The best beginners’ Canon kit for travel photography

Whether you're exploring a city, trekking into the great outdoors or immersing yourself in a completely different culture, the best travel photography gear will enable you to capture key moments and preserve your special memories. Thanks to instant, worldwide connectivity, you can now also share anything from snapshots to full-on travel vlogs with friends, family and followers across the globe – in real time.

To produce pictures, prints and videos with the wow factor you need a camera that performs well all year round, no matter what conditions you find yourself facing, while still being small enough to fit in your hand luggage. It's a similar story with lenses, which need to be versatile enough to keep pace with adventurous spirits without any compromise in image quality.

There's a lot to consider, but we’ve put together a guide to the best travel photography gear. So, whether you're a beginner excited to get started, an up-and-coming travel blogger looking to dazzle your followers, or a creator with a growing profile who’s eager to take your content and kitbag to the next level, you can feel confident you've got the tools you need to succeed.

• Canon EOS R100
• Canon Zoemini S2
• Canon EOS R10
• Canon EOS R50
• Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III
• Canon PowerShot V10

Family holidays are more than just an escape from daily routines. They're precious time spent with those closest to us, where some of our most valuable memories are made.

The Canon EOS R100 enables you to do justice to those special moments. Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology can track eyes and faces to keep every family member in focus, even in crowded city scenes. Creative Assist mode gives you the tools to instantly adjust background blur, brightness or contrast, while an Auto Lighting Optimizer evens out the high contrast caused by direct sunlight for natural-looking imagery in the glaring sunshine.

The EOS R100 is also the perfect companion when the sun goes down, with advanced features that will keep shots in focus and blur-free when shooting handheld and in low light.

Connect the EOS R100 to the Canon Camera Connect app and you can instantly transfer images from your camera to your smartphone to share on social media. The app also allows you to geotag images using GPS, whether that's to help you organise photos when you get home or just show off your holiday destination. For group shots, you can use Camera Connect's remote shooting mode, so nobody needs to be left out.

If ultra-portability is what you're after, the 8MP Canon Zoemini S2 is a brilliant holiday companion that brings treasured moments to life as you live them. A compact camera and printer, the Canon Zoemini S2 allows you to snap slick selfies, using its built-in mirror and ring light to perfect your pose and exposure. You can then choose to print on the spot in under a minute or save images to a microSD card and print later.

By pairing the Canon Zoemini S2 with the Canon Mini Print app, you can also check your composition in live view, customise images before printing, and even print photos straight from your smartphone.

An impressive tech spec makes the Canon EOS R10 suitable for enthusiasts and established content creators, who need features that will elevate their content to new levels.

With its 24.2MP APS-C sensor, the EOS R10 produces beautifully clean stills and immaculate 4K video in smooth 60p for professional-looking vlogs and stories. And by using an advanced autofocusing system, capable of tracking eyes, faces, animals and vehicles, your content will always be sharp, even in low light.

The EOS R10 also features a vari-angle touchscreen for successful composition whatever the angle, and a built-in flash for shooting into the night or when light is in short supply. And it weighs just 429g, so carrying it with you won't make sprawling cities or steep mountains a chore.

Nimble creators who want to craft better quality travel films to share with their followers may also want to consider the Canon EOS R50, which shares the same sensor and AF system as the EOS R10 but has a smaller body and weighs just 375g.

Simple and intuitive for users who are familiar with a smartphone touchscreen, it captures beautiful 4K video at up to 30p and boasts Movie Digital IS for shake-free footage while filming on the move. It also shoots video in vertical format and has a Movie for close-up demos mode for showing off the unusual foodstuffs you've discovered at a local market, or the quirky souvenirs you've picked up on your trip.

Both cameras can also be used with any Canon RF or RF-S lens, giving you access to the entire range of versatile lenses, with plenty of future options as your ambitions grow.

• Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM
• Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM
• Canon RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM
• Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM
• Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM
• Canon RF 16mm F2.8 STM
• Canon RF 28mm F2.8 STM
• Canon RF 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM

One of the most versatile Canon lenses for landscape and travel photography is the Canon RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM. This compact, ultra-wide lens is a perfect partner for cameras such as the Canon EOS R10 and EOS R50, and it's a great addition to the RF-S 18-45mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM kit lens. Featuring a similar retractable design to the 18-45mm, the RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM weighs just 150g and can be easily carried in a backpack or jacket pocket. It’s 10-18mm zoom range not only enables you to literally see the bigger picture but is also great for capturing a different perspective, and playing with the relationship between foreground and background elements.

The RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM’s large visual angle also makes it one of the best Canon vlogging lenses, ideal for when you want to put yourself in the frame while also including your surroundings to set the scene. The smooth and virtually silent STM autofocus system is equally adept at stills and video capture, while automatic in-camera correction takes distortion out of the equation. The net result is high-quality, true-to-life pictures worthy of any travel adventure. For further versatility, you can switch to manual focus and get in close for up to 0.5x macro magnification, ideal for shooting extreme close-ups of the local flora and fauna set against a big backdrop. To save carrying a tripod on your travels, the RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM features 4-stops of optical IS, rising to 6-stops when working in conjunction with the IBIS featured in cameras such as the EOS R7.

If you like the sound of what the RF-S 10-18mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM does but you use a full-frame camera, then the Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM is the one for you. With its ultra-wide focal range, it is another lens that will have no problems squeezing everything into frame, whether you're vlogging through a towering city centre, traversing the alleyways of a winding medieval town or capturing the vistas of a spectacular mountain range. Compact and lightweight, this RF lens is an affordable addition to even the lightest traveller's kitbag, and thanks to its image stabilisation and bright f/4.5 maximum aperture, it’s a solid performer in changing light conditions. As a full-frame lens, it's somewhat larger but still very compact and lightweight for its type.

The Canon RF 24-50mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM's ultra-wide 24mm minimum focal length is perfect for documenting wide-angle street scenes or taking environmental portraits to contextualise a subject. This lens also features optical IS for sharp handheld shots on the move, and a near-silent focusing motor to leave subjects undisturbed and keep audio recordings clear.

The ultra-wide RF 16mm F2.8 STM lens, with its fast f/2.8 maximum aperture, is capable of capturing an expansive perspective and unlocks a host of creative possibilities for travel vloggers and content creators. The sweeping view is also helpful when you're shooting in relatively tight spaces, such as from inside a market or museum, and can't physically step back to open up the perspective.

The lens is equipped with near-silent stepper motor (STM) autofocus technology, making it an excellent option when you want to record travel pieces to camera or capture the ambient sounds that bring locations to life.

Since it weighs just 165g and measures just over 4cm in length when retracted, you can comfortably have it on your camera for a whole day's sightseeing.

If size and weight is your main consideration when choosing a travel lens, the pocket-sized Canon RF 28mm F2.8 STM lens weighs just 120g and can be retracted when not in use, making it even easier to stash away in a bag or backpack.

Its versatile 28mm focal length is ideal for exploring, enabling you to fill the frame with immersive city scenes, impressive landmarks or entire family portraits, and the fast f/2.8 aperture means you can keep on shooting as night falls.

It might be tiny, but the RF 28mm F2.8 STM is big on optical quality with a Super Spectra coating that reduces ghosting and flare, and clever built-in optical correction for cleaner photos and videos.

There's a reason the Canon RF 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM is favoured by street photographers, portrait photographers and travel photographers alike. Wide enough for expansive cityscapes, sweeping landscape shots and revealing close-ups, with an unobtrusive profile, fast maximum aperture and a macro magnification of up to 1:2, it works brilliantly for a range of genres.

Although designed for full-frame cameras, the RF 35mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM can also be used on APS-C bodies, such as the Canon EOS R10, where it would capture a field of view equivalent to a 56mm lens on a full-frame body.

When wanderlust takes hold, there's often only enough time to grab a rucksack and go. In these situations, where space matters most, the Canon PowerShot V10 or PowerShot G7 X Mark III is the perfect travel partner.

Designed for vloggers who have outgrown their smartphones, the Canon PowerShot V10 is a compact and lightweight travel option. It weighs just 211g, and its large 1.0-inch sensor produces beautiful 4K video output with Canon's face detect AF across 100% of the frame, meaning that no matter where in your image you want your focal point to be, the camera will focus in on it, allowing you maximum flexibility with your compositions.

Movie Digital IS keeps footage steady when you're walking about, while built-in stereo microphones can capture the atmosphere of your surroundings, whether that's a crowded market or a bustling outdoor restaurant.

Striking the ultimate balance of performance and profile, the PowerShot G7 X Mark III features a large 1.0-type image sensor, offering impressive 20.1MP photos and 4K video inside a body under 11cm in width and just 300g in weight – so if you're short of space in your backpack, you can simply slip it in your pocket. You can also switch from stills to video and back again in one easy movement.

About to embark on an adventure? Make sure you download the Canon Camera Connect app so you can connect your camera to your smartphone and share your travel shots straight to your social channels. The app also enables you to control your camera remotely for shake-free shots and steady video.

For adventurers, these backpack-friendly cameras and lenses really are the ultimate companions, producing stunning images and video without compromising your freedom to roam. For more travel photography inspiration, find out how pro Diana Millos fared when she spent 48 hours in beautiful Seville with the Canon EOS R10.

Written by Peter Wolinski and Matthew Richards