Shooting a Travel video: What to take with you?

Published on October 23, 2018

Cinematography & Filmmaking

Camera, dji, drone, film equipment, Lighting

Lorenzo left us for two weeks in the summer, then Yannick went away for two weeks to Sri-Lanka and this Thursday I will be leaving to Iceland for 10 days, so Yannick and Lorenzo are gonna run the studio by themselves.  We all need our vacation to recharge the batteries and put our mind on something different.

Going to a warm country and lay down at the beach is not my thing. For some reason I have a hard time shutting down my brain. I have this urge to constantly work on something creative, so that’s why I’m going on a filmmaking-vacation together with my girlfriend Kim.

Iceland is one of the places I’ve always wanted to go to. So I’m really looking forward to this one! We’ll be renting a car and drive around the country to see as much of the beautiful nature as possible.

Travel Video

I don’t like to vlog or even watch other people’s vlogs, so that’s why I won’t be doing. My inspiration mostly comes from filmmaker Leonardo Dalessandri, who’s most famous for his travel video ‘Watchtower of Turkey‘ Although the video seems complex, his camera work is quite basic (but beautiful). The amazing rhythm sits within the edit, which is gonna be the biggest challenge. Of course, I’m gonna need plenty of shots, that will fit together.

Another great inspiration is FilmSpektakel who have a similar editing style, only here you would see unbelievable time-lapses. I can not imagine the time they spend to capture and edit those videos!

Drone Flying

In Iceland you don’t need a license to fly drones, which is why I purchased the DJI Mavick Air. I did had many issues with it in the past, so I hope it won’t let me down! I do fear the weather a bit. The Mavick Air is a small drone, so it’s not gonna be so steady when the wind is too hard.

But having a small drone, does mean it fits nicely in my bag with the rest of the stuff 🙂

What’s in my Bag?

Everything starts with the camera bag. We compared 5 camera bags last year, which we still have and use. But these are all roller bags, which isn’t gonna work out when traveling. That’s why I’m taking a backpack from Case Logic with me. It’s a very basic camera backpack, but for it’s prize you can’t go wrong with it.

Inside we can find the Panasonic Lumix GH5, which is my favorite SLR camera. It has great colors, very good dynamic range and it can shoot 60 frames in 4K. The camera is a little bigger than most SLR’s, but I would regret taking a different camera with me later on. The extra weight is part of the job 🙂

As for lenses, I will take the Tokina 11-16mm and Sigma Art 50-100mm with me. Both lenses have a very wide aperture so I can film in dark environments. The Tokina gives me a wade angle and the Sigma a gorgeous tele.

Finally is the DJI Mavick Air, which I already mentioned, and the the Stella Pro 5000 from Light & Motion. This LED light is battery powers and can be held underwater, which makes it the perfect light while traveling! I’m expecting many overcast days, so having an extra light with me can help to create more depth in my shots.