- Hey guys! Welcome back to my YouTube channel!
I hope you guys LOVE my new vlogging setup!
Well hopefully you guys thought, "no Potato Jet,
that new setup looks like TRASH, because there is
so much wrong going on right here."
And to be honest I don't completely love my normal,
usual vlog setup either, there's a lot that
I feel like could be improved on it,
but I'm not a baller YouTuber with a dedicated space
to shoot my videos and all that, I mean I'm just
looking for a good corner of my apartment,
and, well, this corner in general,
is LITERALLY the only presentable part of my entire
apartment.
Anywhere else it just doesn't look very good,
I mean I don't even wanna show you what's back there,
you don't wanna see that.
So there is no one-size-fits-all solution to making
an awesome vlog setup,
it's gonna depend a lot on where your windows are,
what kind of natural lighting do you have,
where do you get the most depth, and all that stuff.
So let's start out by figuring out what's wrong
with THIS little mess that's going on right here.
So we're starting off with an iPhone XS Max here,
and a light.
Now, a lot of people, this is all you're gonna
have access to, not everyone has an awesome
DSLR Mirrorless camera or whatever to get started, so;
the first thing I immediately think, "oh, let's
fix that right away," is the position of this light
right here.
It's underneath the camera lens.
Camera lens right here, light right here.
So this light is kinda coming in from underneath,
I'm like, "HEY GUYS."
Generally speaking, it looks a little bit less natural
when you have light coming in from underneath,
it makes you look like you're kinda telling a scary story.
It's just literally highlighting less of the flattering
parts of this beautiful face.
To make it look a little bit more natural, simple,
just adjust the position of this light!
Boom!
Hey, there we go! That's looking better already!
Look at that!
Some people like to do the 10 or 2 o'clock position,
so that's where this light is hitting me right now,
this nice angle, it's casting a nice little shadow
on my face.
So kinda looks like trash.
Now, one thing, is this backlighting.
Now we got that window closed, it's still bright,
overexposed, and backlit, but it's a LITTLE bit more
tolerable.
So, what's next?
Well, you noticed this is a warm light.
But notice that there is obviously a big window coming in
from right back there, and I can't really control
that color light.
Now I personally like to mix colors once in a while,
but in this case it just doesn't really look
that good to me.
Right now this is about 3,200 degrees on the Kelvin scale,
and the daylight is like 56, so you probably
want something that's gonna match that a LITTLE
bit closer.
If you have no idea what I'm gibber-jabbering about,
about Kelvin scales and color temperatures
and warm lights and blue lights,
I'm gonna put a video in the description
talking all about lights, color temperature, all that stuff.
So what we wanna do is match this light to that light,
so to do that, we obviously can't really change the color
of that sun, but we CAN change the color of this light.
See how it's warm right now, uhhh too blue?
Too blue?
See this is where we were, that's like too white,
let's go right in the middle, how about that.
Hey, that's looking a little bit better!
Just need to fix my hair and fix my face.
And now we got a nice blue light,
and see how the lighting matches a little bit more
between this and that sunlight.
So it looks a little bit less like artificial light
coming in.
Now the backlighting still just doesn't look that good.
On higher-quality cameras you can backlight
a little bit more and it doesn't make it look
like it's blown out.
Oh my god, I'm so sweaty.
If you guys have good air conditioning in your house
that's not super loud, then good for you.
We have an air conditioning unit,
but it's CRAZY loud and it's just right there.
So whenever I'm filming audio I have to turn it off,
and it gets HOT in here, ugh!
Now a lot of times when people are like,
"ooo I wanna buy a light for my vlog setup",
the first thing they resort to is a ring light.
Which is just like this one, except for it's hollow
in the middle so you can literally take a camera,
stick it through the middle, and the light kinda
surrounds the camera.
Now that was a very popular look about 10 years ago,
maybe even longer.
Now if that's the look you're going for great,
go for it, but just keep in mind that those are
gonna give you those halo eyes or this angel-eye look.
It's kinda this unnatural look though,
so if you're not sure if you want a ring light,
then don't get a ring light.
This is a light that was sent to me by Link Star,
link in the description,
but obviously it's not just a ring, it's a circular light,
so it kinda looks like a natural source of light,
especially if you're looking at the reflection
in my eyeballs it doesn't look like a ring,
it's a circle.
And back here, you have your brightness,
and your color temperature, adjustable,
so if you're not 100% sure about how you wanna
set up your vlog setup yet, I highly recommend
something like this.
And of course don't forgot to fix your hair,
and look all good, unlike me, I just come up here
all grimy and sweaty.
Alright so now you made a couple videos,
you're getting a hang of the whole thing,
you're getting some subscribers,
now how do you take it to the next level?
Make it look even better?
Easy, replace a phone with an actual camera.
This is the Canon m50, one I highly recommend,
because of the price to performance value.
So we're gonna pull this out, and bring you in!
So here we go, now we have the Canon m50,
with a super wide-angle lens, and it looks quite
a bit better.
I mean the quality is just better, notice how that
background window just doesn't look as terrible,
I still look very sweaty because I am sweaty.
And I have a little microphone on this guy
'cause audio is KEY.
Which is why, again, I have that air conditioner
turned off, so it's not zzzzz humming in the background
the whole time.
But I'm miserable and sweaty because of it,
so I'm very tempted to turn it back on right now.
My first year of YouTubing was just like this;
a camera, little microphone on top, and a little light,
to balance things out.
Now that you have your light and your camera set up,
what is the next big thing you need to change,
and this is what I consider to be the most important part,
of every vlog setup.
As a matter of fact, of every setup at a desk,
or any desk...SITTING!
This table, is a stand-up table, I have a crank;
which way do I turn it- and I can turn it...
In like ten more minutes...
And now I'm standing!
(gasp)
(grunts)
Ha ha ha!
This desk, I am CRAZY excited for,
and it's by Flexispot.
Man I have never been this excited for
a piece of furniture before.
So way back in the 50's, they did this really
interesting study in the transportation industry,
and realized that the drivers of these vehicles,
buses, all those, had a much much higher chance
of dying from heart disease, than other positions
in the field.
And then there was another study that showed
that the more video games or TV you watch,
the higher chances of dying from heart disease as well.
And what they realized was it wasn't the TV screens
giving people heart disease and cancer.
The real issue, was the hours and hours
of consecutive sitting that people were doing.
Humans have been evolved to sleep every single night,
but what's totally not natural, is your body being awake,
and spending hours and hours at a time without
using your heart at all.
It's just, chilling.
Now here's the scary part, right?
Just because you go and work out after your
whole day of sitting at an office, or on a couch,
or at your desk, that does not reverse the damage
that sitting all day has caused.
That damage is permanent.
Think of your heart like a refrigerator;
you can't just like, unplug it all day,
and at the end of the day plug it in and just, like,
throw everything in the freezer and expect
everything to be okay.
You need that constant refrigeration going on,
just like your heart needs constant activity.
For those of you who don't know the leading cause of death,
it's not cancer, it's not car accident, it's heart disease.
So, taking good care of your heart early on, now,
is CRAZY important.
Quit your job, quit going to school,
just go out and just hike all day every day.
But unfortunately rent does not pay itself,
and I need to be here to ignore all these emails.
And our generation right now, is sitting more than
EVER before, by FAR.
One of the best things we can do, right now,
is to stand up as frequently and as much as possible.
I've had days where I've sat here for like
ten hours straight, and only got up a few times.
So take frequent breaks and when you do, walk around.
Studies are suggesting that every hour you should
try to stand for at least 15 minutes.
There's some habits you can form,
like every time you get a phone call,
make sure you stand up and walk around while
you take that phone call, and just remember
to take breaks, and even standing alone for 15 minutes
every hour, can significantly reduce this negative effect.
So that is why I have this standing desk.
Not to look like some techy nerd,
but because I don't wanna die of heart disease.
I'm loving this already, there's an up and down button,
makes it nice and easy and there's three pre-sets,
so you figure out where the best height is for you
when you're sitting,
and it even has a little timer built in,
so it will remind me every 45 minutes to stand up
for like 10-15 minutes, so all I gotta do,
is press that number three, which is my standing preset,
boom, I do this, work here for like 10-15 minutes,
and once my legs start to get tired,
I just put it back down to number two,
and I can sit back down, be comfortable,
finish my editing, and boom, fuck you heart disease.
And I spent a lot of time looking at standing desks,
these guys are not too expensive,
and the quality is solid,
so go check em out, and you can put my name
in the coupon code, "GENE", and you will get
a little discount, so, yeah!
Alright so here we go, we got the new table put in,
and we have our light back up here,
and notice that my room looks a little bit darker,
and that's one of the disadvantages of having a room
with natural light and windows, because as the sun moves
and the day goes on, your set can look completely
different throughout the day.
This right here I think already is good enough
for a general vlogging setup,
like I feel comfortable with the quality of this already,
but over the last year I've been making adjustments
and tweaks, just to get it to fit my style.
So there's a few things that I'm gonna do:
First, I'm gonna start off by taking this camera
and taking it off this table,
and the reason is because every time I lean on this table,
or shake the table a little bit,
this whole camera moves with it.
So if I can get this camera off this table,
then it'll be isolated,
so I'm gonna put it on a little tripod,
and then stick it behind this table right over here.
Next up is this light right here,
it's a really great light to get started,
because it's just over 100 bucks,
it has different color temperatures,
and you can adjust the strength,
but if you ever decide to upgrade,
my favorite light is the Aputure 120D right now,
so I would like to put an Aputure 120D with dome light
right up here, but I just don't because there's
a wall right here, there's just no space to put
a giant 120D.
So what I got up here is a Westcott Flex Light,
and I just have it boomed over my desk with a C stand.
And the reason why I'm balancing this light,
is because I don't really want it to be as direct;
it's a bigger source, but it would be even bigger
if I balanced it off the wall, so that it comes
and hits me nice and soft.
Now I really like to balance lights,
but keep in mind you do need higher powered lights.
This is the Westcott Flex Light two-by-one,
it is a very powerful light, but it's not cheap,
it's over $1000.
But in a tight space like this,
it works out pretty nicely because it's nice and small,
floppy, doesn't take up a ton of space,
and it just bounces off the wall,
hits me, gives me a really nice, soft light, just like that.
So now that I have this, I no longer need this light
anymore.
So I'm gonna actually gonna take this,
I'm gonna stick it in the back,
and have it light up the background,
for times when the background's dark.
And I can kinda tweak the color of it a little bit.
Just trying to, make it look a little bit brighter,
so it doesn't look like I'm in a dark place.
Now next is audio,
a lot of people argue that they really don't like
seeing this microphone in the frame,
and a lot of people give me crap for it,
but I personally love love crispy audio,
and I think it's worth having it in the shot
for the upgrade in quality that you get.
These can be better at capturing crispier audio,
especially if you're in a room like this,
where you have wood floors and sound's bouncing
around everywhere.
So I'm gonna turn this guy on, plug it in,
and we're gonna switch in 3,2,1!
(clap)
Done. We are now switched to the new microphone.
Notice that my voice just sounds so much crispier.
Especially if you're listening to it on like,
headphones or good speakers,
you'll really notice the difference,
like my voice is just super clear.
And right now I have it set up so that the pick-up pattern
is just in this direction, so it's just recording me
and kinda rejects the sound from other sources,
so I like that.
Again, not saying this is the right path to go,
a lot of people are like "hey why is the microphone
in your shot" and blah blah blah,
like, it's cool, it's just a microphone okay,
chill.
And by the way this is a Blue Yeti microphone,
just over 100 bucks and I think the quality out of them
is really good for its price.
I have it so it's plugged into this computer,
because you need to plug it into a computer
to have it turn on.
It can't just be like a regular USB port for some reason,
it has to be a computer, it has to recognize that
there's a computer there, and then the microphone will
activate and turn on.
And then there's a headphone jack,
so I just took an auxiliary cable,
like a 3.5mm headphone jack,
stuck it into here as the headphone jack,
and I just plugged it into the mic port on this camera,
which is right now the Canon 80D.
That's kinda my, ghetto cheap way of getting this DSLR
to record sound from here.
And there's disadvantages 'cause like again,
you need to have a computer here,
so if you don't have a computer nearby
to plug this into, it will not work.
And another thing is that the image quality
out of this camera should be pretty much the same
as the M50.
The only reason why I have the 80D here
is because I already had the 80D already,
so when I got this I was planning on selling it
but I decided to just leave it here
so I don't have to take it off every time I wanna take
this camera out.
That way whenever I wanna shoot a little vlog or something,
I just turn on this camera,
flick on the light, and I'm good to go.
I don't have to set it up every single time.
Yes I'm lazy.
So my final latest adjustment was to just take this
wide-angle lens and switch it out for a tighter lens,
with a faster f-stop,
that way it just blurs out the background
a little bit more.
So we're gonna switch out this wide lens
with this 18-35mm 1.8,
it's a Sigma Art lens, I LOVE this lens,
especially if you have a crop sensor camera
like an 80D or M50, like, this is awesome!
So I'm gonna switch it out real quick,
and that'll be the final change.
And here's what it looks like.
This is basically the setup I'm going with
for most of my videos now.
So yeah, that's basically everything I did
to set up this shot.
We have the microphone right here,
we have the Canon 80D with Sigma Art 18-35mm F 1.8,
and then we got the Westcott two-by-one
balancing off that wall.
And simply a lot of these decisions
are based off this space, like,
your space may be completely different.
And yeah, that's pretty much it.
That's my setup right there, fellas.
Anyways, hope you guys found this useful,
and you know what I think I'm gonna start doing
is at the end of my videos I'm gonna go to the
previous video I posted,
and read through the comments.
The last video I posted was the iPhone XS Max camera,
and I just talked about how the HDR looks different
than the iPhone 10, but let's look at some of the comments.
"Rest in Peace bank account".
Haha I feel ya, yeah, this phone just chilling on my
credit cards now.
The comment that got the most likes is,
"You look like the kid from the movie 'UP'".
(chuckles)
Do I really?
385 likes on this comment?
Oh my god.
"Laugh out loud."
"Russel."
"Dead."
"He really does."
Do I really?
Oh my god, I must.
(laughing)
Thanks guys.
I'm gonna go eat a salad now. Ha ha ha ha.
This is better, because before people used to always say,
"you look like Kim Jong Un",
and I would much rather be the flying Russel,
than that guy.
So.
(laughs)
Think I've have enough of these comments.