Best Travel Cameras (2025), Tested and Reviewed

The Leica Q3 is a nearly perfect travel camera for some photographers and the absolutely wrong one for others. Most Leicas, definitely the Q3, are small and light (for a full-frame camera), and they're less intrusive when you put them in someone’s face to take a portrait. All of which is to say, if your travel photography fits what the Leica Q3 excels at—the fixed 28-mm lens makes it great for street, landscape, and portraiture—it's an amazing camera.

The 60-MP sensor is capable of truly gorgeous RAW files with 15 stops of dynamic range and that unmistakably Leica color rendering. The 28-mm f1.7 Summilux APSH lens is capable of manual focusing, autofocusing, and macro shooting, which gives it an added bit of versatility. The autofocus system uses both phase and contrast detection, and it works pretty well, though it struggles in faster-moving situations. The good news is that the 5.76 million–dot OLED EVF is bright and sharp and makes manual focusing very nearly as easy as the auto system. Again, this is not a camera for everyone, but for the right person it's about as close to perfect as you'll get.

The Fujifilm X100VI is the darling of, well, everyone. It doesn't quite fit in your pocket (well, maybe, depends on your pants), but it's compact and easy to carry around all day. The 40-MP APS-C sensor rivals full-frame sensors when it comes to resolution and detail, and the 35-mm-equivalent lens is perfect for everything from street to landscape, making it a good all-around travel lens. It is a fixed lens, but I've never found that particularly limiting, especially for travel photography. Don't forget Fuji's film simulations, which are legendary for a reason. They're a perfect way to capture creative looks without spending a bunch of time editing. And the X100VI with the Fujifilm app on your phone makes it easy to get those vacation snaps onto social media.

The X100V has six stops of in-body stabilization, meaning it works quite well even in low light. The hybrid LCD/optical viewfinder is excellent. The 6.2K/30 fps or 4K/60 fps video is plenty good enough for most use cases. There are also some nice extras here, like the internal ND filter, and the fact that it has a leaf shutter with flash sync speeds up to 1/2,000 of a second.