For my travel documentary show, Off the Beaten Path, on Wondrium.com, I'll be spending 4 days this coming week documenting life on a remote island, Monhegan, about 14 miles off the coast of Maine. It's a beautiful island that has been occupied since the 1600s and is a favorite of artists, writers, and lobstermen, of course.
But there are no motor vehicles, so you have to walk everywhere. I'll be interviewing islanders (60 people live there year around, but it balloons in the summer with day and longer term visitors). So I have to assemble a kit that is lightweight but comprehensive, allows me to light and mic an interview on the fly.
For this gig, I'm taking two ZV-e10s, my favorite new little video shooting monster. As a hold over from my still days, I like to work with two bodies and two zooms. In this case, the new 10-20mm f/4 on one body and the excellent and small 18-135mm/3.5-5.6 OSS on the other. These two lenses will cover most of the shooting.
But I love to shoot at sunrise, sunset and twilight, so I'm bring some fast primes, the 11mm f/1.8, the 15 mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.8. And just for insurance, my 16-70 f/4 Vario-Tessar. I won't carry all of these everywhere, but the island is small enough that I can walk back to my hotel to switch out gear as needed.
In addition, I'll have the Sony bluetooth wireless mic setup, the little Sony ECM-B1M, a Picogear dual wireless mic setup and a DJI Pocket 2. A small tripod, a carbon fiber lightstand and a small LED tube light for interviews. This all fits in small shoulder bag and small tripod bag. I'm bringing a small drone too, but many parts of the island are "no drone zones" and I honor the local ordinances at all times. Now all I need is some good weather, (but after a sunny dry summer up here in Maine, the reports are calling for rain in the beginning of the week). Wish me luck!
