Surf Photography Gear Guide - What’s In My Kit Bag? 📷 (Sony A7IV) | Stoked For Travel

When it comes to surf photography gear, there's plenty of options out there for all styles and of course budgets.
So what's the best gear for you?
Well to help you choose, here's a full rundown of what's in my personal kit back, based on my own research and recommendations from photographer friends!
You can easily spend thousands on lenses and camera bodies, so doing your research is well worth the time and effort to choose the gear that's right for you shooting style and budget!
So from big 200-600mm lenses, through to more affordable options for when you're just starting out, my surf photography gear guide should be a great starting point for helping make the right decision for you...
⬇️ Kit mentioned in this guide ⬇️
Sony A7IV - amzn.to/3wm0PJE
Sony 24-105mm Lens - amzn.to/3wkZHFU
Sony 200-600mm Lens - amzn.to/3wiZljl
Sony 50mm Lens - amzn.to/3R091qU
Manfrotto BeFree Tripod - amzn.to/3ABkE1T
GoPro Hero 10 - amzn.to/3A8Uy4V
Liquid Eye Surf Housing - liquideye.net/
URTH Filters - amzn.to/3wBzAuv
URTH Cleaning Kit - amzn.to/3PGtobB
URTH Camera Strap - amzn.to/3PDXagX
Amazon Hard Case - amzn.to/3dAVJm2
Sandisk SD Cards - amzn.to/3ABuTTR
Sandisk SSD Drive - amzn.to/3AAHJlu
What we'll be covering in this guide:
✅ All my current surf photography gear
✅ Sony A7IV camera
✅ Best surf photography lenses
✅ Including the Sony 200-600mm lens
✅ In water surf photography kit
✅ My current drone setup
✅ Best surf photography accessories
✅ Sample footage from the Sony A7IV 40K 60FPS
⬇️ Read more about all my surf photography gear here ⬇️
www.stokedfortravel.com/surf-...
Chapters:
0:00 Surf Photography Gear Guide
0:14 Intro
0:56 Camera Body (Sony A7IV)
1:58 Budget Friendly Options
2:26 Surf Photography Lenses
3:11 Sony 50mm 2.5 G Lens (In Water Surf Photography)
3:47 Sony 24-105mm G Lens (Great All Round Lens)
4:29 Sony 200-600mm G Lens (My Go To Surf Photography Lens)
5:03 More Budget Zoom Options
5:58 In Water Surf Photography (Liquid Eye Housing)
6:25 GoPro Hero 10
6:51 Drone Photography (Mavic Air 2)
7:22 Best Accessories
7:44 Camera Strap
8:21 Lens Filters
9:28 Lens Cleaning Kit
10:10 Spare Batteries
10:41 Camera Cases
11:33 SD Cards
12:05 SSD Hard Drives
12:33 Tripods (Manfrotto BeFree)
13:09 Useful Links
📷 MY CAMERA GEAR 📷
DJI Pocket 2 Creator Combo - amzn.to/3x4lrUi
DJI Mavic Air 2 - amzn.to/2ZKGBK2
GoPro Hero 10 - amzn.to/3A8Uy4V
Sony A7IV - amzn.to/3wm0PJE
Sony 24-105mm Lens - amzn.to/3wkZHFU
Sony 200-600mm Lens - amzn.to/3wiZljl
Sony 50mm Lens - amzn.to/3R091qU
Manfrotto BeFree Tripod - amzn.to/3ABkE1T
Get unlimited music for videos here ➡️ soundstripe.com?fpr=stokedfortravel
Editing: Final Cut Pro X
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▬ ABOUT ▬
I’m Chris - award winning travel blogger, surfer, photographer and ocean lover originally from Devon in the UK. Since 2009 I've been bouncing around the world sharing my adventures and providing reviews, advice and tips to help you plan your own adventure!
VISIT ➜ www.StokedForTravel.com

[@StokedForTravel]

📷 Links to all the gear in this guide can be found in the description 📷 ⬇ Read more about all my surf photography gear here ⬇ www.stokedfortravel.com/surf-photography-gear-guide/

[@RuaridhKidd]

I've been shooting in Sri Lanka for the last 3 years and my work horse lens has been the Sigma 150-600mm! But I think it might be time to trade it in for an upgrade. Thanks for the videos man. Always jumping back on KZbin to see if you have any more tips and tricks with surfing and photography!

[@StokedForTravel]

150-600 is a solid range for sure! If you’re over on Sony I can’t rate the 200-600 highly enough, absolute beauty, buuuuuut is certainly not a cheap piece of gear! 🤙

[@groovylouu]

Great video man! Been living between Indonesia and Hawaii for the last couple years. It's finally dawned on me to up my surf game photography and this answered my questions!!

[@StokedForTravel]

Niiiiiiice, sounds like you're living the dream! Stoked to hear the video helped you out!

[@joshcampos62]

Just bought a Sony a7iii specifically for surf video and photography; this video was very helpful!

[@StokedForTravel]

Stoked it helped you out Josh! Looking forward to seeing what you create! 🤙

[@filmpac]

Great video!!!

[@StokedForTravel]

thanks heaps

[@naludog8087]

Great video. Thank you for posting. What CPL filter do you reccomend? There are so many options it would be great to have a reccomendation from someone that has used it in the field. I am fliming on the NS of Oahu from land and in the water. Canon R5C with RF100-500 and RF 24-105. Aloha...

[@StokedForTravel]

Glad you enjoyed it 😊 filter wise all my current ones are from a company called URTH - really good glass and not crazy prices either, they do a range of options and sizing to suit most lenses too 🤙

[@ido_is_here]

Great video thank you, just you said that the 200-600 is a f4 while it is a f5.6-6.3

[@StokedForTravel]

Sorry that’s my bad - a lot of info to remember when filming and sometimes I make a few mistakes! 🤣

[@ido_is_here]

@@StokedForTravel I'm really thinking about which lens to begin with for my surfing filming and photographing. I'm debating between the 200-600 and the 70-200 f4 mark 2 combined with 1.4x teleconverter. Would you mind throwing here your opinion please?

[@StokedForTravel]

@@ido_is_here this is a tough one! the 70-200 will then also be a much more useful lens to have in your kit bag overall, but the extra reach on the 600 is really epic, although this does also depend where you're shooting as sometimes you can be a bit closer to the action. I was debating the convertor for my 600 as well actually, but decided not to as from my research is seems the convertor effects the A/F quite a bit, which for the pace of movement of surfing is not a great issue to be having!

[@julianmorganx]

Fantastic video man! Would you ever recommend a 70 - 200 for shooting surf photography from the beach? Or do you find that focal length not offering enough reach? Any help would be super appreciated! Cheers

[@StokedForTravel]

Glad you like it Julian! I used a 200mm for a while as well, but you will find (for most surf spots anyway) that it’s super difficult to get a tight shot and you’ll be cropping into a lot in post. Really depends where you’re shooting though and also what your budget is too!

[@julianmorgan1933]

@@StokedForTravel makes total sense, really appreciate the heads up man! I was hoping to hit 2 birds with one stone, as a 70-200 is also super useful for shooting other sports. No chance you've ever had experience with using a 2x tele converter on a lens? Could then potentially get the reach with a 70 - 200?

[@StokedForTravel]

@@julianmorgan1933 with the tele convertors, just double check the compatibility as when I was looking at options they don't work with all lenses (on Sony anyway!) but that could be a really solid option for sure!

[@joshcampos62]

Do you use the Manfrotto befree live 3way advanced one? Do you use the vertical orientation when you shoot surf?

[@StokedForTravel]

Just using the original at the moment but I might upgrade the head at some point. Shooting in landscape but then cropping in post for vertical orientation for insta reels/tik tok if needed 🤙

[@joshcampos62]

Okay sick

[@joshcampos62]

@@StokedForTravel and it hold the 200-600 well? Do you anchor it down with stuff to keep it more secure. I wanna get the tripod in ur link but didn’t know if it was to light for the Sony 200-600

[@joshcampos62]

Can you flip the sony 200-600 lens vertical while the camera body is still in horizontal orientation

[@StokedForTravel]

How do you mean? For shooting in portrait mode?

[@joshcampos62]

Yea. Someone told me you can shoot vertical with the Sony 200-600 while the body of the camera is resting on a horizontal tripod by twisting the lens somehow

[@roaldarts7641]

@@joshcampos62 you can not, however the lens wil turn within the color of the leg for the the tripod. So you can turn the lens vertical while mounted to a tripod but the body will always turn with the camera.

[@M_C__studio]

Yeah maybe that’s what your friend meant? The orientation of the image is reliant on the orientation of the sensor, and that’s internal in the camera body

[@M_C__studio]

But I can see how maybe you can turn the camera body, while the lens is on the tripod, which will give you a different orientation. I’d love to get that lens and use it and play around with it. Maybe one day!