DeerCam1 Assembled, Ready For Action

So today I assembled the barebones shooting kit that will be used on "Dark Is A Long Way" which is shooting out in the field in January 2015 - ie, what is likely to be cold wet Great British winter - so make that a boggy frost encrusted Hampshire field.

It won't be the first time shooting in boggy blustery conditions - along with Evil C, we shot GAIN way back, in similar conditions using iPhone 4S (including on-board mic audio).

So I learned a lot on GAIN - like, using the Griffin Survivor military grade case enables you to easily keep shooting through the rain versus naked iPhone. My only real concern with the iPhone 6 Plus is that, along with iPhone 5, there's not enough clearance between the front camera and mic to effectively stick on a Rycote Micro Windjammer
The windjammer really helped in the blustery conditions with the 4S. I'm not a fan of past attempts to suppress wind noise with DSP but it doesn't look like I have much of a choice.

So in order of importance, here is the specific production kit for Dark Is A Long Way - I'm happy to say it all fits in the tiny boot of my Toyota IQ and is really light and easy to carry (of course):

1. iPhone 6 Plus gold/champagne
(could be any smartphone, but I tried a few and iPhone is what I keep going back to).

2. Griffin Survivor All Terrain
military grade case for iPhone 6 Plus. In my view this is essential to give you confidence in the event of dropping the device in a boggy field.

3. ShoulderPod S1
adjustable tripod adapter for smartphones. Even without using a tripod, this gives you a much better and comfortable grip on the device.

4. Manfrotto Compact Action Tripod
(joystick head). Sometimes you just need to keep the camera still or do a controlled pan/tilt, or maybe go Dutch.

I also have AirNinja approved Lightning bus microphone and ultraportable 3800 lumens LED lighting -- but they are separate subject posts.

I've also identified the video recording app I will use which suits the way I work, so it's all good. Now on with pre-production! (basically, paperwork)