The Art of Portability: My Go-To Gear for On-the-Go Content Creation

As a content creator, I've learned that being prepared is key to capturing high-quality footage and audio on the go. That's why I've invested in a range of portable gear that can keep up with my active lifestyle. In this article, I'll take you through my bag of tricks and show you what I carry with me whenever I'm shooting.

My Audio Setup: Shotgun Mics and Lavaliers

When it comes to audio, I rely on two trusty shotgun mics: the Zoom H1 recorder and a Sennheiser Me2 lavalier. The Zoom H1 is a compact recorder that's perfect for capturing high-quality audio in any situation. It's lightweight, easy to use, and has a great built-in microphone that can pick up even the faintest of sounds. I often use it to capture ambient noise or to record voiceovers. The Sennheiser Me2 lavalier, on the other hand, is a top-notch lapel mic that provides excellent sound quality. It's lightweight, comfortable to wear, and has a great pickup pattern that helps to reduce background noise.

My Shotgun Mic: A Game-Changer for On-Camera Audio

One of my favorite pieces of gear in this setup is the shotgun mic itself. I've found that it works beautifully for capturing on-camera audio, even in echoey environments like living rooms or kitchens. The key is to get close to the mic and speak clearly into it, and you'll be amazed at the quality of sound that comes out. The shotgun mic is also great for capturing audio from a distance, making it perfect for interviews or situations where I need to capture audio from multiple sources.

Combining Audio with Video: A Match Made in Heaven

One of the best things about using both an audio recorder and a lavalier mic is that I can combine them seamlessly. By recording the audio onto the Zoom H1 and syncing it up with the video footage, I can create a beautifully polished final product. This also allows me to walk away from the camera, turn around, or even do some quick cuts without having to worry about losing my place in the scene.

My Camera: The Pixel 2 XL with Stabilization

When it comes to capturing high-quality video on the go, I rely on a smartphone camera that's capable of producing excellent results. For me, that phone is the Pixel 2 XL. Not only does it have an incredible camera sensor, but it also has some amazing features like optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS). This means that even when I'm walking, running, or subjecting my camera to harsh movements, the footage stays smooth and steady.

Gimbal Stabilization: The Game-Changer for Smooth Footage

Speaking of movement, one of the best things about using a gimbal stabilizer is that it allows me to capture incredibly smooth footage. I use the DJI Osmo, which costs around £200, but trust me, it's worth every penny. Not only does it stabilize my camera beautifully, but it also has some amazing features like 360-degree rotation and tilt. This means that I can capture stunning aerial shots or pan across complex scenes with ease.

The Rest of My Gear: Laptops, Chargers, and More

In addition to my camera and audio setup, I carry a range of other gear in my bag. These include laptops (I'm currently using an iPad Pro), chargers, power banks, and even a few gadgets like a Razer DeathAdder mouse and a CN 160 light. The CN 160 is actually the same light used by the small HD focus more on camera, which I use occasionally for interviews or when I need to add some extra lighting to my setup.

Conclusion: Why My Gear is Perfect for On-the-Go Content Creation

As you can see, my gear is designed specifically with content creation in mind. Whether I'm capturing high-quality audio, smooth video footage, or a combination of both, my portable kit has got me covered. Of course, the best part about being prepared is that it allows me to create high-quality content anywhere, anytime – whether that's on a mountain top, at the beach, or in the middle of a bustling city.

If you're a fellow content creator who's looking for gear recommendations or just wants to see what's possible with portable cameras and audio equipment, I hope this article has been informative and inspiring. Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or want to share your own favorite pieces of gear!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys I'm Tom the tech chap and this is another one of those it's not good what's in my bag videos I say another one this is the first one I've ever done so I'm gonna run you through the kiss I use what's in my bag essentially why I use it how much it all costs and if you are interested in any of this stuff I'll put links to all of it in the description below so let's start with well the most obvious thing on this set up set up bag whatever you want to call it and that is this travel tripod I need something that's lightweight and it's small this is 50 centimetres it's about it's like exactly the same height as my bag which is super convenient I don't have to think can't be bothered taking a tripod because it's just not that much of an inconvenience and it does add a lot of flexibility for my shooting so it's by KNF concept to cost about a hundred quid and also weighs just 1.5 kilograms which is about a kilogram less than my normal tripod so as you can see it folds up really small or you can bring it down like so it's also got this quite nifty ball joint which means I can actually rotate the head itself 90 degrees so I can actually get bird's eye sort of vertical shots which is quite handy so tripod umbrella goes on the side of my North Face borealis backpack it's nothing special this it's about 50 quid it's got three big sort of compartments so you can hole up to 28 litres 15 inch laptop you can spend four or five times more if you want on a fancy backpack with lots of nice little neat compartments if you want but this will do me first of all the laptop and this is my pretty much everyday laptop when I'm not using my desktop at home I'm using this and it fits inside a 13 inch laptop sleeve it's all about that sort of Portability and compactness comp activity compactness compacted so the laptop I use is directs PS 15 why because it is a 15 inch laptop with super thin bezels as I'm sure you've seen before which means it actually fits inside a kind of like a 13 and a half 14 inch chassis so it's nice and compact easy to use on the train I can use it unlike with this tray tables just about on a plane as well in economy seating so that's handy if I'm editing on the way back but not only is it portable its power I can edit my 4k video on this struggles a bit with 4k 60 footage or lots and lots of 4k footage but it does the job and while I am looking forward to what Dell comes out with this year the two-in-one isn't really for me I want power so I'm gonna wait for the proper notebook refresh coming later in the year but for now this does everything I need and I still highly recommend it quite expensive at around 1,600 quid it's all about a grand less than the MacBook Pro for a similar spec I guess it's a little heavy for a travel laptop it's 2 kilograms but I also need that power and that performance to edit the 4k video I shoot now let's move on to the good stuff for cameras lots of nice goodies in here so let's start with the camera the Panasonic gh4 which honestly I love I love this thing combined with the plastic 12 to 35 lens you get some of the best stabilization you can get on any camera right now you've got is built into the lens and is built into the body all works together to produce some really really crisp beautiful looking and super smooth video and that sort of capability to be able to handheld shoot footage 4k footage up to 4k 60 or even 180 FPS at Full HD so you get nice slow motion or if you want 4k 60 in part of the speed down to 30 you get 4k slow-mo so those are flexibility in terms of what you can shoot fully articulating screen you can get two SD cards in here if I do want an extra level of stabilization I'll mount this onto the zoo and crane gimbal which I'll see you sometimes and that's just almost like DJI Ronin quality of stabilization but for way less money so it's really handy that you can see what you're shooting but from a distance this screen is quite small it's also not very color accurate so recently I invested in one of these it is a small HD focus monitor and it's my best friend this is the best thing ever plugs into the HDMI on your camera assume you've got one and the fact that I'm not using the screen now saves battery on the camera so it lasts longer you can look at the zebra wing waveforms focus peaking you can look at custom Luntz on here you can customize it any which way you like and if you're self shooting this is really the item got a cameraman I can't really afford one yet so if you're gonna stick that on a tripod put it a couple of meters away from you and then do a piece to camera like I did the other day with my XPS 15 to in one video this is so helpful to see what you're actually shooting and also make sure it's color accurate and looks the best possible so about five hundred quid for this small HD monitor highly highly recommend it and it just makes shooting so much easier so that's the video side of things but let's move on to audio because if anything audio is more important than video quality I think people can forgive kind of ropey video as long as the audio is good not really the way around so two options either the rode videomic pro shotgun mic which has a little line in shoguns are great chaga mike says they're great if you're in the perfect studio conditions I think you can get the best sound quality from these if you've got lovely acoustic paneling no echo you know really good controlled environments or we forgot a group of people this is probably the easiest way to capture audio from that but in my experience you're either too far from it all the movies really echoey all of those are background noise loads of ways that this can really reduce the quality of a shotgun mics audio input which is why I use one of these actually two of these I'm using one right now I use the zoom h1 recorder like a little bag I've got here and the zoom h1 recorder which you can actually just talk to you like this and do voice oh if you want but combine that with a sennheiser me2 lavalier basically lovely as a fancy word for the lapel mic that's the one I've got in here so I was like talk closer to it the audio gets even better I'm in my like kitchen living room thing really really echoey completely unusable audio in my opinion on the shotgun mic but decent on this sennheiser and all you do is plug it into this line in through the hub mil line import the connections a bit ropey so I've got a little three and a half mil female to male adapter stick that in your back pocket or wherever you like I've run that under the your shirt or the talent shirt and then sort of place it on there tie or jacket or on top of what they're wearing and you can record the audio onto here it adds an extra minute to the Edit because you then have to sync the audio with the video as long as you just make a loud noise or allow clap before you start you can sync that audio really really easily in the Edit and that way you can walk away from the camera you can turn around and face the other direction you get basically the same audio quality doesn't work with shotgun mics so for all-round versatility I really recommend this kind of setup I actually have two of these in case I'm doing interviews or need a back of for Thor's a couple of people in the scene so that's the main stuff but I've also got spare batteries USB sticks SD cards backup hard drive 2 terabyte expansion portable drive that's what they want to call it card reader and also it's green cleaning cloth what's a got little bag of cables Ethernet adapters USB C adapters also a mouse size of Razer DeathAdder also got this handy newer CN 160 light you're gonna blind you now which is uses the same batteries as the small HD focus more on so which is really handy so I can just take two or three those batteries and it powers everything portable small hot shoe mount so you can put it on top of your camera so the camera is like sixteen hundred quid the lens is like eight hundred quid the monitors 500 quid expensive prosumer stuff but you don't need all that as Casey Neistat famously says the best camera is the one you have on you at all times and everyone's got a smartphone and the cameras on smartphones are better than ever the pixel to I've got here the pixel to excel has in my opinion the best camera on any smartphone right now and well you can't just actually shoot some stuff on this combine that with a gimbal like this DJI Osmo which costs about 200 pounds pop the phone in there and you get some beautiful stabilized footage from an excellent camera you can shoot 4k xxx so if you're on a budget or as a secondary option phone and gimbal I definitely recommend and in the front pocket lots of exciting things like a pixel charger camera battery charger laptop charger and of course also a gorilla pod in case I come across some gorillas so that is pretty much it for what is in my bag I hope that was useful the real differences between that stuff and what I use in sort of my more controlled environments like a home studio is the lighting these are a bit more versatile and they've got tripods and things so I can move them about also the camera and don't ask why I've got a second gh five at the moment that's a long story and I've also got a 18 to 35 Sigma lens with a metal bones speed booster which is a bit of a secondary option it depends on the video I'm shooting and the look and style I'm going for but beyond that I'm still using the same mic same camera and there's not much different so the fact that I can fit that sort of quality of kit into a backpack that doesn't weigh more than five kilograms so I can walk around with it all day long without my back hurting too much alternatively I could pack way more in and actually just make more of an effort to go to the gym and get stronger and not complain about it so if you've got any questions let me know in the comments below as I say I've also put links to all of this stuff everything I've mentioned in the description if you want to go check those out thank you very much for watching guys do click that like and subscribe button which I believe is here if you enjoyed this video I'll see you next time right here on the tech jabhi guys I'm Tom the tech chap and this is another one of those it's not good what's in my bag videos I say another one this is the first one I've ever done so I'm gonna run you through the kiss I use what's in my bag essentially why I use it how much it all costs and if you are interested in any of this stuff I'll put links to all of it in the description below so let's start with well the most obvious thing on this set up set up bag whatever you want to call it and that is this travel tripod I need something that's lightweight and it's small this is 50 centimetres it's about it's like exactly the same height as my bag which is super convenient I don't have to think can't be bothered taking a tripod because it's just not that much of an inconvenience and it does add a lot of flexibility for my shooting so it's by KNF concept to cost about a hundred quid and also weighs just 1.5 kilograms which is about a kilogram less than my normal tripod so as you can see it folds up really small or you can bring it down like so it's also got this quite nifty ball joint which means I can actually rotate the head itself 90 degrees so I can actually get bird's eye sort of vertical shots which is quite handy so tripod umbrella goes on the side of my North Face borealis backpack it's nothing special this it's about 50 quid it's got three big sort of compartments so you can hole up to 28 litres 15 inch laptop you can spend four or five times more if you want on a fancy backpack with lots of nice little neat compartments if you want but this will do me first of all the laptop and this is my pretty much everyday laptop when I'm not using my desktop at home I'm using this and it fits inside a 13 inch laptop sleeve it's all about that sort of Portability and compactness comp activity compactness compacted so the laptop I use is directs PS 15 why because it is a 15 inch laptop with super thin bezels as I'm sure you've seen before which means it actually fits inside a kind of like a 13 and a half 14 inch chassis so it's nice and compact easy to use on the train I can use it unlike with this tray tables just about on a plane as well in economy seating so that's handy if I'm editing on the way back but not only is it portable its power I can edit my 4k video on this struggles a bit with 4k 60 footage or lots and lots of 4k footage but it does the job and while I am looking forward to what Dell comes out with this year the two-in-one isn't really for me I want power so I'm gonna wait for the proper notebook refresh coming later in the year but for now this does everything I need and I still highly recommend it quite expensive at around 1,600 quid it's all about a grand less than the MacBook Pro for a similar spec I guess it's a little heavy for a travel laptop it's 2 kilograms but I also need that power and that performance to edit the 4k video I shoot now let's move on to the good stuff for cameras lots of nice goodies in here so let's start with the camera the Panasonic gh4 which honestly I love I love this thing combined with the plastic 12 to 35 lens you get some of the best stabilization you can get on any camera right now you've got is built into the lens and is built into the body all works together to produce some really really crisp beautiful looking and super smooth video and that sort of capability to be able to handheld shoot footage 4k footage up to 4k 60 or even 180 FPS at Full HD so you get nice slow motion or if you want 4k 60 in part of the speed down to 30 you get 4k slow-mo so those are flexibility in terms of what you can shoot fully articulating screen you can get two SD cards in here if I do want an extra level of stabilization I'll mount this onto the zoo and crane gimbal which I'll see you sometimes and that's just almost like DJI Ronin quality of stabilization but for way less money so it's really handy that you can see what you're shooting but from a distance this screen is quite small it's also not very color accurate so recently I invested in one of these it is a small HD focus monitor and it's my best friend this is the best thing ever plugs into the HDMI on your camera assume you've got one and the fact that I'm not using the screen now saves battery on the camera so it lasts longer you can look at the zebra wing waveforms focus peaking you can look at custom Luntz on here you can customize it any which way you like and if you're self shooting this is really the item got a cameraman I can't really afford one yet so if you're gonna stick that on a tripod put it a couple of meters away from you and then do a piece to camera like I did the other day with my XPS 15 to in one video this is so helpful to see what you're actually shooting and also make sure it's color accurate and looks the best possible so about five hundred quid for this small HD monitor highly highly recommend it and it just makes shooting so much easier so that's the video side of things but let's move on to audio because if anything audio is more important than video quality I think people can forgive kind of ropey video as long as the audio is good not really the way around so two options either the rode videomic pro shotgun mic which has a little line in shoguns are great chaga mike says they're great if you're in the perfect studio conditions I think you can get the best sound quality from these if you've got lovely acoustic paneling no echo you know really good controlled environments or we forgot a group of people this is probably the easiest way to capture audio from that but in my experience you're either too far from it all the movies really echoey all of those are background noise loads of ways that this can really reduce the quality of a shotgun mics audio input which is why I use one of these actually two of these I'm using one right now I use the zoom h1 recorder like a little bag I've got here and the zoom h1 recorder which you can actually just talk to you like this and do voice oh if you want but combine that with a sennheiser me2 lavalier basically lovely as a fancy word for the lapel mic that's the one I've got in here so I was like talk closer to it the audio gets even better I'm in my like kitchen living room thing really really echoey completely unusable audio in my opinion on the shotgun mic but decent on this sennheiser and all you do is plug it into this line in through the hub mil line import the connections a bit ropey so I've got a little three and a half mil female to male adapter stick that in your back pocket or wherever you like I've run that under the your shirt or the talent shirt and then sort of place it on there tie or jacket or on top of what they're wearing and you can record the audio onto here it adds an extra minute to the Edit because you then have to sync the audio with the video as long as you just make a loud noise or allow clap before you start you can sync that audio really really easily in the Edit and that way you can walk away from the camera you can turn around and face the other direction you get basically the same audio quality doesn't work with shotgun mics so for all-round versatility I really recommend this kind of setup I actually have two of these in case I'm doing interviews or need a back of for Thor's a couple of people in the scene so that's the main stuff but I've also got spare batteries USB sticks SD cards backup hard drive 2 terabyte expansion portable drive that's what they want to call it card reader and also it's green cleaning cloth what's a got little bag of cables Ethernet adapters USB C adapters also a mouse size of Razer DeathAdder also got this handy newer CN 160 light you're gonna blind you now which is uses the same batteries as the small HD focus more on so which is really handy so I can just take two or three those batteries and it powers everything portable small hot shoe mount so you can put it on top of your camera so the camera is like sixteen hundred quid the lens is like eight hundred quid the monitors 500 quid expensive prosumer stuff but you don't need all that as Casey Neistat famously says the best camera is the one you have on you at all times and everyone's got a smartphone and the cameras on smartphones are better than ever the pixel to I've got here the pixel to excel has in my opinion the best camera on any smartphone right now and well you can't just actually shoot some stuff on this combine that with a gimbal like this DJI Osmo which costs about 200 pounds pop the phone in there and you get some beautiful stabilized footage from an excellent camera you can shoot 4k xxx so if you're on a budget or as a secondary option phone and gimbal I definitely recommend and in the front pocket lots of exciting things like a pixel charger camera battery charger laptop charger and of course also a gorilla pod in case I come across some gorillas so that is pretty much it for what is in my bag I hope that was useful the real differences between that stuff and what I use in sort of my more controlled environments like a home studio is the lighting these are a bit more versatile and they've got tripods and things so I can move them about also the camera and don't ask why I've got a second gh five at the moment that's a long story and I've also got a 18 to 35 Sigma lens with a metal bones speed booster which is a bit of a secondary option it depends on the video I'm shooting and the look and style I'm going for but beyond that I'm still using the same mic same camera and there's not much different so the fact that I can fit that sort of quality of kit into a backpack that doesn't weigh more than five kilograms so I can walk around with it all day long without my back hurting too much alternatively I could pack way more in and actually just make more of an effort to go to the gym and get stronger and not complain about it so if you've got any questions let me know in the comments below as I say I've also put links to all of this stuff everything I've mentioned in the description if you want to go check those out thank you very much for watching guys do click that like and subscribe button which I believe is here if you enjoyed this video I'll see you next time right here on the tech jab\n"