Every timelapse sequence of “Into The Mountains” was filmed exclusively with Tokina lenses.
More specifically, only five (5) lenses were used for the production and these were the following:

– Tokina Firin 20mm F/2 AF FE
– Tokina Opera 50mm F/1.4
– Tokina Firin 100mm F/2.8 FE Macro
– Tokina Opera 16-28mm F/2.8
– Tokina atx-m 85mm F1.8

*FE Mount lenses were adapted to Nikon Z 7ii cameras with Techart TZE-01 adapter (FW 4.4.0), and F Mount lenses with Nikon FTZ adapter.

Shooting in demanding 8k resolution requires a lot of resolving power from the lens, which lens obviously must be of the highest quality to render perfectly any scene in this resolution.
The Tokina lenses I used in the filming are of the highest quality and can produce amazing results even with the demanding sensor of the Nikon Z 7ii.
The captured scenes are of high details, excellent contrast and micro-contrast levels, natural color rendering and of course, with optimal sharpness levels.

As mentioned before on the Cameras section, although the weather conditions were difficult, all five lenses performed exceptionally out in the field.
I didn’t encounter any issues with weather sealing, or any optical aberrations that could ruin the shot.

My personal favorite lenses, the Tokina Firin 20mm F/2 AF and the Tokina Opera 50mm F/1.4, “carried” in their precious optical elements the majority of the filming, while of course the other three lenses were also used many times in the production.

Except checking their performance on the actual film, you can find more details and technical tests about each lens in my detailed Reviews.

Landscape photography is mostly about controlling the available light and this means that the use of high quality filters is somehow mandatory for this type of work.

I love working with filters, they are so crucial in my workflow and my personal style, so I use filters nearly in every scenario.

For “Into The Mountains” the use of filters was something that was very important for me and the result I was looking for.
I wanted to be able to control the light in every possible scenario out in the field, while still capturing every detail in 8k, and that’s the reason why I used the highest possible quality filters in front of my lenses.

More specifically, I used the following filters:

HOYA
– HOYA HD Nano MkII CIR-PL
– HOYA PROND1000 & PROND32 Grad
– HOYA Variable ND (BTS)
– HOYA STARSCAPE

COKIN
– Cokin NX Filter System Holder
– Cokin Nuances Extreme ND1024 & ND8
– Cokin Nuances Extreme GND 16S, GND 8S and R-GND 8S
– Cokin Nuances Extreme CLEARSKY

KENKO
– Kenko Starry Night
– Kenko PRO1D ProSofton Clear
– Kenko Black Mist No.1 & No.5
– Kenko PRO1D+ INSTANT ACTION VARIABLE NDX3-450+C-PL (BTS)
– Kenko PRO1D+ INSTANT ACTION C-PL (BTS)

Their optical quality can be seen clearly in both the Film (as also in the BTS video), so I better leave it up to you to judge their performance ????.

Just three (3) tripods were used for the production, for both actual filming and behind the scenes and more specifically I used the Vari CF-704 Carbon tripod as also the Professional 833 & 834 Carbon Series, all from Slik Japan.

These tripods were ideal for shooting all day out in the field due to their low overall weight, heavy payload capability, sturdiness and for being able to be set up either close to the ground or in crazy angles, especially after removing the center column.
As you can see on the BTS stills, the tripods could hold easily the heavy payload of the motion control system plus camera and lens, even in an angle, while being sturdy avoiding any micromotion that could ruin the shot.

For 80% of the footage I filmed in total for “Into The Mountains”, my goal was to create dynamic movement and to achieve this, I used two dedicated motion control devices.

The majority of the footage was filmed with the Cinetics Lynx 3-axis motion control system, a very capable, sturdy, durable, lightweight and portable motion control system that can be used for both timelapse shooting and real time video filming.

Although its main carbon slider is only 60cm, it can easily extend to 120cm with the included extension rods, and still maintain its portability and light weightiness.

So far in both my professional and personal work I had the chance to use many different motion control systems, each of them with its own logic in terms of operation and setup, but I found the Lynx to be more portable and still capable in every aspect, as also to hold a relatively heavy setup compared to other 3-axis options.

The most important thing though was: a) the ability to create dynamic 3-axis scenes using only one tripod, and b) its performance under difficult weather conditions.

On some occasions I also used the Kenko Skymemo Mini Star Tracker to create panning sequences and the results were really great!
The reason was that on some occasions as I was travelling from one location to the other, I discovered out of the script scenes that were very good and suitable for the film, but I didn’t had the proper time to set-up my 3-axis motion control system.
In these cases the small panning device from Kenko is really great as it is very easy and quick to set it up and start shooting on the fly!

Timelapse Gear

As “Into The Mountains” was captured at the end of autumn and during the winter months, lighting conditions were changing depending the current weather conditions.
Clouds that moved fast on the sky and the sun behind them casting deep shadows, changing the ambient light on the ground.
Misty mornings and evening fogs, all of that while snowing at the same time.

For these timelapse scenarios it is obvious that the exposure settings cannot be fixed for the duration of the shooting as the light changes constantly so I used two (2) Timelapse+ View Advanced Intervalometers to make the necessary adjustments on the exposure settings while having smooth transitions during the sequence shooting, avoiding any sign of flickering in the end result.

All the equipment that was mentioned before, had to be transported with safety and also efficiency, so the bag that would carry all this gear must be very capable in all weather conditions and most importantly to be easy to carry.

Although I own many bags, none of them was ideal for this project.
One bag could carry everything but I couldn’t use it as a backpack (it was a roller bag), the other bag was a backpack but I couldn’t fit everything inside, and so on.
So my choice for “Into The Mountains” was a dedicated outdoors camera bag that could both fit (almost) everything inside and at the same time to be easy to carry on my back out in the field, no matter if it was raining or snowing.

And that bag was the Mindshift Backlight Elite 45L*.

Its a rugged and very capable backpack, specially designed for outdoor activities while protecting my precious camera gear no matter what.
It is a little heavy, even when its totally empty, but the very clever and sophisticated design makes this bag very easy to carry even if its fully loaded.

*Special thanks to Thinktank (Mindshift) and Manios Cine Tools for providing this camera bag.

Being far away from home and studio, except all the obvious risks and dangers you might face, there is one other serious issue to consider in terms of gear.
If a part of the gear suddenly stops working or simply drops down and brake into pieces, you have to be able to fix it or replace it in the minimum possible time cost, in order to get back at shooting as soon as possible.
It is very difficult to get back home, replace the gear and go back to the shooting location. Not so time and cost efficient for the production..

So, in this point I want to say a big thank you to my very good friend, Sotiris Tampouris, who not only is a superb professional engineer in electronics, designing and creating from scratch two (2) prototype devices that would allow me to shoot almost indefinitely out in the field, but he was also very kind and helpful when I called him in the middle of the night and asked him to guide me on how to fix some broken electronic and motor gear with only a few screwdrivers and some duct tape I had with me.
Thank you so much bro!!!

“Into The Mountains” was filmed in many locations into the mountains of Epirus, Greece.
Location Scouting and the first filming tests started at the end of October 2021, while Principal Photography took place in December 2021 and January 2022.

The main idea for the selection of all locations was if possible to not have anything human made (buildings, cables, etc) visible, while of course to be of natural beauty.
Some locations are easy to be accessed and my goal was to show how a familiar location can be presented in a way to highlight its natural beauty.

For more information on project, gear or technical stuff, please send me a message and I will be happy to answer you.

For Licensing or Project Inquiries, feel free to contact me directly at info@christopheanagno.com