We get lots of questions about the gear we use, so we collected everything in one place for you! From cameras, to lenses, to the tripod and even computers we use to edit.
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Best Cameras for Wildlife Photography
We use two Canon EOS R6‘s at Mountains and Treasures – every image you see on our website and Instagram was taken using one of them! They offer some of the best bang for your buck out of any modern camera.
While they don’t have quite the resolution of their brother the Canon EOS R5, we find that 20MP is all we need – even for large metal prints.
We LOVE mirrorless cameras for how light and easy to bring hiking they are compared to the old school DSLR’s. We opted for Canon for their great reputation, beautiful colour science and dedicated animal eye detection.
Best Lenses for Wildlife Photography
One of the comments we always get is “wow, you must have been so close!” Kind of – in reality we just use super long lenses to make it look like that! Investing in good glass is crucial for wildlife photography. If you have a limited budget, we recommend spending on good lenses over having the latest camera body.
This lens is definitely an investment, but it’s a must for most wildlife – especially small, fast moving subjects like birds and pikas. The autofocus is fast and quiet. It also has enough length to help you keep a safe distance from bears and elk, while still capturing a crisp and intimate image. This is the lens that’s attached to Steve’s camera 95% of the time.
Hardware and Software
We use Macintosh laptops at Mountains and Treasures for their colour accuracy, reliability and portability.
16GB of memory works great for editing our photos using Lightroom and Photoshop.
We store most of the actual files on external hard drives (below).
External hard drives are a must if you don’t want to clog up your computer’s hard drive with thousands of photos!
We also keep an extra hard drive on hand to back up photos in the field (because you can never have too many back-ups.)
LaCie hard drives are rugged enough to carry around in your backpack and offer plenty of storage space.
While some external hard drive brands have issues with the cords over time, we haven’t had any problems with our LaCie drives (knock on wood!)
Other Photography Gear
Having a backpack keeps your gear from getting bashed around as you trek through the bush and take it in and out of your vehicle.
Steve has been using the Tenba Axis backpack daily since he moved to Canmore, and it’s holding up beautifully.
There’s space for multiple sets of gear, your phone, and all of your other little gadgets too. We love the multiple different ways to access your gear, so you’re never fumbling around looking for the right lens!