(upbeat music)
- Right now, I'm climbing up to the summit
of one of the mountains surrounding Los Angeles.
And in this video, we're gonna go through
all of the camera gear that I bring with me
when I make my adventure films,
and pretty much all the other content here on my channel.
All right, let's get to the summit and break down this bag.
We just made it to the summit.
This is pretty incredible up here.
This is basically everything that could fit in one backpack.
I try to keep everything light,
but also have everything that I need for any kind
of filming situation that I'm going to get into.
So we're going to go through all the gear
that's in this backpack.
And I take different configurations depending on the shoot.
I don't always take everything.
So I'll change out different components
and I'll kind of explain why as we go through it.
And this isn't my only backpack that I use,
This is one of the bigger ones,
I have one that's a little bit smaller,
but the whole idea is that I can take it anywhere,
whether I'm hiking to the summit of a mountain,
or I'm jumping on a plane,
or I'm going to the jungles in Thailand or wherever,
I can have everything in one kit.
So the whole thing starts with having a solid backpack.
So this is Shimoda's new bag.
It's the Explore v2
and the Kickstarter launched today.
So if you want to know more about this bag
after this video is done,
I'll put a link down below in the description.
But basically the reason I like this bag is that
it is built for adventure.
So they have two bags in Shimoda's line.
They have the Explore v2
and they also have the Action X.
So they have a lot of the same components,
but the Action line,
you can stuff more in it because it has a roll top.
Whereas this one is more sleek-looking.
So it doesn't have the roll top.
And it has more features that are geared towards travel.
So right here on the front, on the top straps,
you have two pockets.
I typically put my Rode Wireless GO right here.
So one of the things I always use for audio
is a Rode Wireless GO.
And I use version two because of the backup recording
that you can do with this.
This can be a standalone recorder without having to connect
to the camera, or because it has two transmitters,
I can run, one lav on me and one on the person
that I'm interviewing.
And it just sits right there on the front of the bag.
Now you can also put a cell phone in here and on this side,
you can put some other gear.
It's also big enough to hold like a small water bottle.
Now it's got a chest strap and it's got a waist strap,
and you can actually take this whole section off.
So you can take the whole waist belt off
if you want something
that's a little bit more sleek looking for like city.
So if you want something
that's not so hiking oriented,
and you pack it a little bit lighter,
then you can just take the waist strap off.
Now on the side of my bag,
I use the Peak Design Travel Tripod, carbon fiber,
so it's lighter.
For me, this has been like the go-to tripod.
Super easy to use, it's lightweight,
I can take it pretty much anywhere,
and then I can always have a solid tripod shot.
Now the one thing that this doesn't have for video shooters
is a video head, it's a photo head, it's a ball head.
For me that's the only major downside is that
it's not a full video tripod.
Now, one of the things I want to get in the future
is an adapter for this, where I could put on a video head,
but otherwise this is just always in my pack.
Now come back down here, also on all of Shimoda bags,
they make really big pockets for water bottles.
So on the side here, you can see,
I have a full Nalgene and it still has room
for a bigger water bottle.
That's one of my biggest complaints when it comes
to camera backpacks in general, is like a place for water.
So you have to have these big pouches on the side,
on either side of this pack.
Plus this one in the front could also hold a water bottle.
And for going outside, hiking, doing adventure stuff,
I always have big water bottles on me
because water is super important.
Now the camera that I use is the Sony a7s III,
and Jesse is holding that.
So I'm going to get a shot of him because he came
all the way to the top of this mountain with me
to shoot this video,
so I didn't have to do it alone.
So Jesse is using my vlog set up right now.
Look at that sunset!
- Beautiful.
- Isn't that nice?
So on my a7s III,
right now I'm running the 24 to 105 at four,
I've got the Sony shotgun mic and that's just like a simple
run and gun setup where I could pretty much
use it for anything.
So when it comes to the lenses, I use a mix.
So I'll either do zoom lenses or I'll do primes,
or I'll do zooms with one prime.
When I'm shooting I want lightweight glass,
and that was one of the reasons why I used Micro Four Thirds
for so long, but the whole Sony line is super small.
And when you use certain lenses in the Sony range,
they are small as well.
So this 24 to 105 is an F4,
which you know, it's not the fastest glass out there,
but it's smaller than the 2.8 24 to 70.
Now the other lens that I use that's a zoom
is my 70 to 200 F4 as well.
And when I use my two zooms,
I'll typically bring one prime that's a little bit faster,
so I could get that super shallow depth of field.
And I usually bring like a 35 millimeter.
I really liked that focal length, it's great for interviews,
it's great for just getting good B roll cause it's wide,
but it's not too wide and you can get some really nice,
shallow depth of field.
Now, the shotgun mic that I use, it's Sony shotgun mic.
I prefer to use this microphone than a wired one,
like a Rode or something else,
just because it's simple, it's easy.
It plugs in the hot shoe mount,
and I don't have to worry about cables
and batteries or anything.
And on the back of the microphone,
you have a bunch of different functionalities.
You can change the directionality of the microphone,
so it can be omnidirectional, or it can be more directional.
You can also change having noise reduction
or a low cut pass filter,
and you can also go auto and manual just on the back
of the microphone itself.
So all the controls are right there.
Most of the time when I'm out shooting,
the shotgun mic or the Rode Wireless GO II,
those are the only two things that I need
to capture good audio.
All right, so back on the bag,
we have these water bottle holders on the side.
These actually just tuck away, which is super convenient.
So if you don't always want to have things
hanging off the bag, it cleans it up.
Now, when you open the side pouch,
there's actually two filter cases right here.
So if you carry two variable NDs,
put them right here on the side.
Now on the front of the bag,
you have a big zipper pocket here.
There's more filter cases or whatever else you want
to stick here.
Big open pocket in the front, a second pocket here.
So just a lot of places for storage,
depending on what you need to bring with you.
I sometimes put my laptop in the front here if I don't want
it in the back
and I know I'm not going to setting this down on the ground.
And on the top here, we have a big cavity,
which is where I store a lot of my additional gear
that doesn't go in my internal camera unit.
And we'll go through that in a second,
but let's go into what I carry in the back here.
So Shimoda comes with different internal camera units.
The one I have can fit like my camera and a few lenses,
some extra parts, my Rode Wireless GO case.
And this is kind of a cool thing that Shimoda came out with,
and that is a case specifically for the Rode Wireless GO
or anything else about this size.
So I could put all of my receivers, my transmitters,
my mic packs, cabling,
it all just goes in this little pack.
So I know if I need wireless audio, I just grab this.
For my lenses, when I do prime lenses,
I typically bring four lenses with me, the 20,
which is my go-to vlog lens, like that is my favorite lens.
That was what I shot at the beginning of this video
when I was walking up the mountain,
it's the perfect width for doing any sort of vlog content.
And it's a 1.8.
And that's one thing I like all of Sony's lenses
that are the 1.8s,
and the reason for that is they're smaller
and they're lighter.
They feel more like Micro Four Thirds lenses,
even though they're a full frame lens.
So I take the 20, the 35, which we talked about earlier,
I take the 55 and I take the 85,
and that's kind of my whole lens lineup
when it comes to primes.
So if I'm not using zooms, I'll take those four primes.
And this is the 55, I mean, this thing is tiny.
And the beauty of all these lenses
is that they're just so small.
So I don't have to bring a ton of glass when I want to have
a full set of primes with me.
One thing that's kind of cool that I found,
are these stickers that go on the back of the lenses here.
They're cheap little thing, but it's just quick,
so if you look down on my bag,
you can see exactly which lens is where.
So the filters that I use are veritable ND filters
and a CineBloom.
This is my filter case when I don't want to stick them on
the side of the pack,
and this just keeps everything nice and organized.
Again, this is another Shimoda case.
They make a lot of accessories with their backpacks
and I pretty much use all their gear.
This is my prime veritable ND kit.
So these are 67 millimeter variable NDs from Moment.
I got my four to 32 and I have my 64 to 512.
And basically any lighting situation,
these things have me covered.
And the third filter that I bring with me,
is also Moment's filter, it's the CineBloom 10%.
And I like the 10% because it's not super strong,
but it's enough where it does give some halation
and it just looks really nice.
And this is perfect whenever I'm using direct sunlight
in my shots, and I have like beams of light,
this is just such a cool lens to use.
And depending on your lighting situation,
you can actually use these in combination,
and you just put the CineBloom
right behind the veritable ND.
Now, the last thing I have in this kit are step-up rings
because the 55 and the 35 aren't 67 millimeters.
So I have to have step up rings.
Now, if I'm using my zooms,
I have veritable ND filters for those as well.
Those are bigger because the two zoom lenses I use
are both bigger than 67.
So I typically just tuck this away, wherever it fits.
And then the last thing in this compartment
is my laptop case.
So I have my 13 inch MacBook Pro,
which I did hike to the top of the mountain
with this laptop,
just because I didn't really want to leave it in the car.
So there's a padded case back here in the back.
It can hold up to a 16 inch MacBook Pro.
Hopefully the new MacBook Pro comes out soon
because 13 inch is a little bit small.
Now the last pocket I'm going to show you is the top here,
which is where you can hold like any of the extra gear
that doesn't fit in the internal camera unit.
So I have my drone up here
because I like to bring a drone with me.
And I have these cases from FlytPath, Aldryn,
he made these and they're perfect for the Mini 2.
So the one drone that I take with me,
if I just want something small
and I don't need active track, Mini 2.
It's the best drone for the money and the thing is tiny.
This thing gets killer shots.
Now, if I want a little bit more control, I want D-log,
I want active track,
then I'm going to bring either my Air 2,
or my Air 2S.
I'm actually pushing more towards the Air 2S recently,
because I like that one inch sensor and the colors look
really good on that camera.
The only downside is
when you're shooting 60 frames a second, it crops in 50%,
so you have this weird crop.
If you want to shoot slow-mo,
if I'm not bringing a ton of extra gears like gimbals
and extra lenses,
I'll bring a bigger drone and more drone gear.
But if I have everything like I do right now,
I'm just going to bring my Mini 2
because it packs up so small.
Now the last couple of things I bring with me are my gimbal,
so I bring the DGI RS 2.
This thing just sits in the top,
or it sits in the front of my bag here.
I prefer the RS 2 over the RSC 2
because this has a removable battery,
so I can bring multiple batteries with me.
And then one other thing I might bring is lighting.
So this is just the Aputure little MC lights.
These things work really well
if you just need like a quick hit of light
and they're color.
Now, if I need more light than one of these,
I might bring something else,
but for a travel kit,
I want gear that's gonna fit in the backpack,
in my Shimoda bag.
So these are perfect
cause I'll bring a few of them with me and they're small
and they can kind of go anywhere
where there's open holes for gear.
So also in this top pouch,
you have a couple more zippers for gear
or whatever else.
In the back here you have a passport holder.
Right now it has cards from the shoot I finished today.
See I've got all the memory from everything
we were shooting earlier today,
before we did this hike, and I packed that away deep
so there's no chance of losing it.
(upbeat music)
All right, so the sun's about to set
and we have to climb back down there
before it gets too dark,
but this is pretty much all the gear that I use
when I'm out filming, when I'm doing my adventure films.
Like I said,
keeping everything on me is super important
and having a solid backpack is super important.
So if you want to learn more about the Explore v2,
I'll put a link down below in the description
for the Kickstarter that just launched today.
And also I'll include links to everything down below
in the description.
So if there's anything specific you want to check out,
I'll put it down there.
And if I have a video on my channel,
I'll include that as well.
All right, but it's time to get off this mountain.
So I'll see you on the next one.