Full disclosure: I have a strong bias towards Canon. I have been a Canon shooter for my whole career. But my support for Canon isn’t unfounded. I strongly believe that you should buy Canon over any other brand, especially for travelling, and not just because of the cameras themselves. Here’s why…
Enormous Range Of Lenses
At the time of writing this, Canon has EF, EF-S, EF-M, and RF lenses in production. That’s a huge range which are largely cross compatible, which means (sometimes with the assistance of mount adapters) EF lenses can fit onto EF, EF-S, EF-M and RF mount Canon cameras, for a start.
Since Canon is so popular and has been around so long, there is an established used lens market. Even if you like to buy new, this is important for when you want to sell your lenses as it will be much easier to do so. It also means that there are a huge number of third-party lenses by manufacturers such as Sigma and Tamron.
Aftermarket Accessories
Just like lenses, Canon has a huge amount of aftermarket accessories due to the brand’s long established popularity. This means a plethora of cases, microphones, dive housings, screen protectors, and more. Importantly, the more popular a camera model is, the cheaper accessories tend to be.
Canon Mobile Apps
Most camera manufacturers either don’t have a mobile app or their apps are poorly made. While Canon had to spend a long time getting their mobile apps up the scratch, they now have the best mobile photography apps on the market… except maybe DJI’s.
This is extremely important for travellers as it means we don’t need to carry extra remotes, cables, etc. as we can now control our cameras with our phones and transfer RAW images wirelessly.
Extremely Long Warranty
While warranty length and inclusions vary from country to country, in Australia Canon offers a 5 year warranty on all DSLR and Mirrorless cameras. That’s more than twice as long as Sony and Olympus’ 2 year warranty, and 5 times as long as Nikon’s and Fujifilm’s 1 year warranty. They’re literally years ahead of the market when it comes to warranty.
Community & Support
A long warranty is meaningless if the support isn’t there. Luckily, Canon’s customer support is the industry’s peak – that is why Canon is so popular amongst industry professionals: when your $8,000 camera body malfunctions you want it fixed, and you want it fixed fast.
Moreover, Canon’s long-term popularity has given rise to a global community. Facebook groups, forums, meet-ups, Instagram accounts, all created to help you grow as a photographer. Canon is very aware of this organic community and has gone to a lot of effort to main and further improve this community.
In Australia, Canon has done this by creating the Canon Collective, a group you can find on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, that showcase member’s work, that holds competitions, provides previews of upcoming products, organises exclusive access to otherwise unphotographable experiences (such as Sydney’s Harbour Bridge climb), and more.
Canon is investing a lot of time, effort, and resources in keeping its community healthy, a tactic that will continue to pay-off for the brand as opposed to simply running marketing campaigns.
Refined Ergonomics
This is one of the most subjective points on this list, but I believe it’s also one of the most important points for travellers. Afterall, do you want to use a camera that’s uncomfotrable to hold? Of course not. This is another reason why professionals, who may be shooting for hours on end with heavy lenses, most often choose Canon.
After decades of innovation, Canon knows how to make a strong, versatile camera, that can shoot from many angles, change lenses and settings quickly, all without your hand cramping up prematurely. Travllers already suffer enough cramps, don’t you think?
