Delphine & Maxime (@entre2poles) are a duo of freelance photographers and videographers and French Sony Ambassadors. The two self-proclaimed “traveling souls” have a passion for adventure and photography, having taken on many projects around the globe that require immersing themselves in the daily life of the local population. Using their Sony Alpha cameras, they document their experiences through photos and videos of cultures and lifestyles very different from ours, sometimes unique from any others in the world.
Product Preview – In This Article You’ll Find:
–Sony Alpha 7 IV
–Sony Alpha 7S III
–Sony 20-70mm f/4 G
–Sony 55mm f/1.8
–Sony ECM-M1 Microphone
–Sony ECM-W2BT Wireless Microphone
–Sony NP-FZ100 Rechargeable Batteries
“We have been in Central Asia for six months now and we were lucky enough to meet, in the heart of winter, a unique Kazakh community: the Altai eagle hunters,” they explain. “We spent two weeks with them sharing their daily life and they took us on horseback into ‘their’ mountains to show the art of hunting with eagles, which is practiced exclusively in winter.”
To document this incredible adventure, they had to travel with a compact and lightweight kit. Keep reading as they share the gear and photos they took throughout the experience.
Cameras
Sony Alpha 7 IV: Robust, powerful, and ultra-versatile. This is our “travel” camera par excellence. This adventure exposes us to many different conditions (for the moment we have had -30°C (-22°F), +45°C (113°F), deserts, glaciers, steppes, high mountains…) and also requires us to take photos and videos in a lot of moving situations (climbs, horseback, traditional sporting events, or hunting with eagles). If we had to take only one camera for all of this, it would be this one. The Alpha 7 IV is excellent in photography and video. The reliability and performance of its autofocus are major assets in the field, and its crop function combined with its 33-megapixel full-frame sensor multiplies the focal ranges of our lenses. We always take great pleasure in using it because it always delivers great image quality.
Photo by Delphine & Maxime. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 55mm f/1.8. 1/8000-sec., f/1.8, ISO 100
Photo by Delphine & Maxime. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 20-70mm f/4 G. 1/400-sec., f/4, ISO 100
Sony Alpha 7S III: This is our camera dedicated to video and what we use to produce our reports. It excels in this area: what it allows us to achieve in comparison to its size and weight is impressive. Particularly in this kind of situation: the world of eagle hunters is fascinating. It mixes scenes of astonishing beauty and speed. And the ability of the Alpha 7S III to produce high-definition slow motion without cropping in the image allowed us to have beautiful, cinematic images. Since there are two of us and the A7 IV can't be everywhere at once, we do also use the A7S III to take photos. Combined with our Sony lenses, it is also capable of producing very beautiful images.
Lenses
Sony 20-70mm f/4 G: Our most versatile lens. Its lightness combined with its compactness and focal range means that it is what you’ll find most of the time on our camera. For moments like this, where the area to cover is infinite, where we have to be reactive and ready to immortalize the moments in all conditions since no scene will be repeated twice, it is without hesitation the one we take in our bag.
Photo by Delphine & Maxime. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 20-70mm f/4 G. 1/1600-sec., f/4, ISO 160
Sony 55mm f/1.8: Normally we have four lenses, but this outing in the mountains on horseback with the Kazakh eagle hunters required us to be very light. Alongside the versatile 20-70mm f/4 G zoom, we wanted to have a fixed lens with a large aperture capable of producing portraits and artistic images with high-quality sharpness, and always with the constraint of compactness (no heavy zoom/telephoto lens that takes up space on a horse galloping in the snowy mountains.) The Sony 55mm f/1.8 is perfect for this. It’s one of our favorite lenses. It goes almost unnoticed on our camera, but the beauty of the images it is capable of producing is formidable.
Photo by Delphine & Maxime. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 55mm f/1.8. 1/3200-sec., f/1.8, ISO 80
Accessories
Sony ECM-M1 Microphone: It is always attached to one of our two cameras: ultra-compact, we do not feel it. The sound it is capable of capturing is essential for our videos.
Sony ECM-W2BT Wireless Microphones: The goal of our approach is to meet others, to introduce new cultures. We are therefore often required to conduct interviews. These microphones have proven themselves several times and are capable of offering us clear voices in very noisy environments.
Sony NP-FZ100 Rechargeable Batteries: We carry four of these. Nothing bad to say: they are reliable, durable (we have had them for five years and we do not notice any difference) and we also find that they resist the cold well, like for this day in the mountains with the Kazakh eagle hunters.
Peak Design Clip: it’s always attached to the strap of our bag. It’s the best solution we’ve found to always have our cameras at hand, even in the most committed environments.
Peak Design Camera Strap: a sliding strap with quick attachment to secure our devices, always have them on us, use them quickly.
Photo by Delphine & Maxime. Sony Alpha 7 IV. Sony 55mm f/1.8. 1/8000-sec., f/1.8, ISO 100
Cleaning Kit: as we said, for some scenes there are no second takes possible, perhaps even more so with eagles. We cannot afford to spoil an image because of stains or dust… Our cleaning kit never leaves our bag.
UV Filters: we always have them screwed onto our lenses, with them, our optics are permanently protected from scratches, no matter the situation.
See more of Delphine & Maxime’s work on Instagram @entre2poles.
