Equipment alone does not take the pictures, but it may break your ideas, or complicate trips unnecessarily.
We would like to share with you what our gear looks like. Keep in mind that our choices are made purposely for our situation. We want to travel somewhat light, but also have great quality. Therefore there is always a compromise to be settled between your own comfort and your expectations. Hence, take this list rather as inspiration than as ultimate answer.
Michi’s top-side camera and lenses
Michi has fallen in love with Olympus because she likes the menu system and way the camera is to be operated.
- Olympus OMD E-M10
- Olympus M.Zuiko 7-14mm F2.8
- Olympus 14-42mm F3.5-5.6
- Olympus 45mm F1.9
- Olympus 40-150mm F4.0-5.6
Michi’s underwater camera setup
Underwater Michi also uses a Olympus camera together with some accessories for improving lighting.
- Olympus TG-5
- Olympus PT-058 housing
- Kraken Weefine Ring Light 3000
Chris’ top-side cameras and lenses
(Chris) I found my ‘camera home’ with Sony. After using Pentax DSLRs, I got myself the Sony a6000 as lightweight second body. Shortly after, I found myself using the Sony more and more and leaving the DSLR at home. The Sony a6000 series and my selected lenses are a perfect combination of lightness, small form factor and stunning image quality. Depending on the trip I might bring several lenses and camera bodys.
- Sony α6000
- Sony α6300
- Samyang 8mm F2.8 Fish-eye for wide panoramas and even more importantly little planets (see my other gallery)
- Sony 10-18mm F4.0 as standard wide-angle
- Samyang 12mm F2.0 (manual focus only) predominantly for star photography, but also for time-lapses. More often than not, I pack only this and leave the Sony 10-18mm at home.
- Pentax 12-24mm F4.0 has a superb image quality and the most beautiful star burst I know of. Getting it to work on Sony with the Novoflex adapter, manual focus only.
- Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6‘s size allows it easily to stay on the camera and be the default in any given situation. The image quality is not the best, but quite sufficient if you want to quickly capture an impression that’s otherwise gone.
- Sony 24mm F1.8 give me a focal length I love so much and the image quality is insane. Can be used for tighter star photos as well.
- Sony 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 for everything that is a bit too far for my wide-angles or images that benefit from the telephoto compression.
Chris’ underwater setup
(Chris) Underwater I’m using the same camera as on land, which saves a bit of space when packing. It’s the Sony α6300 with the Sony 16-50 F3.5-5.6 lens, accompanied by the following;
- Fantasea FA6500 housing with flat port FML 34
- 2x Inon Z-240 strobes
- Aquako Super Macro Lens II
- AOI UWL-09 wide angle lens
Special cameras
(Chris) Additionally to the cameras of each one of us, we do bring cameras for special occasions, if needed resp. wanted.
- DJI Mavic Pro as our flying camera for all those nice aerial shots
- GoPro Hero 5 Black for any action shots or situations that demand those universal GoPro mounts