So, you have decided to make the jump and commit to a long-distance hike. This is going to be an experience to remember for life and it’s only natural to want to capture it in some way. Some like to write, others paint, many love videos, but I love photos and I imagine you do too. Photos capture moments in a way that no other medium can. Nothing else can capture a moment so quickly, in such detail, and be able to hang it on a wall. What to take though? There are a dizzying number of options regarding not only cameras but lenses and accessories. I hope I can help you get a better idea of what would do well for you. Before you can go further there are some considerations to think about.
To the Point
2023 Update: I find myself preparing for a 30-day thru of the Arizona Trail. Even though this is my third long-distance hike, I still find myself torn on the gear to bring. I have a lot of ground to cover and a short amount of time. I’m still firm that a phone camera is not nearly good enough but a point-and-shoot is tempting. More accurately, dropping 2 lbs off my base weight is tempting. Ultimately though, I am confident that I’ll end up taking my Canon R5 and 24-105 F4 lens. I believe that this would be the most versatile combo available and I’ll update after the hike with my thoughts.
Before I ramble on for thousands of words, I would like to give my recommendation for what I imagine is the average hiker on trail. The average hiker being at best a novice at photography that wants some nice snapshots of their hike that they can look back on fondly for decades to come and will look good if printed.
In this case, I would recommend just getting a solid point and shoot camera with a nice zoom range. A camera like that would be light, easy to use, and give solid results in most situations. I wouldn’t fret over each and every feature as any midrange camera can make nice images. Some examples below.
Considerations
Your Experience Level
How well do you know your way around a camera? I would never recommend a person to take a piece of equipment beyond their experience because they would be spending more money and carrying more weight without enjoying the benefits of a more complex camera. The opposite is not true, however. A small and light camera that is missing some higher end features may be the best option for a more experienced photographer depending on some other factors.
A few specific things I would ask would be:
Do you understand the basics of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO?
Do you know how to read a histogram?
Do you know the different focus modes?
Do you use modes such as aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual?
Will you edit the photos in a program like Lightroom or Capture One?
If you answered no to most of these questions the more basic a camera I would recommend. You’ll get a lot better taking photos the more you do it, but the trail is not the place to learn how to use a camera.
What You Will Shoot
Another important factor is what you plan on taking pictures of. I would ask if you mainly planned on focusing on the landscape or people and if you want to shoot people, do you want the background to be blurry?
Landscapes require a bit more flexibility than shooting people and I personally found myself wanting a long zoom lens to bring the far away mountains close. Focusing on landscapes means you dont need a fast lens which help keep weight and size down.
People are both easier and more difficult. A prime lens or two would be all you need to get fantastic photos of people and the fixed perspective does help add some consistency to photos. If you like blurry backgrounds, a fast prime is important. If the blurry background doesn’t matter, there are some fantastic lenses that are cheap, small, and light. You can see an example of a non blurry vs a blurry background below.
How Will You Use the Photos
What you will do with the photos may eliminate some of the smaller cameras. It basically comes down to how big the images will be displayed. The bigger the canvas or screen, the more detail you will want in the picture. The smaller the canvas or screen, the less detail that is needed to look acceptable. I would say that a photo from any camera available would look good on Instagram, Facebook, or a small print. However, most people would not find a cell phone picture printed at larger than 8” x 10” to be ok. When you know what you are doing and capture that amazing moment whether it be a fire red sunset or a friend reaching the summit off Mt. Whitney you don’t want to be limited in what you can do with it because of camera limitations,
Are You A Pixel Peeper
The main reason that I personally can’t seem to move to a smaller and lighter system is that I am what is called a “pixel peeper”. I love zooming in to see all the details and am disappointed when they are not there. If you too like to zoom in a lot, you will want a higher quality setup.
Below are 3x crops. On the left is an image from a point and shoot and on the right is from a full frame camera and prime lens.
What Is Your Budget
One of the overriding factors is your budget. Do you have a few hundred dollars or are you willing to take thousands of dollars of camera gear with you into the wilderness for months? It’s important to state that you must be ok with whatever you take breaking along the hike. Look at the used market because you can save a lot of money on a camera that is used or a few years old.
Weight
This is completely personal. Every person has a different tolerance as to how much they want to carry. I knew a lot of hikers that took a tiny point and shoot but sent it home because they thought it was too heavy. I carried between 7-10 lbs. of camera gear for the entire hike and thought little of it. Many fall somewhere in between.
Useful Features
EVF
I found an electronic view finder to be extremely useful when I had access to one. They have many benefits over an optical viewfinder. For one, you see what your exposure is going to be before you take the picture. There were several times where I would quickly bring my camera up to capture a fast moment, snap a few frames, only to look at the screen and see that the exposure was way off. I would have known that the exposure was off and adjusted if my main camera had an EVF.
Weather Sealing
I highly recommend that you look for a camera with some weather sealing. Over the trail, I saw multiple hikers that had their cameras damaged or ruined. I had water get into my camera and keep it from working. It was only saved by six hours in an oven. While weather sealing will not save your camera from torrential downpours or falling in a river, it will give a little more protection from light showers and keep dirt from getting on the sensor and showing up in photos.
Image Stabilization
While it is not actually necessary, I would count some form of image stabilization as a must have feature. The stabilization will help you capture sharp photos at slower shutter speed. Many of my best photos were taken when there wasn’t much light and the stabilization help me get photos that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise and improve the quality of many other shots. For example, using my 85mm I have taken shots at 0.1 seconds that would have needed to be at least 1/100th sec without stabilization. This difference in shutter speed is the difference between 800 iso and 8000 iso.
Two Card Slots
Having two card slots while not completely necessary is important if your photos are important to you. The memory that cameras use like SD cards are reliable but eventually they will fail. This risk is negligible when you can transfer photos to a computer or hard drive but on a multi month hike the risk increases a lot. Writing photos to two cards gives peace of mind that even if a card fails you still have all the moments you captured.
Main Options
Cell Phone
A cell phone is the most common camera on trail. I can see why it has appeal for thru hikers. The device is small, lightweight, and is something you will be carrying anyway so you can save at least a pound by just using your cell phone. They have many features that help the photo look nice as soon as you take it such as HDR and simulated blur. I’ve heard many people say the pictures look good enough.
Personally, I would not recommend just using your cell phone. The main reason is that while the pictures look nice on a phone screen, even with perfect conditions they won’t look good on most things bigger than that with many of the adjustments the phone make do not look good to a discerning eye. The second is still related to the image, the camera is extremely poor in low light. Then the autofocus is not able to keep up with moving subjects in changing light. The final aspect that I will point out is that it’s just not fun to use or easy to hold as a camera.
Point and Shoot
One step up from a cell phone is the category of point and shoot cameras. For most people, this is what should be taken on a long-distance hike. They are small, light, and the image quality is good enough. The popular Sony RX100 series runs about 8.5 oz while the Canon G1X iii I carried for a long time was 14.1 oz. Keep in mind that those weights are less than half a liter of water.
These cameras are versatile. Most of them have a good zoom range and decent autofocus. A major benefit to these cameras is that you can get more out of them the more advanced you become or just use auto to enjoy the better image quality. The G1X iii I used to have had a load of advanced features such as custom buttons, luminosity or RGB histograms, an ND filter, and high frame rates.
APSC Interchangeable Lens Camera
Someone who is more of an enthusiast may want the more flexibility of a camera that can use different lenses. It would be important for someone taking this kind of camera to have a better idea of what they want to shoot and how to do it. If you are still using auto mode, I would recommend a point and shoot more. If you use Manual, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority then this may be a good option.
As with the pattern, the larger sensor in these cameras offer better image quality and better autofocus. The larger bodies allow for more buttons that help access functions faster without diving into menus. Being able to change from single shot to continuous autofocus, iso, or the frame rate quickly can make the difference in capturing that moment without having to ask to do it again.
I decided to try the Fuji XT-3 for a few weeks on my thru hike and the body was really fun to use and very advanced. The tilt screen and many physical dials made for a very functional piece of kit.
Full Frame Interchangeable Lens Camera
This is the biggest, heaviest, and generally most expensive option to take but is the option that can give the best results for those who know how to use it. Again, the larger sensor gives more detail, better noise performance, greater dynamic range, and better autofocus. This format also has the best selection of lenses available.
Unless you really know what you are doing and like to look at all the tiny details in a photo, I doubt taking something like this would be worth the weight and cost.
I personally took a Canon 5D IV for the entirety of the PCT. My Canon is a work horse and took quite a beating over the past months but keeps on ticking. I would not, however, recommend taking this body on the trail. I believe most of the newer mirror-less options offer features that I would consider must haves that my body doesn’t provide such as in body image stabilization and an EVF.
Lenses
Prime
Using a fixed focal length prime lens is a great choice if you are looking for simplicity, quality, and a certain “look”. Generally, you can buy a zoom lens that is smaller and lighter than a zoom lens. The 85mm and 35 mm that I took for a long time weighed about the 24-70 2.8 lens that I used in the Sierra while letting in twice as much light.
What most will appreciate about fast prime lenses is the ability to blur the background and isolate a subject more. While a stop or two may not sound like much of a difference, getting something faster than f2.8 does make a visible difference. The other benefit of a fast lens that gathers a lot of light is that you can use a lower iso in low light when shooting people or animals. Image stabilization does not help when the thing you are trying to shoot is moving. I found that I always wanted at least 1/250th sec shutter speed when shooting people and going from f4 (a common zoom range speed) to f1.4 (a common prime speed) lets you reduce the iso 25,600 to 3,200.
Some downsides to using prime lenses are that you can’t zoom and, if using more than one, changing lenses. When using a two prime lens setup I was constantly switching lenses which not only gets annoying but opens the camera and lens to the elements potentially letting dust, dirt, or water in. There were a few times where I just couldn’t switch my lens because of rain coming down causing me to miss some shots.
Below are a few shots take with one prime lens.
Zoom
Zoom lenses are easy. They allow you to just shoot and not worry about whether it fits the perspective. There is no need to change lenses if you are only carrying a single zoom lens.
While these lenses are generally not as sharp as prime lenses, most won’t notice unless you are zooming in a lot or looking in the corners. More zoom lenses offer image stabilization which lets you shoot as slower shutter speeds especially when your camera doesn’t have in body stabilization but even when you do
Generally, I think zoom lenses are the way to go on a long-distance hike unless you have a specific purpose or project that requires something special.
All the images below were taken on the zoom lens of a point and shoot.
Carrying the Gear
How you carry your gear is arguably just as important as the gear you take. It is critical that it is both convenient and comfortable. The more comfortable the carrying system the more likely you are to keep carrying. The more convenient your camera is to access the more you will use it.
When I started out, I had my camera on the front and one extra lens in the brain of my backpack. You can imagine how infrequently I switched lenses even when I should have. Taking off my backpack was too much to do every time I wanted to switch. So, lets look at a few options.
Hip Belt Pockets
Using the pockets on your backpacks hip belt would be the ideal option. Your camera is accessible and there is nothing interfering with the front of your body or weighing on a shoulder strap Some downsides for this option are that it only works for a small point-and-shoot and doesn’t add a lot of protection. Most hip belt pockets are not waterproof which means that you will need to keep a zip lock in good condition handy to slip your camera in when a downpour looks likely. The pockets don’t offer any impact protection so anything that bumps the pocket is bumping the camera.
Fanny Pack
I saw a decent number of fanny packs on trail, and they looked like a nice option for carrying a smaller camera. An advantage of this option is having more room for other things like your phone or battery pack. It has some of the same disadvantages as hip belt pockets. While it can accommodate a slightly bigger camera it can’t accommodate a big camera. A fanny pack won’t offer any more rain or impact protection. However, sitting on the front of your body will make it less likely to be hit against something as compare to the side of your hip.
Peak Design Capture Clip
(2021 Update) I am currently using the capture clip with a separate utility pouch connected near my hip belt for my second lens. The shoulder issue in 2019 that made the clip unbearably uncomfortable isn’t an issue anymore.
This was the most popular option I saw on trail and was what I used at first. Having your camera clipped on to a shoulder strap is super convenient but does require two hands; one to hold the camera and another to release the push lock. This is a secure option if you check the screws daily as they tend to slowly work their way loose. This option can accommodate any camera size though I found the weight of my larger camera to make the shoulder strap uncomfortable over long days. It would require taking a camera rain cover as the camera is completely exposed. There are dedicated rain covers for cameras but I have heard shower caps work just as well at a much lower weight.
Using a capture clip is probably the best option for someone carrying an APSC or full frame camera with a single lens. The only functional downside is that there is no place to carry a second lens.
Front Camera Bag
This is what I used on my entire Southbound hike. I will start out by saying that this is a bit overkill for most. The ability to carry two lenses and easily change them was paramount to me. I imagine that this ability will be attractive to anyone carrying more than one lens. Using a camera bag secured to both shoulder straps divides the weight in half making it easier on the shoulders. I also used a clip on the bottom connected to a hip belt kept the bag from bouncing against my chest. There was also a lot of extra room for gum, phone, battery, filters, etc. The bags are usually padded and include a rain cover.
This option does have some major downsides. For one, this is the heaviest option with my bag weighing 10 or 12 ounces. It covers a large portion of your chest limiting breathability. Finally, there were always a few extra clips to work on whenever I put my pack on or took it off.
Some options are:
Lowepro Toploader
F-stop Navin
My Gear
So, in this section I’ll be going over all of the gear that I used on trail and my thoughts on them. Keep in mind that I used various gear at different points on the hike trying to figure out what worked.
2021
Canon R5
My camera at the moment is the Canon EOS R5. My R5 may not be the best camera on the market but is close to it. For most uses, there is no reason to complain about its 45 megapixels which can comfortably print up to 24" by 36" and larger.
Compared to the Canon 5D Mark IV I took on my PCT thru hike, the R5 is a vast improvement in almost all areas. First and most importantly, the autofocus is faster and much more accurate. I feel a lot more confident in getting a sharp image shooting at f1.4 or f2. I found myself missing focus on a lot of shots on my previous camera. Another improvement is the EVF. I was reluctant to use one but the ability to see your exposure and preview color profiles in the viewfinder is too useful to ignore. No longer do I shoot what I think is a great shot only to look down and see that I blew out (overexposed beyond recovery) half the image.
On the video side, the options are rather good for me. The 4K HQ video is sharp and the CLOG3 profile makes a beautiful image. I have not found myself using it that much, but I like the option if I want to take a few clips here and there.
Tamron 35mm 1.4
The Tamron 35 1.4 is the lens I find myself leaning more towards the more I think about my next hike. The images that come out of this lens are gorgeous and you will have a hard time finding something sharper. The main reason to take this lens over the other I'll go over comes down to that 1.4 aperture.
The fast aperture will allow me to do two things better. It will open the option to blur the background far more which can be useful when the background is busy with leaves and branches. It will also allow me to shoot when there is less light. This point is specific to shooting a moving subject. A lot of lenses have impressive image stabilization that lets you shoot with the shutter open for a long time, but this doesn't apply to anything that moves. I find that when shooting people, I need at least a 1/250th sec shutter speed to avoid motion blur. An f1.4 lens will let you shoot in 1/8th the light of an f4 lens. Put in another way, it is the difference between iso 3200 and iso 25600. Take some test shots and see which looks better to you. Now, I know that may sound hypothetical but those early mornings and late nights when the sun is below the horizon or in thick forest will push your camera.
Canon RF 24-105 f4 IS
The new Canon 24-105 is an excellent overall option and would be my choice if I weren't so particular about shooting people. In fact, it is my primary hiking lens. The 4x zoom covers most focal lengths needed on trails. The wide 24mm lets you take in the vastness of the mountains while 105mm can zoom in on details and far off subjects.
The image stabilization on this lens works well especially when you can brace yourself against a tree or rock. If you are really pushing it and take 5 to 10 shots, you can get something useable at 1 second of exposure or more. When shooting video, the IS will do wonders to give you reasonably smooth footage. It’s important to temper expectations though. The stabilization will do great if you are trying to be steady and stay still. The footage will be a mess if you try to walk and shoot at the same time.
Canon RF 70-200 f4 IS
This is a brand-new addition to my kit and was a huge expense. There are similar lenses on the market for a lower cost, but none offer all the features of this lens. The primary benefits of this lens are that it is light and very small compared to its counterparts. It is basically the same size and weight of the 24-105 lens which means that it does not need to be stored in your pack when not in use. That last point is critical because if I have to take your pack off to use a lens, I am not likely to use it enough to justify carrying it.
Why take a telephoto lens? The perspective it gives is different from most of the other images you will see. It allows me to show the scale of the scenery that I walk through. What I found on my hike of the PCT was that I found myself wanting to be able to zoom in far more often than I wanted to zoom out and get a super-wide view.
2019
Canon 5D IV
This camera is a workhorse. It took all the beatings that the trail had to give in stride. The body isn’t pretty after the hike but still works fairly well. The image quality is great but doesn’t quite match the level of some of the other brands top cameras. Something that was important for me was the plethora of buttons that let me quickly access functions. The single best feature was being able to assign two buttons on the back to focusing, one single shot and the other continuous focus.
The live view on this camera was good as well. The auto focus in live view was accurate but not as fully featured as most mirror less cameras. A major gripe of mine was the lack of a live highlight alert letting me know something was blown out without taking a picture and reviewing. A feature that I learned to love on the Fuji XT-3 was called “natural live view” which showed an image closer to what the sensor sees allowing me to get a much better idea for exposure and I wish the Canon had a similar feature.
I ended up using live view a lot because I found the autofocus to be more accurate (but slower) and knowing what my exposure was invaluable. Because of this, I know my next camera will have an EVF.
I could shoot up to 7 frames per second which was sufficient, but I did find the buffer to be small causing the camera to slow down a lot after a 2 second burst.
Having 1 SD slot and 1 CF slot was less than ideal. Two SD slots would have been ideal for simplicity and cost. Buying two 256GB SD cards is only $140 and easily available while a single 256GB CF card is over $200.
Tamron 24-70 f2.8 G2 VC
I used this lens by itself for many miles and it did an admirable job. I found 24mm on the wide end to be more than enough and I took panoramas when I needed more. At 70mm, the lens was a bit softer, and I found myself wanting a bit more reach.
It was able to cover most every situation that I could want but not as well as a more specialized lens.
The 82mm front element is big and collects a lot of dust. Combined with the shallow lens hood it was vulnerable to sun glare and artifacts.
The autofocus on this lens was fast but it did miss a decent amount in continuous focus mode. It tended to back focus but that is dependent on the copy and is more of a problem on a dslr instead of a mirrorless camera.
Tamron 35 f1.8 VC
I took this in conjunction with an 85 mm. I found the 35mm focal length to be as close to ideal as I could find. It was well suited to shooting environmental portraits and many landscapes. The autofocus wasn’t the fastest but I found it to be pretty accurate. A special feature of this lens is the ability to close focus with a 0.5x magnification which was lovely when shooting flowers, butterflies, and the like.
In terms of sharpness, I found it to be about as good as the Tamron 24-70 but not up to the standards of the better 35mm lenses I have used. I didn’t like to use it at f1.8 preferring f2 for the little boost in sharpness and contrast.
The Achilles heel of this lens was chromatic aberration. At faster apertures, these flaws were very noticeable and found them to be distracting.
The IS in this lens was rather good and with a small burst of shots I was confident in getting a sharp result down to 1/6th of a second.
This lens is the only one of its kind on a DSLR system. It’s the only one to offer a fast aperture, weather sealing, and image stabilization all in one. A side benefit is that it is small and light.
Tamron 85 f1.8 VC
I’ll start by saying that this lens sparked joy. The images that it produced seemed to jump off the screen. Most of the headshots I took going southbound were taken with this lens and I loved it. It’s probably the sharpest lens I own and punches well above its price. The autofocus was fast and accurate. I always had confidence in it.
The IS on this lens was useful as well, allowing me to get shots down to 1/8th sec.
If I had to find a con it would be that it loses a lot of contrast when shooting directly toward the sun.
Canon G1X III -
For the first 1700 miles south, I carried this little guy in conjunction with my larger setup trying to see if it would be good enough to be a main camera.
I will say that it is good enough for most people. The 24-70 equivalent lens covers most everything I wanted to shoot. The Image quality was surprisingly good regarding sharpness and how flexible the RAW file is. This camera does have an APSC size sensor which is bigger than most other point and shoots. The downsides of the image quality are chromatic aberrations and distortion, though the distortion is corrected automatically in Lightroom but not Capture One.
The EVF was big, bright, and displayed a lot of information. The back screen was fully articulating and touch sensitive.
As I always like, there were a lot of buttons and dials compared to other point and shoots. It has a dedicated exposure compensation dial on top as well as three other dials that could be customized. I had them set to shutter speed, aperture, and iso. These dials made it a fast camera to use. Another useful physical feature was the built in three stop ND filter. It made shooting silky water possible. It has a big grip compared to other point and shoots making it comfortable to hold for a longer time. The body is exceptionally light at less than a pound.
I did have a few gripes about the camera. I would have been willing to trade the tiny lens for a faster f stop or a longer zoom range. It is also missing some advanced features that I would have expected such as a bulb mode that is programmable in camera for exposures longer than 30s. It doesn’t have a highlight alert feature for the live image. The buttons on the back are a bit flimsy.
Fujifilm XT-3
This little guy is a joy to use. It has so many advanced features and the build quality is outstanding. The buttons are nicely customizable, and it has a tilting screen. The focus was snappy, but I found the eye-detect to be unreliable.
The files coming out of the camera were fantastic. At 26Mp, there is a lot of resolution to work with and the files had wonderful dynamic range. I do with the base iso was 100 instead of 160. Two big features for me were the “natural live view” and live highlight alerts giving me a much better idea of my exposure.
The film simulations were nice, but I imagine they are far more appealing to those who don’t post-process their images.
Fujinon 23 f2
Oh, how I wanted to love this lens! The equivalent to a 35mm on full frame. It is tiny, weighs next to nothing, and is built very well. The image quality was a letdown for me. Having a sharp image at fast apertures is important for me and this lens left me wanting more detail at f2. It’s also susceptible to a lot of chromatic aberration and, I know I sound like a prude, I found the bokeh to be busy.
I do think that it could be an attractive option for people who don’t zoom in a lot on photos. Its amazingly small.
Fujinon 80 f2.8 IS
This lens gave a better showing of what the Fuji system is capable of. It is sharp even at f2.8 though not bitingly sharp. The IS made it a very stable lens and being a macro lens was a nice touch. I wanted to see if this lens would be comparable to a full frame portrait lens and while it is exceedingly capable it can’t compare to a full frame lens even at f2.8. I also found it to be overpriced for what you get as an APSC lens.
Leofoto MT-01 Table Tripod
This little guy is something I like to use a lot in landscape photography. At close to a pound, it’s a lot heavier than something like an Ultrapod but it’s far more stable. The tripod can handle a full framer camera and a 100-400mm lens, a far bigger lens than would be taken on a long-distance hike.
I did get rid of it earlier on in the hike and wouldn’t take it again. It’s a lot lighter and more convenient to rely on image stabilization to get a sharp image. If you are trying to get a shot of yourself, there are generally a lot of rocks to prop a camera on.
Lowepro Toploader Zoom 55 AW
This is what I carried everything in along my hike. It was a great option for me though I would take a slightly smaller one if I did another long-distance hike. I used three generic S clips to secure the bag. One for each shoulder strap and one to a hip pocket. It was easy to get off even with the extra clips and just became part of my routine. The rain cover lost its waterproofness and needed to be retreated with DWR.
Recommended Kits
Point & Shoot
Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II
Honestly, a nice option. They are not terribly expensive, and you can find a great deal on one used. The Canon cameras are intuitive to use, and the touch screens are great. Image quality isn’t a great as the Sony, but this is quite a bit cheaper. The zoom range of a full frame equivalent 24-100 covers everything you need.
Sony RX100 VII
The Mercedes of the point and shoot world. It’s an expensive piece of kit but provides all of the bells and whistles available. It offers a huge zoom range of 24-200mm full frame equivalent. The image quality is the best of any 1” sensor. The autofocus is blazing fast and uses Sony’s real time tracking making focus on moving subjects a lot easier. It can shoot 20 frames per second which is overkill on a hike.
APSC
Fujifilm XT4 with 16-80mm F4 OIS
(2021 update) The XT4 has all the same benefits as the XT3 but adds IBIS which is valuable if you have one of Fuji’s un-stabilized prime lenses.
In my time with the XT3, I fell in love with how fun it is to use. All the buttons and dials give great tactile feedback to what you are doing. The camera offers some of the best performance you can find in its category. The EVF gives an accurate view of what your photo is going to look like with a live histogram and preview of whichever film simulation is selected. The 16-80mm lens is weather sealed and offers the best image stabilization of any lens on the Fuji system. The focal range and aperture are a great for covering anything but the most demanding situations.
Full Frame
Canon R6 with Canon RF 24-105 F4
Canon has released great cameras recently. While not a budget option by any means, the R6 has all the bells and whistles a hiker would want outside of high resolution. Paired with the 24-105, this kit is a good general purpose option that can cover basically anything you would want to capture. Even the video options are usable with how effective the image stabilization is.
Sony a7iii/a7Riii with Sony 24-105 f4 or Tamron 28-75 f2.8 (2021 Update - Still a good option)
Sony has the best technology in their full frame cameras. This tech really shows itself in its autofocus and In Body Image Stabilization or IBIS. The autofocus uses their real time tracking where you start focusing with a subject in the center and then recompose as the camera continues to track in focus. The IBIS gives you that extra confidence in getting a sharp shot. The big difference between the a7iii and the a7Riii is resolution with the former offering 24mp and the latter 42mp. I don’t think most people will appreciate the extra megapixels and unless you know you need them, I would push towards the a7iii. The Sony 24-105 f4 lens is practical general-purpose lens with a bit of extra reach compared to the Tamron but the Tamron gathers twice as much light making low light situations easier to photograph in exchange for a little less reach.