The camera’s I have tried and tested while travelling parts of the world – I will share with you the BEST and the not so good so you are prepared to take some stunning and professional photographs for your next holiday.

(For a detailed list on the gear I use and the easily accessible links to where I purchased them from – head to the bottom of this page).

The camera I won’t be travelling with –

In 2019 my girlfriends and I decided to take a trip to Europe to explore what has been on my bucket list FOREVER and that place was… Greece! Your girl had never been to Europe before so this was a big moment for myself and my friends and one we were all super pumped about.

Now, my only regret was my camera choice for this holiday…

I chose to bring my big-boy, my work horse, the camera I use to photograph all of my weddings and portraits with. It is my Canon 5DMk4.

Now, don’t get me wrong! This is an incredible camera and that is exactly why it will forever live in my photography kit. But for galavanting around Europe with? Not so much. And the reason being was:

The size of this camera
The cost of this camera

Every day when we left our accomodation to do our exploring, I never reached for my 5D because the inconvenience of it. It is heavy and not a handy size to have inside your beach bag or backpack. She’s big and bulky and especially because I had my 24-70mm lens attached to it (allowing me to capture those wide-angle landscape shots OR those up-close dreamy portrait shots). Even if I didn’t choose to take this lens with me, I would have taken my 35mm Tamron lens and this still would have been just as big and bulky as a set-up to take along with me.

So I wasn’t committed enough to take it along for many rides because the size was a big factor. It wasn’t convenient enough to quickly grab and chuck in my beach bag.

Now, the cost was another huge factor. Even though I had travel insurance paid for – I still didn’t want to risk the fact that for any crazy reason my camera would go missing or had been taken from my bag on these excursions. And this risk is very high if you are not careful while you are travelling.

I couldn’t be bothered playing with the risk of my camera being stolen and having to sort out the painful insurance side of things once I returned home. Because once I returned home I was heading straight into portrait sessions and I panicked at the idea of having to sort out Plan B for organising new camera equipment.

This camera is expensive for a reason and I couldn’t be bothered or wasn’t risky enough to play with the potential of it being stolen.

And so, this was my experience with taking my big professional camera with me on holiday to Europe. I hardly took it out of my padlocked suitcase and captured about 20 images on it.

I think anyones opinion on this topic would come down to their personality type as I think this plays a HUGE roll into the decisions we make.

My personality type was not down to handle the stress of potentially losing my big and expensive camera. I am also anal with how I treat my equipment so I was not ready to toss it inside a beach bag riddled with sand or even worse… possibly get it wet from all of the boat trips we would do.

Sounds like I need to immerse myself in the holiday vibes a bit more and relax… haha!!

(P.S – I do however take my DSLR and R Series bodies when I am paid to photograph a wedding overseas. This will never change!).

The camera I will ALWAYS travel with –

Woohoo!!! I am so happy I have discovered one of my FAVOURITE cameras and before my next Europe trip which was in October 2022 – a 21 day excursion exploring 11 different countries! Finishing off with a few days to explore in London.

I came across this camera after watching a review on a Youtube video. I was immediately captivated by its exterior as it suited my style of shooting so much. The vintage aesthetic of it immediately caught my eye and the way it photographed was the biggest win of them all. The quality of this camera and the way it shoots is incredible.

But the main factors as to why I will always grab this camera to take on my holidays are the same points as above:

The size
The cost

The size of this camera is so convenient when travelling. It is small and compact while providing a PUNCH with image quality. Just because it is small does not mean it doesn’t perform well – don’t underestimate this bad boy. As it is now a camera I use for every one of my portrait sessions. It is easy to whisk away for your day trips and easy to put inside your handbag, backpack or beach bag. While it won’t easily fit in your pocket it will fit basically everywhere else!

It has a fixed lens which is a 35mm focal length. An awesome lens size for your travels. Wide angle enough to get those gorgeous landscape shots but also a beautiful portrait focal length too and my favourite length to work with for that type of work!

The cost of this camera is more than what you’d pay for a basic point and shoot but less than a big professional DSLR for example.

I believe I paid $2,500 or so? and I would pay that all over again if anything were to happen to this camera of mine *touch wood*.

That is still a lot of money for most but it is a lot less than having a 4.5k DSLR body with a 3.5k lens attached to go missing from you bag or luggage.

So “what the heck camera is it Eilish?” you ask!?

It is the Fujifilm x100v my friends!

There are many things I love about this camera but the most important factor (besides its super handy size and price point) is how you can set up your preferred film simulation inside the camera to further enhance your style and show clients (or people you have just taken a photograph of) what a very close idea is to what their image is going to look like once you have finished editing it! I love this part about it the most!

So take a look at the images I took on it during my last holiday to Europe and let me know what you think!

Hit this link to see more of my work: Eilish Burt Photography Portfolio

The camera equipment listed in this post:

Canon 5D Mark IV – Auckland Camera Centre

Canon 24-70mm f2.8 – Auckland Camera Centre

Fujifilm x100v – Auckland Camera Centre