One man banding out in the field advice?

F

firehawk

Veteran
For you single shooter guys that go to other countries to shoot, how do you handle your gear shooting outside?
In this case I am talking about shooting natives in their daily lives and some interviews. All outdoors.

Since you will be far from home you can't necessarily take a lot of gear but you need to be able to get the shots and deal with lighting, wind, weather, lack of power sources, etc..

I am trying to figure out what to take and how to rig it.
Here are my thoughts thus far:

A small camcorder with built-in ND and XLR
Wireless Lav and then mount receiver to camera
A shotgun with blimp for dealing with high winds, straight to cam
A short boom pole for shotgun
A compact tripod
rain protection
extra batteries

Then there is how to deal with lighting.
Bring a foldup reflector? Battery powerd LED light(s)?

The more stuff you have, the harder it is to travel and then manage it when you are working with only two hands.
Thoughts?
 
If you've traveled a lot you realize people are the same everywhere. So, taking the same form of ground transport you'll be using on your trip, take a day and go do a profile of your next town, including interviewing the natives. You'll pretty much learn immediately what you need and what you can do without.
 
Last edited:
Some of the following resources are a bit dated, but they all have something of value to you hopefully-


"Complete Documentary Filmmaking Kit in One Backpack"

http://alaskavideoshooter.com/complete-documentary-filmmaking-kit-in-one-backpack/

"The Best Documentary Filmmaking Kit for Budget Air Travel"

http://alaskavideoshooter.com/documentary-filmmaking-kit-for-budget-air-travel/


"I have $5000- What's the Ideal Documentary Kit?"

http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/news/2011/08/camera_kits_on_a_budget/


"Filmmaking Tip: Gear For a One Man Documentary Crew"

https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/filmmaking-tip-gear-for-a-one-man-documentary-crew/

"What's the Best Gear for Making Your Documentary?"

http://nofilmschool.com/2016/11/docnyc-best-gear-for-making-your-documentary
 
Just off the top of my head, I would likely go with...


C300 or Sony Fs7

AND some sort of smallish camera in case your primary camera craps out on you. One that can use the same lenses. ( Sony A7s or A7r w/ EF adapter or Canon 7D

smallish internal batteries ( at least 5 in total ) & two chargers ( redundancy in case on charger craps out. And you can charge more batts at once ).

Some combination of: Canon 24-105mm, Canon 16-35mm, Canon 24-70mm, Canon 50mm, Canon 85mm, Canon 70-200mm.

ND filters for all lenses & filter case that can be worn on belt

lightweight spreader-less tripod such as Sachtler Ace

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/898213-REG/Sachtler_1013_System_Ace_L_TT.html

or this set for sale here on dvuser:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?353419-Sachtler-FSB-6-on-Miller-Solo-DV-sticks


Sennheiser ew 100 ENG G3 wireless set

Tram lav mic ( x 2 )

Rode shotgun, mount, & Rode Mini Boompole

maybe a Zoom recorder as well

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1080385-REG/zoom_rode_smartlav_and.html

Brightcast bi-color LED x 2 ( they roll up into a cylinder shape and can operate off of small camera batteries)

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1321222-REG/kamerar_kam_bcu345_adp66_usa_brightcast_v15_345_sony_u_mount.html

small lightstands

mini-cardellini clamp

some small pieces of diffusion for lights

small gaff tape roll, 1 inch paper tape roll


smaller led for on camera mounting ( I prefer the ones that can operate off AA batteries. )

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1203128-REG/manfrotto_mlcroma2_croma2_led_light.html

Camera backpack

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/848740-REG/Ape_Case_ACPRO1720W_Digital_SLR_Converta_Pack_Backpack.html


small laptop, media cards, Lacie 2tb rugged drive ( x 2 ), card reader ( x 3 ), back up wall adapter for laptop

rain cover for camera

a few yard-size black plastic bags, kitchen size garbage bags, ziplock bags, desiccant packets, Handi-wipes, some q-tips, some orange wood sticks, some wood stir-sticks from Starbucks ( the flat kind ), zip-ties, bongo ties, velcro

lens wipes, bulb blower, small allen wrench sets ( metric & imperial ), Leatherman, led flashlight that operates of lithium batts, small screwdrivers ( " tweakers" ), cable lock for locking your camera up while you sleep at night or are away from it ( cable-lock it through the handle and to the plumbing under the sink. The idea is to slow down any thieves. )

led headlamp, rain gear, Neos overshoes, fleece, etc.
 
Foreign shooting can mean many different things. It's difficult to advise without knowing more details; what are you making? Who is the audience? What are their expectations? That said, I often travel with a similar kit that JP has outlined above. Though, I'd also suggest a Mavic and maybe a slider, depending on what you are making.

The best piece of kit when traveling is a good attitude, maybe don't go round calling the locals 'natives'.
 
This past summer I did 21 days in rural Tanzania for a non-profit. I followed a group of doing international aid work, and producing a video was not the main goal of the trip so I had to shoot without getting in the way or delaying the groups fast paced schedule. I opted to do the entire thing with a Panasonic Gh4

Gear List

Panasonic Gh4 with battery grip - Very light and portable. Considered a C300 to get better audio control and a bigger sensor, but the size / weight / cost was prohibitive. I was also asked to do some photography and wanted to use 1 cam for both photo and video to keep things simple.

Sennheiser G3 wireless lav - used a Voice Technologies Vt500 mic and brought the stock Sennheiser mic as a backup
Sennheiser MKE600 Shotgun - takes a AA battery to avoid the need for +48v phantom power
Custom Audio Cable - I made a short custom cable that has a 1/8" termination for the camera, a 1/8 locking connector for the wireless lav that feeds the left channel, and a XLR for the shotgun that feeds the right channel. The cable is just long enough to get connect to the lav and shotgun as I have them mounted on the camera. I didn't have to bring an external recorded and worry about keeping that powered and connected and it kept things super simple and compact. Audio controls were a little bit wonky, I basically used the camera audio control to get the shotgun at the right level for natural sound pickup, then adjusted the wireless receiver to match.

Light - had an LED on-camera light that I borrowed from a friend specifically because it used AA batteries.

Batteries - We had some 2 day stretches without electricity. I brought 6 batteries and 2 chargers for the Gh4, and about 12 rechargeable AA with a charger for the wireless lav, shotgun, and LED light. I avoided anything that required other types of batteries because that's just more junk to haul around.

Lenses - Panasonic 12-35 2.8 and 35-100 2.8 plus variable ND. The 12-35 was on my camera about 80% of the time.

Tripod - used the Sachtler Ace recommended above. Light, portable, sturdy.

Computer - brought an older macbook and 2x HDD. Transferred footage off cards every evening to both hard drives. This may be a little paranoid, but I had another person I was traveling with carry one of the drives so that all of the footage wasn't in one bag in case it was lost or stolen.

Accessories - I had a multi-tool, a note pad and pen, and an allen wrench in my camera backpack.

... and that's it. I traveled incredibly light and still felt I had the tools required to do my job. Of course I missed having the option of a slider or a gimbal but it would have been too much to travel with, and at the pace we were moving I wouldn't have had time to use them anyway. I had wanted to use my Shogun to do 4k 10 bit ProRes but it really added a lot of complexity; more batteries, more weight, more expensive gear to be traveling with. I was traveling in the dry / cool season so I didn't need extreme weather gear.


One other thought; please make sure you understand the cultural aspects of what you're going to do. Not every part of the world is used to the idea of being filmed like we are. Many people feel like westerners with cameras are there to gawk at them and they feel disrespected. Think about how you would feel if a stranger showed up on your doorstep and wanted to film you going about your day. I'm not trying to dissuade you, but definitely consider the cultural aspects.
 
I rekon the lead cameras are

FS5, and or Canon XC15,

A crappy 6.4 in panel that runs off doubleAA batts some sort of croc clip or gorrilapod to attach it to stuff - diffuse it with toilet paper

Lil tripod, maybe. Maybe a more hefty gorrilapod for the camera (have you ever seen a gorrilapod fashioned into a shoulder mount)

XLR lead X 2 long and short, shotgun mic and dead cat, some sort of gorrillapod to place it places or have a local under boom for you
proper cans, earbud cans

Sony glass. 18-50 crappo zoom, Oldskool 50 1.8 any brand, 135 2.8 any brand 1.4 converter, speedbooster

GoPro?.. and gorrilapod or sticky kit

gaf tape

chargers, media, hard drives

bin bag for those tropical downpours, toilet paper, white

fold up lastolight reflector/diffusor, white (croc clip->gorrila mount)

black card horror or loupe

bcam? nex5 or whatever the latest version is (6300?) same glass as fs5

I do not work for gorrilapod
 
Last edited:
It might be also interesting to outline my bigger setup.. typical for corporate trade show coverage get there by plane/train/taxi

This is for One carry on bag and one checked bag.

Carry on bag. (thinktank or lowepro)
Camera (FS7 but I would choose FS5)
some lenses batteries bla.
laptop drives
enough to shoot handheld if the checked bag is lost!

Checked bag.
I use the 'sticks bag' that came with my miller tripod..

Sticks
Small lightstand, maybe two
Dedo DLed 4.0
Dedo Softbox
Broken down shoulder rig
Clothes*.
Maybe small lastolight diff/reflector
Clips to add mic and or lastolight to lightstand.
Consider empty sand bag. (fill with rice ?)

The thing about the Dedo Dled+Soft box is that it will break apart to fit in a 'sticks bag' in the way that a panel light will not.

--

Once this is 'built' you have the rucksack for lenses/batts/light. The built camera. Sticks bag for sticks/stands.

One can do solo taxis/public transport with this but not hiking.



*while minimal with clothes I try to have two sets. last trade show we did my colleague basically poured some organc spinach smoothee all over his only trousers. not a good look
 
Last edited:
Wow! Thank you all very much for the great help.
Good thoughts on gear and cultural considerations too.
+1 votes for you all.
 
I am currently in the airport waiting for my flight
to Unalakleet (it's not another country but fairly
remote.) I will have more info, including what I brought,
and what did and didn't work for me in a couple days (after I
get back to the land of decent internet and cell reception.)
I found a pack for camera gear and a lighting 'solution' but
now I will see how my guesses on this stuff (plus what other
gear I need) will pan out.
By the way, I DID bring a gorillapod.......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top