My name is Joshua Baker. I'm a documentary director, journalist
and podcaster. I started documenting when I was 11 years
old, my dad gave me a Canon 35mm stills camera, and I fell in
love with photography, and with the power of images. And I sort
of knew then that I wanted to become a storyteller.
Filming in hostile environments, war zones, conflict zones
pretty much anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. A lot of
it becomes about being able to sort of adapt. And I think one
of the things that's really helpful with that is having kit
that is strong and versatile and allows you to sort of work in
this ergonomic way.
Today, we're gonna talk about how to prepare to go to the
field, what sort of kit you need, how you need that set up,
and things that you can do before you leave to make your
life so much easier.
So if I'm going away, I kind of want two of everything, because
things will get damaged, things will go missing. But I'll have
two cameras that are capable of doing different things. For
example, the C70, it's got a 4K, Super35mm DGO CMOS sensor. The
advantage of that is that essentially the quality of the
image that this camera is producing gives you a lot of
flexibility in post. The C70 also has the same sensor as the
C300 Mark III. So again, you're kind of getting that image
quality, but just in a much more compact camera body.
So one of the things that's also great about the C70 body is that
it allows for interchangeable lenses. So right now it's got
the RF 28-70 F2 all the way through on it, which is a
beautiful lens. But the ability to put on a prime lens gives you
a much more versatile way to work with this camera. Because
the great thing about a prime lens is it allows for a greater
depth of field and can give you that sort of cinematic look that
zoom lenses don't tend to give you in the same way. And I love
the 50mm. It's just the focal length that for me is sort of
one of my favourites to be honest with you.
The XF605 has a 1-inch type CMOS sensor. It's kind of like an all
in one, if you think about it like that. It's got a 15x
inbuilt zoom, so you're not having to worry about changing
lenses. It's also incredibly lightweight and very versatile
as well. One of the features of this camera that a lot of people
are going to like is the Dual Pixel Autofocus. If you're
running about gathering images quickly, this is a feature that
you can use to help you out and think about the other things
that you're doing. It really is a camera that allows you to just
jump into an environment and start shooting.
Now I do a lot of podcast work as well as films. So sound has
to be spot on. I need often a mic on me as well as a mic on my
subjects. So we're getting my questions clearly and their
answers. With the ability to internally record into both of
these cameras, it means that your workflow when you're in the
field is just that much easier.
On my primary camera, no matter what it is, I put on a camera
strap. And that just means that I can rest the camera on my
shoulder I’m not putting it down somebody is not going to come
along and knock it over. And it also means that if something
happens and something develops, you've got a camera by your side
and you can quickly bring it up and start recording. The other
thing that I do is I wear a camera belt. You don't need to
be carrying around a heavy rucksack. That can be in the car
with all your backup gear. This just puts everything on you, so
you're ready to go.
One thing that is always just like an essential idea is to
take as many camera batteries as you can. Fundamentally, if you
run out of power, then you can't shoot anymore. But also when it
comes to charging, one really easy trick is to just get
yourself a multi-prong extension lead. And then that way you only
need one adapter and you can set up all of your chargers plugged
into the extension lead. In terms of memory cards, take as
many as you can afford. I tend to have a minimum of four per
camera. Also if I can avoid it, after I've backed up my cards, I
tend to try and avoid formatting them. Because it just means
there's another place where the original material is held. So if
something goes wrong with a hard drive, you know it's there
somewhere else.
What Canon have come up with to try and ease that process is an
app called the Content Transfer Mobile App and it integrates
with the XF605. And essentially what it allows you to do is
transfer proxies or your full footage back through to an edit
that could be anywhere in the world. And you can even do that
as you're shooting. And the advantages of that are so clear,
especially in a fast turnaround situation where you need to be
getting content ready quickly for broadcast.
Before any shoot it’s absolutely essential to do as much planning
as possible. Like most of the plans that you make, go straight
out the window as soon as you put your foot on the ground. But
having done the process of planning itself, it arms you
with the tools to be able to adapt when you do arrive. But
also there's prep around when you're creating narrative and
story, thinking about what the scenes are you're going to get.
So how does a scene begin? What is that scene about? And how
does that scene end, so just thinking about those little
details will help you and actually reduces stress because
filmmaking is stressful.
I really hope that this inspires you to go out there and create
stories of your own. So much about this is just practice.
It's about taking it out into the world, finding places that
you can tell your own stories.