City breaks are a fantastic way to enjoy photography and in my opinion are best explored with a small, light, but capable kit in order to get the most out of your visit. So in this blog I want to share with you my small kit which allows me to plan, get around, shoot and even edit all from this tiny sling bag. If you’re new here, hello, I am Roman and I travel full time with a focus on city breaks and street photography.

Sling

Having used both backpacks and slings, I generally prefer a small sling. First of all you don’t end up with a sweaty back especially if walking long distances. Secondly if you are somewhere very crowded especially where pick pocketing is a risk, then being able to have your sling tight against your chest adds a level of security. Where’s if you are somewhere more open you can relax it a little and have it round your back. A good sling can also act as a mini table for swapping lenses over and finally it does not need to be removed to access what’s inside. The downsides of a sling is that you are limited with what you can bring especially items like water. So you end up relying on buying water rather than bringing your own. Personally I used a small 3L Peak Design sling and find it sufficient. When filled up with all the items I will share in a minute, this bag is about 90% full so there his some room to breath.

XT4

The camera of choice is the XT4 as for me it covers both photography and video. If you are only into photography I would actually recommend the XT3 instead. Same camera but smaller, lighter and has better photo focused features. The only reason you’d get the XT4 is for the IBIS which could come in handy if you like to shoot at night a lot. At this point I also want to quickly plug my Fujifilm Camera guides available for the XT3, XT4 and X100v. These guides will take you through how I set up and use my Fujifilm cameras and they have been put together after years of experience. They are basically your shortcut to getting the most out of your Fuji and getting up and running in no time.

18mm f1.4

The first lens I have is a wide angle prime, specifically it’s a Fujifilm 18mm f1.4. In full frame terms you are looking at around 27mm. This lens I use for establishing city scape shots, for architecture, tight street alleyways and markets and to just document my day. This also doubles up as a great environmental portrait lens too. I went for the f1.4 specifically because I want to shoot more in low light in the future, however if you will only shoot during the day, then I would suggest getting a lens that’s not as fast. For example the Fuji 16mm f2.8. It’s a little wider but is also half the price, size and weight.

33mm f1.4

The second lens I bring with me is the 33mm f1.4 which in full frame terms is 50mm. This is my detail and subject lens which allows me to isolate interesting subjects as well as focus in on unique details within the scene. I went for the f1.4 for the same reason as with the 18. So if you don’t plan on shooting at night, then I would actually suggest the 35mm f2 which is again half the size, price and weight. One upside which does make the 33 and 18 more worthwhile is that they are incredibly sharp and are designed for higher megapixel sensors. This means that I have more flexibility when it comes to cropping both now and in the future. Before moving on though, I just want to say that prime lenses are not essential and you can equally use a zoom lens like the fuji 18-55 which funny enough is the same size as one of these primes.

Spare battery

Always bring a spare battery. They are small and inexpensive. I bring one but if your camera is known to have a crap battery, then two wouldn’t hurt. Running out of juice when you are somewhere cool is never fun.

Battery pack

However if you do run out of battery or worse still your phone runs out of battery, then having a battery pack can really get you out of a pickle. I use an Anker 10000 pack which I’ve had for years and it has never let me down. It doesn’t really matter what pack you have as long as you have something. Having a dead phone when you’re trying to navigate a new location is never ideal.

Cable and adaptors

I have one usb c to usb c cable and a few usb c adaptors

USB C to USB A
USB C to lightning
UUSB C to micro usb

This system allows me to only bring one cable but be able to charge all my devices as well as draw power from other USB ports and even charge someone else’s device should they need to via micro USB or USB A. The cable is Anker again and adaptors are just amazon specials.

Spare SD

The XT4 has two SD card slots which are set to backup and I can’t remember if I ever had a memory card corrupt. Nevertheless I always throw one SD card into the bag just in case. If your camera has only one card slot, then I would say a spare memory card is a must.

SD lightning reader

I always have this SD card to lightning adapter in my bag. It will make more sense in a minute but it allows me to transfer my photos from my camera to my iPhone in the quickest, most direct and reliable way possible. I don’t often transfer my photos to my phone but if I am faced with a long journey or a delay, then why not begin the process of culling and editing while you have time to kill

iPhone

This iPhone 13 pro max is like my pocket computer and sometimes I forget just how much it can do. The reason I went for the pro is for the cameras. I think the iPhone is just as good of a camera as the fuji but it has it’s own use case. This use case is anywhere where a bigger camera can either be frowned upon or not allowed at all. This happens more than you think especially in museums. The reason I went for the bigger screen is because I generally prefer larger displays but mostly because the larger iPhone has a much bigger and better battery. I also went for the 512gb to ensure I never run out of space. Finally this iPhone is the best research and bookmarking tool. I use it as a visual notebook when it comes to locations or things to remember. Specifically if I see a shot that I can’t take because maybe I don’t have a long lens with me, I would take a photo on my phone and now I have the location and time of say so I can come back later and get the shot. Same with locations and places to eat. I then keep a folder with all these images for future reference.

Apps

These are the apps I use on my phone to help with photography and travel. Lightroom is my photo editing app and all my images are stored in the Adobe cloud. So going back to using the SD dongle to import photos, I can now import photos to my phone, cull them, do some basic edits and then upload to Adobe cloud all from my phone. Then when I get home I can open my laptop and all those photos are there ready for the finishing touches. Photo Pills is great for planning sunset and sunrise shoots. It tells you the time, direction and path of the sun which is incredibly useful. Tide Pro can be a literal life saver if you’re shooting somewhere that has a river or any kind of tide. London is a great example where the tide can be quite extreme. You don’t want to venture out not knowing when the tide comes in and potentially get cut off. Maps.me is a fantastic map application which allows you to download and store full featured maps locally on your phone so you are never stuck without a map if you lose signal. Citymapper is my go to public transport navigation app. In some cities it is better than others but in general it’s the app I use the almost all the time. Finally footpath is a great route planning app. I use it to plan photo walks and routes around the city. I can then figure out how long the route is, any obstacles to avoid and then export it as a GPX file for future reference. I can even export the route directly to my Apple Watch.

Apple Watch

Talking of the watch, this always comes with me whenever I leave the house. Many people use it to track steps and so on, but for me it is a fantastic way to keep an eye on my messages, navigate and even pay for things without having to get my phone out especially in a busy public place.

AirPods

Last but not least I have my AirPods which actually serve 3 purposes. The first two are obvious, taking calls and listening to a podcast or music on the bus. However the transparency mode means you can have your headphones in and still clearly hear everything around you. If for whatever reason you don’t want to be disturbed or bothered, this is a great way to go about it.

Bits and bobs

Finally there are some odds and sods such as a lens cloth and wipe, lip balm, mask, some cash, wallet, sanitiser and some tissues.

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My Photography Daily Carry - Perfect for City Breaks