M wife and I are preparing for a well earned vacation in Alaska coming up soon. While we've taken short 2-3-4 day vacations, it's been a year an a half since our last real vacation.
I thought it might interest some of you to follow our preparations as we get ready. It always amazes me how many times I change my mind about equipment to take on a personal trip. Since I have so many options -- pro video camera, consumer video camera, HDSLR, big tripod, small tripod, slider/dolly, etc. -- I change my mind almost daily.
As of today -- an this is likely to change again before we leave -- I'm planning to take my big Sony EX1r video camera and possibly my Canon 60D with a couple of basic IS lenses. I'll bet that I've changed my mind on what to take over a dozen times in the past couple of weeks.
At least 3 times a week I've taken different cameras out and experimented with different situations and different conditions that I'm likely to face in Alaska. Each time I find everything inferior to the EX1r so, for the moment, that's what I'm going with.
My main focus on this trip is video, so it was a choice between the EX1r, my Canon XH-A1, and the little Canon HF-31.
The criteria centered on two things: size/convenience and quality. The HF-M31 is definitely the smallest of the three, It's quality is also great when there is plenty of sunlight, but we will be shooting all hours and in darker forests as well as probably under cloudy skies most of the time. I also have an underwater case for the M31 that would be interesting to use to shoot salmon in the river, but since it's a little early for the salmon runs, that's not really relevant.
The A1 is better under a lot of conditions, but it is tape. I've really become accustomed to taking the material straight into the computer and my editing software. I've also found I really don't like the 24f files that the A1 produces. It does have a lot of extra reach with it's 20x lens. That would be very useful when shooting wildlife from afar.
I seriously considered using the 60D for both photos and video, but, despite the quality of the video the little camera produces, it still doesn't hold up against the EX1r. For convenience, nothing comes close and that is why I will work with it a little more this weekend to compare the two before my final decision. (That is, until I change my mind again.)
The EX1r has a lot going for it. Being the most expensive by far, it has a lot or the price. The three 1/2" chips gives it the finest image quality, by far. The wide angle and telephoto attachments that I use are extremely high quality, too. Now that I've learned to relatively quickly import the files into Avid Studio without affecting the original files for use in Premiere Pro, I can easily edit on the road which is something I really want to do.
The only downsize with the EX1r is its size. The camera is considerably bigger than the other two and might require a larger bag to carry. Fortunately, I think I've found a solution to that problem and I'll be writing more on bag choices soon. Look for more details about the trip as well as discussions regarding bags, tripods, etc., in the next few days.
So that's where I stand now. Let me know what you think. I'm open to to any ideas that I haven't thought of yet. Since this trip probably won't be repeated for a long time -- maybe never or us -- I want to make the best of it.
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