ugh worst part of filmmaking is travelling with gear..... today is my first trip in like 6 years where I'm not filming anything! well... except some family clips hah can never fully leave the cameras at home
Matti Haapoja once photographer and videographer, everyday photographer and videographer in the eyes of every family member, friend, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, girlfriend(s)...
Throwing my two cents and experience out there on the "media badges". We like to keep things lean so we generally only fly with 2 large Pelican iM2975 cases (packed to the extreme gills and VERY heavy), a 1535, and a couple of backpacks. Every time we've flown with gear we were asked to see our passes. I literally made my own. I designed it in Photoshop to match my brand, added logo, photo, name, "World Media Pass", even added a QR code that links to the website (never know). Took that to FedEx-Kinkos on a USB stick and had them printed (two-sided) and even added a holographic sticker over our photos to look "official", then laminated, edges cut clean and rounded, hole punched for a lanyard. Boom. We've never been questioned, ever. Best move ever if you are legitimately working in video or photography. We've saved quite a bit of time and money doing this!
Tip for the media badges: they usually require an expiration date. They never assume anyone would make their own badge with an extirpation date! I just put a big "2018" at the bottom and it works! Then I just reprint and laminate my own badges again the next year! Just finished making my 2019 credentials!
We belong to a number of press organizations, but none of them issue ID. With Delta they required a "press pass." So we made just made one of those with a laser printer and a laminator. Oh, just as I typed that.... at 3:42 you mention that.
Since I discovered YOUR channel, I fell very intrigued. Love your personality as all the cinematography advice and tips. Don’t ever change! I have seen over half of all your videos and I definitely learned a lot!
4:43 "We try to constantly figure out how to consolidate the gear into the least amount of cases" *Image of a gigantic pile of cases full of gear appears*
I would love to have seen a follow up video to this explaining how they used every single piece of gear they brought with them for the job. I can't imagine they used more than half that gear.
Dude you are awesome! Just allow me to add a tip here: never travel plugged in, USB, adio, xlr, dmx, everything, un-plug, and never ever update firmware right before travel. That.
As a matter of fact, DON'T UPGRADE/UPDATE ANYTHING BEFORE A JOB, whether it is filming, a business presentation, a demo... Just, don't. Excellent tip, indeed!
Reminds me of those shoots I did on Mount Everest... Fly YYZ-HKG-KTM-LUA, and that last flight from Kathmandu to Lukla everything - eveything - was weighed and placed in a specific part of the airplane... Then I had to hire an army of porters to carry the gear (50 pounds for each porter) on their backs from Lukla to Base Camp. That took a week and half. Nothing got lost, but there were long periods of time when I had no clue where all the gear was. And yeah, socks, underwear, long johns stuffed in with all the camera gear.
I mark each case or bag with bright gaffers and number each piece. Makes it easier when moving around to make sure you have those 10 pieces. And the bright tape also helps identify your gear. I was once on a plane that stopped midway to Patagonia and glanced out the window and saw one of my cases being taken OFF the plane. I saw it for sure because of the bright pink tape. Thanks for this video. Part of photography/video that lots of people just don't consider.
8:48 LITERALLY my worst pain point as a filmmaker early on. I've lost count of how many times starting out when I would forget the little things like screws for my gimbal or quick release plates for my tripod or my follow focus ring for a lens that gets overlooked rendering my system partially or totally useless. More people need to be talking about this stuff.
I don’t even own a camera and I keep coming back to your vids just because how upbeat and cheerful you always are in your vids. Thanks, love your vids.
Great advice all round, wish this had come out before my recent trip! The tip on the batteries is a life saver, investing in some LiPo bags for drone batteries and covers for terminals will make TSA people smile! (Which is hard to do on a good day)
if you haven't heard of it before, you should google "hedge backup software for filmmakers." it can copy directly from you source media to 2 separate hard drives at once AND it verifies that all the data transfers. anyway to reduce anxiety on a shoot is always good :)
I think the Media rate only applies in the US. Because I checked my 2 go to airlines Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific and I didn't see anything regarding to media/ camera items. Still I found this video very useful.
Most international airlines will have some rules. Qantas has no policy posted on their website, but they always waive excess baggage for me, including overweight carry on.
Hey, Thorsten here, I'm an Airline Captain and RUclipsr, I loved this video. I agree 1000% with the backup. As well I do a copy in5o my Dropbox, but it can take a lot of time. Loved the aperture trick and I'll try the media pass. Regarding the batteries, it is exactly because of fire fighting that the battery has to be in the carry on bag. Only water can cool down a battery thermal runaway, and in the cargo compartment the fire suppression system is based on oxygen deprivation using Halon gas. Tell me what you thing about my videos.
I just did a video on data wranging and should have mentioned the 'Don't copy a copy. Copy from the source' thing. Totally slipped my mind. So very, very important! ALL the info in this video is great! And it's all stuff no one really tells you, especially the Lithium Ion batteries. That was the top issue we had when I was working in rentals and sending clients interstate or overseas. Also, sometimes airlines will turn you away even if you follow the regulations for batteries but you just need to be pro and confident. Sometimes having a print out of the policy will help. ALSO, taping over the recognition elements to the battery is important
What a great segment! The media pass section was helpful. Just like sales tax, you ask 3 different officials and you typically get 4 different answers! I really enjoy your channel. Thanks for good first morning cup of coffee viewing!
LIFE SAVER. Had no idea about the media baggage exception, and after spending hours of research and hundreds of dollars on an oversized hard cover plastic case for light stands, tripods, and other pieces of gear was under the impression I'd have to spend $200 for an overweight bag + and oversized bag. I was ready to return my hard cover case, and go back to the ratty duffel bags I've used (and had multiple pieces of gear break in during flights), and am so grateful I found this video. Thank you PJ🙏🙏🙏
Bet you miss this struggle now! Gotta commend you on the fact that the quality of your vids has stayed consistently awesome. Keep it up and more on the vlog channel!
I too have 2 WD 4TB drives, but bad habit of copying from one drive to the other. Next time: card to drive! Thanks for the advice, I never thought of that.
Yeh dude, batts in the cargo compartment if they go into thermal runaway can be more dangerous than an engine fire. Cargo compartment fire suppression normally isn’t sufficient for it, the cabin crew have fire sock bags for this on board
There is a long history of Lithium Ion batteries going into thermal runaway. Temperatures reach 1500 degrees F in about 3 seconds (I've tested this in a lab), and they also off gas very poisonous and noxious fumes. Generally not something to trifle with. You are correct, they want them to be readily accessible in case they do self combust. There are several well known instances where airlines have crashed as a result of this thermal runaway issue. Hence the reason why airlines are uber cautious now. Great video, very informative!
Wanted to check what specifics apply to camera gear but it turns out that the equipment headaches regarding airlines are the same for any industry I've worked in so far. 😅
Good looking out potato jet my first time traveling with camera and was so nervous until I saw this video. Now I know Im not the only one thinking it’s a pain traveling with camera gear.
You have to use a software that checks the hash of the files. Shotput Pro, SilverStack and many others.... you can transfer from card to multiple HDDs directly and safely, mainly using hashs
For my last trip to Canada I made a media badge, worked like a charm. Front side all contact info including QR code that opened my website, backside had all major airlines media policies. Official looking "Do Not Copy" background. 5$ to get heavy/stiff lamination at staples. Happy to provide publisher file as a template to any who would like to make their own.
If it is only a one day shoot, consider renting at locations. Lots of benefits, including wear and tear on your equipment. Washington has tons of media rental companies. You can hire a shooter and audio tech, with equipment and transportation for the cost of a single airline ticket. Bring your own high end must haves, such as Red or arri. Leave lights, monitors, tripods, c stands and other low cost rental equipment at home.
side note if you're still in DC, avoid the cava near 15th when you're out eating. echostage has some dope shit going on this weekend and flash is one of the dopest spots if you're into legit house music.
I feel your pain with camera bags checking in and out of airports it’s a pain in the butt. Never realized how good I had it when I was in the army as a photographer. All my camera gear and equipment would be the best of the best and it would all go in my vehicle. My vehicle would be rigged to drive fantastically off road getting me wherever I needed to go. But when the distance was too far I’d have to go on a plane however on like what you guys have to do at the airport and when I now have to do at the airport I used to just have all my camera gear in my vehicle and drive the vehicle straight on to the plane God I miss those days. My off-road vehicle was the biggest most expensive camera bag in the world.
I THINK they also tend to check pelican cases because the other popular use for those sorts of cases is to have guns in them ...... or at least, that's the other use I tend to see for them ... so I think the bigger Pelican cases especially get an 'automatic check' LOL --- this video is very help ful!!!!
Since I primarily do photography and not filmmaking or video my gear I'm travelling with is much less. Between a backpack and a overhead carry on I can carry all my gear. Anything electronic or camera equipment I carry on. I do use a check in since my tripod even with the head off is too long to fit into my carryons so tripod and clothes go in a check in.
li po charging pouchs are also another cheap safety measure even thought the most risk is always when charging storing them in a lipo pouch is going to add a little bit more security
Our production van went up in flames when one of those v lock batteries spontaneously cought fire while I was packing up the van for a shoot. That's the reason you can't just pack them in the plane where nobody can see them. (SWIT 220wh I believe it was. Not a cheap Chinese one)
great tips! ...i travel a lot ...and make a music video for my music/cooking channel ...and these tips were great ...esp the 'media rate' tips ...thanks!
Hi Potato Jet thank you for your information, what type of insurance do you use for your equipment. We are interested to know as we have never bought any type of insurance for our camera gear and other pieces of our equipment but we would love to do it. Thank you again and great channel.
When the batteries are in the cabin the cabin is pressurized therefore they’re not going to leak and go on fire. However when you put them in the hole of the plane that is a non-pressurized area therefore the batteries can leak and start fires.
Last year I had a shoot across the country. I showed up to check my bag a few minutes late, they reluctantly took my cases but they ended up not making my flight which left earlier than expected. Luckily my shoot wasn't until the next day and they got my cases in and delivered them right before I had to head to the shoot. I get there to set up AND TSA TOOK ALL OF MY BATTERIES IN MY CASE. Luckily I had a couple camera batteries and power banks in my carry ons that I made it through the shoot with a simple light setup. I now carry a separate small bag of just all my batteries onto the plane. The moral: if your flight is delayed 30 minutes before you leave home, that doesn't mean to plan to arrive 30 minutes later than you would have. The bag cutoff may still remain the same. AND carry all batteries with you, and of course carry on your cameras and lenses. You can always buy some tripods the day of, worst case.
Our production team travels weekly, go to idcreator.com and build yourself a media/press pass. Splurge on the holographic sticker addon cause it's cool and it looks super legit. Present said badge to the desk when checking in. Works 98% of the time. I don't even give my business card out anymore, just present my license and that press pass at the same time. Yes, confidence is key.
Would you recommend buy cinema lenses as a owner/operator running a growing production company? There's a set of Schneider Xenon FF's for sale around me for 10k or perhaps the Xeen 6 lens kit for 9k? I'm wanting to move up to primes but past the Rokinon Cine DS line. Worth it or no? I mostly just don't want to have to adjust follow focus systems and matte boxes on the rig just to change lenses.
I'd move over to SSDs for carried drives. 2 or 4tb drives are dropping in price and with a cheap sata to USB cable work great. then get back to your studio and back up onto a server on and off site along with an offline copy; be that tape or HDD and move that copy off to a 3rd site site.
With all the diligence you’ve taken, surely you’re legit media producers! Thanks for all these million dollars reminders! You should publish a checklist booklet, so we can check out on every stage along flipping your pages? Maybe a checklist app we can setup with location reminders... Thanks a lot Jet on the jets! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Should a gimbal (DJI RS 3 Mini) always go in a hard case before going into a backpack? Is it at risk of getting damaged by not always having it in a hard surface case?
What do you do if the airline looses your gear before you get to the shoot? Can rental companies next-day you gear to use? Can you put contingencies in the contract?
I walked the public walkway on top of the Beijing National Stadium （Birds Nest) and I had my Zhiyun Crane with Sony A6500 mounted, iPhone 8Plus, and GoPro7 Black mounted on A 5 foot Monopod. I carried a LowePro Sling-bag to place the Zhiyun/A6500. Too much gear to handle on a narrow and down walkway. It would’ve been nice if I had my Osmo Mobile for the iPhone 8Plus with me, or even a head mount for the GoPro7 Black.
When on the road copy to a hardrive, then a second harddrive, then pay for online cloud storage and backup there, Use a program to backup remotely to your computer that has redundancy system in place, then use a program to check the footage for corruption on one of the drives and on the drives on your computer. Dont keep the two (or three) harddrives in the same place. Each person carries a harddrive or leave one in your personal car in a secure place. ...But maybe im just paranoid...
On the subject of double copies: Look into ShotPut Pro or Silverstack - they will help you make two copies (or more, as many as you like) AND they will double-check and compare the data back to see if it's okay or if something fucked up along the way. //Your Friendly Neighbourhood DIT
Like you said, always unplug everything before formatting the cards.. it happened to me that i accidentally formatted my hard drive which ive copied everything onto and had no backup at all... everything from like 2.5 days of work was GONE... ive learned my lesson from that tho.. had a HDD Recovery Program running for like one week straight... got 35% of my footage back...
With that much expensive gear, could you use RFID tracking whilst on the move? You could add the tags to the contents of the flightcase so you could check they are loaded without having to open each one up. It may seem strange, but given the weight of these flightcases, it can be hard to tell if they are loaded just by lifting them.
I find your video super helpful! My question is, I wanna purchase a second carry on Pelican case specifically for batteries. How to I coordinate with Delta, the airline I use to have 2 bags in the overhead bin? Thx
You can look for a tool that copys your files and check it after that automatically. Look for a tool like Teracopy (Windows) for your Mac dude. I ALWAYS use it....
Frickin awesome video. Very informative dude. I'm directing and producing my own music videos so definitely saved me a few unnecessary pitfalls along the way. Love it dude.
Hey Gene! Old video, I know, but I just wanted to ask. Where do you fit big tripods when traveling? do you have any Pelican case recomendation for big tripods and lightstands? (if anyone else sees this and know any recommendation, pls let me know!)
Just Saw your video and here I was thinking I was packing too much, which is an camera backpack and a Rolo travel bag now I feel like a minimalist. I totally get the just in case thing. When I pack for a motorcycle trip I just cannot leave my tool kit behind it weighs almost five lbs and truthfully my multitool usually fixes everything that needs fixing
I got the media rate today after them saying the exact same thing you talked about. It's like getting in a media nightclub, past the bouncer. It saved me $300 each way.
Dude I watch the whole video very well done. I love your energy and your way of telling a story. You are obviously very good at what you do my friend. GK
As someone who is always yelling at people about their shitty back up practices I really appreciate your section on backing up footage. I would also recommend using a check sum program such as Shotput Pro or Hedge whenever possible.
Btw, a great alternative to traveling with *all* your gear is: renting as much as you can at the place you’re going to. You can often do it online and make sure everything is there. Bring your small stuff, bring your favorite things but rent the large stuff.
ugh worst part of filmmaking is travelling with gear..... today is my first trip in like 6 years where I'm not filming anything! well... except some family clips hah can never fully leave the cameras at home
Matti Haapoja once photographer and videographer, everyday photographer and videographer in the eyes of every family member, friend, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, girlfriend(s)...
The guy above me is a pro!
Everyone here is super heros.
It’s so hard to just leave it behind lol I always feel like imma miss something
Prolly the best part of youtube is when your favorite youtubers comment on you other favorite youtubers' videos.
you can travel for free if you tie balloons to your house.
Mustafa Al-Nuaimi this
This is pretty original :D
I think I laughed harder than I should!. Lol.
Bonus points if you have a dog who can talk.
omg burned so hard
Tooo much gear?Just by a personal jet!
.................A Potato Jet
(Edit: So you can easily fly UP)
Ironically the gig is for Boeing.
So.... Potato boeing???
Throwing my two cents and experience out there on the "media badges". We like to keep things lean so we generally only fly with 2 large Pelican iM2975 cases (packed to the extreme gills and VERY heavy), a 1535, and a couple of backpacks. Every time we've flown with gear we were asked to see our passes. I literally made my own. I designed it in Photoshop to match my brand, added logo, photo, name, "World Media Pass", even added a QR code that links to the website (never know). Took that to FedEx-Kinkos on a USB stick and had them printed (two-sided) and even added a holographic sticker over our photos to look "official", then laminated, edges cut clean and rounded, hole punched for a lanyard. Boom. We've never been questioned, ever. Best move ever if you are legitimately working in video or photography. We've saved quite a bit of time and money doing this!
Amazing bro
Noice
Tip for the media badges: they usually require an expiration date. They never assume anyone would make their own badge with an extirpation date! I just put a big "2018" at the bottom and it works! Then I just reprint and laminate my own badges again the next year! Just finished making my 2019 credentials!
We belong to a number of press organizations, but none of them issue ID. With Delta they required a "press pass." So we made just made one of those with a laser printer and a laminator. Oh, just as I typed that.... at 3:42 you mention that.
Since I discovered YOUR channel, I fell very intrigued. Love your personality as all the cinematography advice and tips. Don’t ever change! I have seen over half of all your videos and I definitely learned a lot!
4:43 "We try to constantly figure out how to consolidate the gear into the least amount of cases"
*Image of a gigantic pile of cases full of gear appears*
I would love to have seen a follow up video to this explaining how they used every single piece of gear they brought with them for the job. I can't imagine they used more than half that gear.
Dude you are awesome!
Just allow me to add a tip here: never travel plugged in, USB, adio, xlr, dmx, everything, un-plug, and never ever update firmware right before travel. That.
As a matter of fact, DON'T UPGRADE/UPDATE ANYTHING BEFORE A JOB, whether it is filming, a business presentation, a demo...
Just, don't.
Excellent tip, indeed!
OMG MEDIA RATES ON AIRLINES! I HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS A THING! You've just saved me THOUSANDS! THANK YOU!
Reminds me of those shoots I did on Mount Everest... Fly YYZ-HKG-KTM-LUA, and that last flight from Kathmandu to Lukla everything - eveything - was weighed and placed in a specific part of the airplane... Then I had to hire an army of porters to carry the gear (50 pounds for each porter) on their backs from Lukla to Base Camp. That took a week and half. Nothing got lost, but there were long periods of time when I had no clue where all the gear was. And yeah, socks, underwear, long johns stuffed in with all the camera gear.
DUDE i was at the spartan race too!
I mark each case or bag with bright gaffers and number each piece. Makes it easier when moving around to make sure you have those 10 pieces. And the bright tape also helps identify your gear. I was once on a plane that stopped midway to Patagonia and glanced out the window and saw one of my cases being taken OFF the plane. I saw it for sure because of the bright pink tape. Thanks for this video. Part of photography/video that lots of people just don't consider.
i enjoy watching this stuff more than any vlog whatsoever, even if the topic doesn't interest me. you're the most UPlifting person on youtube buddy!
8:48 LITERALLY my worst pain point as a filmmaker early on. I've lost count of how many times starting out when I would forget the little things like screws for my gimbal or quick release plates for my tripod or my follow focus ring for a lens that gets overlooked rendering my system partially or totally useless. More people need to be talking about this stuff.
How does Steve have time while coaching the Golden State Warriors?
I don’t even own a camera and I keep coming back to your vids just because how upbeat and cheerful you always are in your vids. Thanks, love your vids.
hahah thas fire.
Great advice all round, wish this had come out before my recent trip! The tip on the batteries is a life saver, investing in some LiPo bags for drone batteries and covers for terminals will make TSA people smile! (Which is hard to do on a good day)
if you haven't heard of it before, you should google "hedge backup software for filmmakers." it can copy directly from you source media to 2 separate hard drives at once AND it verifies that all the data transfers. anyway to reduce anxiety on a shoot is always good :)
I think the Media rate only applies in the US. Because I checked my 2 go to airlines Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific and I didn't see anything regarding to media/ camera items. Still I found this video very useful.
Most international airlines will have some rules. Qantas has no policy posted on their website, but they always waive excess baggage for me, including overweight carry on.
@@undisclosedperson3871 Did you mean they waive the excess baggage fee after you address and prove that you are media?
Hey, Thorsten here, I'm an Airline Captain and RUclipsr, I loved this video. I agree 1000% with the backup. As well I do a copy in5o my Dropbox, but it can take a lot of time. Loved the aperture trick and I'll try the media pass. Regarding the batteries, it is exactly because of fire fighting that the battery has to be in the carry on bag. Only water can cool down a battery thermal runaway, and in the cargo compartment the fire suppression system is based on oxygen deprivation using Halon gas. Tell me what you thing about my videos.
I just did a video on data wranging and should have mentioned the 'Don't copy a copy. Copy from the source' thing. Totally slipped my mind. So very, very important! ALL the info in this video is great! And it's all stuff no one really tells you, especially the Lithium Ion batteries. That was the top issue we had when I was working in rentals and sending clients interstate or overseas. Also, sometimes airlines will turn you away even if you follow the regulations for batteries but you just need to be pro and confident. Sometimes having a print out of the policy will help. ALSO, taping over the recognition elements to the battery is important
What a great segment! The media pass section was helpful. Just like sales tax, you ask 3 different officials and you typically get 4 different answers! I really enjoy your channel. Thanks for good first morning cup of coffee viewing!
LIFE SAVER. Had no idea about the media baggage exception, and after spending hours of research and hundreds of dollars on an oversized hard cover plastic case for light stands, tripods, and other pieces of gear was under the impression I'd have to spend $200 for an overweight bag + and oversized bag. I was ready to return my hard cover case, and go back to the ratty duffel bags I've used (and had multiple pieces of gear break in during flights), and am so grateful I found this video. Thank you PJ🙏🙏🙏
Bet you miss this struggle now! Gotta commend you on the fact that the quality of your vids has stayed consistently awesome. Keep it up and more on the vlog channel!
I too have 2 WD 4TB drives, but bad habit of copying from one drive to the other. Next time: card to drive! Thanks for the advice, I never thought of that.
It's incredible how things can backfire sometimes...
It rarely happens, but when it does, it hurts so much...
Stumbled across your channel by accident, and now I'm hooked! Love it, brother. Keep up the great work!!!
BMPCC4K where is it? what have you done to it?!
Yeh dude, batts in the cargo compartment if they go into thermal runaway can be more dangerous than an engine fire. Cargo compartment fire suppression normally isn’t sufficient for it, the cabin crew have fire sock bags for this on board
You should consider the pelican 1535 air. Same size as as the 1510 but 40% lighter.
I do Spartan races with my wife. Am so down to pant out camera specs on the next Sprint!
There is a long history of Lithium Ion batteries going into thermal runaway. Temperatures reach 1500 degrees F in about 3 seconds (I've tested this in a lab), and they also off gas very poisonous and noxious fumes. Generally not something to trifle with. You are correct, they want them to be readily accessible in case they do self combust. There are several well known instances where airlines have crashed as a result of this thermal runaway issue. Hence the reason why airlines are uber cautious now.
Great video, very informative!
Good advice all round here. Especially on opening up the aperture on lenses. Great stuff.
Can you make a video on how you budget your shoots for clients? Just a rough estimate for beginners
Nice job! I just did a video on what equipment to bring on a Travel Photography adventure. I should have included how to pack it!
Wanted to check what specifics apply to camera gear but it turns out that the equipment headaches regarding airlines are the same for any industry I've worked in so far. 😅
Good looking out potato jet my first time traveling with camera and was so nervous until I saw this video. Now I know Im not the only one thinking it’s a pain traveling with camera gear.
You have to use a software that checks the hash of the files. Shotput Pro, SilverStack and many others.... you can transfer from card to multiple HDDs directly and safely, mainly using hashs
For my last trip to Canada I made a media badge, worked like a charm. Front side all contact info including QR code that opened my website, backside had all major airlines media policies. Official looking "Do Not Copy" background. 5$ to get heavy/stiff lamination at staples. Happy to provide publisher file as a template to any who would like to make their own.
If it is only a one day shoot, consider renting at locations. Lots of benefits, including wear and tear on your equipment. Washington has tons of media rental companies. You can hire a shooter and audio tech, with equipment and transportation for the cost of a single airline ticket. Bring your own high end must haves, such as Red or arri. Leave lights, monitors, tripods, c stands and other low cost rental equipment at home.
side note if you're still in DC, avoid the cava near 15th when you're out eating. echostage has some dope shit going on this weekend and flash is one of the dopest spots if you're into legit house music.
the sun flare at 0:07 matches with the music
just wanted to say that
I feel your pain with camera bags checking in and out of airports it’s a pain in the butt. Never realized how good I had it when I was in the army as a photographer. All my camera gear and equipment would be the best of the best and it would all go in my vehicle. My vehicle would be rigged to drive fantastically off road getting me wherever I needed to go. But when the distance was too far I’d have to go on a plane however on like what you guys have to do at the airport and when I now have to do at the airport I used to just have all my camera gear in my vehicle and drive the vehicle straight on to the plane God I miss those days. My off-road vehicle was the biggest most expensive camera bag in the world.
I THINK they also tend to check pelican cases because the other popular use for those sorts of cases is to have guns in them ...... or at least, that's the other use I tend to see for them ... so I think the bigger Pelican cases especially get an 'automatic check' LOL --- this video is very help ful!!!!
Really enjoyed this video Potato Jet. Some real good tips. 1. Didn't know about media rate. 2. Great knowledge on media backups (card to hard drive)
Since I primarily do photography and not filmmaking or video my gear I'm travelling with is much less. Between a backpack and a overhead carry on I can carry all my gear. Anything electronic or camera equipment I carry on. I do use a check in since my tripod even with the head off is too long to fit into my carryons so tripod and clothes go in a check in.
So glad I subscribed to your channel. Always great information! All your precautions show what true professionals you guys are.
li po charging pouchs are also another cheap safety measure even thought the most risk is always when charging storing them in a lipo pouch is going to add a little bit more security
Our production van went up in flames when one of those v lock batteries spontaneously cought fire while I was packing up the van for a shoot. That's the reason you can't just pack them in the plane where nobody can see them.
(SWIT 220wh I believe it was. Not a cheap Chinese one)
great tips! ...i travel a lot ...and make a music video for my music/cooking channel ...and these tips were great ...esp the 'media rate' tips ...thanks!
Time flies so fast watching your videos
Hi Potato Jet thank you for your information, what type of insurance do you use for your equipment. We are interested to know as we have never bought any type of insurance for our camera gear and other pieces of our equipment but we would love to do it. Thank you again and great channel.
When the batteries are in the cabin the cabin is pressurized therefore they’re not going to leak and go on fire. However when you put them in the hole of the plane that is a non-pressurized area therefore the batteries can leak and start fires.
Last year I had a shoot across the country. I showed up to check my bag a few minutes late, they reluctantly took my cases but they ended up not making my flight which left earlier than expected. Luckily my shoot wasn't until the next day and they got my cases in and delivered them right before I had to head to the shoot. I get there to set up AND TSA TOOK ALL OF MY BATTERIES IN MY CASE. Luckily I had a couple camera batteries and power banks in my carry ons that I made it through the shoot with a simple light setup. I now carry a separate small bag of just all my batteries onto the plane.
The moral: if your flight is delayed 30 minutes before you leave home, that doesn't mean to plan to arrive 30 minutes later than you would have. The bag cutoff may still remain the same. AND carry all batteries with you, and of course carry on your cameras and lenses. You can always buy some tripods the day of, worst case.
are you using the M50 when you are at the airport/hotel/outside? or was it the 80D?
Thats funny my son is a DIT in Atlanta he stays working and is doing really well out there. Great work Potato Jet I subbed today great info.
Our production team travels weekly, go to idcreator.com and build yourself a media/press pass. Splurge on the holographic sticker addon cause it's cool and it looks super legit. Present said badge to the desk when checking in. Works 98% of the time. I don't even give my business card out anymore, just present my license and that press pass at the same time. Yes, confidence is key.
Would you recommend buy cinema lenses as a owner/operator running a growing production company? There's a set of Schneider Xenon FF's for sale around me for 10k or perhaps the Xeen 6 lens kit for 9k? I'm wanting to move up to primes but past the Rokinon Cine DS line. Worth it or no? I mostly just don't want to have to adjust follow focus systems and matte boxes on the rig just to change lenses.
I'd move over to SSDs for carried drives. 2 or 4tb drives are dropping in price and with a cheap sata to USB cable work great.
then get back to your studio and back up onto a server on and off site along with an offline copy; be that tape or HDD and move that copy off to a 3rd site site.
With all the diligence you’ve taken, surely you’re legit media producers! Thanks for all these million dollars reminders! You should publish a checklist booklet, so we can check out on every stage along flipping your pages? Maybe a checklist app we can setup with location reminders... Thanks a lot Jet on the jets! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
A lot of great tips in this vid! Definitely took away some that I'll apply right away. Thanks for all the info you share man.
Should a gimbal (DJI RS 3 Mini) always go in a hard case before going into a backpack? Is it at risk of getting damaged by not always having it in a hard surface case?
What do you do if the airline looses your gear before you get to the shoot? Can rental companies next-day you gear to use? Can you put contingencies in the contract?
I walked the public walkway on top of the Beijing National Stadium （Birds Nest) and I had my Zhiyun Crane with Sony A6500 mounted, iPhone 8Plus, and GoPro7 Black mounted on A 5 foot Monopod. I carried a LowePro Sling-bag to place the Zhiyun/A6500. Too much gear to handle on a narrow and down walkway. It would’ve been nice if I had my Osmo Mobile for the iPhone 8Plus with me, or even a head mount for the GoPro7 Black.
Who do you use for insurance for your gear?
When on the road copy to a hardrive, then a second harddrive, then pay for online cloud storage and backup there, Use a program to backup remotely to your computer that has redundancy system in place, then use a program to check the footage for corruption on one of the drives and on the drives on your computer. Dont keep the two (or three) harddrives in the same place. Each person carries a harddrive or leave one in your personal car in a secure place. ...But maybe im just paranoid...
On the subject of double copies: Look into ShotPut Pro or Silverstack - they will help you make two copies (or more, as many as you like) AND they will double-check and compare the data back to see if it's okay or if something fucked up along the way. //Your Friendly Neighbourhood DIT
Really useful tips!!! This is something that will guide me in my travels. Thanks kid from UP
Like you said, always unplug everything before formatting the cards.. it happened to me that i accidentally formatted my hard drive which ive copied everything onto and had no backup at all... everything from like 2.5 days of work was GONE... ive learned my lesson from that tho.. had a HDD Recovery Program running for like one week straight... got 35% of my footage back...
Haven't taken more that a carry on's worth of gear on a trip, but i'm only semi-pro! Great Vid Mr. Potato Jet!
With that much expensive gear, could you use RFID tracking whilst on the move? You could add the tags to the contents of the flightcase so you could check they are loaded without having to open each one up. It may seem strange, but given the weight of these flightcases, it can be hard to tell if they are loaded just by lifting them.
These are legitimate good advices. I would love to see more content like that.
I find your video super helpful! My question is, I wanna purchase a second carry on Pelican case specifically for batteries. How to I coordinate with Delta, the airline I use to have 2 bags in the overhead bin? Thx
ShotPut Pro will copy to two drives at once! AND will verify. HIGHLY recommend!
You can look for a tool that copys your files and check it after that automatically. Look for a tool like Teracopy (Windows) for your Mac dude. I ALWAYS use it....
Just curious ,what are the dimensions of your biggest bag and do you lock them with a key lock or not?
Frickin awesome video. Very informative dude. I'm directing and producing my own music videos so definitely saved me a few unnecessary pitfalls along the way. Love it dude.
Hey Gene! Old video, I know, but I just wanted to ask. Where do you fit big tripods when traveling? do you have any Pelican case recomendation for big tripods and lightstands? (if anyone else sees this and know any recommendation, pls let me know!)
Just Saw your video and here I was thinking I was packing too much, which is an camera backpack and a Rolo travel bag now I feel like a minimalist.
I totally get the just in case thing. When I pack for a motorcycle trip I just cannot leave my tool kit behind it weighs almost five lbs and truthfully my multitool usually fixes everything that needs fixing
@5:37 you mentioned having good equipment insurance for your equipment. Which insurance do you use?
Make more traveling videos!😭 they were so cool and informative than any other video I have seen!
Really good tips and info PJ!
Yooo, i see you going to NASA in your ig. So are you finally going UP? Or planning to make balloons that can take a whole house up?
More of this please. Like the kind of behind the scenes. Makes me always smile :-D
Thank you for this video directing a music video in Hawaii in September and was nervous about my camera gear
2:58 Why is every part of an airline not directly tied to getting planes off and on the ground plagued by incompetence?
I got the media rate today after them saying the exact same thing you talked about. It's like getting in a media nightclub, past the bouncer. It saved me $300 each way.
Dude I watch the whole video very well done. I love your energy and your way of telling a story. You are obviously very good at what you do my friend. GK
So helpful! Thank you for taking the time to share this advice! Talk more about the mud run!
Will ne traveling for the first time with gears next week, super helpful video. Thanks POTATO JETTTT
Dude I live in DFW. We got Ratheon, Boeing, Toyota, TI, Yum Brands, Dr. Pepper Snapple, and other companies. It’s nifty
the music in the beginning is perfect
If You coming to the UK, I will definitely join up, been a mud runner event or anything else really :D
As someone who is always yelling at people about their shitty back up practices I really appreciate your section on backing up footage. I would also recommend using a check sum program such as Shotput Pro or Hedge whenever possible.
Great tip Jet on the media rate thing! I will be using that next flight fo sho! Good work!
Can you show the bag you use for the tripods?
What about a cloud server? My friend has a RAID drive system and he uses this service called nextcloud. It uses his own drive to for the cloud device.
Love these practical tips and tutorial videos
A Boeing gig! You're not killing it at all are you? Nice! Exactly what I do backup-wise on the go (after those beers lol).
Btw, a great alternative to traveling with *all* your gear is: renting as much as you can at the place you’re going to. You can often do it online and make sure everything is there. Bring your small stuff, bring your favorite things but rent the large stuff.