I’m Jennifer Carr, a landscape, nature, and travel photographer in Seattle, Washington. I am also a Clickin Moms Mentor. I spend much of my time outdoors and I love to travel with my Sony camera in hand. I’m excited to show you what photo gear I’ll carry on my next photography trip.
The bag:
Mindshift Trailscape 18L Backpack — This backpack is my gear hauler. It is my go-to for trips when I want to take a variety of gear in a compact bag. It holds everything I need without making me feel like I’m crushed under the burden of weight.
The go-to:
Sony a7R III Mirrorless Digital Camera — The Sony a7R III is my main camera body. Its 42 megapixels provide incredible resolution, and because it is mirrorless, it’s smaller and lighter than traditional DSLRs. I love shooting with mirrorless cameras because I am able to visualize the light in my image as I am shooting using the live histogram and electronic viewfinder. I also love that focal points cover the entire frame.
Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master — The 24-70mm is my go-to lens. Its focal length range allows me the versatility to never miss shot while I am on the go, while being fast enough to shoot in low-light conditions. When my kit size is limited because of travel, I know the 24-70 will do all the work that I need it to.
The just-for-fun:
PhotoSphere — A creative tool that I picked up at the Click and Co. store, the PhotoSphere is a crystal ball that allows me to capture a 180-degree view of my surroundings, adding a creative view of the scene.
See the rest of Jennifer’s photo gear list below the video.
The lenses:
Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 G Master — A beautiful wide angle lens, the 16-35 performs incredibly in low light, allowing me to photograph the starry skies and wide mountain ranges.
Sony FE 100-400mm G Master super-telephoto zoom lens — The 100-400 is a beast of a lens, but worth all the extra size. It brings nature up close and personal, allowing me to photograph distant wildlife or use lens compression to bring sunset skies and mountain peaks closer to my viewers.
Sony Zeiss Distagon T FE 35 mm f/1.4 ZA — The 35mm f/1.4 is my fastest lens and renders the most beautiful backgrounds when I shoot wide open. This lens is fun to play with in the flower garden, as it allows close focusing for a macro feel.
Lensbaby Composer Pro II with Edge 50 Optic and Edge 80 Optic (discontinued) — The Lensbaby Edge system offers a tilting lens that gives a slice of focus surrounded by smooth blur. The slice of focus allows me to emphasize my subject in a unique way.
Lensbaby Velvet 56 — The Velvet serves as my macro lens. When shot at a narrower aperture, it produces images with crisp focal points and subtle light falloff towards the edge of the frame.
Helios 44-2 58 f/2.0 — A vintage Russian lens that offers an interesting swirly bokeh, the Helios is a fun lens to have in my bag. Its imperfections render beautiful lens flare and incredible colors. You can find this lens used on eBay or Etsy.
The essentials:
Breakthrough Photography Magnetic Filter Kit with 10 stop Neutral Density Filter and Circular Polarizing Filter — Incredibly simple in design, I love the magnetic filter system from Breakthrough. The 10-stop ND creates no color cast and reduces light entering the lens, allowing for long exposures in brighter conditions. The CPL cuts glare and reflections adding vibrancy and contrast to images. It is currently undergoing a redesign to allow filters to be stacked, but I have used their screw on filters and they are just as wonderful!
RC-S2II ShutterBoss II Timer Remote Switch for Sony — I use this wired shutter trigger when shooting long exposures and astrophotography to prevent camera shake at slow shutter speeds.
Peak Design Travel Tripod Carbon Fiber — This travel tripod has solved all of my needs. Lightweight, small, and super compact, the tripod fits in the water bottle pocket of my backpack. This is such a relief on long backpacking trips when space and weight are limited.
SanDisk 128GB Extreme Pro Memory Cards — Reliable and large, SanDisk memory cards have never let me down.
Bonus: Now that Jennifer has shared what she’s taking on her next photography trip, aren’t you kinda curious about what she carries with her on an average day? Us too! So, she created this quick three-minute video with her everyday go-to photo gear. And, spoiler alert, she uses a different bag.
Photos and video by Jennifer Carr
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