If you like to shoot video when you travel but don’t want to take the time to learn how to use a complicated camera, or lug a heavy, large one around, there are a lot of smaller options that are lightweight and great for travel.
I love my Kodak Zi8, which I use all the time. When I got mine, they came in multiple colors and I keep one in my car, one in my purse and one in my travel bag. Now I can only seem to find them in black. You can get the Kodak waterproof Playsport in red and in blue, for about $90 which is a pretty good deal for its size and flexibility.
My Canon 7D is never far from my side, which has incredible HD video built in but I rarely use it since I don’t want to fill up my Compact Flash Cards even though I usually have one 32 GB card with me. So having one of the smaller Kodaks, or even a Flip UltraHD is useful. The thing is….most of us now carry iPhones with us, and you’ve probably noticed that the camera quality is getting better with each new version. Alas, so is the video quality.
The issue that most of us still have is the shakiness that we get from moving while we’re shooting, whether its chasing a child in a zoo or a surfer
A friend of mine uses a nifty device for his iPhone called the Steadicam Smoothee for iPhone 4 (also 4S), which your iPhone quickly slips into. It’s priced at around $150 and you can get it on Amazon.
The device takes the same technology found on expensive Hollywood Steadicam rigs and shrinks it down to the perfect size for home and vacation use.
You simply snap your iPhone 4 or 4S into the specially designed mount, grip the handle, and float your camera smoothly and effortlessly through the air. The lightweight device is compact and agile, and features an innovative, patented design built around a durable mono-frame metal structure that you can toss in your luggage and use for those travel moments that simply require video to tell a better story.
Below, Geoff Puckett shows us how to use it and we can see the results of his shooting at the end.
Photo credit: BHPhotoVideo site.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
