“The Amazon Before We Get Started Disclosure” – The links below may pay us an affiliate fee. All gear however is either our actual gear we use, or as mentioned below, gear we’re probably going to be purchasing in the coming months, or our recommendations based of experience. Are opinions are 100% honest and not skewed towards convincing you to make any purchases and we are not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned.
Our “Serious” camera is a Canon R6. It’s a full-frame mirrorless camera. It takes amazing pictures and is very fast, reliable, and great in low light conditions, however there are a few restrictions to it. It’s a pretty heavy camera for hiking and the sensor is only 20MP, which is plenty for what I do and keeps the speed up, however I’d recommend spending the extra money for the 45MP Canon R5 if you have plans to make your photos into large wall art.
My current shooting lens for the R6 is the Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8 L. I choose this lens because it seemed like the best multifunctional purpose lens for what I was planning to do. My next lens will likely be the Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8 L Telephoto Zoom Lens and then hopefully after that will be the Canon RF 100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L Telephoto Lens with the Canon RF 2X Extender because I love shooting wildlife, but anything less than 200mm just doesn’t let me zoom in enough from a safe distance.
Hiking Drone – DJI Mavic Mini, which is no longer in production, but I’d recommend the DJI Mavic Mini 2 anyway because it has 4k resolution instead of 2.7k and has 4x zoom. It also has a greater wind resistance rating which is helpful on these ultra-light drones. Being under 250 grams, it’s nice that it’s less weight to carry, but also you don’t have the same regulations as a heavier drone.
Basecamp Drone – I have a DJI Mavic Pro (which is also no longer in production) for when I want to shoot around camp or when we’re driving somewhere to shoot. It’s heavier and louder than the mini, plus this one is pretty old and the flight time isn’t what it used to be. I’m waiting for the Mavic 3 to come out and I will probably upgrade to that, however I am tempted to go ahead and get the Mavic Air 2 it’s lighter than a Mavic Pro, and does many of the things the Mavic 2 does for less cost.
DJI Osmo 3 Handheld Gimbal – Hate shaky footage? Me too, which is why I bought this little DJI contraption for steadying my cell phone during hikes. It has active tracking by the touch of a button so you can focus on not tripping on rocks while it does the focusing on your subject. It also can be used as a tripod and even as a backup phone charger if you ever get in a pinch.
Other Photography Stuff
Tripod – I just bought the JOILCAN 81” Tripod and so far it’s been great. It holds my heavy R6 camera with it’s huge lens just fine and it is pretty quick and easy to set up.
Camera Bag – Thule Aspect DSLR Camera Bag Backpack is comfortable and has padding inside the main compartment that is reconfigurable for sufficient padding for whatever you would like to store.
Polarization Filter – B+W 82mm Clear UV Haze. Fits on the Canon 24-70 Lens
Light Ring with Tripod Stand – A pretty great value for only $14! 10.2″ Selfie Ring Light with Tripod Stand & Cell Phone Holder
Blue Yeti Microphone – We use the Blue Yeti Microphone for when we do voiceovers or for when Taylor records her audiobook version of The #Vanlife Murders.
Software
Adobe Lightroom & Adobe Photoshop – We use these apps on both our phones and laptops to do the majority of our editing. I will say that we mostly use Lightroom to adjust exposure, saturation, and framing and Photoshop gets into manipulating images more than we typically desire.
Google Snapseed – Is free on the App Store!
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