Grand Canyon Photography Gear Guide

This guide has been created to assist you in planning & preparing for your photography trip to the Grand Canyon. Being photographers, we tend to obsess over our gear. Equally as important as bringing the right camera gear is bringing the right personal gear to best cope with the high-desert environment of northern Arizona.

Besides bringing your camera and a selection of lenses, your gear selection will revolve around when you are visiting. While we know that in most of Arizona, the temperature gets pretty hot and that it’s hot for most of the year, the reality is that northern Arizona and especially the Grand Canyon are not like the rest of the state. Please be sure to take note of the type of weather you could have while visiting the Grand Canyon.

Camera and Lenses

The Grand Canyon offers a wide variety of photographic opportunities and challenges. The most popular misconception about photographing the canyon is that you will only be using an ultra-wide angle lens. I routinely use lenses as long as 300mm at the canyon to create compressed telephoto stacked compositions. That said, I still do a fair amount of work on the wide end as well, but my most used lens is a 24-70mm zoom.

So, what lenses do I recommend for photographing the Grand Canyon? For those who are shooting with full-frame camera systems, I recommend covering focal lengths from 16mm to 300mm. For APS-C "crop" camera shooters, I recommend from 12mm to 200mm.

Landscape Photography Lenses

  • Ultrawide Zoom: 12-24mm or 16-35mm
  • Mid-range Zoom: 24-70mm or 24-105mm
  • Telephoto Zoom: 70-300mm, or 100-400mm

Tripods & Ballheads

First and foremost, a good tripod is necessary as you will be shooting during the "blue hour" light before sunrise and after sunset. This means you will have very long exposure times upwards of 30 seconds. Another reason to have a good tripod is to help stabilize the camera in windy conditions, which are quite common at the Grand Canyon.

Filters

I'm often asked "why are you still using filters?" The answer is simple, I like to get the photo as ‘right’ as possible in the camera. To do this I use both circular polarizer (CPL) filters and graduated neutral density (GND) filters. The polarizer is used to remove unwanted glare and reflections from the surface of foliage or water. It can also have the added benefit of saturating the colors as well.

In 2017 I upgraded all of the filters to those made by Breakthrough Photography. This was after years of frustration with Hoya's top of the line CPLs falling apart several times, and the B+W filters seizing-up and refusing to turn. The Breakthrough Photography X4 series of filters are the sharpest and most color neutral filters I have used and I have never had any issues with them.

My filter kit consists of the X4 UV, X4 circular polarizers, and X4 Dark 3-stop circular polarizer filters. I still keep a set of UV filters in my bag to use when I'm shooting in harsh conditions such as blowing sand. you can read more about these filters in my Review of the Breakthrough Photography X4 and X4 Dark Circular Polarizer Filters.

My Filter Kit

Lightning Triggers and Gear for the Monsoon Season

If you're visiting the Grand Canyon during the summer monsoon, I strongly suggest bringing a lightning trigger. I've owned many lightning triggers, but my favorite trigger is the Stepping Stone Products Lightning Trigger LT-IV. You can learn more about using a lightning trigger in my blog post Photographing Lightning at Grand Canyon.

Some of the best photo opportunities happen just before or after it has rained. For this reason, it's important to have rain protection for your camera. This can be something as simple and cheap as a shower cap, or something more substantial as a dedicated camera rain cover. I've been using the Think Tank Photo Emergency Rain Cover and I couldn't be happier. It is easy to use, it's well made, and it has a window allowing you to see the rear LCD display on the camera.

Photo Backpacks

Finally, you will want a photo backpack to carry everything in. This helps to keep your hands free when walking on uneven terrain, and it gives a place to hold snacks, a rain jacket, sunscreen, a hat, and your water.

I'm a big fan of packs Mountain Series of packs made my F-Stop Gear. Their system is designed around what they call an Internal Camera Unit (ICU), which is the camera compartment within the pack. They make various sizes of ICUs to fit a variety of needs. The ICU then slips into their packs allowing you to select a pack that best suits your needs and is adaptable via different ICUs. They do a great job on their site of explaining how all of this works.

What About Drones?

Drones are not currently allowed in the National Parks. If you bring a drone with you, please do not operate it from within the park. I'd hate to be forced to report you to the law enforcement rangers for flying a drone within the park.

Planning for the Weather

Temperatures on the canyon's rim can range from summer highs in the low 90s to winter lows well below freezing. This is due to the elevation of the canyon’s rim. The altitude above sea level on the South Rim ranges from 6,700 to 7,500 feet (2,040 to 2,290 meters), and on the North Rim, it ranges from 7,500 to 8,803 feet (2,290 to 2,685 meters).

The Summer Months: During the summer months, the average high temperatures can be in the 80s (27-32°C), with early morning temperatures occasionally dipping into the 40s (4-9°C). June is the hottest month at the canyon, and temperatures can get into the 90°s. Due to the high altitude, there is less atmosphere to block out the sun. Be sure to bring a sunhat and plenty of sunscreen. The sun is intense here, and you can get sunburned very quickly.

The Monsoon Season: From mid-July through mid-September, the Grand Canyon and most of the American Southwest experience a significant shift in the weather patterns with the arrival of the Southwest Monsoon. This period typically has afternoon thunderstorms with brief periods of heavy rain. This is also the time of year when the storms tend to produce lightning and rainbows.

The Winter Months: The canyon's rim can be very cold during the winter months, and I have seen temperatures go below freezing as early as September and as late as May. Winter also brings the chance of snow, with the South Rim averaging about 60″ of snowfall annually.

Dress for Success

It’s important to come prepared with the right clothing. This means dressing in layers and to have a warm winter coat, hat, and gloves. Footwear is also important, and I recommend hiking boots and warm wool socks. REI has a wonderful page dedicated to learning How to Layer Clothes for a winter environment.

Water

If you can, please bring a reusable water bottle with you. There are several water refill stations in Grand Canyon National Park where you can refill your reusable water bottle or a CamelBak for no charge.

Where to Buy Camera Gear?

I’ve been purchasing my gear from B&H Photo for almost 20 years. They have consistently had the best prices, they always provide top-notch customer service, and they have a great return policy. You could spend your time shopping around on the web and wondering if you made the right decision, or you could buy from B&H.

If you find the information on this page, or any of the other content here to be useful, please consider supporting this site by purchasing your photo equipment through B&H Photo by using the links above, or by visiting the My Gear page on the B&H website.