The best entry-level Canon kit for travel photography

Gone are the days when travel photography was as simple as buying a disposable camera to take a few blurry beach shots for a homemade family album.

With the explosive growth of photo and video-sharing social platforms and the rise of professional online photo books, only flawless images will now do. Smartphones are great, but to produce pictures and prints with the wow factor, you need a dedicated camera – one 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 too, which need the versatility 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 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

• Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS STM
• Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM

Travelling light and have room in your backpack for only one lens? The all-purpose Canon RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM with its 10x zoom range is an excellent choice. Its sweeping focal range offers incredible versatility, suitable for everything from stunning travel portraiture to wide-angle landscapes. What's more, it wraps up this impressive range, along with 5-stops of optical image stabilisation (IS) for handheld and low-light shooting, in a comfortably compact and lightweight body. On a camera with an APS-C sensor, the focal range of this lens is equivalent to 38.4-384mm on a full-frame camera.

If you're shooting with a Canon APS-C camera such as the EOS R10 or EOS R50, the Canon RF-S 18-150mm F3.5-6.3 IS STM is another go-everywhere, do-everything lens. Its enormous zoom range makes this lens ideal for wide-angle street shots through to telephoto portraits. The lens is also remarkably lightweight and compact given its wide focal range and built-in image stabilisation – it's one travel companion that will never get on your nerves.

A versatile wide-angle zoom is a travel photographer's best friend. With its ultra-wide focal range, the Canon RF 15-30mm F4.5-6.3 IS STM 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, this lens is a solid performer in changing light conditions.

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.