Stock Photography / Video With One Camera, The Verdict

I have just returned from Panama and I used this trip as a test for the one camera solution I have been searching for travel stock photography and stock video clips. First let me say that Panama City, Panama is like Disney World for Adults there is so much to see and do. The city is beautiful and desperate at the same time, from millionaire properties to the under privileged Panamanians who work so hard for so little,  in the middle a definite middle class who enjoy world standard amenities in this fascinating and crazy city.  If you have not visited Panama do so you won't regret it.

The camera solution I decided upon was this: 

Canon 5D MKll with the kit lens 24-105 f4

Canon 430EXll speedlight

Polarizing filter

Lowepro Sling Shot 102 AW

This worked great for street and general stock photography and video, I did take a "disposable" $39 tripod from Walmart the Soligor T157 I took this for video so I could get locked down shots, it is a light weight tripod, no good in strong wind, having said that the center column does have a bag hook for extra weight stability. The tripod itself comes with a bag that has a shoulder strap and weighs around 3lbs so you can carry this for a long time and the price is right which can be covered by selling one clip on Pond5. The tripod wont last years but did work for me very well, I don't do much panning or tilts so the crappy head is OK.

I love 24mm as a wide lens on a full frame sensor, it's wide enough for me, the only comment on the lens I have is that f4 isn't wide enough for low light, on the other hand the Canon at ISO 640 is still usable for stock images. I would replace the lens with an f2.8 variant if I could or if Canon introduces one.

The dirty little secret which shoots holes in my one camera solution is that for video some times you need speed of set up and more reach from the lens or a better way of shooting time lapse, one where the camera stitches the frames together. For this reason I did pack my Panasonic TM700 which did great work at filling the gaps that my Canon gear could not cover, it also turned me into looking like the typical tourist like a Harry Potter cloak of invisibility. The Panasonic was able to be packed in the top compartment of the Sling Shot along with  three batteries, wide angle lens adapter and lens hood. 

The Sling Shot 102 AW held everything and the total pack with cameras was 10 lbs which was my carry on allowance with the charter airline I used. 

My reflections of the trip, I didn't feel I missed any shots because of equipment, I did have additional grip items and the tripod in my checked luggage and I felt a lot freer to shoot, the bag fulls of equipment were not weighing me down or becoming a barrier to shoot by having too much choice. You can't do studio photography or a wedding with this set up but you can bring back lots of usable travel stock photography and video clips.

My trip worked because I hired guides, one in Panama City and one in the interior of the country, using their local knowledge and driving skills and my shoot list I had researched prior to leaving made this trip a total success, I strongly recommend you look into using local people to guide you to the best shooting locations and restaurants. We ate in one Panamanian restaurant in the country for three of us for a very large hearty meal of the national dish, a soup called Sancocho de gallina, total cost including a plate of rice each was $ 9.75 for all three meals.

Happy travels.

One Camera Solution For Stock Photography & Video

I finally decided to get a Canon 5D MKll, I know I'm only four years behind the crowd of photographers that get it. My needs for a camera are portability and the ability to shoot great quality still stock photographs and shoot stunning stock video clips and to be able to switch between the two. My Canon 7D is up for sale and I'm loving the images from the Canon 5D MKll, I got the kit lens 24-105 f4 and have been very surprised at the excellent image quality this lens delivers.

The dirt on why I decided to move on from the Canon 7D, I bought this camera with the "one camera solution" idea, very quickly I found out that the sensor noise on still photographs was unacceptable for stock photographs going to microstock sites. You can argue all you want, but at low ISO of 100 to 200 the shadow noise is terrible for a camera of this price. By the time you spend correcting it, the image suffers from softness and once again you run the risk of rejection for your uploads. The Canon 7D for video is great, image detail is not as critical for video as it is for still photographs, I liked the 60p for the ability to slow the footage to make half speed slow motion video clips. If you don't supply microstock sites with photographs from the Canon 7D then don't worry about digital noise, the 7D is still a good camera.

Enter the Canon 5D MK2  in future trips for travel photography I'm going to try and travel extremely light, taking only the 5D MKll with the 24-105 f4 lens, a Canon 430EXll flash gun and my Panasonic TM700 and an incredibly cheap big box store tripod that only weighs 3lbs. I might find space for an intervolmeter and a polarizing filter and that's it.

First impressions of the Canon 5D MKll, I was blown away at getting a stock photo accepted at a major microstock site with an ISO of 640 and there was no noise post processing to do on it. I do like the 7D camera interface for video, the 5D is a little different but like everything else you soon get used to it. When considering a camera be aware that not all pixels are created equally, the Canon 7D has smaller pixels packed onto a crowded smaller sensor, that's why it creates digital noise, I have a feeling that the new Nikon D800 will suffer the same as the 7D. The Canon 5D MKll has a sensor even though it is four years old, has the balance between pixel size and density that works extremely well, all we can hope for is another camera from Canon that will update this design and have even better sensor performance.