Camera/lens selection for backcountry trips

[LiquidLasagna]

I'd stick to Canon. Not because they're the best or they fit your needs--that's a "Ford vs. Chevy" debate. It's because you've already got a Canon so if you upgrade your body, there's a chance your existing batteries will work and your existing lens might work (again, depending upon what you buy). Plus you're used to the Canon menu system (even though you're inexperienced). I say all this as a long-time Nikon user. Everyone has their favorite. Frankly, the camera body isn't going to mean that much (especially if you're inexperienced with photography). Your lens and your preparation will matter more than the camera body.

In an ideal world you'd buy mirrorless. They're smaller and lighter (and for multi-day hikes that's critical). You ideally want to take one lens. Changing lens in the outdoors is something you want to do as little as possible (to avoid getting dust in the body). Do bring extra batteries. And if you buy mirrorless, buy extra extra batteries--they run through juice like crazy.

If you're going to be shooting sunrises and sunsets or wild animals in a lot of darkness (say...a poorly lit forest), you'll need a tripod. If you get a good one it can double as an okay hiking stick. But let's assume you're not shooting in low light.

In that case, ideally you'll look for what is called a "super zoom" lens. It's a lens that will shoot at around 30mm (ideal for landscape) and as far out as 200mm or even 300mm (important for wildlife). Important points--sharpness of detail with such lens is going to go down a lot at the extremes. And all zooms are not as sharp as a good prime lens. But if you invest in a super zoom lens you'll keep it on your camera and won't need to swap lens. A super zoom will probably weigh a lot but that's better than carrying two lens and having to swap them in and out.

I was thinking the one lens to do everything would be
Canon 24-240mm IS [2019] [$650]
for the best trade off for quality vs price
and one lens for going out to sniff the wildlife, since it's painful to have a bunch of lenses past your lawn

 

[cgw]

Zombie thread. OP MIA since 10/23. Why post?

 

[LiquidLasagna]

Well sometimes people read interesting posts
and the lens info is pretty good in here, no matter what the date

 

[JoeW]

Well sometimes people read interesting posts
and the lens info is pretty good in here, no matter what the date

Agreed. I admire the thankless job of the mods to police the site and put old threads to bed that are no longer relevant. But there are some threads that provide useful information that a new user wouldn't think to search for.

 

[RScottie]

As a DSLR newb, I do benefit from these "zombie" threads as I have a current desire to expand my limited lens collection.

Currently, I have two "kit" lens, the 18-55mm EF-S and the 75-300 EF lenses that are being used on my Canon EOS T7 crop sensor camera.

As such, all information is helpful.

 

[MontanaDave]

Probably a moot post, but the original post budget was $5,000.
For backcountry, I would purchase used:
Canon R7 $1200 (crop factor 1.6X)
Canon RF 70-200 F2.8 for low light and environmental photos $2,000
Canon RF 100-400mm for wildlife photos $600