Nothing could have prepared me for what turned out to be one of the best sunrises I’ve ever witnessed. It was a long time coming, I’d noted the moon phase about three months prior to the shoot. I have my wife to thank deeply as the day in question would of course have to fall on our wedding anniversary so I have to make it up to her next year with a double celebratory dose of cool.
I traveled from my base location in Yokohama with a multitude of intentions, first and foremost to shoot a time-lapse of the sunrise from Mount Fuji, preferably the summit, using the Blackstone version of the new Irix 15mm f2.4 super wide angle lens. This was also going to be placed on my new Canon EOS 5DSr 50.6MP hoofing monster so that I could shoot for 8K resolution media, crankin’. If I could get everything working the additional goal was to also make a live video broadcast via my Twitter profile using the platform’s proprietary video streaming app, Periscope. Tasks at hand, good stuff.
Setting out from Yokohama, I used the Kehin-Tohoku Line to Shinegawa where I changed to the Yamanote Line for Shinjuku. From there I used the Chuo Main Line to get to Otsuki and then used the regional local service line to get to my final train destination of Kawaguchiko. I then had a 50min bus trip to get me from the train station to what is called the Fuji Fifth Station, a circus like Tourist town on the slopes of the Volcano. This spot also serves as the main staging post for people making the rest of the journey on foot to the top of the hill.
I climbed the Yoshida Trail and the following is the adventure I had. I’m not going to spoil the video for folks, simply sit back and join me as I head for the hill.
Gear wise for the main part I was using:
Cameras:
Canon EOS 5DSr,
EOS M2,
GoProHero4 Black,
iPhone6S Plus
Lens:
Irix 15mm f2.4 Blackstone –
Tripods:
Manfrotto 501HDV Video Tripod for rigidity
Gitzo 6X Carbon Tripod
Motion Control:
Kessler Crane Second Shooter Plus with Pan and Tilt Module –
Memory Cards:
Lexar Pro CF and SD Cards
Accessories:
Mic’s: Zoom H2n with Audio-Technica Lapel Mic
Nice Y8 Power Bank – 9000mAh of portable power.
Petzl Head Lamp
Time-lapse Editing:
LRTimelapse Pro –
Adobe Lightroom CC
Custom Title:
Photoshop CS6
Video Edit:
Final Cut Pro 10.2.2 (FCPx)
If you like the adventure please consider showing your support by subscribing to this channel. You can also find me here
Twitter –
Instagram –
Periscope –
Cheers,
Mark.
AloJapan.com