If you have an entry-level 200D or have seen one going cheap online and are thinking of starting a
YouTube channel or upgrading from your phone, then you might be wondering, is the 200D still worth it
for YouTube in 2021? Hey guys, if you're new here my name is Nick and here we talk about all things
tech, finance, reading and lifestyle, and today I'm going to take a more in-depth look at my now
aging Canon 200D. Also known as the SL2, the Rebel SL2 in the United States. For ages now I've been
wanting to upgrade to a better camera. Something a bit more expensive. But I haven't just yet and
that's partly because I can't really justify the expense of a new camera because the 200D is still
a pretty decent camera for YouTube, depending on the type of content you're wanting to shoot. So
I'm going to break this video into two parts: the first part will be why I think the 200D
or Rebel SL2 is still worth owning in 2021 if you're going to use it for YouTube.
And the second part of the video will be my biggest issues with the 200D. And then I'll
share my final thoughts and recommendations on whether or not you should use one of these cameras
for YouTube. So the first reason why I think the 200D is still worth owning is because it can shoot
25 frames a second in full HD, which is great for like A-roll talking head shots like this. And then
it can also shoot in 50 frames per second full HD which is great for practicing some slow-mo b-roll
shots. Now obviously 4K would be nice, but at this point in time I think it would probably be more
of a hindrance to me than a help. Just because bigger file sizes means I need more storage and
I'd potentially need to upgrade my Macbook because it's getting a little bit older now. It still does
a really good job but 4K is just a whole different story. So the second reason why I'm really happy
with the canon 200D is that it's got a fully articulating screen which is super helpful for
shooting A-roll shots. Now a lot of better cameras actually don't have fully articulating screens
like this, unless you're going to the top end, which would mean that I'd have to fork out for
an external screen to be able to see myself. Now one small gripe I have with this is just that the
mic jack is on the same side as the screen and so the microphone cable does block the screen a
little bit. Which is something to be aware of if you're going to do a lot of vlogging because your
view will be slightly obstructed. But for me, I normally have an extension cable plugged in and
so it's not as obtrusive as the actual cable from the mic itself. And finally, the last reason why
I'm still really happy with the 200D is that I think that the footage still looks decent. Now,
of course, you be the judge but all of this a-roll footage is shot on the 200D and pretty much all my
content on my entire channel has been shot on this camera. So feel free to go back and watch. Some
of my older videos have really terrible lighting but all my newer ones I think look pretty decent.
And if you're interested in seeing the video where my lighting setup changed and improved a lot in my
opinion, then feel free to check out this video here. Now it would be nice to be able to shoot in
RAW and colour grade a bit more professionally, but of course the look of the video is always
going to be secondary to the content so at this point I'm still really happy with how this looks.
And personally in my experience I think that upgrading my lighting setup gave me more bang for
buck than upgrading a new camera. So now on to my biggest issues with the 200D. Number one on this
list is just the fact that it's an APS-C sensor, so it's got a crop factor of 1.6x which means that
because I shoot in pretty small rooms in my apartment I have to have my camera really far back
in the room, which is just a bit inconvenient. It'd be nice to be able to have a wider angle
lens on it so I wouldn't have to have the camera as far away from myself. Plus, full-frame sensors
give you nicer bokeh in the background. It gives you that nice blurry effect, so that would be nice
as well. So my number two issue with this camera is that it's got pretty noisy pre-amps within the
actual body. Now I record my audio with the Rode Videomic Pro which I plug into the side of my
canon 200D. But it is a known issue of cameras of this age and this line within Canon to have
a bit of a hiss in the background if you boost your core levels too high on the actual camera.
So I combat this by boosting the record levels on the mic itself and then turning the record levels
right down as far as I reasonably can within the actual camera settings themselves. But of course,
the downside to this is that the actual record levels are fairly low and so in post I always
have to boost up my audio which is just a little bit of a hassle. So my final problem with this
camera is just the fact that it doesn't shoot 4K or RAW and I know I already mentioned that it's
probably a good thing that it can't shoot RAW or 4K, but at the same time I think it is something
that would be nice to have. And I am aiming to have some time in the future. So it's more of
a nice to have I think than a need to have. So in summary, as you're probably already aware,
as long as you can shoot in HD then your gear really isn't as important as your content. I've
seen heaps of channels do really well with average gear but they've got really good content. And just
because you've got an amazing camera doesn't make you an amazing cinematographer straight away. And
for that reason, I'm still really happy with my 200D because I'm still learning how to make
decent content. So even if I had an amazing cinema camera, and a $10,000 lighting setup,
and I shot everything in 8K I think it still wouldn't make a huge difference if I didn't
keep working on the quality of my actual content. I think the quality you get from a 200D in full
HD is still really decent and totally fine for getting started on YouTube. So my recommendation
would be if you've already got this camera and are using it for youtube then there's not really
much point in upgrading it unless you can really justify it based on how much money you're making
from your channel. And if you don't already have this camera but you've seen it really cheap online
and it's within your budget for getting started on YouTube, then I reckon go for it. It's a
really solid camera, the articulating screen means you don't have to buy an external screen,
and the footage looks really decent. Plus if you find that YouTube isn't for you in a few months,
then you haven't spent thousands of dollars on a really expensive camera. So I hope that was
useful. If you're interested in more tech videos then be sure to check out my tech playlist, and if
you're interested in more YouTube related videos, then be sure to check out my YouTube playlist.
Other than that, I hope you have an amazing day and I'll see you very soon in the next video.