Budget Conference & Travel Kit: Light, Flexible, and Honestly Good Enough

This is my low-budget “covers almost everything” setup for conferences, tradeshows, and travel, and I’ve ended up liking it more than I expected. Two bodies that play different roles without feeling like a luxury: the Canon EOS R100 when I want the simplest, least-stress camera that still delivers, and the Canon EOS R8 when I want the full-frame look, better low light, and that extra bit of confidence when lighting gets weird (which, at events, it always does). The trick for keeping this whole thing sensible is not chasing perfection. I’m chasing value per gram, value per dollar, and the ability to adapt fast when a keynote suddenly turns into a dark room presentation, or when I step outside and the city turns cinematic for ten minutes and then… gone.

Cameras and lenses in this setup, kept deliberately lean:

  • Canon EOS R100
  • Canon EOS R8
  • Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM
  • Canon RF 24–105mm f/4–7.1 IS STM
  • Canon RF 100–400mm f/5.6–8 IS USM
  • Canon RF-S 10–18mm f/4.5–6.3 IS STM
  • TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 for RF (APS-C)

Lens-wise, this kit is basically a range-flexibility machine built out of “not expensive” choices. The Canon RF-S 10–18mm f/4.5–6.3 IS STM is my honest ultra-wide workhorse on the R100 for interiors, booths, stage wide shots, and those tight expo aisles where you physically can’t step back. Then I jump to the Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM when I want wide but faster and cleaner, especially on the R8 where it becomes this tiny full-frame wide angle that’s easy to carry all day without feeling like I’m dragging a brick around my neck. For the “walk around and don’t think too much” zone, the Canon RF 24–105mm f/4–7.1 IS STM is the lens that keeps saving me—wide enough for context, long enough for quick portraits, and light enough that I don’t hate myself after eight hours on my feet. And when the subject is far, when a speaker is on a distant stage, when I spot something interesting across the street while traveling, the Canon RF 100–400mm f/5.6–8 IS USM gives me reach that would’ve been totally unrealistic for my budget a few years ago. It’s not a “flex” lens, it’s a “get the shot” lens, and that’s exactly what I need at events.

A huge part of the value here comes from using full-frame RF lenses on the crop body, on purpose, not as a compromise. People talk about “wasting the lens,” but in real life it often feels like I’m getting a built-in, no-drama teleconverter effect. The RF 100–400 on the R100 is just practical: you’re effectively turning it into a serious reach tool for stage details, signage, candid moments from a respectful distance, and travel shots where you can’t physically get closer. Even the RF 24–105 on crop becomes a super convenient midrange zoom that lives right in that “details and people” zone, which is basically half of tradeshow photography anyway. And the best part is I’m not buying separate lens ecosystems for each body; I’m buying once and using everywhere, which is kind of the whole low-budget philosophy in the first place.

Then I’ve got the oddball that I genuinely enjoy: the TTartisan 50mm f/1.2 for RF (APS-C). It’s not here because it’s clinically perfect, it’s here because it’s fun and it gives me a look I can’t get from the slow kit zooms when the venue lighting is ugly. At conferences, f/1.2 can be the difference between “this looks like a phone pic under fluorescents” and “this looks intentional.” On the crop body it becomes a tight portrait-ish lens that’s great for isolating faces, product details, and those quick “human moment” frames in the crowd. It’s a vibe lens, basically, and I like having one lens in the bag that’s allowed to be a little imperfect as long as it’s interesting.

One more thing I do a lot, and I’m not shy about it: I sometimes shoot the R8 in crop mode. Yes, you compromise on resolution, and if you’re printing huge or you’re obsessive about megapixels, it might feel like a sin. For me, it’s a tool. Crop mode on full frame gives me tighter framing instantly without changing lenses, and in fast-moving conference situations that speed matters more than theoretical image purity. It also helps composition when I’m pinned in place—like when you’re stuck behind a row of chairs and can’t move two steps left without bumping into someone’s laptop and starting a small war. And when the light is challenging, the R8 still gives me a cleaner file to work with than I’d get forcing a smaller sensor into the same situation, so the “resolution loss” often feels like a fair trade for a usable image and less noise headaches later.

What I love about this kit, honestly, is that it stays light enough that I’ll actually carry it, and flexible enough that I’m not constantly thinking “if only I had that other lens.” Ultra-wide coverage for tight spaces, a tiny fast wide prime for when I want clean low-light shots, a do-it-all zoom that keeps me moving, and a surprisingly capable telephoto that makes distant subjects reachable—all across both a crop body and a full-frame body, with plenty of overlap so I’m not stuck if I need to swap roles mid-day. It’s not glamorous gear, and that’s kind of the point. It’s gear that earns its place, and doesn’t punish me for bringing it along.

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