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3 Fantastic Lenses for Travel Photography with Your Sony Camera

Chris Gampat
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11/09/2021
4 Mins read
Hillary Grigonis The Phoblographer Tamron 18-300mm review 2116

Last Updated on 11/10/2021 by Chris Gampat

The season for travel photography is quickly approaching! Besides taking all the safety precautions for a cold-weather trip or to a remote area, you’ll probably want to pack some great camera gear with you, too. Lucky for you, we know exactly what you need if you’ve got a Sony camera, and we’re rounding up some of the best lenses for travel photography. And we didn’t forget about you folks shooting with APS-C cameras either!

Editor’s Note: In a previous version of this article, we forgot to put the disclaimer. We apologize for this.

This piece is presented in partnership with BRAND. We’ve independently and ethically reviewed all the products in this round-up already without sponsorship. And we worked with them to recommend a few key gems to you.

The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Pro Tips for Using Lenses for Travel Photography

Here are some tips from the pros on choosing lenses for travel photography:

  • Go lightweight. No one needs or wants to drag around big, heavy lenses unless it’s a paid gig.
  • The lenses we’re showcasing have weather sealing. They’re great for the rain forests, cities, deserts, snowy mountains, etc.
  • Lenses for travel photography should be able to fulfill a variety of tasks. Portraits, landscapes, cityscapes, long exposures, etc. These lenses are great for these photo opportunities.
  • These lenses are pretty compact, so they won’t take up much room in your camera bag.

Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Di III RXD

In the field: This lens survived some of the hardest rains that we’ve tested a lens in. We were incredibly shocked at how well it did.

Use it for: Grab this lens when you want a more normal field of view and want to shoot wider. Exploring architecture in Europe? This lens is the one you should bring along with you. It’s one of our favorites.

In our review, we state:

“The autofocus on the Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Di III RXD is mostly what surprised me. Of course, it’s going to be fast to focus because this is a wide angle lens. But then I remembered that Sony owns part of Tamron. And so I’m pretty sure the two are probably talking and working together in some ways. Photographers using the AF-C function with face detection and AF-Lock tracking will have a lot of joy using the Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Di III RXD. Not only is it fast, but it’s also accurate most of the time.”

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Tamron 18-300mm f3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD

In the field: This lens survived a lot of abuse on both camera systems that we’ve tested it on. And it’s really hard to not recommend it as a general photowalking lens. It’s one of the most perfect lenses for travel photography and remains super compact when carried in a camera bag.

Use it for: A lens like this belongs on your Sony APS-C camera. Use it as a general travel lens to shoot everything. Indeed, it really can do everything you need or demand from it.

In our review, we state:

“That’s a 1:2 magnification ratio, which is excellent for a lens that’s not a dedicated macro. And frankly, it’s also impressive for a lens that goes from 18-300mm as well. The close-up capabilities aren’t as good on the telephoto end at 1:4, so photographers will have to remind themselves to zoom out, then physically bring the lens closer.”

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Tamron 35mm f2.8 Di III OSD M1:2

In the field: This lens mounts onto your Sony camera to be a pretty compact package overall. But better yet, it’s incredibly well weather-sealed. So when you take it out into the wild, it’s always going to be protected. If you’ve got one of Sony’s better sealed cameras, it will be too!

Use it for: The most lightweight, general walkaround lens you can get is the Tamron 35mm f2.8 Di III OSD M1:2. Compared to what Sony has, this lens is much more weather resistant and incredibly affordable.  Plus it has a 1:2 macro for amazing close-ups during your travels.

In our review, we state:

“The colors rendered by the Tamron 35mm f2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 (Model F053) are accurate and vivid without being overly saturated. Under certain lighting conditions, the colors produced by the Tamron 35mm f2.8 can be downright painterly. Landscape and portrait photographers alike will appreciate the Tamron 35mm f2.8’s ability to accurately capture their subjects.”

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autofocus build quality Cameras Lenses for Travel Photography review Sony cameras tamron tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Tamron 17-28mm f2.8 Di III RXD tamron 18-300mm Tamron 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD Tamron 35mm Tamron 35mm f2.8 Tamron 35mm f2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 Travel Photography weather sealing
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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