- In this video I'll cover the best video travel kit
and the two separate kits I use when shooting
both professional projects
and regular YouTube videos on the go.
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Hey, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video.
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and all the links to everything
that we mention in this video,
you can find linked in the description below.
So let's jump into it.
What gear is best for traveling with?
Let's start out first by looking
at my professional gear setup
and then what I use for regular YouTube videos on the go.
And make sure you stick around to the end
because I'll also cover my one pro tip
that can save you a ton of rework
that most people completely forget about
when they're traveling.
Before we get into my travel kit
let's look at the professional kit that I use.
Now, I was recently on a film shoot in Bali.
The gear that we traveled with for that project
being a corporate project was a little different
to what I'd normally use for my YouTube setup.
We were using Red Dragons
and we were using Sony FS7s,
and big lighting kits and big tripods
and stuff that you really wouldn't wanna travel with
if you're just creating YouTube videos,
unless you're someone crazy like Jon Olsson.
The Panasonic GH4 really is the camera
that travels everywhere with me.
It's good enough to be used on these corporate projects
like the one we had in Bali
along with the Red and along with the FS7.
But it's much, much smaller,
much, much easier to travel with.
It's something that you can literally
have your whole kit, lights, tripod, camera, lenses
all in one backpack.
And instead of the much, much bigger tripods
and stabilizers and all the lights
and gear that you would need
on a high end professional shoot
if you're gonna be shooting with Reds and high end Sony's.
That then leads us to the YouTube gear.
What gear do I use for YouTube
and make sure again you stick around to the end
because I'm gonna share that tip
that a lot of people miss while they're traveling
that can create a heap of headaches.
My YouTube gear then.
Primarily, I'm shooting right now on a Panasonic GH4.
I said this is the camera that travels everywhere with me.
The lens that I'm using on my Panasonic GH4 primarily
is the 18 to 35 millimeter Sigma lens
which is an f1.8 aperture and it's a Canon mount.
Which means to use it on the Panasonic GH4
I've actually got to use an adapter or a speed booster.
The one that I'm using is the Metabones Speed Booster.
That let's me use the Canon lens
with the Panasonic camera.
What it also lets you do is create that
really blurry background that you're seeing here
in this video and a lot of the other videos on this channel
because it allows so much more light through.
We've got a video showing you exactly
how you can create that blurry background look
and I'll link it up in the cards now.
Then in regards to tripods.
The tripod that I use primarily while I'm traveling,
something that's small and light that fits in your backpack
is the Slik Video Sprint II.
Now, this one you can pick out for
I think it's around the $90 US price point.
It's pretty cheap in regards to what you're getting.
It's small, it's light,
it is surprisingly really stable.
And what I like about this one is
that you can actually take the head off this tripod
and mount it upside down or underneath the tripod.
For any overhead shots
or any shots where you might be doing
food preparation or drawing
then you can position your camera
underneath the tripods so it's looking down
to get some creative shots like that.
It's a really cool tripod.
Typically for a camera with a lens like this,
the lens actually weighs quite a bit.
You would normally want a more professional,
a more sturdy, heavy duty tripod to hold this camera.
When I'm not traveling or when the amount of gear
that I'm traveling with doesn't matter so much
then I'll normally take a Miller tripod
or a much bigger tripod for use with these cameras.
But for travel and for portability
and the tripod that goes everywhere with me,
it's the Slik Video Sprint II.
Now for the audio gear that I travel with
I'll always take at least two wireless microphone sets
which I use the Rode Filmmaker Kit wireless microphones.
I'll take two sets of those
in case I've got to do any interviews with two people.
You can plug them directly into the Panasonic GH4
using a 3.5 millimeter splitter cable
so you can get two channels directly into the one
3.5 millimeter headphone jack plug.
I'll also take a Rode shotgun microphone with me as well
in case I need the shotgun microphone.
And I'll also always carry two wired Boya lapel microphones
or lavalier microphones.
Now, another video that we've done
talking about these microphones
I'll link up in the cards now
so you can find out more information
about those microphones.
But they're my go-to microphones when I'm traveling
and it really covers off all scenarios.
For wired solutions, for wireless
and for your shotgun or running gun audio as well.
So then in regards to lighting,
there's one primary light that I'll take with me everywhere
which is the Aputure AL-M9.
Now this is a tiny, tiny little light
that packs a punch.
It's got a two-hour built in battery life
and you can charge it and run it over USB as well.
This thing is a little pocket rocket.
It's tiny, you can clip it onto the top of your camera,
you can also use it with your smartphones as well.
But for anything more professional
or for more light beyond that
then I'll take at least one but sometimes two
of the Yongnuo YN300 Air lights.
That's a bit of a mouthful
but they just run off those Sony NP-F batteries.
And again, we've got links to everything
that we're mentioning in the description below
so that you can check them out.
But also check out the cards
because we've got videos on these different products as well
showing you the pros and cons of each.
That's the camera, the tripods,
the lights, the audio.
What are we missing here?
The other things I take are probably accessories
like batteries.
I'll always carry at least three batteries.
I'll carry a heap of double A batteries and backup batteries
for things like the wireless microphones.
I'll carry the much smaller batteries
that you need for the Boya lavalier microphones.
I'll also always take a heap of duct tape or gaffer tape
to hide your lapel microphones
or to tape down any cables.
If you're on any sort of shoot
you should always travel with duct tape
or gaffer tape anyway.
And the other accessory that I always travel with
is at least one hot shoe extension bar.
Now these you can pick up for around $6 or $7
and again, all the links are in the description.
These let you plug multiple accessories
on to the top of your camera
or on top of a tripod.
They're really handy and probably the highest use case
for us is for mounting two wireless microphones
or a shotgun microphone and a light
directly on top of the camera,
or directly on top of a tripod.
Okay, so that's the travel gear
that comes with me everywhere.
Whether it's a corporate gear, just a YouTube video
or even just a family holiday,
I'll still be taking all of that gear with me.
But there's a second set of gear
that I'll also take everywhere
to really give greater flexibility
especially with creating these YouTube videos
and that's my mobile setup.
You don't always wanna have to film everything
using your DSLR and using the bigger tripods
and using all these gear.
You can get great results using your phones as well.
I'll always take with me a small tripod
and that will either be the Joby Gorillapod
which is one of those bendy tripods
or I'll take one of the Arkon tripods
which has the phone mount built-in.
The phone mount on that one will let you
mount your phone in either portrait or landscape
so it's a great tool to have with you.
You can then attach one of those
hot shoe extension bars
directly to one of those tripods
and that will allow you to mount your phone and a light
or your phone and a microphone
directly to the top of that small portable tripod.
And then you can use either the Boya wired lapel microphones
or you can mount your wireless microphones
and use that with your smartphone as well.
The only other accessory that I travel with everywhere
that I haven't mentioned here is
a USB backup battery charger.
So to charge up the lights, to charge up your phone.
To really just keep everything charged
that is powered by USB while you're traveling.
Now there's one thing that a lot of people
forget to do while they're traveling
and creating videos on the go.
It doesn't matter if they're corporate videos
or videos for YouTube
or even just your home videos.
And that is to do a backup but not just one backup.
Have multiple backups and keep them in separate places.
I remember when I was first starting out
I was working on a shoot with this production company.
They had one backup.
They were dumping all their footage unto one drive.
We'd only finish one day of shooting
but that drive died,
so they lost all the footage from that one day.
From that point I've been pretty particular on backups
and you never want to have to go
and re-shoot something especially if it's a client job
or not even that.
Especially if you've just done something awesome
or spent the heap of your time creating videos.
You don't wanna have to do it again.
At least have one backup drive
and then a backup of that drive
and keep them in two separate locations
unless this is something that you
don't really care if the footage doesn't make it back.
It's such a simple tip but having multiple backups
of your video files is a huge thing in general.
But most people forget about it
or overlook it while they're traveling.
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then make sure you click that big subscribe button
and check out the video link on the screen now
for the best DSLR camera settings for video.
I'll see you soon.