How to Get Into Travel Photography on a Budget in 2025

The photography industry and many travel influencers would have you believe that photography is a ridiculously expensive hobby, and that the only way to take decent travel photos is with a top-of-the-line mirrorless camera and full complement of lenses. With the prices of many new cameras easily reaching four digits, building a photography setup can be a daunting task, but I'm going to walk you through how to build a solid travel photography setup without breaking the bank.

Go Used

Luckily for us travellers and photographers with less deep pockets, the photography industry has a substantial used market, where you can score some quality gear for seriously reduced prices if you know where to look. Whether you choose to buy from a photography store or online, you'll get much more for your money by buying used gear.

Choosing a Camera

When it comes to choosing a camera, mirrorless is the most modern and foolproof option. In a mirrorless camera, light constantly shines onto the sensor, and the shutter is only actuated to control the amount of light that comes in when you want to take a picture. That means that the "viewfinders" on mirrorless cameras are actually tiny screens. This has some benefits, like showing more accurately what the final picture that the camera produces will actually look like, but means that these cameras use more battery life.

Older style DSLRs are still common, and use a physical mirror to cover the sensor and reflect the image coming from the lens into the viewfinder until you're ready to take a picture. That means that many DSLRs have incredibly long battery life, but they are almost always bigger and heavier than their mirrorless counterparts. With most professional photographers switching to mirrorless, it's not hard to find quality lenses for DSLR cameras on the used market for cheap prices, but you can use these lenses with mirrorless cameras too with an adapter. I'll recommend some mirrorless and DSLR options so that you can decide which option is best for you.

Finally, I'll talk about crop sensor vs full frame cameras. For beginner travel photographers, I'd always recommend a crop sensor camera. To begin with, they're almost always more portable and less expensive than full-frame equivalents. Plus, the crop factor on APS-C sized sensors will either increase the effective zoom of your camera by 1.5x (on most brands) or 1.6x (on Canon). Since wide angle lenses are pretty cheap, and most telephoto lenses are mind-bogglingly expensive, this is a big plus.

Camera Picks

The Canon R100 is Canon's most affordable mirrorless option. While it's lacking a movable screen, which could be an annoyance for some cases, it can be had for just over $300 on the refurbished market, which is incredible value. Its performance should be perfectly adequate for most hobbyists, but you'll want to upgrade the kit lens that it comes with.

If you can swing it, the Canon M50 can be had for just under $500 on the refurbished market. It has a better shooting speed than the R100, and has a movable screen, which is nice.

Though its design is dated, the you can pick up a refurbished Canon EOS Rebel T7 for dirt cheap nowadays. It's a solid option for hobbyists, and offers equivalent photo quality to the more entry level mirrorless offerings from Canon. DSLRs are bigger and heavier than mirrorless cameras by nature, but I personally really enjoy the tactile feedback of the mirror physically moving whenever I press the shutter button.

Choosing a Lens

When buying a lens, I'd always recommend going for used or refurbished options. With most pros going for mirrorless cameras these days, the market is flooded with good quality DSLR lenses. If you have a mirrorless camera, you can still take advantage of this by using an adapter.

When shopping for used lenses, look for Canon's STM lenses. These have more modern autofocus motor technology, which will probably deliver much better autofocus performance than the kit lens that your camera comes with.

Lens Picks

Canon's 18-135 mm STM lens is a great all-around option. It can be had for a little over $200 for a refurbished lens. If you're used to a kit lens, this will be a night and day difference, and will offer much improved zoom range and autofocus performance.

The Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 prime lens is a great choice for an entry-level prime lens. Its wide aperture lets in tons of light in dark environments and blurs the background beautifully. While it can be purchased new for a very reasonable $125, I'd still recommend buying used for $70-$80 to save some money.

Getting Started

The most important thing to remember when getting started taking travel photos is not to let your gear limit you. Most people's phones can take beautiful photos nowadays, and many entry-level cameras today outperform professional cameras of a decade ago.

Always try to take photos that tell a story about your destination. Do your research and find out what your city is famous for.