What tech to take

[Ben Jackson]

Hi there.
I hope to embark on a small adventure this year as a prologue to a larger one next year. I really want to blog about my travels with maps and photo's etc. So what tech should I take? I will be doing a 3 week tour of Europe this year and so far I have an iPhone 5 and my gopro3 to take. I will get a small camera as well. I will need a laptop or tablet that will allow me to upload all my pics and videos each day. The bike will have a usb charger fitted and I believe the charging system will generate enough juice to charge each one. My dilemma is laptop vs tablet and which one of course. Space is a premium and like so many this is all being done on a tight budget. Also where do I learn to blog? I mean I can write and I can tell tales but where does one actually obtain the computing skills to be able to bung together a decent blog? That's it, that's all I want to know, so dig deep and help please, its another six months until 'the off' but that will fly past and I need to be up to speed by then.
Thanks all. Ben

[Walkabout]

Originally Posted by Jmi

In 2014, all I had was a 7" tablet, for processing pics, videos, blogging, GPS...

This year, all I have is a cheap smartphone. I'm using it for everything : internet, blogging, pics, video, as gps...

You can do anything with smartphone, all you need is patience and how to do it.

Definitely, I will just have my smartphone again next time : the less you have, the less you can loose break or be stolen...

You don't need expensive phone, mine was less than 100 euros...

Me too.
Given up carrying all the stuff listed in the OP and I have freedom and more time to talk with people etc

However, I tried blogging once, about 10 years ago: you can do it on here or via wordpress or .............. whatever, there is loads of such software out there.
Then, you just type and post rubbish pics (over exposed, out of focus etc) etc.

[TheWarden]

If you use the camera and gopro a lot you will need someway of backing up the files, gopros chew up memory like mad - 200GB over 3 weeks for my last trip

[Temporaryescapee]

I am on this learning curve too.

You can set up a blog with wordpress - i have no IT specialism and it was pretty simple (and free). Not going to be pro quality, but if you just want to keep a diary and share your trip with friends, family and anyone else who might want to have a look its fine. Here's mine: http://wp.me/P5aiwQ-6.

Acknowledging Walkabout's comments about quality, do it for you, not someone else. The pics on the pages in mine are some of my favourites from a recent Zimbabwe trip. I like them. If someone else does too, great, if they don't, no problem.

I have found my iPad a right PITA for getting pictures onto flickr and managing them into albums on previous trips. For my forthcoming trip i have just bought this: http://m.johnlewis.com/mt/www.johnle..._9#page_loaded. Time will tell if its a good buy, but it will do what i need of it and charges of a USB lead.

Keep us posted.

Cheers
Andy

[mossproof]

Probably too late for you, but there are usually good workshops on filming, blogging etc your trip, at the Adventure Travel Film Festival run by Austin Vince and Lois Pryce - 12-14 August this year.
Schedule : The Adventure Travel Film Festival


I believe Austin and/or Lois are also talking on the subject at one or other of the Adventure travel shows in London this month (can't remember which I'm afraid, Overland Adventure at Olympia I think...)


I wouldn't rely on a laptop or tablet for storage of pics/film - much safer to use an external hard drive if you can afford the space, less noticeable/stealable, and means you don't need a tablet with large memory = cheaper.


Good luck and safe travels,
Simon.
Edit:
Just checked - loads of seminars and workshops at the Olympia show 23/24 Jan, not just AV and LP

[Warin]

1) You will not have daily access to the net .. so you will need to 'store' your stuff for some time .. How long? depends on your trip .. could be a week, a month...

2) Log your stuff as you come across it .. waiting for the end of the day and you will forget some stuff. A voice recorder is usefull for this - quick and easy. A smart phone should have an app for this.

3) Less is more. But a good (read small but reasonable) camera is essential for me. You need to identify what is essential for you! Me? Camera, GPS, smart phone ... and a pencil and paper. I can transfer stuff after the trip. If I want.

The trip is your trip, do it your way.

[ridetheworld]

All I use is an iPhone 5. I find iPhone as opposed to Samsung, etc, to be the best to achieve punchy, well saturated and pleasing images straight off the bat. For me it's plenty for amateur blogging - I write a rr over at ADVrider and people seem surprised when they find out I'm only using an iPhone as a camera.

I also really love using smartphones for photography in general as they are so commonplace you blend in with locals and are granted a lot of freedom which is impossible with dSLR's.

If you are doing something for sponsorship deals I can understand the need for high-end stuff. Still for all those 28 megapixel images taken on state of the art 3D sensors, most people will be seeing your photos at 1024x768 compressed Jpegs on 5" screens!

For me carrying around 3k worth of electrical stuff in economically less developed parts of the world is just not worth the hassle unless it's going to make me an income. I often wonder too if having a GoPro type camera strapped to your head makes you a lot less approachable to local people. If never wear one for that reason.

[Lonerider]

Originally Posted by ridetheworld

All I use is an iPhone 5. I find iPhone as opposed to Samsung, etc, to be the best to achieve punchy, well saturated and pleasing images straight off the bat. For me it's plenty for amateur blogging - I write a rr over at ADVrider and people seem surprised when they find out I'm only using an iPhone as a camera.

I also really love using smartphones for photography in general as they are so commonplace you blend in with locals and are granted a lot of freedom which is impossible with dSLR's.

If you are doing something for sponsorship deals I can understand the need for high-end stuff. Still for all those 28 megapixel images taken on state of the art 3D sensors, most people will be seeing your photos at 1024x768 compressed Jpegs on 5" screens!

For me carrying around 3k worth of electrical stuff in economically less developed parts of the world is just not worth the hassle unless it's going to make me an income. I often wonder too if having a GoPro type camera strapped to your head makes you a lot less approachable to local people. If never wear one for that reason.

Can't fault you with the iPhone for photos, all my photos on all my trips were done on the iPhone. Great bit of kit I use it with the location setting on so it even tells you where the photos were taken when you go into the gallery or transfer them to your Mac

Wayne

[backofbeyond]

There's so much tech around these days that choosing what to take is always going to be a compromise. For what it's worth the pile we had to choose from at the start of our USA travels back in Sept /Oct was:

2 Laptops (1 Macbook pro, 1 Windows netbook)
2 iPads (1 full size, 1 Mini
4 iPhones
4 SLR cameras + a load of lenses
1 compact size stills camera
2 video cameras
1 GoPro (actually a Chinese clone)
2 USB battery tanks

We actually ended up taking:

the Windows netbook
the iPad mini
all the iPhones
1 video camera
the GoPro
1 battery tank

That's not counting stuff like Kindles (2 of those), sat-navs, chargers, cables, tripods etc

The SLRs were left behind because of the space they took up - and, as a professional photographer for my day job, that took some doing.

In practice the netbook only got used about half a dozen times when we had time to spare in hotels. The rest of the time the iPad mini was easier and quicker for webs searches and got used extensively. The iPhones were used a lot for Facebook, texts email and, occasionally, phone calls. Stills and video from the iPhones were, by and large, pretty poor and were only used for that when there was no alternative.

The video camera, a pistol grip style Panasonic (I forget the model number) did decent HD video and 14mp stills and was used a lot. Most of the stills + video we took came from this camera, mainly because it was easy and quick to use and, because it was always kept in my top right jacket pocket, it was always available.

I set up a couple of mounting points on the bike for the GoPro and they worked well for "on the road" style footage but because of the extreme wide angle lens it also got used for normal stills / video inside buildings etc where the Panasonic fell down. Both of them were slightly less than optimal (!) in low light compared to the SLRs for example - a pity but that's the problem with making choices. I also made a deliberate choice of no helmet mount (or chest or arm etc) for the GoPro and that may have been a mistake.

Go Pro's only "chew up memory" if you forget to switch them off (IMHO) (or you're shooting in 4K). We could control it remotely by iPhone /ipad but it was easy to forget it was running and find you've filled the card with an hour of junk. We did no in-trip editing so it would be kept "just in case". Neither did we do any downloading. Everything was kept on cards.

The battery tank was a godsend at times when stuff was flat. Only the second time I'd used one but really worthwhile. Just plug (usually an iPhone) in and it would work again.

I'd intended to blog as we went and set one up in advance but in practice it never got used. My travelling companions facebooked extensively and I ended up using a notebook (kept in bottom righthand pocket of my jacket) to keep track of thoughts, ideas etc.

I'm (slowly) going through it all at the moment, editing the footage etc into some sort of reasonably viewable end result. It is easier (again IMHO) if you have some sort of "theme" running through the trip rather than just filming everything and hoping you can make sense of it afterwards. Video in particular also needs "commitment" to get the footage in the first place as there are times when it can feel like it's taking over the trip.

[ta-rider]

Originally Posted by Ben Jackson

so far I have an iPhone 5 and my gopro3 [...] this is all being done on a tight budget. Also where do I learn to blog? I mean I can write and I can tell tales but where does one actually obtain the computing skills to be able to bung together a decent blog?

Well so fare you have the most expensive stuff but also the worst > 1000 Euro. If you have an Apple, you cant use anything else.

iPhone and iPads dont even have a USB connector so you cant connect the GoPro. They also dont have a miniSD Card reader like any half the price Samsung Phone/Tablet. The Battery if the GoPro does not last very long but the camera will produce videos who are way to big for blogging and being uploadet directly so you will have gigabytes of video that you first have to converte into something usefull.

Converting and cutting high quality videos will take time and needs a strong computer. High quality Video does NOT mean they are good or interesding as well ;-)
Writing a blog also needs a keybord so there is no way around a laptop.

I used a Samsung NC10 to blogg for many years (with SSD 100€ on ebay) but for big video cutting i got a Samsung Series 5 with SSD and 8GB Ram on ebay now. Its like a Apple Air but way better and of course waaaaay cheaper

To film i use a Canon FS10 or FS100 or FS200 etc. (50 Euro) and to take fotos a fast focusing Canon EOS 400D (100 Euro). Small cameras will take time to start and to autofocus thats why i prefere a SLR reflex camera even they are big (never use the newest model they loose so much value but an old model does the same job for a quarter of the price).

So as you see to write a blog you dont need expensive stuff but good stuff and lots of time in the evening in your tent ;-)

I also like the idea of just using a smartphone nothing else but dont want to write long programming website code on this and find using templates of others bouring http://adventure-travel-experience.de I allready get problems writing emails on such a small screen HAHA

Have fun

[*Touring Ted*]

How things have changed in ten years.

In 2006 I was riding around with a 17" laptop, charger, mouse.

I had two mobile phones as they were different bands.

A guidebook the size of a house brick.

The workshop manual for my bike.

Adaptors and chargers etc.

Bigger AA batteries and a charger etc.

Digital camera with it's big case etc.



Now I have a 5" smartphone and for longer trips a 10" tablet/keyboard
All manuals and books are now on my MicroSd card. Things are so much better now.


I think almost everything can be done with a Windows Tablet and a smartphone now. Even take pictures if you're not bothered about close ups.


It's so much easier now.

[Wildman]

Check out an Anker charger; excellent piece of kit.

[backofbeyond]

Originally Posted by *Touring Ted*

How things have changed in ten years.

In 2006 I was riding around with a 17" laptop, charger, mouse.

I had two mobile phones as they were different bands.

A guidebook the size of a house brick.

The workshop manual for my bike.

Adaptors and chargers etc.

Bigger AA batteries and a charger etc.

Digital camera with it's big case etc.

Two years before that I had a video camera the size of a loaf of bread that I duct taped to the bike to get some "on the road" footage and a Polaroid camera that I used to give prints to people who'd helped me - cheaper than giving them money

We found the Polaroid camera stuck in the back of a cupboard just before Xmas and my wife bought an out of date pack of film for it on eBay to do some family pix over the holidays. That and a vinyl record player for a box of LPs (remember them!) we found in the loft. At least you don't have to haul one of those along any more for music on the move.

[ta-rider]

Haha well using wordpress, plugins like jQuery and other Templates made by other people is something totaly different then really programming a webpage yourselfe. Im talking about this (just write view-source: before your webpageadress or rightklick -> view page source):

view-source:</title><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=1"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><link rel="pingback" href="http://www.autonhome.org/xmlrpc.php" /><



Real work neads real keyboards. You cant do this on a smartphone with vioce recording:


"simple"===a?d.fillText(String.fromCharCode(55357, 56835),0,0):d.fillText(String.fromCharCode(55356,5 7135),0,0),0!==d.getImageData(16,16,1,1).data[0])):!1}function e(a){var c=b.createElement("script");c.src=a,c.type="text/javascript",b.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(c)}var f,g;c.supports={simple:d("simple"),flag:d("flag"), unicode8:d("unicode8")},c.DOMReady=!1,c.readyCallb ack=function(){c.DOMReady=!0},c.supports.simple&&c .supports.flag&&c.supports.unicode8||(g=function() {c.readyCallback()},b.addEventListener?

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