Last Updated on 11/14/2024 by Chris Gampat
Most of us, when we travel, want to pack lightweight. But more importantly, if we’re bringing a camera with us, we don’t want to bring something big along. That’s because it can get in the way, call attention to us, and can wear you down. There’s nothing worse than having a sweat stain across your shirt because of the heavy camera strap in the summer. So, if you’re looking to travel lightweight, then consider our list of the best lenses for travel photographers you’ll actually want to carry around with you. Best of all, they were all tested by the humans here on staff.
This blog post is presented in partnership with LUMIX.
We’re going to say this right off the bat: this article is presented in partnership with LUMIX. But at the same time, we also are transparently stating that we don’t write anything we don’t truly believe in. Trust us, it has caused lots of friction in advertising campaigns with other advertisers. And if we don’t have the facts to back up what we’re saying, we won’t say it. These truly are the best full-frame cameras with a film look for good reasons.
There’s great news for you reading this: LUMIX lenses are small, lightweight, affordable, and they don’t skimp out on performance. With many other brands, there’s always some sort of compromise. But in this case, that doesn’t happen.
Here are the best interchangeable lens cameras available now.
Why You Should Trust Us
The Phoblographer has been doing real-world photography gear tests longer than any other photography publication currently run. We also have the largest database of real-world lens reviews, amongst other things like straps, camera bags, lights, accessories, and more. Here’s why that matters:
- AI Can’t Do This Job: These days, other publications do roundups, sometimes using generative AI. That’s the same as a person researching products and then making a decision without actually trying it. All of our reviews and guides are written not just by humans but by working photographers — not AI. Computers don’t use cameras, so why would you trust AI to recommend cameras for you?
- Research and Practical Experience: Here at the Phoblographer, humans consult on what roundups to do with guidance from an editor. Then, a human goes through our database of reviews and selects the best products based on our own internal research. The human creating the roundup has practical experience with photography gear and will apply their knowledge of what’s best to the already human-based experience provided in our reviews.
- We Block AI Bots: The Phoblographer blocks indexing bots from reading our site, so what’s here can only be read here.
How We Test and Choose the Best Lenses for Travel Photography You’ll Actually Want to Carry
- 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 we’ve fully reviewed in these roundups.
- 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.
- When we test lenses, we’ve got various things in mind. First off, we consider who might want to buy the lens and what they might do with it. With that in mind, we try to tackle at least three genres of photography with that lens in a variety of situations. If the lens has weather resistance, then we’ll test it accordingly with a weather-resistant camera. We also test the autofocus of the lens in continuous mode, single mode, with exposure preview effects, without those effects, and then with all the major image quality parameters. These days, no one really makes a bad lens — but some are far better than others. The same applies to working with cameras.
- In this specific roundup, we’re basing our findings on the reviews that we’ve done. We’re choosing a favorite, but we’re also giving photographers a bunch of others that they might like, depending on how they shoot.
Our Choice Amongst the Best Lenses for Travel Photography: LUMIX 24-105mm f4
If you’re going to travel, we always recommend packing lightweight and the LUMIX 24-105mm f4 is our favorite pick. Overall, it’s versatile with a consistent f4 aperture. When you pair it with the LUMIX S5 II, you’ll get some of the best image stabilization you can ask for. It’s also fairly small while being weather-resistant and exhibiting really nice image quality.
Why It’s So Great
- Image stabilization is excellent in most cases; but most effective during the daytime.
- Solid image quality, very sharp!
- Nice bokeh for portraits
- Very versatile
- Probably as compact as you’re going to get for this system
- Perhaps the best current option at this zoom range as Leica has nothing that is a constant aperture and Sigma’s lenses are clones of their DSLR options.
- Built incredibly well
- Fairly priced
Tech Specs
- 24-105mm standard focal macro zoom F4 L-Mount for LUMIX S Series Full-Frame L-Mount Lens
- O.I.S. STABILIZATION
- 16 lenses in 13 groups; 2 aspherical lenses and 2 ED (Extra-low Dispersion) Lenses
- MACRO LENS – 0.5x macro shooting with a minimum focusing distance of 0.3m
- RUGGED LENS DESIGN – Dust/splash*/freeze-resistant design withstands use under harsh conditions
- Lens Mount: Lens Mount: Leica L
- Lens Format: Lens Format: Full-Frame
- Mirrorless: Zoom: 24-105mm
- Maximum Aperture: Maximum Aperture: f/4
- Special Features: Aspherical, Dustproof/Splashproof
- Image Stabilization: Image Stabilization: Yes (OIS)
- Lens Type: Macro Lens, Wide Angle Zoom Lens
What We Think
In our review, we state:
What the Lumix S 24-105mm f4 Macro OIS excels at…is the image quality.
There’s More! Here are Other Lightweight Lenses You’ll Want to Travel With
To keep things as small as possible, we’re choosing only prime lenses for this roundup going forward. We recommend that you bring along one of these lenses with the 24-105mm f4. And you’ve got lots of options.
LUMIX S 35mm f1.8
In our review, we state:
While this lens is plastic, LUMIX says it is dust and splash-resistant, as well as being rated for shooting 10 degrees below zero. I took this lens hiking in the snow to photograph ice caves and frozen waterfalls. The snow was falling hard enough to build up between the dials on the S5 body. But, I didn’t experience any issues with the lens shooting in the snowfall. I didn’t find any internal fogging or moisture. There was some slight dust on the camera sensor, which could possibly be attributed to swapping lenses.
LUMIX S 50mm f1.8
In our review we state:
It can offer nice bokeh, beautiful color, and sharpness. It doesn’t have character per se, but it also doesn’t exhibit anything that folks these days would consider to be flaws.
LUMIX S 26mm f8
In our review, we state:
Turn your lemons into the finest lemonade the summer has given you.
Do I sound nuts? Maybe. But I’m so sick of overly sharp lenses, and an autofocus game that leads photographers to all make the same photographs. Do it yourself.
LUMIX S 18mm f1.8
In our review, we state:
The LUMIX 18mm f1.8 is in a pretty special place. It’s a small, lightweight lens with full weather resistance, and it focuses incredibly fast. Beyond that, it delivered images that I wouldn’t have imagined otherwise.
Using This Guide to Our Favorite Lenses for Travel Photography
If you’re considering purchasing anything from this list of our favorite lenses for travel photography, know the following:
- All the product images and sample photos in these roundups are shot by our staff. In fact, we don’t talk about products at length in roundups like this unless we’ve done full reviews of them. But you can surely know that we’ve done all the research ourselves.
- This list of the our favorite lenses for travel photography includes a lot of options for a variety of photographers. We didn’t necessarily feel the need for a longer portrait focal length because a few of the lenses are more than good enough for most needs when it comes to shooting that subject matter. But otherwise, we were focusing on small, lightweight, rugged, and high-performance.
- If you shoot portraits, consider the 50mm or 35mm.
- If you shoot landscapes, try out the 35mm or the 18mm.
- The 26mm is the standout offering here. If you embrace the idea of “F8 and be there, then grab this one.”
- Truly, you could create a whole kit for your LUMIX full-frame camera by buying all these lenses and therefore being all set.
- All of our favorite lenses for travel photography are weather-resistant. In fact, LUMIX has built that feature into all their Lumix S lenses. It means that they’ll last that much longer because they’re so much more durable while being lightweight.
- All of these lenses work well with any L-mount camera.
Picking the Right One For You
If you’re still a bit confused as to the right lens for you, here are some questions to ask yourself
- What’s your budget?
- How will you use the product?
- What lighting situations are you in, and how will that affect what you’re doing? Our reviews hyperlinked in this article can help with that.
- Are you traveling a lot with it?
- Will you be using it in a situation that’s a bit rougher?
- Who else uses this product? How are they using it?
- What’s so appealing about this product that I can’t get from what I have already or something else?
- When will I really have time to use this product?
- Where will I bring this product?
- How will this product help bring me joy and joy in my photography?
These are just a few of the questions that we ask ourselves, but we think that you should ask yourself these for sure.