Since this'll be the last time I get a chance to upload
before NAB, I figured it'd be the perfect opportunity
to show you what I'm bringing with me.
You know, one of those "What's in my camera bag" type videos.
Let's get Undone.
[offbeat music]
♪ Gerald Undone ♪
♪ He's crazy ♪
What's happening everybody? I'm Gerald Un-dun-dun-dun-dun.
A couple quick notes before we get into the gear.
One, I'm probably not gonna be uploading any full,
regular-style videos to YouTube while I'm away,
but I will be making smaller, bite-sized content
for both Twitter and Instagram, so make sure you follow me
on those platforms so you can see
what cool stuff I'm discovering while I'm at NAB.
I'm @GeraldUndone everywhere,
but there's also gonna be links in the description
And two, for those of you that have no idea
what I'm talking about, NAB,
or the National Association of Broadcasters,
put on an annual trade show in Las Vegas
where companies get to show off their new goodies,
and I'm gonna be attending next week. Alright, so let's jump
over to the workbench so I can show you what I'm bringing.
["Batman" transition riff]
-[snapping] -[loud clap]
OK, so to start things off, this video is gonna feature
this bag from Brevite. Now, this is called the Scout
and I've never used it before, but I figured NAB
would be the perfect opportunity to put it
through its paces. But I will give you
a bit of an overview and tell you some of the things
that I like and don't like as we pack it up.
First of all, to open the main compartment you flip it over
and zip it along the back.
Inside there's another smaller pack
which stores your camera gear, and is removable
if you wanna just carry around the padded camera section.
This is a neat idea, but it does have some drawbacks.
Let's load it up with camera gear
and then I'll show you what I mean.
So, for this trip, I decided to bring the Sony a7 III.
I really enjoy taking photos with the a7 III
and since this trip is kind of doubling as a mini-vacation,
that put it as the front-runner.
But if you add in the fact that if I wanted to do
a quick interview, or have someone shoot me
saying something, I know that I can rely on
the autofocus and face detection of the Sony to just
get the job done without having to worry about it.
For lenses, I'm bringing Sony's new 24mm G Master.
It'll be good for video and vlogging situations.
And for photos, it's a nice width
for environmental portraits and Vegas architecture.
But I'm gonna mount this one on the camera now,
when I store it, in order to save space.
Oh, and if ever you wanna lay your lenses out
in a flat lay like this, you can always lay the lenses
this way by putting a piece-- this is paper towel,
but you can use tissue paper or something else.
And this will stop the lenses from rolling
if you wanna lay them flat and have them not move too much.
Just a little bit of a trick if ever you do shots like this.
I'm also bringing the Sigma 35mm,
which is a little redundant after the 24mm,
but it's my favourite focal length, and I just know what
to expect from it when it comes to photos with this lens.
And it's incredible optically, So, it's going in.
Lastly, we've got the 90mm Macro G lens from Sony
which will be great for longer-style portraits
as well as letting me focus close if there's some details
on the products that are being displayed
that I wanna focus on. This is one
of my favourite lenses of all time, and probably
the best macro lens available of the current generation.
Alright, so the camera portion of the bag is packed
and as I was saying, this section is removable.
There's just these little magnetic Clips on the side here
and you can just zip this portion up.
And then it comes out like a little...
camera purse, I guess.
And on the top it has a self-healing,
you know, weatherproof zipper.
And there's a clip on the front that...
allows you to open it this way, and then there's this, like...
weatherproof skirt that you can use as well
to keep your gear protected. Now one thing I don't
really like about this bag though is that...
it's not really a long-term carry solution like this,
because it's not gonna be that comfortable
to carry your gear around like a lunchbox.
Now apparently there is a camera strap
that they sell that you can put in these hooks on the side,
but they don't sell it anymore as far as I can tell,
and it didn't come with this bag.
So, it's kind of disappointing
because I don't really think that this is a...
...a good solution long-term. But it might be OK for just
moving your camera gear in and out of your camera bag,
I guess, for short-term. It's a neat idea.
I kinda wish that it wasn't in the bottom of the bag as well
because then when you load up the top section,
if you put a lot of weight in here, then the weight's
gonna be pushing down on your camera gear.
Kinda makes more sense, maybe, to have it in the top and then
you can put some clunkier, heavier stuff in the bottom.
It's a Neat idea. I'm just not 100% on the execution.
I'm also a little bit concerned about the quality
because I've already noticed some tearing
around one of these clips for this smaller bag
and I haven't really put this bag through its paces yet.
So, I'm a little bit worried about its longevity.
Now, despite my warning about putting heavy stuff
in the top of the bag, pushing down on the camera,
let's go ahead and put some heavy stuff
in the top of the bag. So, first of all,
we're gonna load in the DJI Ronin-S,
but before that, there's a little hidden
compartment here that you can access this way.
You can also access through the Zipper at the top,
but I'll shown you a little bit later.
And in there, I'm gonna put in this Anker Power Bank,
which is gonna be great for keeping all the cameras
and everything and cell phones and stuff charged.
Gonna pop that in there, and it's just under
the requirement for taking on carry on.
It's under the 100Wh requirement.
And then I've also got this which is a little bit
of a hack: It's both a USB-B and USB-C cable
that are velcroed together,
so that I always have both cable options with me.
And the USB-C to USB-B cable is actually from Amazon Basics.
It's really cheap and it's really effective
which will also give you power delivery for the older
Fuji and Sony cameras as well. It's a nice little cable.
I recommend picking that up. I'll put links
to all the little stuff in here that I think
you might find interesting in the description below.
Alright, so let's load that in there,
and then I'm also gonna bring the AC adapter
for the power bank so that I can also use it
as direct charging when I'm in the hotel room
and not use up the juice on the power bank.
So, pop that in there as well, and then just in case I need it
I have a USB-C to USB-A cable just in case.
Alright, so now let's start loading the Ronin in,
and one thing that I love about this gimbal despite it
being heavier than a lot of other ones is that
it's actually the most... packable, the most compact
because you can strip it down and take it apart
and remove the battery handle from the rest of it.
So, we'll just find a good way to stick this in here.
There's not a lot of gimbals that you'd be able to stick
into just this small top portion of a bag like this.
So, we'll put the handle in.
Maybe along this side.
and then I've got a rag here that I'm just gonna use
to stop, you know metal from banging on metal.
Just kinda give it a little bit of a wrap there
because I have this grip that I also wanna put in.
And this is something I've been meaning to tell you about:
It's this grip that I got sent by a company called,
I think AgimbalGear or something like that,
but I'll put a link to it in the description.
And this collar just opens up and then it clamps on the neck
of the Ronin and then it gives you a handle
that makes it a lot easier to get low angle shots.
And it's got some 1/4"-20, as well as 3/8" holes on the side
and it's got a shoe on the top so you can mount
a monitor in here. It's actually pretty great.
It's only like $20 or $30 on Amazon.
It's really well-machined metal and well put together.
This is a nice little pick up if you're looking for something
to get your Ronin down low angles quicker,
and also attach a monitor. So, we're gonna put that on top,
and that was one of the things I didn't want
the metal scratching on the metal for.
And then got the plate.
The tripod.
And then this accessory bag I also have a few
other things in other than the accessories for the gimbal.
Got an extra Sony battery. I've got the cables up here
for the Ronin-S and these cables now work.
If you've updated the firmware on the Ronin-S,
you no longer need to order that specialty cable.
You can use the cables that came with the Ronin
for the Sony now, which is pretty great.
Took them long enough, but I'm glad that they finally did it.
And then I just got some extra memory cards in here,
microSD conversion-- Oh, and this cable.
This is something that you guys also need to be aware of.
This one is-- basically it takes your stereo microphone in
on your camera, and splits it into two mono Jacks.
So, basically you can connect two different microphones
if you're plugging directly into your camera.
Now, it'll record as a stereo track.
But because in post you can always split the tracks up
essentially giving yourself two mono microphones
that you could then duplicate in a stereo if you wanted to.
This is great if you wanna connect a lav
like I'm running right now, while also using a shotgun mic
on your camera, or just something else.
I'm gonna bring this, that way if I'm running one mic,
but then there's something else to connect to,
or if you want to, you know,
give yourself a little bit more versatility,
you're not really sure what the audio set-up's gonna be
this is a great little solution; these cables
are super cheap and have come in handy so often
on run-and-gun shoots when you might wanna use
two different mic sources. Definitely get one
of these if you do a lot of shooting like that.
And speaking of microphones, I'm gonna be bringing
the Deity V-mic D3 Pro
for all my run-and-gun audio needs.
Love this mic; terrific value. Probably the best
bang for the buck on camera shotgun mic available today.
So, that's it for the main compartment.
As you can see, there's a sleeve for laptops,
but I'm not gonna be bringing one, so that's not
really important to me here. So, let's go ahead
and zip this up and then I'll show you
the top access point that I was talking about.
OK, so if we open up from the top here, you know,
we can look down into everything we just packed up.
If I need quick access to my memory cards
and my battery change they're right there.
And then this is that compartment
the hidden compartment which is where, again,
if I needed, you know, to get my power bank out or charge
something in a hurry, I can just access it from there.
And then in front of that compartment
is another one which is smaller.
And this is where I'm gonna store my Boling P1 light,
which I recently did a review on this RGB light.
It is fantastic and it's probably the best
compact panel available today. I love this light.
If you're looking for something like this,
make sure you check out that video: it is outstanding.
So, I'm going to put that in here.
As well as my headphones.
These are the Shure SE-215s. They're in-ear monitors.
Originally I was thinking about maybe bringing big,
over-the-ear cans, but I thought I'd keep it a little
bit slimmer with all the gear that I'm bringing.
I've had these for several years now,
they're not new or anything like that.
But they're still holding up great
never had any issues, think they sound great.
They're really comfortable. Love this product.
So, I'm gonna pop those in there as well.
And then I was looking for a place to store my phone
and I couldn't really come up with one
because the pouches on this thing
are kind of scratchy and kinda have, like, a more...
you know, weather resistant, rough kind of material.
But even, you know, these front pouches here,
they just feel rough, and I don't know,
I didn't really wanna put the phone--
and there's not really anything kinda like padded for phones.
And like I said, there's only that one pouch for the cameras.
So, for the phone, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna
take this thing which I often bring with me on trips anyway.
It's this kind of like... one of those like, neck...
mmm-mm-mm... [audio slowed] mmm-mm-mm...
covering kind of things, and they're great for planes
because you can use them to cover your eyes
or cover your mouth of people are coughing,
and trying to give you tuberculosis.
But you can also, I don't know, wear it
is a weird '60s bandana if you have long hair like me.
But they're just good for flying,
and luckily, it's also very, very soft.
And so I can just wrap the phone up in that
and then I'll just stick it in this little front compartment
which gives me quick access, and this compartment's designed
for you know, pens and small things
and tools and memory cards and stuff like that.
But I've got all that in a little zip up case.
So, I'll just be storing my phone in there, and with
the headphones and that phone being the Pixel 2 XL,
I'm also gonna need the 3.5mm to USB-C dongle.
And I'll probably-- I don't know,
I'll stick that... Up with the headphones.
On the side there's these tightening straps that also
have quick release clips, which you can also use
to store, like, a small tripod or a monopod.
And there's the elastic-y, sort of mesh pocket.
Which obviously you could also put a water bottle in.
But if you can, you know, get I don't know, a monopod
down there and then you could fasten it in with the clips,
which I might do if I decide to bring one.
The back is padded a decent amount.
It's reasonably comfortable when on.
The shoulder straps are a little thin and flimsy though,
so I probably wouldn't wanna go too heavy with this load.
In fact, I might be over the Comfort level
for weight restriction right now.
The bag is rated for 21 lbs.
And I'll pop it on a scale and see how much I have in it,
and I might be slightly over that weight, but I think
it'll be fine for any kind of, like, medium duration carries.
For long-term carry, it isn't,
you know, padded quite like, say,
a Think Tank bag or something that's like,
really hefty like that. It's a little bit thin
and flimsy, but it's not bad. It's definitely better
than the discount bags that you might find.
[soft thunk]
[rustling]
[sharp zipping]
Yeah, it's reasonably comfortable.
[Batman transition riff]
So, to conclude my first impressions review,
Brevite sells this bag for about $200 US on their website.
And to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about it.
If this was a $60 bag, I'd have no problem recommending it.
It's got premium touches, good zippers,
and overall I think a pretty nice aesthetic
as well as solid elemental resistances.
Oh and there's one thing that I didn't show you
when we were doing the overhead setup,
which is that there is a little front zipper compartment
right here as well, which I kinda like,
because it can use it to store your travel documents
like your passport as well as your itineraries
and stuff like that, and they can just slide
right in there and you have quick access to them.
I think that's the only other compartment
that I forgot to mention, but overall there's just
something about it. I just don't love the layout,
and I don't fully understand Brevite's design language.
And there's a couple of imperfections and faults
that do have me quite concerned about longevity,
and the lack of a strap or even the ability
to purchase one is a bit disconcerting.
So, I think in the $150-$200 price range, there are probably
better options, but it is a worthy effort
from a relative newcomer to the camera bag game.
But that's gonna be it for me. I hope you found
this video helpful or at least entertaining
and if you did make sure you leave it the old thumbs up
and consider subscribing if you haven't already.
But if you did not find this video helpful or entertaining
feel free to hit the dislike button twice.
Alright... I'm done.