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10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip

By Kach Umandap September 19th, 2016 Posted in Travel Blog, Travel Gear Reviews 12 Comments

Navigating through the minefield of which are the best travel cameras is tough. And an expensive mistake if you get it wrong! Yes, a bulky camera is not ideal unless you’re a professional photographer or photography is the main reason you travel, but you’re definitely going to want to capture some of the most beautiful landscapes you’ve ever seen, or capture some of the funniest moments of your life with one click of a camera!

Here are the 10 Best Travel Cameras for your next backpacking trip! Also, if you will be buying a camera worth more than $500, don’t forget to buy your Travel Insurance!

Monkey Dividers1. Olympus Pen

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

This 12-megapixel interchangeable lens digital camera is the perfect size and weight for travel photography. It’s small enough to carry in a hand luggage but powerful enough to take quality photos. There is in-body image stabilization and a live view function. It comes with a silver body and a black lens. The creative features in the camera allow for still images and video, with enough leeway to angle the camera as you please. It has face detection, single and continuous photos, and the battery lasts around 300 photos. The minimum shutter speed is 60 seconds, and there is also a self-timer for some quality selfies! All of those features and the overall quality of the shots add up to one of the best travel cameras money can buy.

Price: Starting at $288.49

You can check more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here.  The price in Pesos:26,999.00 and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱ 1,705.53 per month.

Monkey Dividers

2. Huawei Mobile P9

10 Reasons Why Long Term Travelers (and Travel Bloggers) Should Switch to Huawei P910 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

This little machine is a cell phone that takes quality pictures for those of you who like an ‘all-in-one’ device better than lugging around multiple devices. You’ll also have less to worry about! So can a smartphone really be one of the best travel cameras available? This little travel camera takes panoramas, and the phone itself has excellent battery life. There is a dual setup, where the P9’s rear shooter is made of two 12MP units, one which captures black and white, and the other captures color. This creates more detailed shots in good light, while also reducing the noise in low light. So keep in touch, keep online and keep creating amazing travel photography!

Price: Starting at $498.89

You can check more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here. The price in Pesos:28,299.00 and for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱1,787.65 per month.

Monkey Dividers

3. Olympus Stylus Tough 6020

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

This travel camera has 5x wide-angled zoom and a 2.7 inch LCD. The zoom feature lets you get extremely close to the action from afar, and also capture everything around you. There are waterproof seals and gaskets that keep water out. You can take photos as deep as 16 feet under the water! The shock-absorbing technology protects the camera from drops of up to 5 feet. This has to be one of the best travel cameras for you adventurers who like to get close to the action, take water pictures, and are active (read: break stuff!).

Price: Starting at $299.00

You can check more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here.  The price in Pesos: ₱26,880.74 and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱ 1,698.06 per month.

Monkey Dividers

4. Canon PowerShot S100 12.1 MP Digital Camera

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

This camera has a 5x optical zoom for capturing those travel photography moments without getting in people’s faces. The Canon Hybrid IS compensates for any shift, and angular camera shakes that may occur. There is contrast detect, face detecting, multi-area shooting, single shooting, and live view so that you can view your pictures straight away. There’s a self-timer for you selfie lovers, and the battery lasts 4.81 watt hours, perfect timing for plenty of videos and photos you will take on your trip. It’s ultra-slim and ultra-intelligent, with a professional-style control for manual control. Blurring and shaking are reduced from the camera’s quality features. It has DSLR qualities in a tiny body, and all of the gadgetry watching your back makes this one of the best travel cameras for the point and shoot photographer!

Price: Starting from $399.95

You can check more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy the Canon Powershot S95 10MP 3.6x Optical Zoom in installment here. The price in Pesos: ₱10,650 and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱ 672.76 per month.

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5. Panasonic LUMIX LX 100

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

This point and shoot camera inspires creativity with its superior light capture, clear and stable framing, and full hybrid photo experience for users to get the most out of their travel photography. There’s an external flash, tracking, contrast detectors, single and tracking shooting, face detection, and live views. The average battery life is 300 photos, and it takes quality high resolution pictures, so you have the confidence that you have one of the best travel cameras, which can capture the colorful beauty of the world around you.

Price: From $697.99

You can check more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here.  The price in Pesos: ₱29,500 and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱ 1,863 per month.

Monkey Dividers

6. Fujifilm X-T10 Silver Mirrorless Digital Camera

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

The mirrorless cameras are now all the rage, especially in travel photography thanks to the reduced size. This camera has a new auto focus system, single, zone, and wide tracking, small and lightweight which makes it very easy to carry around. This makes it one of the best travel cameras for day time photography and travel photography. It’s classically styled, and has good image quality at both low and high ISOs. You can adjust exposure compensation and shutter speed with three easy to use dials. It’s highly customizable, with anything from buttons to menus.

Price: from $850.00

You can check out more details and reviews HERE.

if you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here. The price in Pesos is 41,900.00 and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱ 2,646.82 per month.

Monkey Dividers7. Canon PowerShot G7 Mark II

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

This compact travel camera comes with Canon’s new DIGIC 7 Image Processor, which helps bring quality images even in low light. The camera delivers high resolution images, with continuous shooting. It can also capture quality videos with great sound. You can control the shutter speed and aperture-priority, which means you can customize your travel photography just like a manual. Its versatility, quality images, and large buffer for continuous shooting, are what makes this one of the best travel cameras out there today.

Price: Starting from $699.00

You can check out more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here. The price in Pesos: 41,690.00 and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as₱ 2,633.56 per month.
Monkey Dividers

8. Ricoh GR II Digital Camera

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

Sometimes lesser-known manufacturers also come our with some of the best travel cameras! This camera comes with Wi-Fi functions, which is ideal for those of you who want to connect to your mobile devices. The camera has high-sensitivity shooting with minimal noise. This camera is built upon an award winning series, and has one of the smallest bodies in its class, making it a perfect small travel camera. The lens allows for high-sensitivity and professional-grade imagery. It’s the perfect camera for big pictures on a small body.

Price: Starting from $696.95

You can check out more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy the Ricoh GR Limited Edition in installment here.  The price in Pesos: 49,990 (discounted rate now is 25,948.00) and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as₱ 1,639.14 per month.

Monkey Dividers

9. Sony Alpha a6300 Mirrorless Digital Camera

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

This camera has the world’s fastest Auto Focus speed, at 0.05 seconds, which is a huge factor in travel photography. It has continuous shooting with Auto Focus and Exposure, and has superb video quality. It’s a great camera choice for shooting sports shots and action shots, and has great focus on any type of moving shots. It has more focus points than any other camera in its class, and uses the full 6K width of its sensor to sample for video, and then downsizes it to 4K, which creates great quality video. Sony have been ahead of the game for a while now when it comes to releasing some of the best travel cameras on the market – This is no different.

Price: Starting from $1,148.00

You can check out more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here.  The price in Pesos: 48,000.00 and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱ 3,032 per month.

Monkey Dividers

10. Sony DSC-RX 100/ B 20.2 MP

10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip10 Best Travel Cameras – Travel Photography

Why is it one of the best travel cameras?

Another one from Sony’s line-up of travel cameras to finish! This camera comes with burst mode shots, contrast detector, selective single-point shooting, face detection and tracking, and single and continuous shooting. It’s one of the most capable cameras today, because it combines image quality of a mid-sized sensor and conventional compact. For DSLR shooters, this is a great, lightweight camera with manual settings for full control, perfect for carrying around on backpacking trips.

Price: Starting from $498.00

You can check out more details and reviews HERE.

If you’re from the Philippines, you can buy it installment here.  The price in Pesos: ₱36,525 (discounted rate now:  26,089.00) and installment for Up to 24 months, as low as ₱ 1,648.04 per month.

REMEMBER: If you’re planning on buying a camera worth more than $500, don’t forget to buy your Travel Insurance!

Monkey Dividers

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12 thoughts on “10 Best Travel Cameras for Your Next Backpacking Trip

  1. The Panasonic and FujiFilm looks good. I use a Nikon DSLR and recently got my daughter a Polaroid so that that is what we normally use in addition to the iPhone camera. Still, it’s been interesting to see all the advances in cameras over the last couple of years.

    1. Hi, Ticker Eats The World! We agree with you that the Panasonic LUMIX and Fujifilm Digital Camera both look good! We were also fascinated by the new developments in cameras.

  2. Your whole list of cameras are so tempting. I usually buy and use Canon or Nikon cameras, but I was thinking of trying some different brands for their unique features. The shutter speed on the Sony Alpha is amazing.

    1. Hey, Travel Ninjas! Thank you! We did our best to select the best cameras for this list. Yes, we like the Sony Alpha Digital Camera too.

  3. Great post and helpful for those doing their camera shopping for December holidays! I am in the market for a DSLR for myself as christmas gift to me. Thanks for sharing this!

    1. Hi, Carla! Yes, it is holiday season! We want to help our readers make the best choice in getting a new digital camera. Thank you!

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Written by Kach Umandap

Founder of Two Monkeys Travel Group. Since 2013, Kach has visited all the 7 continents (including Antarctica) and 151 countries using her Philippines Passport. In 2016, she bought a sailboat and went on sailing adventures with her two cats - Captain Ahab & Little Zissou in the Caribbean for 2 years. She now lives in Herceg Novi, Montenegro where she's enjoying her expat life and living on a gorgeous Stonehouse. She writes about her experiences traveling as a Filipina traveler with a PHL Passport. Also tips on backpacking trips, luxury hotel experiences, product reviews, sailing & adventure travel.