Monday, September 11, 2006

Working Out of a Backpack

My latest business offering has the potential for me to travel overseas, and with that, I am thinking about how to effectively work out of a single backpack with multiple mediums. In April 2004, I traveled to Hermosillo, Mexico with my church and for one week I was a videographer in charge of video taping everything, which was awesome because it gave me a taste of my dream of one day being a world traveler documenting what I see and experience in video and photography. But the one drawback that I will never forget is that while the camera (a Canon XL1) took great video, I had to carry around the bag, as well as a large tripod and a backpack with all the filters and miscellaneous product that necessitate great video. I was worn out by all that gear!

But today in the wonderful world of 2006, times are different and great products are shrinking in size, and since I am building a system from the ground up, I have the privilege and benefit of researching quality products that will work from a backpack.

My first stop is a backpack. Tamrac has an Adventure 9 backpack that holds a professional digital SLR with 5" lens attached, several spare lenses, flashes, accessories and a laptop! Perfect, that covers my photography gear as well as a computer, but what about video. Enter the HV10, Canon's new HDV camera that fits in the palm of your hand. From what I have seen, the video quality rocks (even though a potential drawback is a lens that is too telephoto at its widest length) and it would fit into the backpack. There is also a built-in light and flash, how handy! But what about audio? There are no mic inputs, so how could I get professional audio for video production? Well, Zoom has a new product called the H4 that sounds almost too good to be true! Built-in mics, XLR mic inputs, built-in guitar effects, and more! That rocks! But we'll see when it comes out how good it really is. Other miscellaneous accessories that would be great and accessible within this system is a carbon fiber tripod, why carry around a bulky tripod, and a reflector to help with some lighting.

Well, as I begin putting together this system, it is also a very functional system when working around the Portland/Vancouver area, so this is definitely a great system to invest in. I'm sure something better will come along each month, but the good news is that there is hope for a great mobile production facility!

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