Thanks james. So I guess I would be sacrificing smoother pans for a more efficient setup if i went with the 501/leveling head instead of the 503hdv. I'll definitely be considering this.

Take my advice for what it's worth. As a traveling photojournalist (still photog) I'm always most concerned with staying light and fast and my choices of gear seem to always reflect that. A lot of pros will sniff at anything less than a $1000+ head, but in my limited experience, CONTENT really is king. So, you when you make budget decisions, I recommend you stay focused on using the money where it will have the most positive impact on your content.
Good luck.
(edit) - BTW: That Bogen 055 you mentioned has an optional leveling column, the Manfrotto 555B that is an extremely fast set-up for leveling whatever head you choose. It's about $115.

Gifts for the kids
 

When I was over there, I took several thousand stamps with me. The kids loved them, and it is very east to carry and they weight nothing. I am sure you can buy or collect used stamps very easy.

Good luck, maybe I should come with you?????

I assume that you mean the sticker kind of stamps and not the lick and stick? What exactly did they do with the stamps?

Haha, maybe you should come with us??? We actually had a few people drop out it recently so uh....

Hi,

I find some of this info worthwhile and some of it not so.

I have lived in Africa for 20 years as a freelance cameraman and for the last 4 in Senegal.

I feel that you are over-thinking the whole shoot as its more of an adventure than a pro shoot where the results are highly critical and it needs to be shot in a shorter time frame. Remember that you have a lot of time and therefore you will get better with you gear and as the weeks go by.

As it sounds you are going to shoot a stack of footage remember that if you have lots of it you need to remember the basics, steady shoots, wide, medium, tight, good audio, good composition.

As to the 2 cameras issue I have only ever been on a couple of shoots that used 2 cameras and I never "missed" anything important on a one camera shoot. 2 cameras just means more batteries, use the money on other things.

Good luck, have fun and drop me an email if you want some more info.

thanks tom! great to hear from someone on location!

i will definitely further consider the idea of one camera. i want to think through everything responsibly but not overthink it. i suppose my main worry is that one camera will quit working and we'll be stuck without a camera at all.

Exactly.

Cheers.

Yes, it true if your camera breaks down your screwed so a backup isn't the worst idea ever.....

As to the tape/state question I would 100% go with tape, it easier to keep track of what you have done and it would be very unlikely for you to lose all the tapes as compared to a portable hard drive.....

I have worked in about 30 African countries on everything from Nat Geo to Reuters.................. love it all.

Good luck