Must Have Best And Secret DIY Camera Accessories

No comments

Our photo equipment: The perfect photo equipment for travel!

Are you wondering how you should make the right choice for you from the huge range of photography equipment?

Difficult! That is why in this article we will show you which photo equipment and photo accessories we can use and recommend.


person-holding-black-dslr-camera



So we thought, let's list our complete photo equipment here.

You may have to invest less time and effort in finding the right equipment and you can benefit from our research.

Complete photo equipment doesn't mean, of course, that we always carry every single item on our list with us.

We decide individually which equipment we want to have with us for every trip or excursion.


Cameras

person-holding-black-dslr-camera


Finding the right camera for you is not that easy.

We are very often asked which camera we recommend and the answer is actually always the same: It depends!

Everyone has different demands on a camera, different things are particularly important to everyone and expectations of a camera develop and change over time. The only thing we can recommend is: Try it out!

Over time, we decided to switch completely from SLR cameras to mirrorless system cameras. Since then , our constant companions have been the two Sony Alpha 7ii , which we really grew fond of (oh yes, the #kameraliebe) and can absolutely recommend them.

Over time, we noticed that we didn't always feel like taking the still quite large and heavy cameras with us and we also bought a premium compact camera, the Fujifilm X100F .

On our first trip together as a travel blogger , we had the Nikon D7000 and the Sony Alpha 6000 with us and both cameras are still part of our camera equipment.

But we have to honestly admit that we no longer use them ourselves. Since these are of course not bad cameras, we gave them to our dear team members.


The Sony Alpha 6000 is still our darling and as far as price-performance ratio is concerned, it is hard to beat.


All cameras:


Sony Alpha 7ii at Amazon / at Photo Koch

To Fujilfilm X100F at Amazon

Sony Alpha 6000 at Amazon / at Photo Koch

Successor model Nikon D7500 at Amazon / at Photo Koch


Lenses

black-camera-lens


Our lenses for the Sony Alpha 7ii

Lenses for the Sony Alpha 7ii full-frame camera are usually relatively expensive. The prices for most lenses start at around 500 euros. We chose a good mix. The kit lens with a focal length of 28-70 mm is really a great lens for the price of around 400 euros.


The 50 mm fixed focal length is an absolute bargain among full-frame lenses at around 300 euros. It offers a very good image quality, a super nice, soft bokeh, but has significant weaknesses in terms of autofocus.


In addition to the two cheaper lenses, we also opted for two premium lenses.

The Sony lens with a focal length of 24-70 mm is Basti's always-on lens and costs a proud 2000 euros. Due to the constant light intensity of f / 2.8 and the high image quality, the G-Master series lens is worth every penny.


The 35 mm fixed focal length with a speed of f / 1.4 is Jenny's current always-on lens and is ideal for city, portrait and landscape shots. At around 1500 euros it also has its price.


the lenses:


24 - 70 mm f / 2.8 G Master at Amazon

28 - 70 mm f / 3.5 - 5.6 kit lens at Amazon / at Foto Koch

35 mm f / 1.4 fixed focal length at Amazon / at Foto Koch

50 mm, f / 1.8 fixed focal length at Amazon / at Photo cook


For the Nikon D7000

We have two Tamron lenses for the Nikon D7000, whereby the travel zoom with a focal length of 16-300 mm is our always-on lens. Such a large focal length range has absolute advantages when traveling.


Since we often only travel with hand luggage , we don't have the opportunity to take many different lenses with us and, on the other hand, neither of us are the kind of photographers who constantly change their lenses. With the travel zoom from Tamron we have a wide angle, a normal and a telephoto lens in one.


In addition to our always-on lens, we have a fixed focal length for the Nikon D7000, namely the Tamron SP35mm f / 1.8. The 35mm fixed focal length is really an outstanding lens that we fell in love with.


For the fixed focal length 35 mm f / 1.8 SP series at Amazon / at Foto Koch

For the travel zoom 16 - 300 mm f / 3.5 - 6.3 at Amazon


filter

We are also relatively minimally equipped and have a polarizing filter and two gray filters of different strengths with us to enable long-term exposure. The filters that we link here don't necessarily have to fit your lens.

So make sure you order the correct filter for the diameter of your lens. Most lenses have it on the front when you remove the cover. If it is not there, you can also use a ruler to measure the diameter of the lens.


If you want to find out more about lens filters and their use, be sure to read our detailed article on filter photography:


Lens filters: this is how filter photography works!


Gray filter / ND filter

We use neutral density filters above all when there is a lot of water involved or when we want to make a lot of people "disappear" in one place, e.g. B. on the sample photos below.


We decided on two different strengths. We use the ND1000 gray filter in order to be able to expose very long in daylight - 20 seconds and longer. It works best in very bright daylight. In less light or at dusk, the neutral density filter with the strength ND64 is sometimes sufficient .

When it comes to filters, opinions often differ. You often hear that only really expensive filters are usable and that anything cheap is junk. We cannot confirm that.

We have tried many filters over the years and now only buy filters from Haida. Haida is in the middle segment in terms of price, but is not inferior to the much more expensive filters in terms of quality.


ND filters:


Haida ND1000 (simple variant)

Haida ND 1000 NanoPro ( brand new: NanoPro series)

Haida ND64


Polarizing filter

We mainly use the polarizing filter to reduce reflections of light on certain surfaces, e.g. B. water surfaces, window panes, leaves or even haze.

However, it is important to know that you don't just screw a polarizing filter onto the lens, you have to adjust it for each motif by rotating it. If you want to know more about the use of filters, watch our YouTube video .


Links to our polarizing filters:


HAIDA Ultra Slim Nano Pro MC CPL


Filter container

A really ingenious photo accessory is a filter container stack . For a long time, our photo bags were often full of filter containers, as each filter is delivered in its own large plastic housing. Since we like to be minimalistic, the container stack is just perfect for us.


You can use it to screw all of your filters on top of each other and put a lid on top and bottom. Perfect! It couldn't be more space-saving!


Here, too, you have to make sure that you buy the right filter container for the right thread size.


Tripods

The search for the perfect travel tripod for us really cost us a lot of nerves.

On our first long trip to Southeast Asia we only had a mini tripod with us and we really missed a “real” tripod on the way.

But since we only traveled with hand luggage, the risk that a larger tripod would be taken from us was too great.

If the topic is equally interesting for you, read this article:

Can a tripod be carried in hand luggage?

But since we have now decided to check in luggage in the future, we were looking for the perfect mix between sufficient functions and low weight. In the meantime we have found the perfect solution for us: The Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 carbon .

Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 carbon

The good piece weighs just under a kilo including the tripod head, can be folded up relatively small (to a length of 33 cm) and still has a max. Height of 142 cm. The tripod is not exactly cheap at just under 130 euros, but for us it fulfills all the properties of a perfect travel tripod and is therefore worth every penny.


To Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 carbon on Amazon / Photo Koch


Rollei Rock Solid Carbon Gamma

Since we sometimes want to take photos of both on one tripod at the same time, we now also have the perfect partner tripod for our travel tripod , the Rock Solid Carbon Gamma with the tripod head T-5S .


At 1.75 kg including the tripod head, the Rock Solid tripod is heavier than our travel tripod, but it also offers twice the load capacity (16kg) and can be extended 9 cm further (to 151 cm). So we pack that too if we are only on the road for a short time and the weight of the luggage is not that important.


tripod :


To the tripod Rollei Rock Solid Carbon Gamma

To the tripod head T-5S

No comments

Post a Comment