Mini Cooper
 

No winking! 2003 Mini Cooper with the back seats folded down, a plank of plywood down to make it all level, and a yakima box on top.

~ ~ Lisa

Yowza, a Mini? That's hawt!

Granted my most recent camera purchases were the JVC HM-100 and the Panny GH-1. Mini is a theme, looks like.

~ ~ L

Nice, I like the Gold color as well!

Here's mine just before I drove her off the lot a couple of years ago :)

iPhone snapshot, sorry about the dullness...

Sweet Trevor. Did you realize you could use her as a production vehicle?? You live just north of me. We could have the Mini production vehicle team. But perhaps you shoot with bigger rigs.

~ ~ L

Mini here in Moscow as well, a 2002 veteran :)
Got a brand new Subaru Impreza WRX STI, couple of months ago, love it!

Yep, I actually bought my first mini (an '06 convertible S) about a year after I started photographing weddings and carrying around a ton of equipment. Even the convertible shocked me with how much it could carry, but it had major drawbacks. I traded it in last year for the one I have now (an '06 hard top S) and the difference is amazing - the hatch back offers a huge area to load gear, without the obstruction of the rear roll bar that's present in the convertible. no more loading from behind the front seats - i just load from the back. I can fit my large hard case with camera, medium hard case with mattebox, a few litepanels 1x1s, scrims, reflector, monitor in it's own hard case and a few C stands in the mini with the rear seats folded down. I can either throw some additional crap up front where the passenger would fit, or I can forfeit that equipment and take an assistant or my 6'6" sound guy/producer (DVIer Brian Lukrich) with me.

They're incredibly capable cars. I love using it for light production work, but I generally use my family's Subaru Forrester for hauling more stuff with another person.

As far as driveability, safety and comfort are concerned, I'd take the mini over the forrester any day...

I'd still like to have a sprinter for production work some day. Hmmmm... RED Scarlet S35 or a Sprinter? That'll be the decision for 2010 I'm afraid...

At least we know Sprinters will be delivered in 2010. ;)

Well played, sir.

Cameramen - what do you drive?
 

My current set of wheels has finally gone to the scrapyard in the sky, so im looking for something to replace it, and was wondering what cars other cameramen drive, and why?

Ive been considering a diesel estate - to cover many miles in, and fit lots of gear in. maybe a bmw 330 diesel touring. but i know a lot of people use range rovers as camera cars, so maybe one of those might do the trick?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

To be honest, Discoveries are better as camera cars as there's much more space in the back - Rangies are not so good on load carrying, or sitting at weird angles - the posh seats are not too practical - the Discovery with 7 seats can be much handier.

All that said, I traded my Discovery in a 3 years old for a ......... Ford Transit!

Being a van, tax wise it's much better. It depreciates less, and the amazingly daft thing is that the driving position is so much better! I'm 6' 1" and the Disco doesn't offer much under the knee support for tall people - the seat finishing a little early and on a long journey, it's very tiring. I can honestly say that after travelling 7 hours in the transit, I get out and am not tired, and I don't ache. I was also impressed that they're speedy too - mine is a SWB low top model. 3 people fit in the front with no problems, and there's heaps of space too. I've got a small jib that can sit on the tripod and just be lifted out the back - excellent. It's been 100% reliable and very easy to get speeding points in.

The Disco was a great car, I'm not knocking it at all - but I haven't missed it. If I needed another car, just for people and a bit of kit, I'd happily buy another - but for what I'm doing now, the van beats it for usefulness.

Merged with our long-running "what do you drive" thread in Home, Away From Home.

Thanks - hadnt been to this corner of the forum, didnt realise there was such a thread!

Just made an upgrade!

Moved from a Toyota Tundra to a 2007 Chevy Silverado 2500HD duramax diesel truck. It pulls the production and grip trailer like there is nothing behind it and gets 17MPG down the highway empty, 14 with trailer which is pretty awesome for a 7000 pound truck. Once I make a couple of modifications (intake exhaust and computer chip) I should be getting between 20 and 22 MPG down the highway. I'm super excited about the possibilities in the future