a more universal 24-105 available now which I might consider in the future. But if I don’t have to walk too far, I’d take the 70-300 with me, especially if there is wildlife shooting of any kind or more abstract landscape patterns I’d like to play with.
Now, to the fixed focals. The first one I bought when I switched to Sony and the one that’s still with me is the Voigtlander Nokton 35/1.4. It’s not quite the Leica Summilux 35/1.4, but for one-eighth of the price, it’s a marvel. I find 35mm focal length to be next-to-perfect for the street (although not always), and of course, the aperture of f1.4 paired with Sony’s high ISO IQ means you can shoot in pretty much any light conditions with this combination. Plus, I do like its bokeh, although, again, this ain’t quite the Summilux.
The second fixed focal lens I bought was the now-discontinued Minolta M-Rokkor 40/2. For its tiny size and a bargain second-hand price, it’s almost stupid not to have it if you shoot with a full-frame Sony (or Leica, for that matter). This is my street portrait lens. I know, I know, it’s nowhere near the classic portrait focal length, but the key word is “street”. I’ve never been much of a 50mm shooter – it’s neither wide enough nor long enough for true portraits for me, so 40mm is a perfect focal length when I need to close in on a subject in my frame. Really, can’t say a singe bad thing about it. Highly, highly recommended.
Finally, after experimenting with various focal lengths for the street, I found that 28mm just hits the spot for me. Wide enough to capture the ambiance yet not too wide to start creating distortions. And the lens I got for that is Carl Zeiss Biogon 2.8/28. It’s not as fast as the 2 previous ones, so I tend to use it more at daytime, but it’s well-built, small and definitely serves the purpose.
I hope the previous three paragraphs are enough to explain why I have 3 fixed focal length lenses with such small range of focal lengths. In practice, they perform quite differently and each has their advantages over the others. But if pressed to take only one, I’d probably go with the Voigtlander, only because of its 1.4 aperture and good sweet-spot focal length.
Of course, all these lenses are manual focus, which is not a problem with the Sony A7rII and its excellent focus-peaking functionality. And needless to say, you would need an adaptor to use M-mount lenses with the Sony. There are lots on the market to choose from. Sony does have a decent range of its own fixed focal autofocus lenses, however – I just have not had a chance to use any of them yet.
So as you see, you don’t need to spend ridiculous amounts of money if you want to be serious about travel and street photography. As I have written previously, you can build an excellent and compact photo system with Olympus, Fuji or Panasonic, and indeed, with any entry-level DSLRs such as Canon or Nikon, I say “entry-level” because any of their pro offerings will inevitably be much larger and heavier.
What else? Among other things I use is a simple cheap but efficient neoprene camera case. I am not the one to walk around with a dedicated camera bag or a backpack, because those are usually designed for a camera, lenses, accessories and little else, and I need to carry many other things, too, so I use a regular backpack or a shoulder bag (probably another reason why my camera is so banged up). For a strap, I prefer something that has rubberized or anti-slip thread in the middle, but most of the time when I shoot, I wrap the strap around my wrist anyway, so it can’t be too thick or too wide. And if course, you already noticed that I tape up the brand logos on my camera for 2 reasons: to attract less attention, and b) Sony, alas, is not paying me to advertise their products.
And that’s about it – let me know if you have any other questions. One small favour I have to ask you guys: I’ve been running this blog for about a year now strictly on my enthusiasm, but I feel it’s time to try and monetize a bit from it, if it’s at all possible. My request is: please, if you click on any of the links from this post taking you to the Amazon, even if you don’t buy the actual gear, use the search to buy whatever you happen to need on Amazon. It won’t cost you anything, but I might get a few pennies’ worth of a commission. Appreciate your help!