Essential Tech for Visual Creators

Deep into a cloudless night in the Cederberg mountains. While the world sleeps hundreds of miles away in The Mother City, two photographers finish their Milky Way shoot. In awe of the unique rock formations, arches, and the slowly moving starry canopy over them, they know the sunrise is not far away. They will take a small nap before preparing for the coming sunrise with its unfolding opportunities. Little did these visual creators know how forgetting some essential tech might change the course of their journey.

“Dylan, I just realized I forgot my laptop on the counter at home,” Muji announces frustratedly.

His friend chuckles in commiseration because he knows Muji needs to take backups. “You can use mine,” he offers.

The Darkness of Night

Despite the darkness of the African night, worries like encountering a leopard or getting attacked by a porcupine are the least of their concerns because more technical and creative issues occupy their minds. They walk to their off-road vehicle and pull out their camping chairs and camera backpacks. There is no time to be lost before the morning shoot.

“I know it’s a bit old, but it’s light and slim and perfect for traveling,” Dylan says while turning on the laptop with one hand and blocking the light from his extremely bright headlamp with the other while facing Muji.

“Here you go. I would have kicked myself if I had forgotten this, too.” Muji handed Dylan his compact and portable external SSD drive and card reader.

“Thanks for saving the day, buddy! The morning photos and videos would have been impossible without you! My memory cards are full and require a backup,” Muji says gratefully. 

“Well, I need to thank you also because I just realized that I forgot my card reader at home,” Dylan laughs with him. “We have saved each other from disaster!”

“It seems that neither of us remembered to check off our tech essentials list with the last-minute travel decision,” Muji concluded.

What happened next? Well, they had a successful adventure.

The moral of the story is that, besides the apparent camera gear needed in a shoot. Some additional tech gear is essential for visual creators. These tools cannot be ignored, and should form part of your arsenal.

Even if you are a professional and have been doing this for years, compiling an actual checklist of what you need to remember is well worth your while before going out on a shoot. I can share my tech essentials for my home office studio at a later stage.     

Top 5 Essential Tech Items for Visual Creators

Here are the five top items without which I cannot function when traveling and shooting locally. I have chosen these based on my budget and needs and suggest you tailor-make your list.

MacBook Air

I use a 4K 10-bit log footage and shoot raw images. Why do I use an older version? I usually carry heavy gear, and this laptop is light and slim. I can easily do basic video editing without heavy effects when on the go. It has a long battery life. The best place for this laptop is on a table beside a warm drink. I often take a break from my studio and sit in a local coffee shop, writing and doing my admin remotely. Based on the reviews I have seen, this is still a great choice in 2024. My studio has a powerful PC for final touches and detailed work. MacBooks’ crisp and bright screens make editing videos and photos a joy.

Mobile Phone

To quote Batman’s instruction to Alfred, “ABR”: Always Be Recording. A creator must document what is needed to tell a story, and a phone is not only a communication device. Most of us do not know the features of our expensive hand devices.

Your mobile phone is a powerful resource.

I clearly remember lying on the mountain after an accidental five-meter fall, with more broken bones than I can still count, waiting for the rescue team to arrive. A bystander chastised my companion, “You should be ashamed of yourself for making videos of your friend who has almost died.” He replied, “You wouldn’t say that if you knew him. Muji asked me to do this.” I also remember getting trapped in a sandstorm in the Namibian desert, recording what I thought might be my last words. Well, I have some dramatic and emotional footage from my phone that I will share someday.

To avoid attracting attention, I have used my iPhone Pro Max 15 many times in public places, coffee shops, and gyms rather than setting up my mirrorless camera. Its ability to take raw images and log footage is a selling point for me. I have used the footage in my latest videos, and you can’t tell what was shot by Pro Max 15 and what was shot with a Sony Alpha. I also use apps on my phone to manage my shoots, schedule meetings, figure out sunset, sunrise, and Milky Way directions, and check weather forecasts. Don’t forget to buy a small tripod for your iPhone: it comes in handy.

Jupio Pr1me Tri-Charger

Since I have bought Jupio Pr1me Tri-Charger, that’s the only compact, good-looking, and durable device I carry to charge my camera batteries. It needs to be plugged into a power bank or a wall to charge, but the best part is that you can also use it as a charger for your cellphone or other smaller devices if your camera batteries are in it. It’s available for different camera brands. I bought this for the reasons of being compact and supporting the YouTuber Peter Lindgren, whom I admire for his hard work and amazing content. 

Portable Hard Drive

I use a SanDisk External Extreme SSD Hard Drive for backups. A fast, portable, durable, slim, and compact SSD drive is essential. It’s a time, space, and weight saver. I currently have a 1 TB for short travel trips, but I see myself imminently buying a much bigger one. I make backups on my laptop and the external drive simultaneously. When you are traveling, you can’t have enough backups. Backup your backups. Theft, loss, corruption, and destruction can always occur.

Headlamp

Besides the obvious reasons for having a headlamp, I use it for Milky Way photography and light-paint my night scene. I suggest you buy a lamp with a powerful beam and invest in a smaller lamp with moderate strength of red light only. When working at night, you surely don’t want to blind a friend. The red light puts less stress on your eyes, and your eyes don’t have to adjust every time you turn the brighter light on and off while taking photos.

These were my top five tech essentials. Other items include power banks, card readers, spare USB-C cables, etc.