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I thought it might be useful and interesting for some of you to see what kind of gear I use in my photography. Because come on, we all love the smell of gear and enjoy working with it, looking at it, snuffing it and patting it gently on its back, when it’s sad.
Enough said, here’s a list of what I carry around. Also, feel free to comment, I love gear talks! 🙂

*Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you use these links to purchase any item from Amazon, I get a small percentage which helps support my work.
 

THE BAG ITSELF

Manfrotto Offroad – this is a kind of bag you should own. It has a decent camera compartment which you can even take out but most importantly – you can actually carry also other stuff normal human beings might need when travelling – like food or warm clothes. Although it does look bigger, it is pretty much cabin-sized. This bag is perfect for a 1-3 day trip.

Manfrotto, unfortunately, stopped producing these. You can get a similar product e.g. from Lowepro!

Basic Camera Bag – for example, Pedea or Neewer. They are one of those basic cheapo brands you’re offered when purchasing something on Amazon. So you wouldn’t expect much. But I must say, my little Pedea is more than enough for transporting a camera and a small tripod from A to B, and especially great as a carry-on. Or for having it in a car ready for some photography action.

CAMERA

Canon 80D – great 24.2 megapixel camera, relatively lightweight, weather-sealed, lovely autofocus, there is also a small display on top of the body and the camera is WIFI and NFC enabled. Still no full-frame though, so using it involves some serious math when it comes to the focal length of your lens (to be multiplied by 1.6x).

Very slowly becoming out of date but still having one of the best performance/price ratios on the market.

LENSES

Canon EFS 10-18 mm / f4.5 – my latest addition to my bag, sometimes the 24-70 mm lens is simply not wide enough and I really do not enjoy image stitching – so I got this little friend. And it really is little and super light. I haven’t had the chance yet to test it properly – on paper though, it looks like a bargain of the century.

Canon EFS 24 mm / f2.8 – Sometimes, I carry this small buddy with me for low-light conditions (f2.8) I could encounter. It is often criticized that it creates a vignette but honestly, I couldn’t care less. It is very cheap (mind you – in the photography world…), offers creamy bokeh and ability to shoot in low light. Moreover, it is so tiny and light, that it easily fits into your pocket.

Canon EF 24-70 mm / f4.0 – my all-time favourite piece of gear – a universal lens, weather-sealed, fantastic for landscape photography. The fact that it’s used by many great photographers is kind of a guarantee of quality. You will find it attached to my camera body nearly all the time. You can get the 4.0 version I have or the 2.8L version which is even better. But also much more expensive and much heavier.

Canon EF 70-300 mm / f4.0 – my long lens (second generation of this model), not as famous as its white brother and maybe a bit more plasticky, BUT – it has quite some spectacular autofocus and image stabilisation. It also has a small display you can set up to show you how much the lens is shaking in which direction. Nice little feature!

TRIPOD

Manfrotto 055 Carbon fibre tripod with the XPRO Ballhead – this is my 2019 set I lovingly call “the Beast”. Very expensive but oh boy, it’s good. Nice and sturdy, big enough to be used also while standing and relatively light considering its size.

Rollei Compact Traveller No. 1 – do you know those ridiculous small dogs that love to run around you like crazy, flapping their tiny ears and occasionally biting you but you still love them?

If I don’t take the Beast, I want to have this guy with me. This 1.1 kg light tripod which can be folded into a 32 cm small package is something of that kind – its unbeatable dimensions and price make it a fantastic tripod for travel / hiking photography. However, it is by far not the best tripod in general – not very sturdy, not very tall, no panoramic head. Yet I still want to cuddle with it.

Mengs L-bracket – Mengs is not exactly the best-known manufacturer but their L-bracket is a well-executed cheapo piece of gear I keep attached to my camera all the time. The only drawback is, that as this one is a universal bracket, you may not be able to access all the slots on the side of the camera. But honestly, how often do you really need audio input?

Good alternatives (though pricier) are those from 3-Legged Things.

FILTERS

Hoya Circular Filters – Polarizer which I use very often and an ND8 filter – check out the diameter of your lens before you purchase or use the step-up rings.

Haida Circular ND 10-Stop Filter – good for some reeeeally long exposures. Even gives you a couple of seconds during a bright sunny day – check out the diameter of your lens before you purchase or use step-up rings.

OTHER GEAR

Cleaning Kit – cloths, spray cleaner and a brush are always with me. Dead useful (as described in this article). I don’t have exactly this kit from the link but it looks really solid based on reviews!

SD Cards – I use the 32GB and 64GB SanDisk cards, never failed. One did accidentally snap in half, though. I’d love to say it wasn’t my fault. But it was.

Spare Batteries – I’m using a 3rd party manufacturer (Patona) as well as original Canon ones and can’t tell a difference if I’m honest.