What is the best travel lens?

In a previous article, I explained in detail how to choose a camera lens and which criteria to consider when choosing one. Hopefully, things are a little clearer now. Since the beginning of this blog, I’ve wanted to bring together my two main passions: travel and photography. So it felt only natural to write this article: which lens should you choose for travel photography?

I’ve also written a full article on how to choose a camera, whether you’re looking at a bridge camera, a mirrorless camera, a DSLR, or another type of body. Here, though, I’m focusing on people who have already taken the plunge and bought an interchangeable-lens camera. This article goes hand in hand with the complete guide to understanding how to choose your camera lens.

So, in your opinion, is there such a thing as the best travel lens? Should you choose a prime lens? If not, which focal range makes the most sense? Do you really need an ultra-wide-angle lens for a trip? In short, there are plenty of questions around this topic…

Choosing lenses for a trip is never easy. You’ll have to find the right compromise between weight, budget, versatility, personal preferences, the type of trip, and what you actually plan to shoot. In my opinion, before choosing a travel lens, you should ask yourself three key questions.

To know which lens to choose for a trip, you first need to ask yourself what type of photos you want to take. In other words, what kind of photography do you enjoy? What do you usually shoot most when you travel?

You can also rule out certain lenses if you don’t shoot the type of photography they were primarily designed for. The simplest example is a dedicated macro lens. These are very specific lenses, and unless you want to photograph dragonflies, snails, flowers, or tiny details, a macro lens probably won’t be that useful on a trip. Of course, you can use it for other subjects, such as portraits, but in that case you may be better off buying a lens designed for portraits.

If you want to focus on wildlife photography, you’ll need to pay close attention to focal length, maximum aperture, depth of field, background blur, sharpness, and autofocus performance. Whatever your mount—Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Sony, or another system—you’ll also need to factor in whether you’re using an APS-C or full-frame sensor. I’ll come back to that below. If you want to dig deeper into this subject, I invite you to read my article on “the best lenses for wildlife photography”.

So try to answer this simple question first, because it will probably have the biggest influence on the lenses you choose for your trip. Sometimes the answer is obvious. For example, on a safari in Tanzania, you’ll naturally want a telephoto lens and probably a landscape lens as well.

If you don’t yet have a clear idea of the type of photos you want to take while traveling, that’s okay too. Just keep in mind that depending on the gear you bring, some shots will be easier than others once you’re there.

This is, in my opinion, the second question to ask when choosing a travel lens. Depending on the shooting conditions you expect during your trip, you may not need high-end equipment at all.

Let me explain quickly. If you want to shoot at night, early in the morning, or in the evening, a bright lens with a large maximum aperture can be very useful, because light will often be limited.

Conversely, if most of your travel photos are taken during the day in good light, an ultra-bright lens won’t necessarily be essential, aside from the creative benefit of isolating your subject with a shallower depth of field.

So it’s up to you to think about the conditions in which you’ll usually be taking photos.

Finally, the last question to consider is the type of trip or holiday you usually take.

Depending on what you have planned, the gear you take may be completely different. Can you really imagine carrying several kilos of equipment on a mountain hike? It can make sense, but it’s definitely a choice you need to think through. In any case, what you plan to do will strongly influence your final decision. For example, when I go on a dedicated photo trip, I carry not only my camera and lenses, but also my camera bag and photo accessories: tripod, ND filter, polarizing filter, remote control, filter holder, grip, adapter ring, and so on. For me, these are essential for certain shots, but they clearly affect the weight and practicality of the whole setup.

Another example: if you often travel in tropical areas, it may be worth choosing weather-sealed lenses that can better handle humidity, dust, and light rain.

There you go: those are the main questions I think you should ask yourself before choosing a lens for travel.

On a side note, depending on your needs, it might also be worth getting a waterproof camera for travel. In the article linked above, I share our current selection of the best options.

In this section, I’ll give you my take on the lenses worth packing for a trip. Obviously, it’s impossible to cover every possible case, because everyone makes their own choices based on how useful a lens will be, their needs, and very often their budget.

Generally speaking, I’d recommend buying several more specialized lenses rather than a single lens with a huge focal range, often marketed as an “all-in-one” travel zoom. In reality, these lenses are often optically weaker, and you may quickly feel limited by this kind of setup, for example with an 18-300mm.

Remember that you also need to pay attention to the type of camera body you own, whether APS-C or full frame. APS-C lenses are generally cheaper than full-frame lenses. Full-frame lenses can usually be mounted on an APS-C body, but the reverse is usually not true.

So here is my answer to the question: “which lens should I choose for a trip?” The idea is to cover more or less all the situations you may encounter while traveling.

For the three types of lenses listed below, I’ll give recommendations for APS-C bodies, or smaller budgets, and for full-frame bodies, for those who already own one or have a larger budget. For reference, I currently shoot with a full-frame 6D.

This type of lens is perfect for landscape photography, but also very useful for street photography. It lets you emphasize landscapes with strong perspective and a wide angle of view, while also giving you broader compositions for street scenes, markets, or everyday life in a city.

That said, this type of lens is not essential if you’re just getting started and don’t have the budget yet. You can absolutely begin shooting landscapes and street scenes with a standard lens, such as an 18-55mm on APS-C or a 24-70mm on full frame.

For this type of lens, you’ll usually be looking at around 10-12mm on APS-C and roughly 17-24mm on full frame to get a similar field of view. Most of the options in this range are wide-angle zooms, although ultra-wide prime lenses also exist, such as the Canon 14mm f/2.8, which has an excellent reputation but is very expensive.

The Sony FE PZ 16-35mm f/4, an excellent lightweight and compact Sony wide-angle lens for travel – More details on Amazon / B&H

Here are my recommendations based on what I know, what I’ve read, and what I’ve researched about these lenses. Be careful to choose a lens that matches your camera body, whether APS-C or full frame. I personally owned the first version of the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X PRO DX II when I started out with my Canon 500D. After switching to full frame, I bought a Canon 16-35mm f/4 L IS in 2019, and it is superb.

Here is a selection of wide-angle lenses I can confidently recommend for APS-C and full-frame cameras.

A standard zoom roughly corresponds to an 18-55mm lens on APS-C or a 24-70mm lens on full frame. With this type of lens, you can take the vast majority of travel photos, from portraits and street scenes to some landscape shots. You won’t get the same wide angle as with a dedicated wide-angle lens, as discussed above, but you can absolutely get by without one, at least at first. The framing is standard: neither very wide nor very zoomed in. It’s also the lens I’d recommend for learning photography.

For example, I sold the Tokina 11-16mm wide-angle lens I used on my old body. Since then, I’ve mostly relied on a 24-70mm f/2.8 for landscapes and portraits when traveling. It isn’t ideal in every situation, and I sometimes still want to invest in a good full-frame wide-angle lens, but for now I can live with it.

The Sigma 28-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Contemp. L, an excellent standard zoom for L-mount travel photography at a reasonable price – More details on Amazon / B&H

In the end, it’s impossible to answer the question “which lens should I choose for a trip?” without mentioning the telephoto lens. For travel, I would strongly recommend a classic 70-200mm-type lens. For beginners, this is often a 55-250mm or 55-200mm lens with a smaller variable aperture, usually around f/4 to f/5.6 or more. When traveling, a telephoto lens lets you capture everyday scenes from a distance, street life, markets, original landscape compositions, and even beautiful close-up portraits, often around 100mm. On this subject, here is my full guide to choosing your lenses for portrait photography.

In short, it’s the ideal complement to the standard zoom discussed above. To put it simply, most brands offer several 70-200mm options, with differences mainly based on:

• whether or not the lens is stabilized,
• the maximum aperture, typically f/2.8 or f/4.

Obviously, prices increase when you choose a stabilized lens with a large aperture.

The Tamron 70-180mm f/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2, a very nice Tamron lens for Sony full-frame cameras (I have the V1, which is already excellent!) – More details on Amazon / B&H

However, these telephoto lenses will often be too short for wildlife photography, where a longer focal length, around 300mm minimum, is usually needed. I personally chose the superb Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM, which I consider an ideal travel lens because it combines a relatively compact size with a useful long focal range.

For wildlife enthusiasts traveling with a camera, I highly recommend 100-400mm lenses, which are particularly well suited to travel.

Here are my recommendations for choosing a telephoto lens for travel.

Here are two lens trios that I think would work very well for travel.

For smaller full-frame budgets, using Canon as an example:

If you want, you can add a small, lightweight 50mm f/1.8 lens for travel portraits.

For those with a larger budget and a full-frame camera.

You may also want to consider adding a portrait lens, such as the Canon 85mm f/1.8.

I hope this article has helped you better understand which lens you should choose for travel, and that things are now clearer. Before taking the plunge, if you have any doubts, feel free to leave me a comment at the bottom of the article. I’ll be happy to help and advise you in choosing your lens.

If you are still unsure which lens to choose, I invite you to read my article on how to choose a camera lens. It may help you better understand the key elements to consider. As for cameras, I also wrote an article on which camera to choose for travel. You’ll find plenty of possibilities there.

If you want to go further, I also invite you to read my articles on choosing and using photo accessories when traveling, including polarizing filters, ND filters, safari accessories, and more.

It’s never easy to make a purchase like this, and we’re often afraid of choosing the wrong lens or making a mistake. I’ve been there too, but after months of reading and researching, at some point you have to go for it.

I hope you make the right choice, and I wish you a great trip!

I hope this article wasn’t too technical. I deliberately created a section dedicated to the basics of photography to explain the concepts mentioned here, along with other notions that are useful for understanding photography properly: autofocus, image stabilization, shutter speed, focus, sensitivity, and more.

Which lens do you usually take with you on a trip? Do you tend to carry a lot of gear, or do you prefer to travel light?

Written by Sylvain PONS

I've been passionate about photography since 2010, learning as I went along. Today, I dedicate myself to guiding others in their choice of camera gear and sharing a variety of tips to improve their photography skills.

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