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Shooting in Remote Locations


Frank Hegyi

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Hey everyone, any tips for shooting in remote locations? I scored a gig shooting some educational videos in Antarctica for 6 weeks. I've shot abroad once, but never anything like this.

 

The temperature where I'll be is actually pretty temperate (slightly colder than winter time Boston), so I don't have to worry about extreme cold breaking any cameras. I'm more concerned with something breaking and not having a backup. There's no mail delivery to the station.

 

My second concern is that I'll be shooting on a lot of small inflatable boats, which I've never done before.

 

Any seasoned travel shooters out there with pro-tips? Have you ever been on a long trip and wished you brought x, y, or z?

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I guess ideally you would take 3 X of everything.. but its just not possible .. if Im going on a shoot a bit off the beaten track.. I take

 

1 Spare battery charger..

2 Spare card reader

3 Spare EVF

4 I make sure someone else is also bringing a laptop ..that I can use if needed..

5 Spare laptop charger

6 Usual spare cables you might need

 

Dont know what camera your using.. but maybe you could take along something like a Canon5D/ Sony A7 series as a last ditch backup for video shooting if your main camera goes pear shaped.. and these might be a better alternative to your main camera in the small rubber boats !!.. thats a bit of a perfect storm.. freezing cold on a small rubber boat .. you'll need a water/rain cover for sure..and a life jacket !

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I would 100% go for an underwater housing for the boat stuff -v- a rain jacket. Salt water and electronics don't much work. Personally I'd think about DSLRing the boats (maybe a few GH5 s or A7Siis or whatever matches best with your "a" camera). Spare batteries, as batteries will always be an issue as well as spare cards. I'd think about more manual lenses -v- electronic ones which could jam up, and I'd bring a few "disposable" lenses, something cheap and "normal" ish, like a cheap nifty fifty or two.

 

Bring lots of socks, for you, and hand-warmers if you can, to keep things (batteries) warm in your pocket.

 

Don't forget your gopro. It'll do things the other cameras can't (especially on the end of a long monopod cheap-o walmart pole!)

 

 

But it's kinda hard to tell without knowing which system you're on as based on the camera(s) you're using I'm sure we'll have a few areas on the camera which seem to be problematic.

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This is true; but then again I'd not want to be running in a small boat with one of those lol. Hopefully if they're on a F5/55 they maybe can down-size to an FS5 or something for the boat stuffs.

 

 

haha yes.. I wouldn't want to risk my camera in a small rubber boat..!.. actually Fs5 is a really good idea for the boat.. or similar ..rather than DSLR/A7 type body..

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Good advice, thanks everyone. Here's some more info about the project so we can talk appropriate gear. It's a bit of an weird project. I'm basically gonna do a travel vlog about living at Palmer Station with a bunch of scientists doing marine biology research. The structure of the videos come from the vlogging, but the bulk of the screen time will actually be academic tangents about whatever I'm experiencing in the vlog.

 

For example: me outside on selfie-cam in a blizzard - "Wow it's super windy here today. What causes extreme wind in Antarctica?" And that launches us into a mini lesson about how the ice sheet creates "katabatic winds" on the coast. The lessons will be part b-roll and part animation.

 

I've got $10,000 for new gear. Most of the basics like tripod/audio/laptop I already have. Here's the whole list including everything I plan to buy. My instinct is to go GH5, since a good chunk of this thing is gonna be selfie cam, and I feel the camera could still handle everything else I want to do. Plus, I already have a GH3 and some m43 lenses.

 

GH5

-6 Batteries

-2 Battery Chargers

-2 Fast SD Cards 256GB (capable of highest bit rate)

-4 backup SD Cards 64GB (capable of lower bit rate)

-1 XLR Hotshoe Adapter

-Some kind of weather protection

 

GH3 (backup camera, uses all the same accessories)

 

Micro 4/3 Lenses

-Olympus 12-40mm f2.8

-Olympus 12-100mm f4

 

EF Lenses

-Sigma 18-35 f1.8

-Sigma 150-600 f5-6.3

-Speedbooster

 

DJI Mavic Pro Drone

-4 Batteries

-1 Battery Charger

-1 Controller

-1 Personal iPhone

-2 Micro SD Cards

-ND Filter Kit

 

GoPro Hero 5

-2 Batteries

-2 Micro SD Cards

-Small boom pole

 

Tripods

-75mm Sachtler Tripod

-Small Manfrotto Tripod

-Zhiyun Crane 2 Gimbal

 

Lighting Kit

-4 2ft Quasar x-Fade Tubes

-2 Cardellini Clamps

-2 Grip Heads

-2 Baby pin tube clamps

-1 Shorty GOBO arm

-2 Rolls gaff tape

-1 Jelly Roll

-2 Stingers

-4 100W Practicals

-2 300W Hand Dimmers

 

Audio

-1 Shure Wireless Lav

-1 Rode Videomic Pro

-1 Sennheiser 421 Shotgun

-2 XLR Cables

 

DIT

-1 Laptop

-1 Backup Card Reader

-1 16TB Raid Drive

-4 4TB Portable Backup Drives

Edited by Frank Hegyi
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Sorry don't know much about that gear.. re the tripod.. go for the new flow tech .. easier to carry around and deal with as a one man band crew I would think... the only other thing I would say.. have some decent wind jammers for your Mic,s if your out in a blizzard :).. and lights that can be ran off batteries ..

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Unfortunately already own the tripod. But if I was buying a tripod today, I would definitely get one of those flowtechs. Luckily, anything I'd need to light will be inside with plentiful plug in power. I love those Quasar tubes, so I'm sure I'll be able to rig something up with them.

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RE the lights.. ok thats good and you might want to conserve batteries.. personally Ive found using battery operated lights.. Astra,s with V lock .. to be so much easier /safer even when I have AC power in abundance .. esp in small locations.. you just pick it up and move it.. maybe its just because Im an oldie .. and spent so many years with extension drums.. and blown fuses.. and fighting cables ..!

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