What’s in Dom’s bag: CES 2015 Edition (Video)

It’s no surprise, the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 is right around the corner and we’ve been prepping our gear and getting ready to hit the show floor. The whole thing kicks off on Jan 5, 2015 and we’re excited to dive in and bring you coverage of the latest gadgets and accessories that 2015 has to offer.

That being said, it takes a bit of work to put together the content that you’ll see and a backpack full of gear. Most of us try to pack light, but there are very important things that are necessary to make sure the job gets done. Today, we’re taking a look at the gear I’m lugging around the show floor. I may not have everything I’m used to, but these essential tools help make the coverage a bit easier…

As you may expect, I’m mostly interested in capturing video of specific products that are announced. Because of this, most of my gear will revolve around video production, but I do also keep a few must-have tech toys to keep me busy.

First up, we have the Lively Up Leather Scout Pack from House Of Marley. This rugged little bag keeps everything I need inside and is held together with tough materials. It also has plenty of pockets, a laptop sleeve, tablet pocket, and a bunch of space inside for all of the gear. Of course, inside of the two sleeves within this backpack, you’ll find my late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina Display and an iPad Air 2.

For a detailed walk-through of “what’s in my bag,” check out the video embedded below:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_bS09rkGuU]

I’ve actually been using the iPad Air 2 alongside my MacBook Pro with a cool app called Duet. This allows me to use the iPad as a secondary display with my MacBook and it does it at 60 frames per second. Thanks to the performance of Duet, I can use my iPad Air 2 as a reference monitor for video when editing within Premiere Pro. It has basically become my permanent travel display.

Next up, I have my Lastolite white balance card which will make it ten times easier to set proper white balance on my camera. This ensures that all the colors in the captured video turn out looking fresh and cuts down on time in post-production. It’s definitely one of my most used video tools and I bring it with me everywhere.

For audio, I’m bringing along a couple of things. The Zoom H1 recorder is probably the best bang-for-your-buck X/Y microphone with a built-in recorder. It will only set you back around $99 and performs like a winner all around. It’s not the best money can buy, but it’s certainly one of the most portable audio recorders out there and definitely budget friendly.

For the serious on-camera audio, I’ll be using Sennheiser’s EW 112-P G3 wireless lavalier kit. It’ll run a pretty penny, but for the money it’s one of the best systems you can get. I have this system hooked up directly to my camera so everything is perfectly in sync when I load it up to edit. The above video was shot using the EW 112-P G3. I absolutely love it.

Keeping my camera gear safe is definitely a top priority. I can’t just throw everything in the bottom of a backpack and expect it to survive, right? Well, to address this dilemma, I’m using a BesTek Camera Insert that will make any bag a camera bag. Check out the above video for a closer look, but this guy slides right into the backpack with padding and a customizable insert for protecting camera gear.

Inside of the insert I have my Panasonic GH4, Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 lens, Voigtlander 17.5mm f0.95 lens, and a good old wide angle 7-14mm f4 lens. All of this lives safely in the bottom of the backpack and is secured within the camera gear insert. I’ve also added on a cage for the GH4 that will allow me to connect some additional accessories like the Sennheiser G3 receiver and my 5-inch Viltron DC-50 monitor which provides a better look at focus and framing during shoots.

Moving along to the right side pocket on the backpack, I have my Canon PowerShot ELPH 110HS, a UNU 10,000 mAh external battery pack, and some spare batteries for my camera and its monitor. In the left pocket I have an iPhone 6 Plus and a Galaxy Note 4 which happen to be the two best smartphones for battery life these days. All that battery life will definitely be necessary. With a show like CES in Las Vegas, you never quite know when you’ll make it back to the hotel. I’ll also have the LG G Watch R around my wrist to help manage notifications while roaming the floor.

Finally in the front pocket, I have two brand new 32GB Kingston U3 SD cards which I will use with the Panasonic GH4. These are the best cards (in my opinion) for this camera. I’m keeping them packaged up for now because I’d like to start fresh with these cards when I hit the show floor and not have to worry about potential issues with older cards I have around the house. Along with that, I have the Legend in-ear headphones from House Of Marley. Hopefully these little headphones will keep me busy throughout the trip to Las Vegas and assist me with editing together all of the video I capture.

This may seem like a lot of gear to carry around, but I have no doubt that everything in the bag will be used a few times. I’m looking forward to all of the announcements coming up next week. Stay tuned for our full coverage of the show and be sure to let us know if you plan on attending.