So having the right gear to memorialize those moments is often top of mind for anyone with even a passing interest in photography. It made sense to give you a peak into our camera bag and maybe give you same ideas for your own.

The Canon 80D is the first DSLR camera we’ve owned and I can’t recommend it enough. For months we were browsing the internet and interrogating photography friends about the best camera bodies. Having used our Lumix Hybrid camera for 4 years, we’ve been itching to step up on our photography game.

And then we discovered the Canon 80D.

When buying our new camera there were some features that were non-negotiable:

Are we happy with our choice? Absolutely!

When we’re out on the street or having a quick lunch, bringing along our larger camera’s would sometimes be cumbersome. Our go-to equipment while going out is often Kristof’s iPhone 8 Plus. The iPhone 8 Plus really stepped up its camera quality allowing better lightning, skin tone color and has a portrait mode, letting you create beautiful bokeh (depth of field) which makes your photo’s look so much more professional.

At 4 years old this camera still isn’t ready for retirement. She’s been through a lot this beauty and was our constant companion on 5 continents and 20 countries. She was my first introduction to photography with manual settings, though it has a fixed lens. At the time we specifically chose this bridge camera for its zoom.

The FZ70 has a 20–1200mm focal range, which means it can go from a 20mm wide-angle lens to an unbelievable 1200mm telescope lens. This bridge camera was the perfect one for an enthusiast photographer like myself at the time. Its ability to shoot at a 20mm wide angle with f/2.8 maximum aperture was what sold it to us in the first place. I would definitely recommend this one as a perfect entry level camera. It allows you to learn the manual settings without having to invest the big $$ for a DSLR camera.

The lenses are the most important part of your DLSR camera setup. We rather invest in good quality lenses and a decent camera then spend big $$ on a super professional camera but buy cheap lenses. A good quality lens will last for years so it’s worth the investment.

When buying our Canon 80D we refused a package with kit lens but opted to buy only the camera body and bought our choice of higher-end lenses separately. Canon has a number of camera lines so you need to make sure that the lens you purchase will work with your camera body.

To put it simply, Canon has two lens lines: Canon EF-S lenses and Canon EF lenses. EF-S lenses are designed solely for use on Canon APS-C DSLRs (like the Canon 80D). Canon EF lenses are designed to work with full-frame and APS-C DSLRs from Canon. If you are worried that you might upgrade someday to a full frame camera, don’t. Quality EF-S lenses hold their resale value just fine. Buy the lens that fits your needs now.

All lenses mentioned here below are perfect for the Canon 80D.

I’m in love with this lens right now. I’m currently in a portrait and macro-photography stage and this lens is almost full-time attached to our Canon 80D. Attaching the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens on a Canon APS-C format camera like the Canon 80D produces a field of view equivalent to an 80mm lens when used. So it’s different when using on a crop-frame camera like the Canon 80D or a full-frame camera like the Canon 6D Mark II.

The aperture allows for that creamy bokeh I’ve been looking for and is great for taking professional quality beautiful images. The F/1.8 is reasonably priced and makes it perfect if you’re new to photography. There is no better lens for the money. The lens also comes in a F/1.4 version. Though more pricey, it is the crown jewel for portrait photography!

If ever a lens was made for a camera like the Canon 80D, it’s the 17-55mm f/2.8. It’s our go-to travel lens and use it for street photography, landscapes, portraits and everything in between. On the Canon 80D it will have a 27.2-88mm focal length and is as close as it gets to the drastically more expensive Canon EF 24-70MM F/2.8L II USM when used on a full-frame camera.

It performs incredible in low-light situations with a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture, is excellently sharp and creates beautiful bokeh. Yes, the Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 is pricy, but this is a high-end zoom with premium image quality, perfect for travel and people photography.

Since one of our favorite activities while traveling is hiking, we’re craving for a good wide angle lens. It’s great for landscape photography and is one of the lenses on my wish list. So mom, if you’re reading this, I know what I want for my birthday! ;-).

When used on the Canon 80D it will have a focal length of 16-35.2mm. This lens isn’t a budget lens but definitely more affordable than the equivalent high-end wide-angle zoom Canon EF 16–35mm f/2.8L III for full-frame camera bodies, which is way out of our budget.

I would love a wide angle prime lens. The equivalent focal length of 36mm means that this lens is perfect for street photography and to take along on strenuous hikes. The small size of the lens makes it a light option to take along during a hike and doesn’t attract attention when roaming the streets. At this price, I’m sure it’ll be one of the first new additions to our gear setup.

While we’re out hiking, our camera is often tucked away in our Manfrotto backpack. I really do love this backpack because it holds everything I need it to, and is functional. When it comes to walking around a city, doing daytrips/light trips, this bag has been a blessing. It holds my camera, my lenses and some other accessories while being water resistant. I can also take out the camera portion of the bag, so it can be used as just a backpack by itself.

For a travel couple, there are not so many pictures of us (let alone us both) on the blog. That’s because only last year we bought our very first tripod. Our first tripod was a lightweight tripod, like this one, which basically cost 20$. We wanted a tripod that was very light and we could easily take along on our hiking trips.

Over time however, the limited height (130 cm) to our tripod made us look for a more professional piece. We’re now using a tripod with a 360° ball head and reaches a maximum height of 70 inches (177 cm).

We backup all our images onto an external hard drive which we carry with us and basically guard with our lives 🙂 Nothing is worse than having a laptop full of pictures and having it suddenly crash. After loosing a first part of pictures (I can still see the slow-motion version of myself screaming NOOOOOO), adding our pictures to the hard drive is a standard step after a day photographing.

Is there a more cringeworthy moment than arriving at the most spectacular viewpoint after a long hike and having your camera flash up the dreaded red words ‘Memory Card Full’??

Nope. Nope there isn’t.

And we’ve been dreadfully vigilant to avoid this happening again. We now carry x2 Sandisk 64 GB memory cards.