What settings do you guys use for taking your videos? What camera do you use? These are some common questions we receive into our DMs on social media and we thought it would be nice to answer these in a full blog post. So today we’re going to take a look inside of our camera bag and talk about all details and specific products!
Before we dive into it, we want to start with the fact that we’re by no means professional photographers and still need to learn and figure out a lot of things ourselves! It wasn’t a long time ago that we were only using our phones and honestly, that’s usually the best way to start! People sometimes think that they need expensive camera gear to start doing social media or blogging etc. But the truth is that your skills matter much more than the gear you use. An experienced photographer will most likely take much better photos on a cheap camera than a beginner using an expensive one that costs thousands of dollars. Besides that, it is absolutely normal that it takes time to collect all of the gear and accessories, because it is not cheap! Don’t feel like you need to have it all when you’re first starting, but perhaps this blog post might help you to make some decisions as we explain the reasons why we choose the specific products into our very first camera bag.
CAMERA BODY
Canon EOS RP
Getting a first camera body is a very exciting feeling, but the research around it can feel pretty overwhelming. When we were choosing ours, we knew we’ll be looking at Canon bodies simply because of how many photographers trust this brand and because they’re known for their user-friendly interface, color accuracy and consistent image quality. We ended up buying Canon EOS RP (shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US) and after using it for some time, we feel like we’re getting lots of value for the money we paid. It’s a mirrorless camera which is incredibly compact and lightweight for the fact that it has a full frame sensor. In fact, it is one of the (if not the most) affordable full frame camera bodies on the market. On the other hand, it is definitely not a camera for action photography and the video performance isn’t impressive, but it’s perfect for our needs of mostly shooting stills and occassional shooting in low light conditions.
Pros
» Full frame sensor
» Lightweight and compact
» Fantastic price for a full frame body
» Responsive vari-angle touchscreen
» Weather-sealed
» Wi-Fi
» Great autofocus with eye AF tracking
» 4k video (but see related cons)
» Great ISO performance
» RF lens system
Cons
» Continuous shooting speed is slow
» No in-body stabilization
» 4K video only at 24fps and 1.6x crop
» Battery life
» More noise in the shadows
LENSES
Canon RF24-105mm F4-7.1 IS STM
This is an affordable, lightweight kit lens that we bought in a bundle (Amazon Canada or Amazon US) together with our camera body for a better price. It’s a great lens to start with because the focal lenght of 24-105 mm makes it incredibly versatile and perfect for learning. We will be looking at a better quality lens with lower f-stop in the future, but it’s been a great lens for the beginning. Buy on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM
We added this lens into our camera bag when we realized that we’re shooting around 50 mm a lot, so we figured we could just buy a prime lens that will give us a better quality for portrait photos. The aperature of f/1.8 makes the images really dreamy with a shallow depth of field and we’ve been really happy about this purchase! Prime lenses offer lots of value for great prices, plus they are super lightweight. Sure, not so versatile, but if you tend to shoot around the same focal lenghts, then prime lenses are something to think about! Buy on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM
This is an amazing ultra wide angle prime lens that is great for night photography and for shooting landscapes when you need to capture an entire scene. Again, it’s a prime lens and not so versatile, but it’s incredibly lightweight which makes it easy to always pack it into the camera bag and the quality of images for this prices is amazing. Shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
ACCESSORIES
Ulanzi Zero F38 Tripod with Quick Release System
Tripod is a must when we want to take photos together and we don’t have a friend with us or when we simply need to stabilize the camera in lower light conditions etc. We were deciding between Ulanzi and Peak Design and eventually decided for this one from Ulanzi (Amazon Canada or Amazon US) as it seems to provide the same features, but for better price. It’s really sturdy, made from carbon and it packs really small, so you can put it on the side of your backpack. If you’re not ready to splurge on the tripod yet, we previously had this one from K&F (Amazon Canada or Amazon US) which is really good for its price point!
Ulanzi Falcam F22 & F38 Magnetic Phone Mount
This mount allow us to use the same tripod for both camera and phone that we use for taking the videos. Carrying two tripods when hiking really wouldn’t be fun and thankfully we don’t have to thanks to this little thing. Previously, we used this one from K&F (Amazon Canada or Amazon US) that worked with our old tripod.
Ulanzi Falcam F38 Camera Backpack Clip
This little camera clip has been seriously the best accessory purchase we’ve made! It allows us to safely attach the camera to our backpack straps. Ever since we use this clip, we’re much more motivated to take photos on our hikes, because we can grab the camera so easily. Shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
Pixel TW-283 N3 Wireless Remote for Canon
Remote control makes your life so much easier when it comes to taking self photos. Instead of running back and forth with the timer, you easily snap photos with this remote in your hand. This one works on 80m+ distance which is impressive. Shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
Lexar E-Series Plus 128GB Micro SD Card
When we were looking to buy an SD card, we knew we’d prefer one with a bigger storage rather than multiple small ones. At the same time, we weren’t looking on the fastest ones since photography isn’t our full time job. This one from Lexar seemed to be a perfect compromise. Shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
UnionSine 1TB Ultra Slim External Hard Drive
Having an external hard drive to back up your photos from SD cards is a must to keep your photos safe. We’ve got this one from UnionSine (Amazon Canada or Amazon US) because of how many good reviews it has. We keep this hard drive safe at home and back up our photos to it every time we get back from a trip.
Artman 2-Pack LP-E17 Batteries
Extra batteries are a must for longer trips and when shooting in cold temperatures which is something we certainly cannot avoid here in Alberta! We purchased this pack of Artman batteries that as good (if not better) as the original Canon batteries for a better price! Shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
Mobile Phone Chest Strap
Phone chest strap is a nice thing to have if you occasionally want to shoot a video while you cannot hold the phone in your hands. It was really useful when we did this crazy canyon swing! The quality honestly doesn’t feel impressive, but we knew we wouldn’t use this very often, so we just strap the phone around the neck as well to be safe. Shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
UES Air Blower
We use this little air blower for keeping our camera body sensor and lenses clean from dust and debris and always keep it in our camera bag because you never know when you’ll need to do a little touch up. Shop on Amazon Canada or Amazon US.
VIDEOS
iPhone 15 Pro Max
We’ve been using iPhone to shoot all of our social media videos, because the quality of iPhone videos is just amazing these days. We recently upgraded to iPhone 15 Pro Max and seriously, it’s soo good, but even the older models will do the work. We always shoot everything in 4k, 60 fps and also upload it like that! Lot of people think that Instagram doesn’t support 4k and that you should only upload at 1080p, but we’ve been uploading everything in 4k for almost 2 years now and let us tell you something – IG can definitely handle it today! In fact, we’ve tried lots of different settings and uploading in 4k seems to produce the best outcome. But remember that this can be different for other phone brands as social media have better compatibility with iPhones. Sometimes you just have to do some experiments to figure out what works the best for you. Also, make sure to have the high quality uploads enabled!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Whether you’re looking to start with photography or you were just curious about our camera bag and gear we use for our photos and videos, we hope this article provided some valuable information about the products we use and why we decided to purchase them. One advice we’d like to give in the end is to always look for a second-hand or refurbished gear before you decide to add brand new items into your camera bag. Not only you can get great deals, but it also feels good to reuse things. We did it multiple times and everything always works great!
Disclaimer: This blog post contains affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Your support through these links helps sustaining the content creation on this blog and providing valuable information and resources to our readers. Thank you for your support!
