Red to Namibia

[hans de vries]

Hi all!

In a couple of weeks I will be leaving for Namibia; this will be a kind of preparatory trip for the making of a movie about two native tribes of Namibia. The purpose of the trip is mostly to meet people, to see environments, to get a sense by first hand of the cultures (I have already been reading a lot). The temperatures will be fine, around 20 degrees celsius (sorry, I have no idea what that is in Fahrenheit), the roads will be very long and dusty through mostly desert areas, in a 4x4. Later in the year, probably october, I will return there to start serious shooting with my Red.

Now I am in doubt about whether I should take my Red on this trip already. A friend of mine, documentary maker, considers it insane to start "schlepping around that heavy machine" in such an early stage, and advises me to bring a lighter camera first. However, I have been frustrated in the past about bringing along a dvx100, making beautiful shots that could not be repeated later with a better camera!

Your thoughts and experiences would be very welcome!

Best regards,
Hans

[Jay Gannon]

On a prep trip I would bring a very cut down setup with two nikon primes a medium and a wide. A Body, LCD and Batt can be quite a lightweight setup when used with a prime and is similar to bringing 2 DLSR's and a few lenses in weight.

[Thomas Wright]

take a 16mm Aaton. else a 28-76 Optimo, LCD, CF's and power. shoot from the hip it isn't that heavy.

Namibia is lovely, swimming in the sea there can be trippy, cold when the beach is hot, sometimes crazy foam, Swakopmund is like a little bit of Germany in the middle of the desert. There are crazy dunes. Cover all ports not in use.

[Loic Parent]

Hi Hans,
went to the south of Namibia (skeleton coast/luderitz), last october shooting with the RED one.
and even if walking in the sand with all the super-heavy gears is not always fun, the pictures you get in the end are well worth it!

go with the RED! :)

[hans de vries]

Aha! thanks for all the replies. So none of you would advise against it. That's interesting. Thanks, Thomas, for the advice about covering the ports; I hadn't thought of it, but it's logical with all those deserts. Were those of you who were in Namibia ever afraid of getting robbed of your equipment?

[Rob Gardner]

If you are just going on a scout, there are lots of reasons not to take it, the biggest one that comes to my mind is that if you are traveling alone and light, the chances of its getting lost or stolen are much higher than if you are traveling with a crew. It can get wet. It can get dirty. It can get dropped. It can get confiscated over customs issues. And if you just on a scout, just take a little digital camera. You can get digital still cameras that shoot HD and are the size of a pack of cigarettes. You have to have it when you go to shoot, you do not have to have it when you are on a scout.
My two bits.

[Thomas Wright]

When I was there the people were lovely and, compared to the other places in Africa I've been, I felt safest in Namibia.

[Loic Parent]

i'm with Thomas on this, i felt safe, and never had any problems with locals, or cutoms (just go for the tourist visa).

for camera protection we went with the camrade desert suit, great to have around when the wind picks up.

http://www.camrade.com/products-page/cameras/red/ds-red

[oliver imfeld]

take a 5D with some good lenses; i've filmed the senegals president's interview with my red and the 5D, all the CU are done by 5D, and they rather match well i think. check it out and good luck !
oliver

link: http://noproblemproduction.com/NPP_MISC01_AFR.html

[hans de vries]

Ah, the opinions are getting more diverse. I've thought about the 5d/7d; the only thing is I'd have to spend a lot of extra money; on the other hand, it's much lighter and less intimidating; I'll look into renting costs; anyway, thanks a lot for your input !

Oliver, that's really lovely footage; but the heavy pixels, is that the file format or is that footage from the 5d? Because if that were really part of the original footage it wouldn't be useful to me.