Episode Three – The Field Kit

Show Notes
Episode 3 discusses a minimal list of equipment you can carry when travelling.

Sometimes video can be successful no matter how poor the technical quality just by having a camera at the right place and the right time, but more often success comes down to planning more than anything else.

When you’re travelling on holiday, you don’t necessarily want to carry a large amount of gear, but you can choose a few items judiciously that can be of considerable value.

Kit Items

• Camcorder – It should go without saying, but your camcorder is the cornerstone of your field kit
• Headphones – Microphones don’t work like human ears. Noises that you can tune out become blaringly obvious once recorded. Using a set of headphones on location to listen to the sound can reveal ambient noises that can distract the listener and ruin the recording. (If you’re shooting for a while, you should periodically re-check the audio, sometimes a breeze comes up and spoils the later takes (I’ve heard that happens ))
• Microphone – Microphones come in many kinds, but for lightweight convenience, the lavalier microphone can’t be beat. Lavalier mics clip to your clothing and are generally only good for one person. You’ll probably need some way to extend your distance from the camera. If you use an extension cable, make sure that it doesn’t generate noise. A more expensive option would be a wireless arrangement, but do make sure that you can legally use the frequency the mic operates on.
• Batteries (and Charger) – Batteries add weight, but in the field, the more batteries you have, the longer you can record. Plan accordingly. The batteries will become useless if you haven’t got a means to re-charge them.
• Tripod – For lightweight travel, a small portable tripod can serve you well. Be aware that small tripods can be unstable, so protect your camera and tripod from being knocked over.
• Wide-angle Lens – I’m taking a wide-angle screw-on attachment. They’re great taping in small rooms, or when you’re trying to take in a wide vista. Be aware that they can make people look unflatteringly fat. This is strictly optional, but I’ve found it useful enough to add to my standard kit.
• Telephoto – Like the wide-angle converter, this is strictly optional. I consider digital zoom to be pure evil, so I like to enhance the optical zoom on my camera as much as possible.
• Lens Cleaning Kit – Make sure have something lens-safe for cleaning the gunk that builds up.
• Filters – If nothing else, get a clear filter and put it on the front of your camcorder and leave it there, just to protect the lens. There are a varierty of other filters, skylight, UV and Neutral Density that you may wish to have to compensate for certain lighting conditions. We’ll discuss filters in greater detail on a later episode.
• Editing computer – Although not exactly in the “field kit” a laptop computer and appropriate software for video processing means you can work on your footage whereever you are.

Although not directly mentioned in the episode, make sure you’ve got a convenient case or pack to carry your equipment in and keep it handy. Make sure you’ve got plenty of tapes, and pen/marker for labelling them. Label the tapes as you open them and put them in the camera, and log what you shoot. It’ll save lots of time in post-production.

The next episode of Ninja Team will be posted from Taiwan, stay tuned to see what it will be about. Also, I’ll be putting my kit to the test by vlogging and blogging over at lonelocust.com starting September 27th.

We’ve been holding off on the next episode until Quicktime 7 was officially released for Windows. It has now been released and can be downloaded at Apple’s Quicktime page. Of course, you can also use VLC to play the H.264 video streams.

During September, John will be out working on a movie shoot in Colorado (I had to back out for family reasons ) and I’ll be getting ready of a put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is vlogging tour of Taiwan. More on that in the episode when it is released. In the meantime, get your H.264 players ready.

Looks like the Quicktime 7 for Windows in still in beta (although now at Preview Release 3) but I’ve learned that VLC for Windows can play H2.64 encoded videos, so if you’re having trouble with Quicktime on the PC, give VLC a try.

You can find it at videolan.org. It’s great!