We often get asked about what equipment we use and therefore decided to put together a guide on what’s in our camera bag, plus what we use to edit our photos. So here is everything you need to get started…
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Cameras we take our photos on...
We use both the Nikon Z6 and the Fujifilm x100 to capture our photos. We mostly use the Nikon Z6 for photos on our Instagram feed and blog. We then use the Fujifilm for indoor shots in restaurants and cafes where we don’t want to pull out a huge camera. For photos we post on our Instagram stories we use the iPhone 11 camera.
It is fair to say when it comes to photography most people choose Nikon, Canon or Sony and usually stick with that brand. So for us it’s Nikon and always has been. We are currently using the Nikon z6 which has a user friendly layout and is really straightforward to use. We love it for it’s durability (magnesium alloy) and it’s best in class weatherproofing. Which is especially good for us with the wild weather in Scotland. It has a great selection of lenses to choose from and we love the quality of photo it produces. Perhaps the only drawback is the fact it requires an XQD memory card which is pretty expensive in comparison to a normal SD card. We use the Sony XQD 120GB memory card.
Similar brand alternatives: Canon R6 or Sony Alpha 7 III
We love how compact and lightweight the Fujifilm x100 is and again how inconspicuous it is in public. It has an APSC size sensor which is the same as DSLR meaning the image quality is great. It also has great low light performance which can be ideal for indoor shots. We also think it looks pretty cool! We use the San Disk Ultra SD card for this camera.
ZOOM LENS
When we aren’t using the fantastic 24-70mm lens which comes with the Nikon Z6 we use the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens. It is quite expensive but 100% worth the money. It is great for both portraiture and landscapes. The 200mm range is perfect for compressing subjects in the background, making them appear closer in the image.
tripods...
We use our K&F Concept Tripod for taking all our couple shots and we absolutely love it. It is such a great quality tripod for a really reasonable price. Having had cheaper tripods in the past which never last, trust us this is a great investment! We love how sturdy and secure it is yet lightweight, making it really convenient to carry around. We also use this tripod for long exposures. For example blurring water or capturing stars in the night sky.
We also use the Joby Gorilla pod which is very hand for places you can’t set up a full sized tripod. We love that you can mount it to anything due to the flexible legs. For example to a tree or a railing.
Drones...
We have used both the Mavic Air and the Mavic 2 Pro DJI drones. Both are great depending on the quality you are looking for. The Mavic Air is DJI’s entry level affordable drone. However we recently upgraded to their flagship consumer model aimed at professionals, the Mavic 2 Pro. The image quality is fantastic and although it is not as compact as the Mavic Air, it’s still very compact for a drone. Both are great but if you can spend the extra we would definitely recommend the Mavic 2 Pro which will save you having to upgrade later. We use the San Disk Extreme Plus 64GB memory card for our drone.
go pro
We have had our GoPro for the past 6 years and we keep meaning to upgrade but these things are almost indestructible so luckily we haven’t had to yet. The newest GoPro the GoPro Hero 9 is great for travellers who enjoy activities such as snorkelling, surfing, mountain biking, snowboarding/skiing etc. It’s the ultimate adventure camera that you can fit in your pocket!
gimbal
We use the DJI Osmo Mobile 3 gimbal for filming Instagram stories, reels and Tik Tok videos. The device stabilises your phone when videoing to limit shakiness and allows you to take create cinematic type shots with one hand. It is a cool gadget that is fun to use!
Macbook
We use the Macbook Pro 13 inch which is super fast to use and is also very stylish. It is perfect for travelling due to being lightweight and compact. It’s also great if you use other apple products, such as the iPhone, as you can seamlessly share between all your devices with AirDrop. We also use My Passport for Mac external hard drives on both our MacBooks to store all of our photos.
Lightroom
On our MacBooks we use Adobe Lightroom to edit and organise all our photos. We have the Photography Plan subscription which includes both Lightroom and Photoshop. You can also get a free mobile version of Lightroom with slightly less features. We use this on our iPhones to make quick edits to photos for Instagram stories. We use our Scotland Mobile Preset Pack (compatible with the free mobile version of Lightroom) to edit all of our photos.
Accessories...
Doughnut Bags
We love our Doughnut Bags, which we were kindly gifted, for carrying all of our equipment on our travel adventures. They are not specifically designed as a camera bag but work perfect for us! The 2 reasons we don’t use camera bags are 1 because they never look that good and 2 as non camera bags are more inconspicuous. You don’t want to alert people to the fact you have a lot of expensive equipment on you. We love how stylish the Doughnut Bags are and how they fully unzip making it easy to organise and access our equipment. Stuart’s Macaroon Camo bag is a little larger and fits our tripod perfectly.
UV FILTERS
We use Hoya UV filters to protect our lenses and highly recommend them. They have definitely saved ours a few times!
L Bracket
We use an L bracket on our Nikon Z6 which makes our camera easy to mount to our tripod.
We hope you enjoyed reading our equipment guide on what we use for photography and content creation. If you have any questions pop us a message on Instagram @ontheroadagaintravels. Please note this blog contains affiliate links.
