- So I just got back from a two week expedition
in Ecuador where I climbed some of the tallest peaks
in that country, and this video is all about
my minimalist camera gear setup that I took with me
to capture the experience.
(upbeat music)
So there's been a lot of videos coming out
that are all about what's in my gear bag for 2019.
So I wanted to do something a little bit different.
This is definitely a video that's going through
the camera gear that I bring with me, however,
I'm doing it in the context of my expedition
that I just went on for the last couple weeks.
I spent the last two weeks at high altitude
climbing some of the biggest mountains Ecuador.
So we went after Cayambe, which was 18 thousand, 900 feet,
and Cotopaxi, which is 19 thousand, 347 feet,
but to be able to climb tall mountains,
you have to have a light pack,
and you have to have a light load.
A lot of times, we're trying to skim everything out
of our pack, so the issue for me is how do I bring
camera gear so that I'm not overloading my bag
and then making it heavier for myself
which in turn makes it so that I can't climb.
So this is a battle that I play all the time
when I'm climbing mountains.
It's what gear should I take that's gonna be able
to get me the shots that I need, but also be light enough
that it's not weighing me down.
So I bring a few cameras with me,
and we're gonna go through each one and the reasoning
for each one, and I hope it will spark
some creative ideas for you guys of which cameras
to take for whatever activities that it is
that you're shooting.
But before we get into each piece of gear
that we're gonna be talking about in this video,
you have to think about what you're gonna be creating
out of the content, and that will help sculpt what gear
you need for your shoots.
So for me for when I'm climbing, there's two reasons
that I'm shooting videos.
One is that I want to create kind of like
a mini documentary or vlog style content
around this whole adventure,
and so that's something I'm working on right now,
I'm putting together an entire mini documentary,
which I'll put out on this channel very soon.
That's gonna encompass basically the two week adventure
that I've been on, and so that is one thing
that I'm shooting for, I have to keep that
in the back of my head.
I need content that shows all the different stages
that we went through, and I also need to be able
to capture sounds and audio and all different things
that are going on when I'm out there climbing.
And the second thing that I'm thinking about
is that I'm in these unique places
where I could capture some stock footage.
So this is something that I always do
when I'm out doing adventures is that I'm looking
for opportunities, and if you don't know
what stock footage is, it's basically you can take
any of your footage, put it up on a stock footage website,
and then it can sell for money.
So whenever I'm in a new situation
or going traveling somewhere,
I always want to keep stock footage in the back of my head.
And to be able to sell stock footage for more money,
you have to be able to shoot at higher resolutions.
So having cameras that shoot 4K or 4K60
is really important because that footage sells
for a lot more money than if you were to shoot
1080P footage.
So those are kind of the two things I'm thinking about
when I came up with my gear list for this trip.
So when it comes to gear, the first thing you have
to think about is how are you gonna tie it all together,
and that is your bag.
So when you're out traveling,
when you're doing this kind of mountaineering expeditions,
you need a bag that's gonna house all your gear
but then also your cameras.
So recently, Lowepro came out with this new backpack
called the powder, and it came at the perfect time for me.
So this bag is a camera backpack, but it's geared for people
who are doing these kind of outdoor adventure sports,
so it's got a bunch of extra loops for things
like your ice axes or your snowboards or anything else
that you might be carrying on the outside of your bag.
This is really cool because up until now, I've always used
mountaineering backpacks for these kind of adventures,
and they're not set up for cameras.
This powder bag is a camera backpack that is set up
for mountaineering and all these other sports
that require you to carry lots of extra gear.
So a couple things for me that stand out with this bag
is that on the front, on the straps
that go on your chest here,
you've got these pockets that allow you
to put some cameras and gear
that you have access to very easily.
Also, on the back, you have access to your entire pack here,
which allows you to flip partially or all the way open,
which is very different than a mountaineering backpack
'cause typically you don't have this kind of zip access
in these bigger packs, you only have your access
through the top hole.
Now with this bag, you can also get an internal unit
which acts more like a traditional camera backpack
where you can stick all your pieces into the backpack
and then have that backs of access.
When you pull that out and you open up,
you basically have a giant bag that's set up
for things like mountaineering.
So this bag is perfect, and this is kind of
the piece that tied it all together for me.
Now from here, I had to think about
what cameras I'm gonna bring, and in this kind
of activity, not one camera is gonna work
because there's different situations where you need
to be able to have access to different cameras.
So the first one's pretty obvious,
and that is my GoPro Hero 7.
This camera is great just to mount on different things.
For me specifically, when I'm climbing,
I mount it on my head, so this allows me to get a POV shot.
It's easy for me to reach up, turn on the camera.
When you use the beep feature, it allows you to beep,
beep, beep, and you know that you're recording.
So that's one of those things that's super important,
I'm not fumbling with gear, and I can just turn on
the camera and start recording.
Now with the GoPro Hero 7, one of the things that I use
is this POV gear lens cap.
So it's basically just a plastic lens cap that goes
on your GoPro lens, and so when you're out in the cold,
and it's snowing, your lens won't get all frozen
and covered, so it's very easy to pop off that lens cap,
throw it in my pocket, and turn on the GoPro
and start recording, and that's how I get a lot
of these POV shots.
It's always on my helmet, so when I'm climbing,
I always have access to the GoPro.
And because the footage is good, I can sell this footage
as stock footage very easily.
Now the second camera, I don't use for stock footage,
however, I do use it for more telling my story,
and that is my Insta360 ONE X.
This camera shoots 5.7K, but it's in a spherical format
so that when you punch in and get your 16:9 shot,
it's not as good of resolution,
so you can't really sell this as stock,
however, it's an awesome camera for telling your story
especially in these settings.
I personally love 360 cameras because of the abilities
it gives you to tell a story.
I can just hold up the camera,
whether it's on this little mini tripod I have
or my POV gear pole, and I just hold it up,
and what happens is later,
I can go through and reframe my shot
and be able to get exactly what I need.
So when I'm climbing, for me personally,
I don't have time to fumble with gear,
I need to be able to pull a camera out, get a shot,
and keep moving, 'cause one slip, I could fall off
the mountain, and obviously that's not a very safe thing
to do, so with the Insta360 ONE X, I keep it right here
on my chest in one of those pockets,
I just pop it out, hold it up in the air,
let it roll for a little bit, and then put it back down
in my pocket, it makes it very accessible where I don't ever
have to take off my backpack to get these 360 shots.
And with that, I'll use my POV gear pole.
Now this one is the full pole, this is the longer one.
I use the mini when I'm out there doing these kind
of activities 'cause it's half the size.
The issue is I lost it on this last trip,
so I don't know what happened, but I lost my pole.
It sucks because it was about halfway through the trip
I lost it, so I don't have it for the second half
of the trip, but these poles are amazing because they can
completely be torn apart, you can wash them,
you can clean them, they're super sturdy,
and they're made of metal and they're not cheap plastic.
So, POV gear poles are kind of the way to go,
and this is a great tool to use with my Insta360 ONE X
'cause that will hide the pole completely,
and then I also use it with the GoPro,
so this has a bunch of different uses
when you're out shooting kind of adventure style content.
Now I definitely brought along my GH5.
This is kind of a essential piece that I always bring
with me, however, when I'm actually climbing mountains,
this becomes a little bit heavy, and I don't necessarily
want to bring a full mirrorless camera,
I just want to bring these smaller cameras
because they're easy to put on my body.
This never ends up coming out of my bag
if I take it climbing so it ends up becoming dead weight,
however, everything else that I was shooting
around this two week expedition,
I was using this when I had a chance.
It's also obviously good for photography,
so having a DSLR or a mirrorless camera is a good choice
to tell your story, but you gotta think
about your situation, and if it doesn't make sense
to always carry something like this,
then you might want to leave it behind.
So my camera of choice is, of course, the Panasonic GH5,
and I brought two lenses with me.
I brought two primes.
Now this is something different than I normally do.
So usually I bring my 12-60, which is the perfect all around
lens for the micro 4/3.
12-60 gives you a huge range, it's a 24 to 120.
So that's a huge range of focal lengths.
The issue is it's a F4, so everything's gonna be in focus.
So what I wanted to do on this trip
was something a little bit different.
Instead of bringing a zoom lens, I brought two primes.
I brought my 15mm 1.7, and then I brought my 25mm 1.4,
and the reason that I brought two primes versus a zoom lens
is that I'm using this to get some more of that shallow,
cinematic depth of field look.
All my other cameras are wide cameras,
and everything's gonna be in focus,
so to get that shallow depth of field look,
that cinematic look, I need to use primes on my GH5.
So when I'm telling my story,
when I'm creating my documentary
around this whole expedition,
I wanted to have some cinematic looking footage,
and then obviously, and then the other cameras
are there to capture the moment.
So the GH5 is kind of essential, that's gonna allow me
to get that shallow depth of field.
And a couple things I bring with me are ND filters.
This allows me to shoot wide open,
and they also have polarizers built in
so that you can get crisper looking footage.
So GH5, two prime lenses, I had the 15,
the 25, and ND filters.
And then I also brought a little mini tripod
so that I could set my GH5 down, and then the microphone
that I brought was the Rode VidMicro which was perfect
for this kind of travel because it's super small,
and you could take it with you,
and it doesn't weigh anything.
Now my last climb when I went down to Mexico
and climbed the Orizaba, this was kind of the gear
that I took, however, I added another piece of gear
to the whole equation, and that is the DJI Osmo Pocket.
Now this is awesome because it's a gimbal, so you can get
very smooth gimbal-like shots, and it's so small
that it fits right here on my chest in my backpack.
So I always have access to my DJI Osmo Pocket,
which shoots 4K60, it shoots awesome looking footage,
which can be sold on stock footage on one side,
and then I have my Insta360 One,
which is great for storytelling on my other side,
and this is always with me
no matter where I'm going when I'm climbing.
So I always have these two cameras here,
I can reach in, get the shot, whether I want a shot
that looks good to sell as stock footage,
or I just need a shot that's gonna help me tell my story
because I'm in a really cool situation,
and that's why these two cameras became my prime cameras
that I used for almost everything.
So it might seem kind of crazy that I brought four cameras
with me to capture this, but all of them have
very distinct uses when it comes
to a two week expedition when I'm climbing.
In terms of computers and all that stuff,
I left all that at home.
So I essentially relied on keeping cards
in all of the cameras, I with I had a Gnarbox,
that would be the one thing I would add to this whole kit
because then I could offload my footage each night,
however, for this trip specifically,
what I did is I put 128 gigabyte cards in every camera,
and I basically just kept recording
as I was going throughout the two weeks.
Now I never ran out of space, I got pretty low
on some of the cameras, but having 128 gigabytes
in every camera, I had two in the GH5,
it basically allowed me to shoot and not have to worry
about offloading or bringing computers
or anything like that.
Now I did bring my phone, which was super important
because it allowed me to still post and actually edit
some of the photos and video while I'm out there recording.
So while I was doing this expedition, I was still uploading
to Instagram, and I was posting as the trip went on.
And the key is just having cameras
that can hook to your phone,
and all of these cameras make it super easy
for me to pull the footage and the photos over
so I could edit the footage and videos real quick
and get it posted while I'm out in the field.
I never really worried about transferring data
and actually backing up data which is one thing
that I wish I had a Gnarbox, which allows you
to basically do that in the field.
I backed their newest one on Kickstarter,
it just hasn't come yet, and that's something
that I think I'm gonna add to this whole kit
that will make it a lot better
because then I don't have to worry about a camera getting
lost and then losing all the footage from the trip.
That is one thing that I was worried about the entire time.
If I lost one of these cameras, it meant that I lost a lot
of the footage as well.
Now one of the key things to keeping
all these cameras charged was my battery pack,
and this battery pack from Roamproof is pretty incredible
because it's not only beefy and made for outdoor,
but it also has a solar panel in it.
So for those times when I don't have access to power,
and I need to recharge the battery pack,
I just have to leave it out in the sun.
So this is essential, it has four different USB ports,
and I can charge all four of my cameras at once
while this is sitting out in the sun.
It's one of those things that's super essential
because you gotta keep all these cameras powered,
and there's a lot of situations when I'm out climbing
where I don't have access to power, I just have access
to a battery pack, and that's where one of these
is very handy.
So essentially, that was all the gear
that I brought with me.
I obviously brought the cables to charge things,
a couple little cases that I had sitting around,
but this is it, this is all I took with me
to try and capture this two week expedition.
Now I wasn't using every camera all the time,
it basically came down to I needed specific cameras
for specific uses, and when I was up climbing
on the mountains, I only took small things with me.
So I shot with the DJI Osmo Pocket,
the GoPro that was mounted on my head,
and then the 360 camera, and then when we were in between
all the climbs that we were doing, I would pull out
my GH5 and that would be my A camera for everything else
that I was shooting.
So guys, if you want to see my complete list,
I'll put it down below in the description
so you guys can see all the different pieces of gear
that I took with me.
This kit works very well in capturing the moment
and being able to get some awesome looking footage
that you can see as stock footage.
Like I said, when it comes time for you to come up
with a list of gear that you're gonna use for your shoot,
you need to think of all the different situations
that you're gonna be in, and you also need to think
of the different things that you need to create
out of that content, and that's gonna help define
which gear that you're gonna bring.
Now I've had people ask me why didn't I bring a gimbal
for my GH5, and the issue is it just is too much weight,
and it just takes a lot more to work with
when I'm in these kind of high stress environments.
It's much easier for me to pull out my DJI Osmo Pocket,
even though it's limiting to some degree
because it is so small, however, the footage that I've got
on it is unbelievable, and I wouldn't have been able
to get these shots with other cameras mounted on a gimbal.
A lot of these times I was able to pull this camera out
because it was sitting on my chest, and it allowed me
just to pull it out, grab a shot, not have to fumble
with gear, because as soon as I'm fumbling with gear,
that's where issues come up.
So cameras that were here or here are the ones
that are gonna be used the most in these kind of situations.
So guys, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the camera gear
that I used to capture this expedition.
What gear do you think I could have left at home
or what gear would you have brought if you went
to go climb Cotopaxi right now?
And guys, if you're interesting in selling stock footage
and adding this to your arsenal of things
that you're creating when you're out there creating content,
I have a course all about how to sell stock footage,
I'll put a link down below in the description.
I'll also put a little discount code
for watching this video.
Guys, that is it, I'm gonna be working on
an entire mini documentary about this whole expedition.
It was a crazy experience, I almost failed
on one of the mountains, I was passing out
at 18 thousand feet, it was a mess,
you can just see from this footage right here,
I was not looking good, however,
we did make it to the summit at Cotopaxi,
19 thousand, 347 feet, and it was a crazy, crazy ride.
So guys that video is coming very soon, and guys,
if you're new here to this channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
There's a lot of awesome filmmaking tutorials,
camera reviews, and I like to go on adventures like this.
And make sure you head over to thecreatorfilmschool.com,
that is my nuts to bolts, everything you need to know
to have a career as a filmmaker or a creator.
All right guys, that's it, I'll see ya on the next one.