Below are the photography, videography and outdoor gear that we use all the time! We absolutely love our Olympus mirrorless micro four third cameras. This significantly reduces the camera and lens sizes which is so important for us, as you’ll either find us on the trails in the mountains, or on a plane traveling across the world. These cameras paired with Peak Design’s clips has been such a key setup for our photography.
Our Cameras
Micro four thirds is the way to go! Compact, lightweight, and ready to go anywhere without sacrificing quality. We take our cameras with us everywhere and having small compact camera and lenses is one of our top priorities! That being said, we shoot high resolution imagery and do not want to sacrifice quality. We highly recommend Olympus’ mirrorless micro four thirds family of cameras and lenses as they nail the size/quality ratio that we look for! The Olympus OMD EM1 is their top-of-the-line mirrorless micro four thirds camera. We originally started with the OMD EM10, as it’s price point is much lower and as we invested in our lenses, the lenses transitioned over to our OMD EM1 as we became more serious about photography. We actually have two of the Olympus OMD EM1’s as we love it so much.
Olympus OMD EM1 Mark II (this link is for the new Mark III)
Olympus OMD EM 10 Mark II (this link is for the new Mark III)
Our Video
Handheld and from the sky! We love our GoPro for on-the-go video and underwater adventures. We have also had fun using our DJI Mavic Air which packs down to be about the size of your palm! The challenge with drones, is they are illegal to fly in most places - especially in the US. We bought our drone for our trip to Iceland which has very relaxed drone laws. Check out our Iceland drone footage here: Flying a Drone in Iceland
GoPro Hero 7 Black (this link is for new new Hero 9)
Our Lenses
Picking lenses is always challenging and many argue that they are the most important part of a photography setup! We love that our micro four third lenses are so much smaller than equivalent spec full frame setups. If we had to pick one lens, we would 100% recommend the Olympus M.Zuiko ED 12-40mm f2.8 PRO! We find ourselves shooting with this lens 80% of the time, as it’s versatile enough to shoot portraits at 40mm f2.8 along with night time milky way and star trails at 12mm. We also love our Olympus M.Zuiko ED 40-150mm f2.8 PRO as it’s great for capturing incredible mountain layers with the lens compression at 150mm. The M.Zuiko 2x Teleconverter, is a cheap and sneaky way to double the focal length of the M.Zuiko 40-150mm for wildlife photography! The 40-150mm with the teleconverter can get you to 300mm (600mm equivalent for full-frame cameras at nearly half of the lens weight and length). Check out our photos of Grizzly 399 and her four cubs to see this in action.
Our Photography Accessories
We are obsessed with Peak Design! Based in San Francisco, they make creative photography accessories from bags to clips. The Peak Design Capture Clip has been a game changer for us. With the Dual Plate connected to the bottom of our cameras, and our Capture Clips connected to our backpack straps, we can hike with our cameras out near our chest and ready to shoot at all times.
We also recommend the Manfrotto tripods as they are one of the only manufacturers that have RC2 quick-release for easily connecting your camera to the tripod with a “click-in” and “click-out” type feel. The Peak Design Dual Plate works with the RC2 tripods and the Capture Clip!
Our Sun Protection :)
With both of our ancestors coming from Northern Europe (Norway, Ireland, and others), our skin is very sensitive to sunlight! We have read a lot about the dangers of most skin care products, and have done a lot of research on sunscreen products that are made with non-harmful ingredients. We highly recommend the Alba Botanica sunscreen for body, and the EltaMD for face protection.
As always, we aim to be transparent! We never recommend anything that we do not use ourselves and fully believe in. Seeking our Someday participants in the Amazon Services Affiliate Program. Purchasing through our links helps us to pay for our website expenses - thank you for your support!