Last month I circumnavigated the globe in three weeks. It was a lot of fun.
Against many people’s advice I chose not to bring a still camera. I captured all my memories with a Canon HF100, a small consumer-grade hd video camera that records to high-capacity sd cards. I used a depth-of-field adapter, a device used to force a shallow depth of field upon camera sensors too small to naturally achieve it, and a 50mm Nikon Nikkor-S f1.4 lens to achieve “film-like” quality with the recorded video.
Here is my footage from Beijing.
I’m rather pleased with the end result. The video’s graininess and color saturation emphasize the dream-like nature of the trip. The varying degrees of blurriness are the result of an improperly calibrated adapter (i should have rtfm before embarking on the trip) but the aesthetic doesn’t bother me very much. It was shot in 24p cine mode. The adapter btw is a total hack and was purchased from a nice guy in washington state.
This was my first time traveling with video equipment. Between the fist-sized camera, adapter, lens, dozen 4gb – 16gb sd cards, and a super-compact tripod, my entire rig took up an extremely small amount of space. Surprisingly, I never used the tripod. I sanctioned off part of my backpack with cardboard to give the camera and sensitive parts a safe home and made sure to only place soft things (clothes) up against the cardboard shield.
The most difficult part was keeping dust off the lens and moisture out of the adapter. It was sub-zero the majority of the trip with falling snow and frozen fingers. I should have brought a thin sheet of plastic to drape over the camera when using it outdoors in snow. I also should have brought some form of compressed air to clean the lens. I also found myself having to constantly remove the DOF adapter from the adapter to align the ground glass plate. I should have tightened it before the trip.
Moving pictures with audio are capable of so much more than still photography. The story is inherent and the viewer can be controlled much more easily (not that I had anything in mind when shooting). My next trip I’d like to plan a vague storyboard ahead of time. A list of types of things that I (a) believe will be in the travelled area and (b) would be interesting subjects on film. Perhaps a narrative can be developed that takes place in both the origin and destination. With enough thought and preparation one could make a short film that appears to have a relatively high budget with travel to exotic places.
If anyone has any questions or insight about traveling with diy video gear, or using a DOF adapter with an hf100, shoot me an email. I’d love to give or receive advice. I’m in the midst of choosing a location for my next trip.