The Sony FS5 is lightweight, easy to use 4K camera so it makes absolute sense to me it would be the preferred choice for co-producer / director of photography Sierra Johansen to take to Mt. Everest for a documentary on climber Nick Talbot. Talbot was attempting to summit Everest even though he has Cystic Fibrosis. “Breathing on Everest” is directed by Meredith Gaito you can read all about Johansen’s experience with the Sony FS5 and about her shooting at Everest’s basecamp below which Sony asked her to share. The words below are all Johansen’s and I feel it best for you to read about it from the person who actually experienced it.

In 2014, Meredith asked me to shoot and co-produce Breathing on Everest after she had read an article about a man named Nick Talbot with Cystic Fibrosis who was attempting to summit Mount Everest. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that damages the body’s organs with a surplus production of mucus that is abnormally thick and sticky. It most commonly affects the respiratory system and in many cases leads to the need for a lung transplant or to an early death. Meredith realized the importance of this man’s mission when many other people did not, because she also has Cystic Fibrosis.  Meredith sent the climber, Nick, an email and we’ve been a team ever since.

Breathing on Everest, which is being submitted to film festivals this fall and working toward a 2019 premiere, is an extremely low-budget film with the bulk of our budget going towards travel and expedition costs. The kit for my first trip to Nepal in 2015 consisted largely of equipment my one crew member, Michael Pacyna, and I already owned. That trip ended a month early when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal and set off an avalanche that tore through base camp. Nick Talbot was injured and evacuated from base camp but, luckily, was not another number in the death count.

I was first introduced to Sony’s FS5 at a demo during the DOC NYC film festival. Meredith and I were attending panels at the festival with our thinking caps on determined to find ways to finance a return to Nepal. The Canon I shot on during our first trip had been broken in the avalanche and the Panasonic I owned would need an additional Interface Unit before I would consider it for our main camera. I needed a replacement camera that offered lots of benefits and wouldn’t break the bank. I immediately liked the FS5. It combined the features I needed, and then some.

I returned to Nepal for the second time in March 2016, but this time I was filming on my own which made it important that I had one camera that could do everything. I needed a camera that was easy to use while trekking in harsh environments and could accurately capture the beauty of the Himalayas. The ergonomic design of the FS5 made it easy for me to film during the 10-day trek up to Mount Everest base camp. I could watch my step and film at the same time without falling too far behind the expedition group. The hand grip on the FS5 allowed for a steady shot without the need for a shoulder rig. When I wasn’t filming, the FS5 and the Rode Shotgun Mic I attached to the mount on the handle fit easily inside my 55-liter daypack along with an extra jacket, sunscreen, snacks and a few other essentials. The small size of the FS5 was also a plus when I was filming backed up into the corner of a tent as Nick and his fellow climbers discussed their strategies on the mountain. I am glad I could strip the camera down even smaller by removing the handle and hand grip as needed.

The terrain Nick and I were trekking through was breathtaking but also harsh. At high altitude, a few extra pounds mean the difference between tired and exhausted so it was important that I could shoot for hours without the need to switch SD cards or change the battery pack. I brought six 64 GB Extreme Sandisk SDXC cards that could capture 76 minutes of 4K footage and one 128GB Sony SDXC card. This meant I could film for several days before turning on my laptop to save footage onto my 2TB Lacie Rugged Hard Drives because electricity is a luxury in Nepal. In base camp, I used the expedition generator to charge the three Sony BPU battery packs I brought. I used a Goal Zero Solar Generator to charge the majority of my other equipment.

I brought two Sony E-mount lenses to Nepal to use with the FS5, an 18-105mm f/4 and a 10-18mm f/4. I used the 18-105mm lens nearly the whole time. It gave me the flexibility and ease I needed to capture the action of Nick’s story and the beauty of Nepal. The servo zoom and autofocus features of the camera also greatly helped me in that respect. I was apprehensive about using the autofocus feature from past experiences on other cameras, but it was smooth and allowed me to follow Nick’s action easily.

I usually relied on the peaking feature to double check focus and this worked in most situations. I found the greatest focus problems happened when working with bright and overexposed backgrounds, which were inevitable in the Himalayan sunshine and with a camera that costs well under $10K.

I pushed this camera to the limits operating it in harsh sunlight and freezing temperature. I had the camera out at 1 am in 10 degrees Fahrenheit filming Nick’s departures from base camp for higher up Mount Everest. In the last two weeks of my two-month stay in Nepal, the 18-105mm lens experienced some difficulty only in the coldest weather. The servo zoom would automatically zoom to the full 105mm and not allow me to pull it back, but once the camera and lens warmed up again it would work properly.  While I did encounter a nuisance with the 18-105mm kit lens, one of the great features of the FS5 is its lens compatibility.  There are a variety of lenses from Sony and from other manufacturers that work perfectly with the FS5, enabling different looks for diverse shooting needs.

One of the most useful features on the FS5 for me was the built-in ND filters. The Himalayan sun is brutal and the weather at 18,200 feet in base camp is temperamental. I would set up an interview in base camp with the ND at a full 1/128 and begin recording only to have the sun dip behind a cloud and prompt me to wheel the ND down to half of that. Luckily it was that simple. Since I was a one-woman crew it was difficult for me to connect with my interviewee while also worrying about sound, framing, and exposure, among other things. The variable ND filter in the FS5 took away some of this worry.

While the FS5 was easy to use in the run and gun situations I found myself in, it also had several features that furthered the film creatively. The slow-motion settings on the FS5 allowed me to capture moments in slow motion that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. I had to plan exactly when I would want the slow-motion shots because I was shooting in 4K.

I often used the time-lapse shots when I had the free time. Playing with the frame rate and shutter speeds I was able to capture the grandness of the mountains. One of my favorite moments of the trip happened when I was alone filming one night. I set up a time-lapse of the Khumbu Icefall after the sky had cleared of the clouds that had left a fresh blanket of snow over base camp. There was a full moon out that lit up the way to Mount Everest. As I stood next to the recording FS5 I felt so incredibly lucky and thankful for the experiences that I have been opened up to because of this film.