Shogo Asao | Markins BV-HEAD
Born in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture in 1948, currently living in Tokyo.
In 1971 met and studied under animal photographer Mitsutsune Tanaka. From 1973 worked as an assistant for two years.
In 1975 began photographing wild animals during the first long-term stay in Africa. To date has traveled to 55 countries, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, in the tropics and subtropics, photographing wild animals.
Currently spends about half the year searching for and reporting on wild animals overseas, which is published in newspapers, magazines, and other media.
Member of the Japan Professional Photographers Society (JPS)
Member of the Photographic Society of Japan (PSJ)
Judge of the Natural Parks Foundation photo contest
Judge of the Hiroshima City Asa Zoo photo contest
Judge of the Kobe City Oji Zoo photo contest
CEO of Media Five Ltd.
In my case, I often take photos overseas, so I have been torn between the equipment I want to take with me and the weight limit that can be loaded onto an airplane.
As for the lenses I use, I have a selection of zoom lenses that seamlessly cover the range from ultra-wide angle to super telephoto lenses.
If I were to choose based on image quality, I would like to bring a prime lens, but I always use zoom lenses because it would increase the number of lenses and it would be difficult to get the best framing for a good opportunity.
No matter how good the equipment is, breakdowns and accidents are inevitable, so I prepare equipment from the same manufacturer so that I can do the minimum amount of work even if such an incident occurs.
The most bulky and heavy item in my luggage is the tripod. I am well aware that a sturdy tripod is good for photography.
In my case, I use a carbon tripod for overseas photography, which is small and lightweight but can support the camera firmly. However, a sturdy head is necessary to stably support a heavy camera and lens, and I have used a heavy video head and gimbal head from a certain manufacturer. Both were quite good, but the drawback was that they were very heavy and bulky in terms of weight.
A few months ago, I found out about an interesting piece of equipment and got it. The equipment is a Markins ball head and a BV-HEAD to attach to it.
I have been using the Markins ball head for over 10 years. It is an excellent product with a high load capacity, but it is difficult to freely control a super telephoto lens with just the ball head, so I did not use it very often.
However, when using the BV-HEAD attached to the ball head, the small size and light weight of the ball head allows for positioning in any position, just like a video head, making it much easier to use than the ball head alone.
I took this BV-HEAD to Australia for the first time to photograph quokkas and used it in earnest.
In addition to solving the problem of airplane weight restrictions mentioned above, it is much easier than before to walk around with camera equipment and a tripod on my shoulder when traveling to shoot after arriving at the site.
When I was using a heavy tripod, I often gave in to the weight and didn't carry the tripod with me, and I couldn't get good results with handheld shooting, but this time I used a carbon tripod and a lightweight Markins ball head + BV-HEAD, so I was able to always carry the tripod with me and take good photos.
Compact, light, and solid equipment is what I'm always looking for. I am very grateful to have come across one of them.
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II、EF100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM
F5.6 1/8000 s ISO3200 -0.3EV
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II、EF100-400mm F4.5-5.6L IS II USM
F6.3 1/1000 s ISO1600 -0.7EV
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