So... Thailand ( Part 4.5: A video recap)

They say that despite all the writing... sometimes a picture is worth a 1,000 words.

And then what is 1,000 pictures worth? Oh, about 33.5 seconds of video at 29.97 fps.

I put together a video or two of my trip to Chiang Mai. When I do these trips it's important to prioritize the experience first. I'll never go somewhere with the express purpose of just filming or photographing without taking the time to appreciate. You'll never see me haul the big camera around and setup lighting and shots and wait hours for that perfect shot, not on my trips. Honestly it's not my primary focus (ha!). 

It does however run a very close second. I enjoy it, I'm pretty decent at putting a video together. And I have that mental wherewithal, that photographers and filmmakers have to see shots etc. Lately I've been enjoying capturing 360 video and photos and being able to share them after the fact on VR headsets like the Occulus Go gives people a chance to share a bit in my trips that they may never be able to do  themselves ( like diving with sharks, for example). 

Running around an airport or an elephant nature park means having to be pretty mobile and is not conducive to having a big DSLR camera and lens with you. I chose to leave the big expensive (and heavy), DSLR home. 

These videos were all created with the following cameras:

GoPro: These come with me all of the time. I am a big fan of GoPro! I love them they are small, powerful and versatile. I bring at least 2 gopros: a Hero 7 Black and a Hero 4 Black; and with a variety of accessories, depending on what the trip demands. I'll sometimes bring along my gopro session 5 as well.

Insta360 ONE X: I love this little camera!  It captures 360 4k video (5.7k too) and HDR photos AND can even do 360 timelapse. The software "stitches out" any support pole so you can get this drone like quality and really creative "impossible"  type shots. It has several cool accessories like a 3 meter extendable pole (for those hard to reach drone shots), even an underwater dive housing (for those hard to reach shark shots). I love  that after the fact  you  rotate your shot around in 360 space and find  and recompose any number of shots. and you extract them as a 360 photo or video or  a regular image. You can also keyframe panning to give camera movement to your  extracted video. All long after the fact! Find out more about it here!

Insta360 GO:  Not actually a 360 camera, but the company that makes the ONE X  also makes a little horse pill size camera called the GO. It's really no bigger than your thumb.   It only shoots 1080p and you can shoot for  15 sec, 30 secs or 60 sec at a time. it can do photos, and timelapse. It only has 8Gb of storage and it's has a multi-charge case similar to the an apple airpod.  It has a couple of differnt types of attachments , and it can attach magnetically... you can stick it on a metal pole or something or on a medallion type necklace that you wear. You record by tapping the thing. It seems weird, it's a little frustrating at times, not perfect, but amazingly handy in a hands-free sort of way. I end up using this a TON on my trip- it was just that useful! Find out more about it out here!

Light L16: When I don't or can't take a big DSLR and a bunch of lenses with me on  vacation, I have the L16 camera (not that I used it to make videos like the other cameras here, but many of the photos posted on my website including those taken on my Thailand trip were with the L16). The L16 is a discontinued camera, still an amazing piece of tech. Built in it has 16 lenses, including 28mm, 36mm, 50 mm 75 mm and 150mm. They all take the same picture at the same time.  All of that data is stored and when you access the photo, it draws from all of that data. it's the equivalent of  a 54 megapixel image. you can change the Depth of field ( background blur) after the fact, refocus on subjects, after the fact. and  with all of those lenses at play it shoots HDR within a single photo! Effectively 13 stops of tonal range. It has all the same controls you'd expect on a DSLR.  Exposure comp. shutter priority, white balance, ISO priority,  6 shot burst , timer etc.  it's perfect ofr travel because it's just a bit bigger than a large cell phone.And it shoots 1080 video.

And of course, the ol' cell phone camera comes in handy too.

All that camera gear still fits really easy into a small day pack. In fact, most times when I was out with the elephants and doing stuff, I was wearing the GO on my shirt, and had a gopro on a "jaws" clamp and the 360 ONE X in my bag with a small tripod. And my cell phone. That's 4 cameras, infinite possibilities!

 Here's a video about my day in Chiang Mai!

NEXT: My Video and thoughts on Elephant Nature Park!