What's In My Camera Bag (2026)

The Sony A7R III is currently my primary camera body and the camera I carry for most wildlife and landscape photography. The combination of excellent image quality, high resolution, strong dynamic range, and weather-resistant construction makes it incredibly versatile for everything from birds to night skies. I particularly appreciate the ability to crop heavily when photographing distant wildlife while still retaining impressive detail.

Although it's no longer my primary camera, the Sony A6000 remains one of the best values in photography. I still carry it as a lightweight backup body and frequently pair it with a telephoto lens when I want additional reach thanks to the APS-C crop factor. For beginners entering wildlife photography, I still think it's an outstanding camera.

If I could only own one wildlife lens, this would probably be it. The zoom range makes it incredibly flexible — I can photograph larger mammals at 50mm, isolate landscapes around 100–200mm, and immediately zoom to 400mm for birds without changing lenses. This has quickly become my favorite wildlife lens.

This was the kit lens included with my A7R III. While often overlooked, it remains a useful lightweight travel and landscape lens. It's typically the lens I choose when I know wildlife won't be my primary subject.

The original kit lens for my A6000. Compact and lightweight, it's ideal for travel, family outings, and general photography. Although I rarely use it today, it helped me learn the fundamentals of photography.

My first telephoto lens. For photographers starting with an APS-C Sony camera, I still think this lens offers tremendous value. It was my introduction to bird photography.

This manual-focus ultra-wide lens is one of my favorites for astrophotography. The fast aperture and wide field of view make it an excellent option for photographing the Milky Way and dramatic landscapes. Manual focus isn't a drawback at night — in fact, it's often preferred.

Macro photography has become one of my favorite ways to slow down and really observe nature. This lens is perfect for wildflowers, mushrooms, insects, moss, frost, and fine textures in the natural world.

Used primarily for waterfalls, streams, and long exposures to create motion blur in water. A quality ND filter opens up creative possibilities in daylight that would otherwise require very fast shutter speeds.

Every lens I regularly carry is protected by a UV filter. While photographers debate their necessity, I prefer protecting the front element from dust, scratches, and trail conditions. On the trail, a scratched UV filter is far cheaper to replace than a scratched front element.

This section will continue to grow as I document individual items in more detail. Current essentials include extra batteries, SD cards, lens cleaning supplies, microfiber cloths, a rocket blower, a camera backpack, and a tripod. Each of these has proven its value in the field.

My editing workflow is built around Adobe Lightroom for culling, organization, and global adjustments, with selective use of Photoshop for more detailed work. I'll be publishing a detailed breakdown of my complete wildlife editing workflow soon.