For any of Canon's professional line of DSLRs this lens will fill the ultra-wide angle slot in your lineup for dramatic and expansive landscapes. For the lower- and mid-range models with their smaller sensors this will be a good wide to standard zoom.

This telephoto zoom is the last zoom lens in the group, and one of the best. At the focal length it covers and for being a zoom this is a very fast lens and will provide you with excellent results. Out for a walk in the woods and not sure what you may find? This is a great lens to have on your camera for those chance wildlife encounters.

This is another great, prime lens to have around. Filling in as the portraiture focal length favorite comes this 50mm, super-fast lens. Small, lightweight prime lenses like this one will also serve as a backup in case your main lens should suffer a mishap.

From the previous prime lens we jump all the way up to this length. For the photographer who is going to be hiking out into the woods with everything on his or her back this lens is no lightweight, but paired with a teleconverter it can cover an amazing range and is well worth the trouble.

Of course we mustn't forget the macro lens that we'll want to have in our bag. I like the 100mm lens as the best balance between having a lens that can get us close to something we can't get that close too and one that doesn't force us to take any inconvenient steps back.

Never underestimate the power of a teleconverter to take a great lens and make it even more flexible. There's nothing else that will give you as much bang for your buck as these small, light-weight gadgets. This item will multiply any lens's focal length by 2 times.

This set of three extension tubes is designed to work with a lens and magnify subject on the sensor, a little like a macro lens does. So if you find yourself shooting a subject with your 100mm macro and wishing it was a little bit longer these may be the solution. Be warned, though. While AF and TTL metering will still work don't count on your IS doing so.

One of the most important pieces of gear in the field will be your tripod. After all, you're asking this one piece of gear to hold thousands of dollars worth of camera and lens in all kinds of conditions, right? If you can afford it, and if weight is a primary issue, go with a premium carbon fiber tripod like this one.

This design is going to weigh more than the preceding tripods since it is made of aluminum rather than carbon fiber, but it is rock solid and very easy to work with, and will stand up to very windy days a lot better. This tripod also has the advantage of having no center post, which means you can get right down to ground level with it.

Now that you've got your tripod all figured out it's time to pick out a ball head for it. That's right, none of the tripods that I've listed come with a head built on. That's a good thing since it lets you pick and choose and find just the right combination of head and legs for your needs.

This is a great little gizmo to carry around with you whenever you leave the house. It's very light and very flexible—both physically and in what you can do with it. When a full-size tripod isn't possible grab this.