One of the questions I get asked regularly is what cameras I use to film my expeditions.

The short answer is: probably too many.

On an 8,000m expedition I'm already carrying climbing equipment, clothing, food and everything else I need to get up the mountain. Then I add cameras, microphones, drones, batteries, selfie sticks and power banks.

I'm probably carrying close to 5kg more than the climber next to me purely because I'm documenting the expedition.

But filming these adventures isn't something that started with YouTube.

I've been documenting my travels and expeditions for years. Some of the early videos that eventually became Outdoor Pirate, Manaslu, Ama Dablam and my Manaslu Base Camp tour, were originally filmed just for myself.

I showed them to a friend in Australia who basically said, you need to put these on YouTube.

That's really how Outdoor Pirate started.

Today the setup is obviously a little more serious, but my philosophy hasn't changed much.

The climb comes first. Documenting it comes second.

I'm not trying to make a polished National Geographic documentary. I want the videos to feel raw enough that you're actually coming along on the expedition with me.

Here's the equipment I use to do it.

How I Film My Expeditions

My Main Camera - DJI Osmo Action 6

My DJI Osmo Action 6 is my main camera and the one you'll probably see me talking into most often.

This is my vlogging camera.

I'll normally have it on an extendable DJI carbon-fibre selfie stick with a quick-release mount so I can pull it out, start recording and put it away again quickly.

That's important in the mountains.

I don't want filming to become a ten-minute process every time something happens. If the weather suddenly changes, somebody says something interesting or I just want to explain how I'm feeling, I need to be able to get the camera out immediately.

I really like the front-facing screen because I can see that I'm actually in frame while talking. The stabilization is excellent, I like the colour straight out of the camera, and it integrates nicely with the DJI microphone system.

It's also proven itself in some pretty extreme conditions.

I've used the Action cameras in temperatures approaching -50°C, and they've handled the cold surprisingly well.

If I could only take one conventional action camera on an expedition right now, this would be it.

AFFILIATE LINK: DJI OSMO ACTION 6 →

My Backup — DJI Osmo Action 5

I normally carry a DJI Osmo Action 5 as my backup.

On bigger expeditions I actually have two Action 5s available. Usually one comes up the mountain with me and another remains at Base Camp.

Redundancy matters.

If I drop my Action 6, smash it, lose it or the cold kills it, I don't want that to mean the rest of the expedition suddenly isn't documented.

Another advantage is that my Action 5 and Action 6 share batteries, which makes the whole system much simpler.

I don't need separate charging systems and different piles of batteries for every camera.

AFFILIATE LINK: DJI OSMO ACTION 5 →

My B-Roll Camera — Insta360 X5

If the Action 6 is my talking camera, the Insta360 X5 is probably my most useful B-roll camera.

I love this thing.

The biggest advantage of a 360 camera in the mountains is that I don't really have to frame the shot while I'm filming it.

I can worry about staying upright, walking, climbing or looking at the scenery and decide where the camera should have been pointing later.

One recording can also become multiple shots.

I can film myself walking along a trail, then in post use the same recording for a shot looking forward at me, another looking backwards at the mountains and another looking sideways at the scenery.

That's incredibly useful when you're trying to tell the story of an expedition.

AFFILIATE LINK: INSTA360 X5 →

My 50-Second Insta360 Trick

I've developed a little routine with the X5.

It's normally attached to the left shoulder strap of my backpack using an Insta360 backpack strap mount.

When I find somewhere worth filming, I'll pull it off and spend less than a minute capturing B-roll.

I'll hold it directly in front of me and count to ten.

Then out to one side. Ten seconds.

Down near my feet. Ten seconds.

Behind me. Ten seconds.

Low behind me. Ten seconds.

Then I'll get a really high angle.

Because it's 360 footage, those few positions can eventually become a dozen or more usable shots once we reframe everything during the edit.

That's one of the easiest ways I've found to capture enough B-roll without constantly stopping the expedition to film.

AFFILIATE LINK: INSTA360 BACKPACK STRAP MOUNT →

The 3-Metre Insta360 Pole

I also carry a 3m Insta360 pole.

This creates some of my favourite shots.

With the pole extended and the selfie stick digitally removed from the 360 footage, you can get shots that almost look as though they were filmed by a drone.

That's particularly useful somewhere I can't, or don't want to, launch an actual drone.

It's obviously another thing I have to carry, but the shots are good enough that it has earned a permanent place in my filming kit.

AFFILIATE LINK: INSTA360 3M SELFIE STICK →

DJI Osmo Pocket 3

The DJI Osmo Pocket 3 serves a completely different purpose.

I don't normally take it particularly high on the mountain because it's more fragile than my action cameras.

Instead, it's great around Base Camp.

If I'm filming something more controlled, doing a piece to camera, filming around camp or want a smoother, more polished shot, I'll pull out the Pocket 3.

It's basically my Base Camp camera.

AFFILIATE LINK: DJI OSMO POCKET 3 →

My iPhone 17 Pro

Yes, I still use my phone.

The iPhone 17 Pro isn't my primary expedition camera, but sometimes it's simply the fastest camera available.

It's also useful when I need actual zoom.

Action cameras are fantastic for wide-angle footage, but if there's an animal in the distance or something happening far away on the mountain, I'll pull out the iPhone.

And I still take plenty of normal photographs with it.

I'm not carrying a big DSLR or mirrorless stills camera around the Himalayas. Most of my expedition photography now comes from the iPhone, the Insta360 or still frames pulled from video.

AFFILIATE LINK: IPHONE 17 PRO →

Audio Matters More Than People Think

You can get away with imperfect video.

Terrible audio is much harder to watch.

I've used several generations of DJI microphones and currently have both the DJI Mic 2 and DJI Mic 3.

Interestingly, I actually prefer the Mic 2 for a lot of mountaineering.

The newer clip-on microphones are great, but I don't particularly like having a big microphone visibly clipped to my chest.

More importantly, technical climbing destroys them.

I've lost probably three, four or five microphones over the years.

You clip one onto yourself, start climbing, knock it against something and suddenly you're watching an expensive little microphone bouncing down the mountain.

I've done exactly that in South America.

So I've gone back to using the DJI Mic 2 with a lavalier microphone.

The transmitter can stay safely tucked inside a pocket while the lav runs underneath my clothing.

It's less visible, harder to lose and still gives me good audio.

AFFILIATE LINK: DJI MIC 2 →

AFFILIATE LINK: LAVALIER MICROPHONE →

I also carry the furry windshields, usually called dead cats, for the microphones.

Wind is obviously a constant problem in the mountains.

If there's still excessive wind noise afterward, we can often clean a surprising amount of it up in post-production using Adobe's audio enhancement tools.

Filming Technical Climbing

This is where documenting an expedition gets interesting.

Sometimes I need both hands.

I'm jumaring a fixed rope, rappelling, climbing rock or ice, using an axe or dealing with equipment.

I do use a small DJI Osmo Nano wearable camera on my helmet for POV footage, but I don't want an entire video to look like helmet-cam footage.

Whenever it's safe and practical, I'll still pull out the Action camera on the selfie stick.

I've become pretty good at doing things like rappelling one-handed while getting a shot with the other.

Obviously, the filming never gets priority over climbing safely.

I also regularly hand cameras to Xenia, a Sherpa or whoever I'm climbing with and ask them to get shots of me.

That produces mixed results.

If someone isn't used to filming, you tend to get shaky footage, strange framing or a camera pointing somewhere completely different from where you thought it was pointing.

That's another reason the Insta360 X5 is so useful.

I can basically hand someone the camera and tell them to hold it up.

As long as it's recording, there's a pretty good chance I can find the shot I wanted afterward.

AFFILIATE LINK: DJI OSMO NANO →