EASY RIDER CASE STUDY
I’m still a stills guy, albeit one that shoots increasing amounts of video, so I had a fair bit of research to do. I had just taken the bold step of changingmy 25-year commitment to Canon to the new-wave mirrorless world of the Sony A7R III. I still own both kits, but the Sony is considerably smaller and lighter than the Canon, which is pretty important when you’re travelling on just two wheels. The A7R III’s video capability is also incredible: in addition to 42-megapixel stills giving billboard-quality imagery, the camera offers uncropped video with all versions of 4K and up to 120 fps HD. In low- light conditions, it’s among the best on the market, giving usable, clean imagery even at ISO 256,000, while the NP-FZ100 battery has a two-hour life (unlike its predecessor) and the camera rarely overheats while delivering a maximum 30-minute record time. Meanwhile, in-camera sound recording is no worse than any other camera and it has the usual external audio options available via the microphone jack. I had brought a full set of lenses, but wanted to save space, so I took the G Master 16-35mm f/2.8 for extreme-wide landscapes and the GMaster 24-70mm f/2.8 as a more general-use lens. Both these lenses offer staggering performance, with the A7R III’s in-body stabilisation giving almost gimbal-like stability. I was tempted
ABOVE Richard Bradbury used a DJI Mavic Air to capture aerial footage of his motorcycle road trip across the US
back up tomeet the iconic Route 66. We travelled through Joshua Tree and finally crossed the Mojave Desert before arriving at the largest Harley-Davidson dealership I have ever seen in Phoenix, Arizona. It didn’t take a genius to work out that, with that kind of scenery, a drone would be a useful companion in terms of producing footage for my personal use. I knew nothing about drones before this
to take the GMaster 70-200mm f/2.8 along as well for a more candid look and its dreamy bokeh, but it’s a big piece of glass and this trip was really about capturing the grandeur of the ‘Big Country’, rather than compressed long shots. Historic Route 66 Our route took us out of LA across Death Valley, down towards Palm Springs then
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SUMMER 2019 PRO MOVIEMAKER
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