If there is one thing that I love even more than travel planning…it’s gadgets. I’m a pathetic geek and get excited about anything that has worn the label “cutting edge technology” at some stage in its evolution. BUT…if the gadget in question is also designed to make the life of a traveller easier or more interesting then I really start to salivate!
Let’s start with cameras, the traveller’s stalwart companion. Neil has really been the enthusiastic still photographer in the family, he has worked his way through a succession of excellent cameras over the years and the record of our early holidays is entirely due to him. It’s video photography that’s been my responsibility ( and pleasure !) over the years.
We bought our first video camera in 1990 when Erin was a baby. It was second hand , it was roughly the same size as a small car, produced grainy video and tinny sound but I loved it! Simon and Erin had every second of their lives documented in close-up and intimate details – from potty-training to swimming lessons, those poor kids could barely move without me whipping out the camera. Here’s an example…
Naturally, the first “real holiday” after that was a prime source of movie magic – our drive to Port Macquarie lovingly recorded along with the Dire-Straits-Playschool-Children-Whining-“are we there yet?” soundtrack.
Eventually we moved on from the Mega-beast Video cam and are now up to our 4th generation and I must admit that each purchase of a “new” camera was prompted by plans of an upcoming trip, and the desire to record it with sleeker and smarter equipment. Like most technology of the late 20th and early 21st century the video cameras have shrunk and our latest video camera ( A Sony Handycam – HDSR-10E ) sits comfortably in the palm of my hand. To be honest, the much smaller cameras make life easier when it comes to fitting things into your suitcase but I have found that it’s just so much harder to avoid shakey video with smaller cameras – there’s a reason why the good professional video cameras are still pretty big!
Here’s a short video clip that I recorded with this camera on a recent trip. You can definitely see the improvement in quality over our first camera.
However, the world of video has moved rapidly and on our next trip I’ve decided to leave it to “the new kid on the block” to look after all my travel video needs – I’m planning to shoot all my video on my iPhone! The phone is just so light and easy to use that I’m breaking the habit of 20 years and will leave the video camera at home. Here’s a short video clip that did on the phone recently…
As you can see, the quality is almost indistinguishable from the Sony Handycam! The only downside of the iPhone is that I can’t zoom in but for the sake of convenience I’ll live without it. What I can’t live without is my iPhone…or my iPad…which will be the subject of another post….
Love the video of Simon and Erin, so cute xxx