Advance Mobile Travel Photo Kit
“The best camera is the one that's with you,”
- Chase Jarvis-
After taking these factors into consideration, I decided I was only going to bring a small mobile photography kit focused around my Samsung Note 20 Ultra. You can find everything here in my Amazon Store.
The first piece of equipment is a small tripod with a ball head. I like the GorillaPod made by Joby. The one I use is the Joby Gorillapod 5K Kit with Rig Upgrade. This kit has sturdy legs and it includes a stable ball head as well as two accessory arms to hold lights or a mic for video.
To hold the phone on the tripod, I use the Joby GripTight Pro 2 Mount. This mount gives you the option to take both vertical and horizontal photos. The mount also has a cold shoe for you to mount a microphone or external light for when you are shooting video.
To give yourself a wider range of focal lengths, invest in lenses that are made to connect onto your phone. I am a fan of the system made by Moment. They make quality lenses and other attachments that connect right to your phone. To use these attachments you will need to have a case on your phone from Moment that accepts the attachments.
The first Moment attachment I recommend is the Moment Phone Filter Mount. This allows you to attach 37mm filters right to your phone. Filters are a simple and effective way to advance your photography. Two filters that I always have with me are the K&F Concept 37mm Circular Polarizer and the K&F Concept 37mm adjustable ND filter. The filter mount and the polarizer filter and ND filter are always with me. These two filters alone will help you bring your mobile photography to the next level.
The second Moment attachment are their lenses. Moment makes high quality lenses that attach right onto their cases. I have used other clip-on lenses and I have found the Moment lenses to have the best quality. They act more like a pro SLR lens. The Moment lens also works great for shooting video.
Here are the three lenses:
Some additional accessories you might want to bring:
External Microphone- I like the Rode VideoMicro Compact On-Camera Microphone with Rycote Lyre Shock Mount, the mic does use a 3.5mm jack to connect, make sure you have the adaptor required for your phone.
External Light- The JOBY Beamo, Mini LED Light is made to attach right onto the Joby Gorillapod 5K Kit with Rig Upgrade tripod. The tripod can hold up to two accessories. With the light I would also have the JOBY Beamo Mini Silicone Diffuser.
To hold everything I use a Tenba Tools Tool Box 6. This case is compact to fit into a carry on but has enough space for all of my gear. I will also carry all of my required charging cables in the case as well.
The last piece of equipment is a bag to carry everything in. I am out just shooting with my mobile kit, I use one of two bags. I am not going to go into too much detail as I will be doing an in depth review of both.
The first one is a traditional camera backpack, the Tenba Shootout Slim. This is a 14L backpack with equipment dividers for you to customize the setup. My top feature is as a back panel opener so when you lay it down to get your gear, the shoulder straps are not down in the dirt.
My second bag is the Mountainsmith Tour Lumbar Pack. This is a lumbar pack so all of the weight sits on your lower back and your hips. This takes the weight off of your shoulders. I will do a full review of this bag in the future.
Basic Mobile Photography Kit
I just had the pleasure of spending 15 days traveling through Europe. When I was packing, I had to make a decision on my camera gear, what to bring and how much of it I wanted to carry. The other factor I had to take into consideration was the weight restrictions and number of bags you are allowed to carry onto airlines.
After taking these factors into consideration, I decided I was only going to bring a small mobile photography kit focused around my Samsung Note 20 Ultra. You can find everything here in my Amazon Store.
The first piece of equipment is a small tripod with a ball head. I like the GorillaPod made by Joby. The one I use is the GorillaPod 3K Flexible Mini-Tripod with the Joby BallHead 3K. This combination is lightweight and compact but it still gives you a sturdy platform to mount your phone to.
With the tripod, you need a phone mount. For my basic setup, I use the Joby GripTight ONE Mount. This mount is small in size and does not take up a lot of space. Note that it will only hold the camera in a horizontal format. I use this mount if I will only be shooting in a square format or if space and weight is extremely limited.
The only additional accessory I will always carry is a ND (Neutral Density) filter. A ND filter will reduce the amount of light coming in through the lens. This will give you the ability to use a slower shutter speed allowing you to add motion to water. The nd filter will also give you a more uniform exposure between highlights and shadows.
I carry the Cokin Square Filter Full ND Creative Kit. This kit gives you 3 ND filters to pick from, depending on how much light you want to reduce your exposure by. To use the filter, I will have the phone on the tripod and I will just hold it in front of the lens. ITs simple, but it works.
The last piece to my basic kit is a case to hold everything. For this I use a Tenba Tools Tool Box 6. This case is compact to fit into a carry on but has enough space for all of my gear. I will also carry all of my required charging cables in the case as well.
If you are looking for a more advanced mobile photography kit or are planning on shooting more video, watch out for my Advance Mobile Photography Kit post.