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Gear: Alex's Travel Kit

Welcome to chapter two. What's in my camera bag. In my previous workshop, I take you through all the gear I have at home and that I take backpacking. But on this one, I take you through my packing decisions. When I go on a trip with a plane. In this case, we're in Mexico. So I'm gonna show you everything I took here. I try to keep it limited but packing really sucks, but it's necessary. So I'd rather bring a little too much stuff than not enough because I like to have all the tools and having all this gear allows me to get a wide variety of angles, like underwater aerial with the drone. So let's get started. (upbeat music) (calming music) Five D mark four. At home. I usually shoot the one D X because it's sturdier and just nicer to shoot. It feels better in the hand. But when I have to travel on a plane, I always wearing this guy. Lighter does almost all the things that the one D X does doesn't do slowmo. If you're filming, doesn't have as good as so on this one but more pixels is a go...

od trade off to not have all the weight with me. So always in my bag, the 50 mark four, when I travel. 60 mark two, always in my bag when I travel because of the Flipout screen. If I vlog, if I wanna film something, film myself do a time lapse. It just handy have this thing. So I can have it lower higher. Actually. I always have it on a gorilla pod that is somewhere right there. Yes. So I usually just have it hooked to the gorilla pod like this and, neat 60 and 35. It's on it, 90% of the time, because it's super wide. And then 35 is pretty good, even for portraits. So for its flexibility, it's always on my 5D. It's also 2.8, so I can shoot until pretty late. And when it gets too late, I use my 24 1 4 actually always travels with me. It's not efficient. I could have a 24 70, but I'd rather have my 24, 1 4 to shoot the blue hour. We'll talk about that later actually. Big boy, 100, 400. I used to have a 7, but I thought he wasn't extreme enough. So now I use this big guy for everything. I go to the extreme. So I use my 16 for the white stuff. And when I want to go tight, I'll put the 400 super cool using it because I start seeing things I didn't see before I put it at 400 usually. And I start going through the landscape like a sniper almost. And I see features I hadn't seen. So for traveling, even though it's huge and heavy and clunky, always with me, new addition, a GoPro. I used to have a GoPro one when it came out and I used it a bunch underwater. Then I got an underwater housing for the 5D. So I'd had no use for it until I started using one again in Hawaii a few months ago, because I can have it on my head with the little Mount I have. It goes over my head like this and I can go diving and shooting. And then I can just film a bunch of BTS shoot some photos with it. Candidly, if I wanna go for a swim I don't wanna bring all my stuff. I just bring this thing. And some photos of my feet actually have been shot with this but I bet you can tell which ones cuz they've got 'em pretty good. So go pro so small. I always bring it. One more thing. The backpack. So I don't know if this fits into the frame. Good. It fits in the frame. So the LoPro Whistler four 50 is a long name, but it's huge. You can, A-frame your skis to the side of it. You know, as a TP, I can fit three lenses, two bodies a laptop, a charger books up here, headphones. I keep me a battery charger in this section here. Usually one is enough card reader, Kingston standards compact flash and SDS. Here's what I keep all MYB C cables and USB, not C they're all, all in here. They look a little messy, but usually they're a little cleaner. We've just been filming a lot. All the batteries stay here. There's like 10 of them. So camera gear done. Now let's talk about technology. This is the fluff man goes on the 6D or the 5D. If I wanna get some audio, if I'm interviewing somebody if I'm talking somebody or if I'm talking to myself on the camera, they just have more expensive ones. But I ended up breaking them all the time. Like this little plastic Mount just broke. So at this, this one, when I break it I can buy a new little Mount. That's why it's from road road, video, memory cards Pegon case waterproof bombproof dustproof all the proofs Wide assortment of cards. 1 28 gigs, 64 gigs CFA for the one D X when I wanna shoot slowmo. One thing I do to know which card is used and not the other way flipped this card is being used and it's full. It needs to be downloaded. And this one is fresh. Same for these ones. So they're good to go. This one is being used right now and that's an SD I have for the 60 and have another one on the, and the 60 as well. And some tiny micro ISDs for the drone. I have maybe like four with me, two here two in the drone box. And one just in my suitcase because I always lose them. They're so teeny memory cards done hard drives a variety of them, these ones and this one. So I'll let me explain. I download all my stuff to this 500 gigabytes SSD and it stays with me all the time at home or on the road. Then I copy everything on this one as well. So I have a carbon copy of these two. So if my backpack gets stolen with this one in this one is with me. So we're good. If my backpack gets stolen, if I get stolen, then this one's in my backpack, but then we got bigger problems. Anyways This one, I dump this in cuz they're only 500 gigs. So on a long trip, I need to have one of these as a backup. So this is my system, always on the road. All I need, I can go for a month or two filming and shooting with this, this little piece. Brilliant. When I lose my cables or don't have the right cable. It goes from USB old to USB new. I think it's called USBC. Always have one in my backpack. And one on my computer. It's saved my life a couple times Barrick from incase charges, my iPhone 10, almost full now. So it's getting old, but I still have it with me. I used to use it a lot, but then with the USB plugs in the planes and I feel like they us use be everywhere now. So I don't use it as much, but still have it just in case. I always make sure it's full before I go last but not least. These puppies, the bows, quiet, comfort, something. They're new purchase. And I used to have noise canceling once from back in the day. I just kept them for years. But these ones game changer I think they're called the quiet comfort. Three, something like that. But light Bluetooth in the plane. They allow me to spend a full night of sleep. If I go in somewhere, they've changed my life. That's it with technology. Now, my travel mates. The Lappen actually forest. Mankins got me into these and I like them a lot. If you don't know Forest he's a photographer and a good friend. So he likes these. And now I like them too, because they write very well. I always have four with me cuz I lose them easily. They go with this just smaller skin note pads. I use three or four per year write ideas and index cards in them. Just anything that goes through my mind. I wanna write it here. A book right now it's Silvan is almost a French writer. He writes about adventure and traveling. This book is about Russia. Now we're in Mexico. So when I travel, I try to keep it interesting. So if I go somewhere warm, I'll bring a cold book. If I go somewhere cold, I'll bring a warm book. Just keeps me energized. Yes. This one. I don't think I should put it on because it'd be pretty silly. People tell me it looks like a bra. It has no name. It's called the Bucky. It's an Amazon purchase. Impulse buy. I saw it somewhere as the best something travel mask, click bait. But once I got it, it was $ but the best $12 I've ever spent, I can sleep in a car in the plane on the beach, anywhere, full, bright full brightness outside. I can put this on and be darkness. So I'll link to it in the workshop notes, the Bucky. So that's it for travel buddies. Now accessories The Gule pod. You just saw handy for everything. I can just clamp it to door frames, sand EV everywhere black diamond, headlamp, cheap and solid. I've had a lot of hikes that I finished in the dark without a lamp while traveling. So I have a lot of time to reflect on the needs of a headlamp and how good it is. So I've made it a rule to always have one with me even though I don't plan to hike, I'll have it with me just in case there was a flood in Hawaii and there was no light anywhere on when we were in Hawaii. So the hotel got went dark and I was happy. I got this just always useful. So my everything backpack going to the city this backpack going hiking this backpack. I mean, you can do an overnight with this just one night but you gotta be really light if you go backpacking. Otherwise, if you're just gonna hike, it's perfect. It's from Arteris it packs completely flat into your suitcase. So no footprint at all. And one interesting thing is that I have this peak design flap. They have a version two actually that I don't have in this one. That's better. This is version one. I'd get version two. I always have this here. Just slide my camera in it. And the good thing is that this tripod uses the same head in the same plate. So I don't have to switch plates between the cameras. I can go from tripa to backpack quickly. Love this bag. Always with me, the underwater housing, my good friend. Aquitec the dome is in here. And actually it's about 32 degrees here. It's very hot and I've been filming for a while. So I'm gonna have a swim and I can show you how it works. All right. Where at the pool is still hot. Now I wanna take you over this underwater setup. So first things first is the dome. I have an Aquitec PD, 85 dome which is massive and I use it for splits. So split is a photo when you see under the water and over the water. So you see outside and inside and the water's kind of in the middle. It just makes this surreal feeling of the blue water and the sky outside. I just love that. And having this makes it easier for you instead of a flat port That is just this size. If you have this big port here it's just easier to get them. It's more surface to play with. So with the dome, I've missed a lot of photos because water drops would stay on it. So I learned this from Ryan Moss. Who's a big wave cinematographer in Hawaii and a photographer underwater. And what Ryan told me is just spit on your dome before you leave the house just spit on it two, three times then rub your spit on the dome and let it dry. So you do this at home before going to the ocean or the pool, wherever you're going do that before leaving. And then once you get there, it's nice and dry. And then you just screw it on the on the housing and the water will bead right through. You can also blow your nose on it. If you're in the ocean or just use wax from your ears that's just what guys in the ocean do. And it's worked for me as well. So I won't get into camera settings in in here because we're just showing you how it works. We'll do it in the snote in another chapter of the workshop for now. I'll just put it on and show you how it's all secured and works. Let's do it. So there's the architect plate. It's always on the 5D 90% of the time. Cause I never use Tripos on it. The plate's always on it gets nice and easy inside. One thing that's important is to check your seals on the housing is these orange seals here and here before you use it, make sure they're good. They're worn out. Or sometimes they just kind of move when you're traveling. So make sure they're tight. Put the do in pretty tight. You gotta go. All right, this one is secure as well. These domes are super easy to scratch. So I always have this little new print cover on them. The key here is to align all the buttons from the housing with the buttons on the camera. And even though it's made for it, it's not ideal. So it's aim, right? Cause when you're in the water there's no going back and then you'll be stuck without being able to change the aperture. The one button that's super important for me to line up is the one to switch from still to video on the 5D. I've been in the water sometimes without being able to switch. And it's a bit of a pain looking good. Name's align. I wanna test my buttons before going. So it's working video still see it's good to double check these, check my seals as well. If the seals look tight, then we're good to go. So as you see the water beats right off with the spit technique, so drops and stay so I can shoot right now and be good. Let's continue with the gear. DGI, Phantom four pro it's got a few scars. It's fallen from the sky a few times. I didn't crash. It, it fall itself. I swear two batteries plus one of the drone. So three batteries is I can do everything with it. That gives me about an hour and 15 of flight time blades. I usually have extra blades. I got five here on a small crash. I mean, when it crashes itself usually the first thing to break is the blade. Even if you break just one blade, you're done. So I like to have spare ones in my drone pack and in my suitcase as well. This drone is huge. I could have a Maverick pro I could have a Maverick air but I don't like compromising on quality. I'd rather bring a huge box in a suitcase rather than compromising on quality. Obviously I could go inspire too but this is just the right footprint for the right quality for me. My favorite for the end, I could travel the world with this and no camera or couldn't, but this is it. The air press. So if you not into coffee you can skip this section because it's gonna be boring. If you like coffee, like me stay. This thing is called the air press. And it's $45. He was invented by a guy who invented freebees something like that. It packs very small. It's very sturdy. I mean this one's small enough a cliff and it's only, yeah, still works. Minimal cleaning. Just rinse it out with water. I like to have paper filters, but you can use metal filters if you're somewhere remote and complicated. But paper for me tastes a little better. If you like your coffee, a little more grainy, more texture then the metal filter is good cuz it lets more of the coffee through it. But if you like it more pure like me paper filters this is to steer your coffee in the air, press at home. I use chopsticks because they just work better. But this works as well. The grinder, I love this thing. Ah, here's the handle. So it packs so small. It's called the mini prox and it's Japanese. There's the footprint of your grinder. Coffee comes out of here that the sun left and beans go in here, put your beans in here. You can adjust your grind somewhere. I forgot. No, no that's amateur hour. We should know. You can also adjust your grind here. If you're doing French press or air press it's a SOPAC that actually this grinder is so good because remove the handle. It packs inside the air press Who invented this. This is my coffee kit in my suitcase or my backpack. If I go into the mountains, dunk coffee on the beach if you like your coffee, just get one of these setups and your day will be so much better. So this is all my gear, but don't get bugged down by it. You don't need all of this. You just need a basic DSLR with a kit lens to take photos. As long as you master the settings and that you have the right ideas, you'll be good. So don't get bogged down by this. I used to travel the world with a 5g mark two and a 35 millimeter lens, nothing else. And that's what started my career. And that got me a portfolios international and got me where I am. So I found that I was missing on some shots that they're nice to have when you're building your story to have a Y and a zoom and an underwater and aerial, it's always better more complete story, but you don't have to rely on it. You can do everything with this and this camera, for example, or this 1855 kit lenss and this TC SI you know, don't get bugged down. It's easy to look at all this it's expensive. It's cool. But start small. Find the limits of that. And then you go to the bigger stuff.