The Best Photography Gear for an Iceland Adventure
Iceland has been one of our favorite travel destinations.
Our 10 day trip around the Ring Road, along with side trips off into the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and the Westfjords, was very powerful for us on personal levels – and when it comes to photography, this country has an abundance of places that are just stunning to capture.
Within about 5 minutes of starting our journey in our campervan, we found ourselves stopped off the main road essentially gawking at some random volcanic mountain we saw. In retrospect, it is pretty funny because that sight ended up being an average view in Iceland – which says a whole lot about the things you will be seeing on a trip like this.
Whether you are actually planning for a full length adventure to all corners of Iceland, or are just stopping over for a quick layover or just a few days along the tourist route, it’s best to come prepared to capture the best photographs you can.
Through our experience, we are able to highlight some excellent equipment that we used, or wish we had. We will talk in depth about why this photography gear is so valuable, and try to provide options that will allow you to minimize carrying weight as well.
Before we dive into the gear portion of this article specifically, let’s highlight some expectations you should bring along with you when journeying to Iceland –
Photography Expectations While Traveling Iceland
As people who love nature and enjoy seeing new sights through travel, Iceland is a pretty attractive destination in its own right. For photographers, Iceland is literally a goldmine.
Seeing pictures of it’s beautiful and often otherworldly environments makes it inexplicably one of the “must see” locations of the world.
We had planned our Iceland trip about a year in advance. We had originally wanted to go there for our honeymoon, but budget constraints ended up sending us to Mexico for that (not a bad choice, by the way), yet we caught the travel bug as a result of seeing so many cool things there and being immersed into culture – within a week of being home we found some cheap $400 round trip tickets to Iceland for the following September (basically our anniversary), and booked them.
We ended up planning the rest of our trip much later on, but one thing remained pretty well a constant in our house when we were home – non-stop Youtube videos of Iceland, and a pretty hefty dose of browsing through blog after blog for more information about visiting this country and getting the most out of it.
Needless to say…we were inundated with A LOT of content about Iceland. It’s easy to find stuff, and some of it even seemed to find us as photos of Iceland – particularly the most attractive tourist hot spots and Instagram landscape photographer places made it to the top of sites like Reddit, just adding to our frequent absorption of all things Icelandic…
We give all of this background because we find it important to help guide you through the process of better setting expectations for yourself in Iceland. While may have gone a little overboard, maybe even a little obsessed, we look back on our trip both in memories and photographs as the single best collective experience of our lives.
As photographers, photography plays a huge role in our enjoyment of the places we travel to. These days, given we are shooting 20+ weddings a year, along with numerous other sessions, time away from our cameras as our “work” is wonderful – and allows us to re-explore our art form without feeling like every shot has to be the best. Landscape photography is something we have a passion for that is not usually sold, it’s certainly not a staple of our business strategy.
We had planned quite heavily for photographing Iceland, but one of the things we did in all this was have a few conversations with each other about when to stop taking photographs. It’s a hard thing to consider, especially when photography can be so addicting to just keep going.
As we began to explore the country ourselves, we noticed the trend of many, many tourists flocking to some of the key locations, such as spots around the Golden Circle route, and we became quite tired of both observing other people taking photographs and taking them ourselves. Photography sort of lost its sense of purpose for us as it became this thing we felt we had to do, versus this thing we really wanted to do.
In reviewing our photos, the vast majority that we took were from locations where we were in near isolation from other people. Berserkjahraun Lava Fields in the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, the sweeping fjords in the Westfjord region (along with Dynjandi waterfall), Vetrahorn and the accompanying Icelandic horses we encounter in near solitude…these are some of the beautiful moments, the beautiful life experiences, and documenting some of our time in these places with the things we saw is intoxicating to us. It is far more meaningful to look at these than pictures of Geysir swarmed with a hundred tourists collectively waiting for the perfect shot to put on social media.
It’s not to say that you won’t find enjoyment and value in photographing these locations. To each their own, and we are no judge for this. We speak from our own experiences of course, but challenge you to consider not just what you are taking photographs of, but why. This is especially true in a place like Iceland – where beautiful photographs can be created, but cannot fully replicate the things you will see and feel in the moment.
With our sentimental attachment to Iceland out of the way (for the moment), the reason why you are here is not to be turned off of photography in this great country, but to inspire you with the right selection of gear to capture it’s environments with great effect.
Before diving into the awesome gear lists comprised of things we have used ourselves while journeying through Iceland, an important disclosure:
Essential Photography Gear for an Iceland Adventure
In our preparations for traveling to, and capturing pictures of, Iceland – we decided the best approach would be to travel light. This was further required due to the limitations of living out of a campervan for the duration of our ten day trip. We couldn’t just drop off our gear at a nice hotel, but instead needed to have it tightly packed away and safe from environmental hazards – and the stupidity that we exhibit after sleep exhaustion several days into the trip 🙂
What you will find in our recommended list of “essential photography gear” for your Iceland adventure is based on this, and keep in mind the items suggested below are things we actually used and benefited from. We have also included some alternatives for those with more budgetary constraints, as some of the equipment we use can be quite expensive due to photography being our business as well.
Camera Bodies
We have primarily shot with Canon equipment for much of our lives, only occasionally dabbling with other brands such as Nikon, Sony, Olympus, etc. through rentals and playing around on the cameras of friends. While one can get into the weeds (so to speak) and dispute which brand is better than the other, in comparable price ranges, most of the equipment sold by these brands are reputable and have their avid fan bases.
For ourselves, Canon cameras were what we grew up with, and therefore became comfortable with. Having invested heavily into their equipment (we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars on camera bodies, lenses, flashes, etc.) – we’re not in a position to turn back now.
During our trip to Iceland, we utilized the Canon 5D Mark IV and Canon 5D Mark III camera bodies. We use the Mark IV’s as our primary camera, with the Mark III serving us well as a backup. These are both excellent and professional level cameras – having suited us professionally for weddings and portraiture, and enabling us to take great landscape shots while traveling abroad. They are, indeed, quite expensive from $3,000 and up.
If this case is maybe a little too high for your budget, but you are still looking for a quality camera, you might consider the Sony A7 III. We have only used this camera briefly ourselves, but the quality is very high considering the much lower price tag. While not a consumer level or “inexpensive” camera body still, it is not nearly as costly, as it is approximately half the cost of the Canon 5D Mark IV. With a proper lens adapter, you can also take advantage of using Canon’s great lenses with this option as well.
As a last suggestion if you are on a very tight budget, the Canon 7D Mark II is a highly recommended camera body for someone between the very beginner level of photography and wanting to grow into something with more quality and capabilities. The biggest difference between this and the more pro level camera bodies we’ve already mentioned is that this is a crop sensor camera, and the image resolution is 10 megapixels less. There is still a lot of potential here, though.
Summary of our recommendations:
Canon 5D Mark IV or Mark III – unlimited budget
Sony A7 III – mid-range budget
Canon 7D Mark II – low budget
Camera Lenses & Polarizers
While having the right camera body is important to capturing excellent photographs of Iceland (or anywhere for that matter!), camera lenses are much more “fun” to talk about. The difference between them is much more distinct, and much less about all the bells-and-whistles that digging through a bunch of camera menus can reveal.
Our selection of lenses are distinctly Canon brand, specifically as we have had the fortunate ability to invest in their high quality glass as a result of our photography business. We understand that for beginning professionals or amateur photographers who just want to take photos while traveling around Iceland, the cost for all of these lenses may be quite steep. Without a doubt, you can get away with one or two if you prepare accordingly.
If you are wanting to just invest in a single lens for Iceland, we’d suggest the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L ll USM Zoom Lens. Admittedly, this is a lens we’ve only come to use since our trip, and one we wish we had on us at the time. While our backpack was filled with quite a few lenses (everything listed below), we distinctly were lacking a wider angle lens than a 24mm. While what we had worked for us, many of the most memorable shots we’ve seen of Iceland, such as those of Kirkjufell mountain take advantage of ultra-wide angle lenses such as a 16mm (or even wider).
While there is a cheaper variant of this lens (the Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens), we specifically recommend this one because of the ability to stop down to f/2.8 – allowing more light into the sensor without needing to bump your ISO as much. Given Iceland’s unpredictable and often cloudy weather, the extra light this provides is useful.
You will notice this point repeated in all the lenses we normally use and brought with us to Iceland as below:
- Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 USM II Lens
- Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 USM II Lens
- Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 USM Lens
- Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 IS USM II Lens
- Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 IS USM Macro Lens
- Canon EF 135 f/2 IS USM Lens
- Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM II Lens
Each of these lenses had a purpose for us as we captured the landscapes, as well as portraits of one another. From macro level shots as can be beautifully captured with the 100mm f/2.8 macro lens to really distant, sometimes abstracted, images of mountains clouded in fog as can be zoomed in upon with the 70-200mm f/2.8 lens – there are many excellent options.
Going along with your lenses, you may want to also consider purchasing a few polarizing filters. These can be used to help smooth out water during long exposures, increase clarity and color depth, and provide extra stops of light. This is especially valuable during less-than-ideal times of day. No matter how much we planned, we would often end up somewhere cool that we wanted to photograph during harsh mid-day sunlight. While this can be great for visiting a place, it is not always ideal for photography. A polarizer helps fix this and functions as an inexpensive solution.
In terms of polarizer filters to consider for purchase, we kept this simple and inexpensive, purchasing AmazonBasics, Altura, and Polaroid brands. Prices will vary depending on the size, but in general these run around 10$ – 25$.
Camera Bag
Given that most trips to Iceland involve a good deal of hiking, carrying your equipment by hand is probably not going to be the most desired option. Not to mention, in some locations this would be plainly unsafe, with slippery, muddy, rainy, and similar conditions making a quick slip the end of your $4,000 camera.
We actually spent a good deal of time looking for a camera bag that would suit carrying all the gear we need (for both of us – so two photographers!!) and that was not ridiculously priced.
Our primary recommendation for a camera bag is the BAGSMART Anti-theft Professional Gear Backpack for SLR/DSLR Cameras & 15″ Macbook Pro with Waterproof Rain Cover. Yes, it is a long name, but the actual product is very high quality and very capable for taking on the…interesting…weather experience that is Iceland.
We had previously purchased some other bags that did not hold up well even after short usage (we should talk about one where one of the straps broke off in front of a client once!), and had a lot of hesitation regarding what bag could hold all of our gear safely (multiple camera bodies and a selection of lenses as mentioned above). Of course, we also wanted something we could carry on to an airplane, as having to check our photo gear is probably one of our worst nightmares.
Needless to say, this bag checked all the boxes. It effectively stores all of our equipment (3 camera bodies, all of our lenses, and then some). It is also very comfortable, with padding in key areas and weight distribution done right. It is also an unassuming bag, so people don’t see us coming with thousands of dollars of equipment – not that this is really an issue in Iceland, given it’s one of the safest places in the world, but still something we keep in mind. Very importantly, it also comes with a waterproofing cover, which we had to use on a few occasions when in the middle of the hike and getting caught in a random and aggressive rain storm. It kept our gear safe and dry, even though Chris got soaked because he decided to wear jeans 🙂
While this is our main bag recommendation, for fun we’d like to also suggest another we recently purchased for Jes, that we could see utilized in the context of Iceland travels.
This bag is something a little more feminine and stylish if that is your preference. The House of Flynn’s Waterbound Evermore is a bag that is convertible from an over-the-shoulder type to a backpack. It checks much of the same criteria as the other bag in a lot of ways (great storage space, comfortable, etc.) – it is just a little fancier to look at. By using this link and navigating to the product, you will also get 10% off your order.
Misc. Equipment
In this final section, we will highlight a selection of photography gear and general purpose equipment that directly benefits your photography experience in Iceland. These are items that don’t necessarily fit cleanly into the expected “photography gear” categories like a camera lens, but are necessary to have a good time with photography.
Rain/Snow Covers
While on paper visiting Iceland in early September would give us the impression we’d be seeing similar weather to what we have at home (in Pennsylvania) during the fall months, the reality is actually quite different. Unlike the dropping temperatures but overall pretty nice and temperate climate, in Iceland we were treated to sometimes rapidly changing weather. This was aided by our traveling to all corners of the country, where each section seemed to come with it’s own micro-climate.
Having seen a lot of rain and even a little bit of snow on our trip, and not to mention a slew of mud, it’s easy to envision needing something to keep your equipment safe. At it’s most basic level, a majority of the gear we use and recommend (such as the camera bodies and lenses above) are all waterproofed – though we wouldn’t take that to mean keep them outside and exposed to heavy rain if we can avoid it.
A few items we found to be useful for our own photography purposes include:
- DiCAPac WP-S10 Pro DSLR Camera Series Waterproof Case
- OP/TECH USA Camera Rain Sleeve
- UV Protectors
- Totes Signature Clear Bubble Umbrella
Listed roughly in order of importance to us, these are 4 products that were directly beneficial to the protection of our photography gear on our trip. The first two are covers for your camera, both of which are functional to keep precipitation out of the most vital parts of your camera. The UV protectors are cheap coverings that go over your camera lens (some lens kits come with these already, so you may want to check this!!) and while we generally don’t care for them, they come in handy to protect from rain, sand, dust, etc. Lastly, our transparent umbrellas are great to enable photography when you get stuck in a storm. Obviously – you can shoot from under them, but you may also take advantage of some cool shots that come from shooting through the material itself. Makes for great portrait shots too if that is your thing!!
Batteries, Storage Mediums, Laptop, and a Power Inverter
The type of extra items like this, and the quantity in some cases, will be dependent on the type of trip you are going to have in Iceland. For ourselves, since we were living out of a campervan, we needed to have a method to effectively keep our cameras ready to go, the photos we already captured safe and backed up, and so on.
If you are staying in hotels, hostels, AirBNBs, etc. – you may have an easier time. We ended up carrying around 10 Canon camera batteries, along with an unnecessarily large quantity of SD cards. At the end of each night, we would awkwardly sprawl out in our little confined camper bunk and load our photos onto our laptop and backup external HD. While this may be overkill, it’s a learned behavior that has come from shooting weddings we suppose. Given all of the poor weather we saw, we also wanted to be extra careful so as to not get a SD card wet and suddenly miss out on a few days worth of shots (and memories).
Our recommendations in all these categories below:
Batteries:
- Canon Batteries
- Big Mike’s LP E-6 Batteries (a reputable off-brand Canon camera battery for a fraction of the cost that we use)
- LP E6 LP E6N RAVPower Rechargeable Battery Charging Set for Canon
- We purchased this 2 battery + USB charging set specifically for our Iceland travels just to have some extra batteries, and an easy to use charging station. These batteries worked surprisingly well for being just $20!
SD Cards, External Hard Drives, and Laptop:
- 128GB SanDisk Extreme Pro
- 256GB SanDisk Extreme Pro
- 128GB Lexar Professional 1000x
- 256GB Lexar Professional 1000x
- WD 2TB Black My Passport HD
- Macbook Air
Power Inverter:
While most of these items are fairly self-explanatory (you probably know what a battery is and why it is important for digital photography), the power inverter is probably the most important item to consider when traveling in Iceland.
This is especially true if you are limited to a van, as you will not have the ability to charge your gear in a hotel room (if this is you – you will however need an Icelandic power adapter). In short, the power inverter plugs into your vehicles cigarette lighter and can be used to charge your camera batteries, cell phones, laptop, etc. We used this particular power inverter with no problems. With the amount of driving done around the Ring Road, it had no negative impact on our car battery.
A Comprehensive Photography Gear Guide to Iceland
Photographing Iceland is pretty easy once you have the right equipment for the job.
Honestly, every couple of kilometers we were stopping off the side of the road (in the safe pull off zones, of course) and snapping photos. If you’ve never been to Iceland before, it’s hard to fully describe it, and photos only show a snippet of it.
But…Photos you take end up being one of the best tangible references for your memory of your trip. We know we often reflect on our own Iceland travels, often with a longing to go back, and with so many great memories in our minds and heart we can frequently return more vividly through the photos we have stored.
We hope that you are able to take our recommendations in this gear guide to heart and find things that will work for you to capture the best photos possible during your trip to Iceland.
If you have any specific questions regarding the photography gear you are thinking about bringing along, feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you!!
