I went down to Captain Tony’s to get out of the heat
When I heard a voice call out to me, “Son, come have a seat”
Jimmy Buffet/Last Mango in Paris
Though today’s postcard comes from Key West (where I was yesterday) this is the first international post in the nine years of writing this blog. So greetings from Cozumel.
Despite having higher end Panasonic and Nikon cameras with me on the production I’m on, the clear winner after two days is the Apple iPhone 7plus. Speed is the issue. Yesterday I only had four hours to capture an overall essence of Key West in the daytime.
The versatility of which you can shoot stills and videos is a strength of iPhones, but the iPhone 7 Plus cell phone/camera is a significant jump up from the iPhone 4s I just upgraded from. I’m shooting a lot of footage in 120 (and some in 240) frames per second which is serious slow motion. Today I’ll also shoot in 4K.
I’m also using the FiLMiC Pro camera app (which only costs $9.99) a lot which allows you to shoot in 24p and also disable the in camera stabilizer. It’s also easy to lock focus and exposure. Because I knew I’d be on the move a lot shooting in Key West gave me a chance to test the DJI Osmo Mobile.
While it’s always best to test out equipment well before a shoot, sometimes you just have to roll the dice. In this case, I just booked this shoot a week ago. Did some research and then finally pulled the trigger on buying the DJI Osmo less than 24 hours before my cruise ship departed.
After purchasing it in Orlando and driving to Miami, at around midnight I finally got to open the box set-up the battery to charge. At 2:3o AM it didn’t appear to be charging. I went to sleep thinking it was a bust and I’d just return it after the cruise.
But in the morning it all fired up so it gave me hope. We left that day out of the Port of Miami and the next day while on Old Town Trolly Tours I finally had a chance to start shooting with it and my first impression is it’s great. Very user friendly is getting Stedicam-like shots from an iPhone. (Note: I once owned a Stedicam Merlin and I never really could balance the dang thing. The DJI Osmo took less than five minute to balance.)
One sad note on my quick trip to Key West is that it’s changed a lot since I first visited there in 1981 or ’82. Back then it still had a bohemian/artistic/drop out of society feel to it. Today it feels like Orlando. I have nothing against Starbucks or CVS Pharmacy, but places like that take away from the other-worldness that Key West once had. But you’re still closer to Havana, Cuba than a Walmart… and there’s still Captain Tony’s, and Sloppy Joe’s, and Hemingway’s house, etc. etc. Just don’t go there expecting to see a quaint seaside hippy village unless you can go in 1971. Aside from that go for at least 4 days, not four hours. That gives you time to decompress and find the secret gems of Key West.
And especially for content creators, Key West is still a visual feast.
P.S. For what it’s worth, two of my most memorable dining experiences came from a trip to the Keys years ago. Louie’s Backyard in Key West and Little Palm Island (just a boat ride away from Key West).
Related posts:
Jimmy Buffett in Iowa (Part 1)
Jimmy Buffett in Iowa (Part 4)
Sing Along with Mitch in Margaritaville