Amazing Travel Photography Gear For Female Travelers

The most often question I get asked is “What camera do you use?” In this post, I go through my travel photography gear that’s portable and perfect for female travelers!

A quick background about my photography experience: I’m a photographer and have been shooting for 11 years so the gear I use isn’t for beginners. That said, portability is important, so the gear I have isn’t professional-level either! Over the years, I’ve found a balance between quality and portability by heavily researching my gear before buying it. And don’t worry, as we go over them, I won’t be using confusing photography jargon since some of you are still new to this. Let’s get started!

Camera

Most cameras we know come with lenses. The camera I use doesn’t. This is what we call “camera body.” The reason for this is because sometimes the photos we want to shoot can’t be achieved by the lenses that come with a beginner’s point-and-shoot or cellphone camera. Whether it’s zooming in to see an exotic animal from afar or having a blurry enough ocean background to make your cup of coffee stand out, it would be difficult to achieve those images with a point-and-shoot and cellphone camera.

Panasonic Lumix GH4 (Camera body)

What I love about the Panasonic Lumix GH4 is that it’s mirrorless. Which means it’s much lighter than a professional SLR camera while still shooting high-quality images like an SLR camera! While it has your essential advanced functions to control the blurriness of the background/foreground (Aperture Priority), stillness of your images (Shutter Priority), and both at the same time (Manual), it has a couple other abilities that’s amazing; timelapse & video. Timelapse is what you can use to take photos of yourself while traveling solo (better than self-timer!) and video is what you can use for– well, video. The flippable screen is also a perk so it’s easier to film yourself!

Lenses

Lenses can come in all ranges– before you consider purchasing a lens, think about the kind of photography you want to shoot and then choose a lens that aligns with that. I shoot travel & lifestyle images, cinematic storytelling, and vlogs so that means I want to have wide & extra wide shots– to shoot landscapes and vlogs, medium shots– to shoot people from the knees up, close up shots– to shoot an object up close in front of me, and blurry foregrounds/backgrounds–to bring attention to the object in focus. Here are the two lenses that help me achieve that!

Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens

For extra wide, wide, medium shots, and vlogs. This works perfectly if you’re in a tight space and want to fit the entire environment in as much as possible. It’s also perfect for vlogs! If you’re filming yourself while holding the camera, the lens is wide enough to fit your head and shoulders in the frame and more!

Olympus 17mm f/1.8 lens

For wide, medium, close up shots, with blurry foregrounds/backgrounds. Nothing makes an image more professional than a lens that doesn’t zoom– a prime lens. Prime lenses are much higher in quality than zoom lenses which mean they work amazingly in low-light situations, shoot sharper images, have amazing depth-of-field (this is what you call the blurriness of backgrounds/foregrounds), and are much smaller and lighter to pack (zoom lenses are usually heavier and bigger but with mirrorless cameras, lenses don’t go too big anyway). A prime lens like this is the best investment you can make towards your photography.

For self-portrait photography

Mefoto backpacker Tripod

Another popular question I get asked is “Who shoots your photos?” Half the time it’s someone I’m with, the other half is me! Using a tripod is the secret! If you want to take your self-portrait/selfie skills to the next level, use a tripod. You can’t be limited by setting your camera on the ground or a nearby bench. Yes, you can still shoot amazing photos with that but it would be hard to do it if you’re on a mountain or in thigh-high water.

This tripod is amazing because it can extend up to 4 feet and collapse down into 12 inches! It’s made of aluminum so it’s lightweight but still has enough heft that it won’t tip over under strong winds. It comes with a carrying case which you can sling around your arm and it fits perfectly in carry-on luggages!

no need for a Remote!

I don’t actually use a remote (well, technically I use this one but solely for filming at home) because I use the time-lapse setting in my camera, which means your camera can take a shot every second while you move around and pose in front of the camera. No more running back and forth between each shot!

For adventure and underwater photography

Proshot case

I had been wanting to invest in a GoPro but decided to go for the Proshot case because then I wouldn’t have to pack extra GoPro gear which would only take up more space in my bag. The Proshot case is an underwater case for iPhones! It comes with a wide angle lens and can go up to 100ft deep or 6ft if you use the special touchscreen lid!

Luxebell telescopic Selfie Stick

There are plenty of selfie sticks to use with your adventure camera but this little guy can fit in your pocket! If you want yours to be compact (6″) while extending just enough (18″) to capture yourself and the surroundings, this one’s for you!

Thank you very much for reading! I hope you this post was informative to you and gave you some insight on travel photography gear for you female travelers! What camera gear do you want to travel with? Comment below because I’d love to know! I’m always on the lookout for photography gear!

Stayed tuned for an upcoming post I’m creating, “The Best Beginner Cameras to Travel With | 2017!” If you have any questions about this post or any of the products I mentioned, feel free to comment below or email me here. I reply to everyone and I love hearing from you!

Talk to you soon! ?
-Jojo