Approaching The Scene 003: Traveling and Gear

well hey everyone Hudson Henry here in this episode of approaching the scene we're gonna talk about traveling with gear on airplanes on bigger trips I'm gonna take a few of your questions and I'm gonna talk about how I approach selecting gear what to leave behind what to take with me and how I travel with it safely on the airplane so first question I have is from Jim he says I need your help I'm looking at a get so GT 35:43 XLS at 35 43 XLS that's a really tall series three tripod for section carbon fiber tripod I'm having a difficult time finding out if I can convert this tripod to a bowl and what parts I would need if I can sorry to bother you what I'm looking for is a tripod that's somewhere around 70 inches in height well Jim you're in total luck because you know I recommend and I link these enduro tripods I absolutely love them they're a series 3 3 section tripod but the one that I carry sort of constantly with me is the predecessor to the to the tripod you're talking about it essentially is the older version of the 3540 3xl assets gets those really tall series three carbon fiber tripod and I'm gonna tell you why I mean both tripods are wonderful this one costs about half as much as this one and yet you know I can't quite do without the other I think for most people this enduro it gets right up to eye level you know it allows you to get low to the ground by default it has a bowl at the top for mounting a fluid head it also you can just mount a half ball adapter in there which I'll show you in a second here and that lets you get you know any kind of head a ball head whatever you want on there the later versions of these that I link actually come with a plate and you can swap it out and their system actually comes with a ball that I forgot this is the older version that I have the newer version has a removable plate which is the same thing that the get so has it comes with the removable plate you just twist a little a little knob on the side lift the plate out and you can put a bowl in a 75 millimeter Bowl both tripods are the same that way you just get a little bowl I've got those bowls linked and the ATS link so you can see those links right here there's a pop-up in the video there's also on my blog I put these videos up on my blog and there's always a link to the gear right off the video so it Hudson Henry comm blog you'll see this and you'll see the link but the thing that's different between the two is that this is a three section tripod they weigh almost exactly the same this is the max height of this tripod I'm gonna just take this one off to the side the get so has the added benefit at about the same weight of a whole nother leg extension so this one gets up you know NBA player tall and I know some of you were thinking well why do I need to get up NBA player tall that seems ridiculous well I'll tell you that the best situation I can think of is when you're on a steep hillside you're on a steep hillside you know you've got the tripod right sort of where you want it but this third leg won't hit well you can just reach out and extend that down the hillside to where it does touch there have been situations where I've tried to get up over foliage I find a little low wall I step up on it put two of the legs on the wall with me and extend the other one out and all of a sudden I'm four more feet up and I'm over the top of the vegetation there's also situations where you just want a different perspective and you're traveling with a carload of gear you have a little stepladder you can just go up to you know 79 inches high and get your camera up 85 inches off the ground and get a different perspective looking down it's really really nice to have a long tripod and you know correct me if I'm wrong if anybody can find a series three lightweight carbon fiber tripod that's the same weight and height as the 35 43 get so that's cheaper let me know but you know unfortunately this tripods in thousand dollar range without a head so it's a very expensive set of legs all you need to adapt it for a bowl is this little part that gets oh one is quite expensive someway photo makes one that I use and I've got a link for that in the link so I was talking about so simple easy and what that bowl essentially is going to allow is for you to take one of these fluid heads which I love so much drop it in here and then this just threads on and clamps and you can get the ball it's a flat half ball and basically there are three little set screws so whether you put it on a ball head whether you put it on a fluid head you just lightly tighten it and then set those three set screws with an allen wrench and it's locked together so you know you don't have to worry about it ever coming loose and it's really easy to get on and off so there you go that's my two cents on the tripod you asked about it literally is my favorite tripod in the world and I wish it were a little bit more affordable so the second question comes from Kevin and he asks what new photo equipment am I the most excited about what new gear out there excites me and am i excited about the new Nikon mirrorless that's been sort of teased I wouldn't say it's been fully announced but it's been teased and I'm gonna say you know that the Nikon mirrorless is not the thing that gets me the most excited you know I've used Fugees mirrorless cameras I have used and still use some Sony mirrorless cameras and every time I have a workshop you know half the students are more show up with mirrorless systems and I've used everything up to the the best of the muralists which i think is the the sony a7r 3 at this point well are some Leica's in a kind of a different class but they're wonderful cameras for me for what i like to do the digital SLR and its optical viewfinder and its optical autofocus system is still kind of a king the battery life the ability to look through the lens in the dark with my eyes adjusted to the darkness the speed and tracking of the autofocus or just a little bit superior along with the weather sealing now Nikon could come out and surprise me but I just don't see it being a better camera than the Nikon d50 or the Nikon d5 or the Nikon d 500 for their purposes and and I don't have a d5 but I've used one and I loved it and the D 500 the D 850 are my two favorite cameras I've ever held it's like I couldn't dream of anything better so at this moment I'm not excited about a new body I will definitely check it out and I will let everyone know what I think but I'm still kind of a DSLR guy the things that do excite me the first part of your question I'm really excited about DJ eyes new revamp for the Mavic drones I really do enjoy getting video and stills from drones from a different perspective and that smooth ability to move through the air and I have a Mavic I've had one since they launched the end of you know in 2017 or into 2016 and I've really enjoyed getting better and better flying and getting footage with it and the promise is that the new maverick is gonna come in several varieties one of which has a really nice 1 inch sensor that I'm hoping has more dynamic range and more ability to get clean video and stills in lower light situations so I'm really excited to hear what the actual statistics are on that and I'll probably be an early reviewer of that the other thing that I'm really excited about is some time lapse gear syrup who is one of my favorite motion camera motion companies there out of New Zealand sy RP is coming out with a new version of their Jeannie time-lapse slider their motion slider and I love capturing time-lapse and moving the camera is a lot of fun in time-lapse so I have one pre-ordered and I can't wait for it to get here so those are the bits of gear that I'm most excited about the geni slider and the new Mavic Pro Sarah asks how do I pack for a trip and carry my gear safely on airplanes and I think that's a really great question and it's timed perfectly because I am actually at the moment getting packed for a trip tomorrow to Aruba and actually by the time you're watching this video on Thursday I will be in Aruba and and filming another video for you there you know part of my purpose is doing some work it's it's a little bit of a family trip and I'm gonna be doing a little bit of kite boarding it's a spectacular place for kite boarding so I'm taking limited amount of camera gear and kite boarding gear and the gear that I need to photograph you know some of the landscapes on the island and kite boarding it's an interesting location for kite boarding where there's a great beach that some of the world's best pros kite on in the wind blows offshore they have rescue boats in case something goes wrong and they tend to throw tricks near the beaches if there are photographers from what I've heard because you know the wind blowing them out if something goes wrong they get blown into deeper water instead of on to the beach so it's a really great place to photograph amazing kite surfing and kite boarding and I'm stoked to do that so I've been thinking about you know what do I take to do that and how do I carry a little less weight since I'm gonna be carrying a bunch of kite boarding gear with me luckily the islands sort of a balmy 82 degrees at all times and the water's 82 degrees so I don't need a lot of clothing I have a tiny thing of board shorts t-shirts but I do have some camera gear packed and have kind of thought through what I want to take them what I don't want to take so first I'm taking my f-stop cyka bag I love f-stops bags because of a couple things one it's a waterproof ripstop nylon but they make it out super durable with waterproof zippers on a lot of really handy compartments B they build it with a full-on true backpacking quality harness system where all the weight is adjusted to fit on my hips not on my shoulders the shoulder straps really just sort of keep the bag balanced and all the weight goes to my hips it's a true backpackers camera bag and I love that so I also like the fact there's a nice big easy access panel that's padded well for my back right here where I can just jump in and I've got what I need to get photographing quickly just pull it off my back there it is so what am I taking in this beast of a bag and you know this is their biggest bag that fits in a carry-on section on the plane a one more cool f-stop thing their internal camera units they have these these padded compartments inside the bag that you can pull this is their extra-large pro internal camera unit they make smaller ones all kinds of different sizes so if I wanted to pack this bag differently I could actually velcro in a smaller internal camera unit and carry more more backpacking gear or clothing or something for an assignment that I need aside from camera gear in this case I'm just carrying mostly my camera gear onto the plane with me and I I'm gonna be on the plane for 14 hours each way it's a long way so rube is just 10 miles off the coast of Venezuela and I'm flying from the northwest coast of Oregon so weight a long trip I don't want to destroy my back if I don't need to so some things I'm leaving behind I'm thinking as much as I love it my nikon 14 to 24 is staying behind it's just really heavy and you know my focus is gonna be a little more on action photography here my nikon 70 to 200 is a wonderful lens it's versatile you can do wonderful portraits as well as you know long distance action it's heavy I'm gonna leave it behind in favor of taking my new little lightweight Nikon 400 F for this is that new 400 L or the p PF IDI lens it's extremely sharp really light really small it's smaller and lighter than the 70 of 200 and it's a 300 I've got this little Kirk foot that fits on it that has a an ARCA Swiss dovetail for mounting it to the tripod nice and easy it's a great sharp little flare resistant 300 millimeter that fits in the same spot in your bag as most 105 so it's just a really really cool little lens I'm taking my nikon d 500 and my nikon d50 i really like to have the d 500 for sports action just because of the speed that then 10 frames a second for 200 frames of raw incredible autofocus and the fact that that turns this little 300 millimeter lens into the equivalent of a 450 millimeter lens by cropping the center of it just just a really versatile sports shooter I'm taking my D 850 which I'm filming this approach in the scene episode with just in case I want to do landscape work it's the high megapixels and it's gonna get you a wider angle scene with the same focal length lens so instead of my 14 to 24 I'm taking this 20 millimeter F 1 point 8 Nikon lens very light very very sharp again great in low-light because it goes down to 1.8 has filter threads and it throws a wonderful Sun start f-16 that's one of my favorite things about it just a really really beautiful Sun star easy to capture to stop down to f-16 and secure the Sun or just catch that little bit of a sunrise so that's definitely coming with me the only other lens I'm planning on bringing is a 50 millimeter so on the D 850 it'll be a 50 millimeter on the D 500 it's like a 70 millimeter so versatile little choice I've got a charger for the batteries I'm taking a little think-tank battery wallet with four extra Nikon batteries plus the tuned camera so six batteries just in case I have some charging problems I'm always I always want more batteries than I need a little loom cube in case I want to do any light painting along with some some diffusers and filters for its little Lighthouse accessory limb cubes are just a great thing to have in the field I've got my hoya solace filters and I've got the 10 stop 6 stop for stop and an HD 3 circular polarizer all with the zoom magnetic filter holder system at Manfrotto makes such as easy to switch in between I've got adapter rings and Allen wrenches for every size that I might need right here in this little pocket in the sukkah that's easily accessible whenever I have the bag open I've got my my really right or my black rapid hybrid breathe strap that lets me really easily run around without the backpack and have the camera slung on my side easily accessible and I've got the gear I need to capture panorama advanced panoramas just in case I want to do some kind of a cool panorama I don't have the 14 to 24 maybe I want a wider angle scene with the da 50 then I can get with a 20 I'll just flip it vertical and do a panorama to capture that same scene so aside from that you know in the in the the rest of the bag I've got my standard headlamp I've got a cable release I've got some gaff tape in case I need it a few more bits of gel some some just standard kind of color temperature orange warming gel some cellophane that's orange and case I want a gel alight so are some warm it up and that's about it I don't really need a warm hat or gloves any cold weather gear whatsoever oh I forgot I'm actually testing out some square or rectangular filters that kokand making a brand new series I'm not by any means giving up my Hoya soulless filters they're so easy and so high-quality but I'm testing out this new Evo holder that they have it's a lot like a li holder really really high quality and I'm carrying some graduated neutral density filters I know a lot of you like huh Hudson says you don't need graduated neutral density filters anymore and that's pretty much true for stills except in the you know wildest of situations but for time lapse or video graduated neutral density can just be magical you know because you can't do the same level of post-processing you can't combine HDR frames in video or time-lapse because the times flowing by too quickly you know you need to be capturing it also they can be great and as long as I have it I have a 10 stop and a 5 stop these are glass filters the cooking's making it their new nuance extreme they claim that they're as color neutral as the Hawaii filters that I use the soleus filters and I'm gonna test that theory and let you know what I find out so I got that and of course a cleaning kit sensor cleaning kit a blower brush some Zeiss wipes of course I got my rocket blower some some microfiber claws and a ziploc in here to keep them ready in case I need them all that stuff and that's essentially it you know of course each and every one of my lenses because I'm gonna be photographing in you know conditions with potential blowing salt water and sand have an HD 3 UV Hoya filter in front of them just to protect them that's the kit so the question is you know how do I carry this all in the plane this is going on my back it's not leaving my side I'm gonna put it in the overhead I'm always make sure that I'm lined up at the first opportunity to get on the plane so they don't run out of overhead room if for some reason you know I've been with this pack on some of the the most budget European airlines like easyJet and I've had arguments but I've always been able to prove it will fit in the carry-on size restraints if I ever had a major problem one nice thing about the internal camera units are they have a lid that zips over them that you can pull out you could zip it shut unclip it from the bag pull it out the top of the bag and stick it under the seat in front of you so you don't lose those critical pieces if you're gonna do that make sure you grab your battery charger and your batteries so that you don't potentially lose those too because having your camera here and no batteries is just as bad as not having your camera gear on the trip and for the tripod I have a couple different ways that travel this time because I'm taking kite boarding gear I have a bag made by this company Neill pride you know I'll put a link up on the ATS and links along with all the other links and that links right here too but I have a bag by Neill pride that unzips and it looks like a giant golf bag says golf on it and the great thing about Airlines and golf bags are that they fly just like standard luggage I mean you still need to keep them under 50 pounds but you don't get charged that additional sporting goods fee that sometimes airlines charge for kite boards or surfboards sometimes it costs you know $100 or $150 each way for a bicycle or a surfboard or a kite board for some reason whereas golf equipment goes for standard luggage so this says golf on it it's big enough to hold my kite board and this tripod and fluid head without even taking the head off the tripod what I often travel with is an LL Bean extra-large rolling duffel they make several sizes make sure you get the biggest one it's lightweight it's really durable I've been using them for my gosh I have something I've used for four years taking the patagonian back and multiple big trips Alaska Texas you know you name it I've been sort of everywhere with them and they hold up and they're they're a lot less expensive than some of the bigger outdoor brand rolling expedition duffels they got a nice pop-out handle you can roll them right along and what I tend to do is I'll put my clothes and stuff sacks or clothes organizers lay them in put the tripod in lay more clothes in and then they have little cinches across the top and you just roll it in and hand it and carry on you know it's just a big rolling duffel so that's my trick for traveling with gear I'm looking forward to Aruba just know I'll be kiting and photographing while you're watching that and I'll share some of that with you when I get back you

Channel: Hudson Henry Photography

Views: 3,547

Rating: 4.9587631 out of 5

Keywords: tripods, fluid heads, travel, gear, photography, training, luggage, packing

Id: 4Tbd0rF6U-A

Length: 20min 7sec (1207 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 09 2018