CAMERA SELECTION - Size verse Sensor

J

Jonnykapps

New member
Hey all!

After perusing the different threads I wanted to post the topic of size verse sensor!

I shoot doc films mainly and bounce between C300/500 and Amira/Mini when the budget is there. Its been a while since Ive shot with smaller DSLR kits but am contemplating for my next story.

Basically Im going to be following someone through the south american wilderness and documenting their journey. Just the director, myself, the two subjects and our backpacks. The longest stint without power might be up to 1 week.

How should I go about this when selecting the camera packages. Obviously we will be shooting every day to tell their story and I want to figure out how to balance the best image with a ready to roll attention. The concerns of course are - battery life, DIT, weight and ergonomics, Image/sensor quality, resolution, FPS, low light, package and footprint size, facing the elements.

Any pointers, advice, warnings, tricks, cheats, hacks, workarounds and direction to avoid potential pitfalls or reach success would be super appreciate.

Thanks so much for your time
 
What is the end output? For broadcast or the web or theaters or ? I wrote about a production company that made a TV show in the Yukon up in Canada and they shot with two Amiras when they were new, it was very difficult and they were airlifted in fresh batteries every few days by helicopter. Having done some serious backpacking in the wilderness, my prime directive would be small size and weight paired with the lowest battery consumption. As far as small DSLR/mirrorless kits, the new Fuji XT2 could be a contender. It shoots 4K with beautiful film emulation modes, there are some very good Fuji lenses and the whole rig would be very lightweight. If it were me, i would bring a small and light backpacking tripod and a small, light gimbal for the moving stuff/walking stuff. The batteries for this camera are quite small and light but I don't know how battery life is. I have also heard that jello vision can be an issue with this camera but the gimbal would mitigate that. The XT2, a couple of carefully chosen lenses, a mess of charged batteries, the handgrip, a Zhiyun Crane gimbal and some extra batteries and you would be set as far as picture. Of course, with any DSLR, audio is a PITA and you can't really manage wireless lavs on a gimbal mounted camera so you would probably need wireless with an outboard recorder.

To me, your most difficult things to face will be fatigue, keeping your gear dry, keeping the batteries charged up via solar chargers? Not sure how rugged or water proof the XT2 is, most of the first reviews didn't focus on that.
 
I think pure drifting has covered most of the things I'd also consider. I just wanted to say a week without power is a tough ask. South American canopy may not allow for a lot of solar charging as well. On top of that you will need to carry rations + plus days for insurance so is offload solution even viable with all that? Would it be better to carry a completely sealable case (pelican card case) to store used cards so you can label them all and offload at the end? Cards are small. Will you have a base camp (camp site) you're operating from out there or is it a continuous journey? Apart from keeping gear dry, how about footwear / socks, imperative they are dry daily as well.

Good luck in your quest.
 
For decent battery life as well as proper performance in such a harsh environment, I would suggest a real video camera, not a stills camera that also shoots video. You'll just be fighting focus, battery life, ease of use, controls and other such issues. I get that the mirrorless cameras are so small, but the batteries die quick and they can be a pain in the ass. A camcorder with an integrated zoom lens is much more appropriate and you'll likely get far more useful stuff relative to what you have to deal with carrying.
 
That sounds like an amazing trip. I would personally bring the 1DX Mark II if I had this opportunity.

If you do decide to use a mirrorless or DSLR, you can power those units with something convenient like a Switronix PB70 via D-tap to dummy for many hours.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/770053-REG/Switronix_PB70B_PB70B_PowerBase_70_Battery.html

The camera sits right on the battery and has a thread for a tripod plate. I was getting 12+ hours on the A6300.

You would need many CFast cards.

I think you'll probably have obstacles to overcome with any camera you choose, but a 4K/60p rugged machine in a small footprint with arguably one of the best auto-focus systems ever engineered (not perfect) could be a worthy consideration.
 
A lot depends on the output but I would at least consider the GH4 - great battery life, weatherproof, small, good range of lenses. Depending on just how much you're shooting you could get a day per battery so you can carry enough for a week. a 256gb card will hold a fair amount of footage - it can shoot 4k but only 8bit 420 (unless you carry a seperate recorder (10 bit 422 out of hdmi) but that's more weight & more batteries. SD cards are small & light. I would also look at at a way to offload your cards
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1191268-REG/sanho_shdcsudma32tb_2tb_colorspace_udma_3.html

you can carry your full cards and your director can carry the backup - that way if you get eaten by a python or something - he's got the footage :-)

Rather than a gimbal which itself needs power I'd look at a glidecam, with practice there is no shot you can get from a gimbal that you can't get from a glidecam and they're light & sturdy. You can imitate a pan, tilt, crane, dolly, you name it - but practice, practice.

Depending on how you're shooting perhaps a monopod rather than a tripod - I think after a week the weight factor will trump everything else (I just realised, that saying doesn't really work anymore - Damm you donald)

perhaps you need to work out how much gear you need to carry for yourself, clothes rations etc as mentioned and then work out how much weight you have left - it' one thing if you have a base camp but you are really limited if you're on the move - weight will be the killer (figuratively speaking)
 
Hopefully you are physically training too, regardless of which camera you bring. My last trip was in 2015 with my son, we backpacked 16 days in the Cimarron Mountains in New Mexico and covered 140 miles, almost all above 10,000 feet. I trained for a year but no training could have prepared me for the issues we dealt with, namely it rained between 18-20 hours per day for six days straight so all of our gear that we trained with dry was soaked, even with waterproof bags and supposedly waterproof tents, they still ended up getting soaked under such a deluge and ended up gaining about 35% in weight from the water, so my 45lb backpack ended up being closer to 65-70lbs, therefore what started as a few small manageable blisters on my feet, inside my sock liners and waterproof socks, whcih also got soaked when our trails were turned into rivers, 3'-5' deep. All of this turned into many layered strata of painful, watersoaked blisters, the pain was excruciating and once above 10k feet, I was fine but coming down, a sinus cavity in my jaw became extremely painful due to altitude changes. I gained extreme sensitivity to heat and cold on one side of my mouth which made drinking and eating very difficult. Could train to be in shape and know what we were doing with navigation, survivial skills, but couldn't train and prep for days of endless rain or for a sinus issue that cropped up when we summited a peak at 14.5k feet. Point being, camera gear could turn out to be the least of your worries, no matter how well you prepare. Think out your expedition and have a plan B and and viable plan C.
 
I reckon something like the Sony FS5 could be perfect for a shoot like this - built-in variable ND. A native ISO of 3200 (so it'll be great for low-light work), wide dynamic range to handle the extremes of contrast that you'll find in the wild. It's also tiny, records to even tinier SD cards and sips batteries - so a small pouch full of batteries would probably get you through a full week.

And if you shoot it in HD you can get a high quality 10-bit 4:2:2 image. Only real caveat is that the menus are Sony's usual head-ache inducing level of unintuitive, but once you're setup, I can't imagine there'd be many things you'd need to change.

For super-35mm pictures, in a remote environment, with miniscule resources, and where size and weight and battery life is a big concern - I think it could be well worth looking at.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top