- Are you looking for the best
live streaming gear for smartphones?
Well, whether you're on an iPhone or an Android
in this video we're gonna run through
the best smartphone set up.
So that's things like microphones, tripods,
and other live streaming gear to help you get
the best results on your Facebook Lives, your YouTube Live
or your preferred streaming platform.
(upbeat dance music)
Hey, it's Justin Brown here from Primal Video, where we help
you amplify your business and brand with video.
If you're new here, then make sure you click that subscribe
button and all the links to everything I mention in this
video, you can find linked in the description box below,
so let's jump into it.
Now, whether you're using YouTube Live, Facebook Live
or you're streaming to another platform, your iPhone or your
Android smartphone can be one of the best tools for the job.
And even better, with just some simple smartphone
accessories, you can quickly level up the quality of your
live stream with no extra work.
So, we've tested a ton of smartphone accessories
over the years and in this video we're gonna run through my
current pick for best setup for live stream
on both iPhone and Android.
So there's no need to make notes as we go
through this video, we're gonna include links to everything
we mention in the description below.
And while you're watching, let us know down in the comments
what is your number one smartphone accessory
that you can't live without when creating videos.
So the first piece of gear we gonna look at is a tripod.
Now, a tripod is one of the easiest ways
to make your live streams look more professional,
because it's going to remove any shake or jitter
from handholding your phone while you're live.
So wherever possible I would say
try to get your phones out of your hands
and into something like a tripod to hold it steady.
Now, if you don't have a tripod then use a book case,
rest it up against something,
sit it in a tree if you have to,
whatever it takes, get your phone out of your hands
to get a more professional looking live stream.
Now, obviously with tripods they're a great way to do it.
Now, they obviously come in all different shapes and sizes.
So for a small, portable tripod,
I would recommend something like the Arkon Tripod.
These are a great little portable tripod
and they come with the phone holder as well
that will rotate between portrait and landscape.
Another great portable, cheap tripod is something like
the Takama Flip-Zip Tripod.
And the great thing about this tripod
is not only is it small and easy to travel with,
it also doubles as a selfie stick,
a monopode, and a regular tripod as well,
going down to a lower height to use on a desk or right up to
standing height if you want a free standing tripod.
So the idea with a tripod here is to set it up
at the correct height, whether you're gonna be standing
or sitting and get your hands off the device.
Now, using something like the Arkon Tripod
with a little mount that comes with the Arkon Tripod,
which is also sold separately, but that'll give you
the flexibility, no matter which tripod you're using
to mount your phone either portrait or landscape
so that you've got the options if you decide to mix it up.
Okay, so the second thing we're gonna look at is the audio.
Now, what I would say is that audio is actually
probably more important than the video itself,
so definitely pay attention to your audio.
If you've got bad audio it's gonna make it
really hard and really distracting for your viewers
to stick around and to watch your live streams.
Now when it comes to microphones for getting good audio
on your smartphone, there are a heap of options
and you've got a few different types of microphones.
You've obviously got the built in microphone,
which will work if that's all you've got.
But I would strongly recommend that you look at
some of these other options to really take things up a notch
and to help remove a lot of those distractions or
things like background noise that can ruin your audio.
So you've got different microphone options
like a lapel or a lavalier microphone, and those are
the clip on ones, you've got shotgun or directional
microphones and you've also got wireless options
as well like wireless lapel or lavalier microphones.
Now, we have done quite a few videos on microphones,
and I will put a link to our video covering our top
recommended microphones for video in general,
but when we're looking at smartphones
and specifically smartphones for live streaming,
the ones that I would recommend to look at would be
the Boya BY-M1, which is a wired lapel or lavalier
microphone, it sells for around the $20 price point.
If you don't wanna be tied or tethered to your phone,
or a lapel or lavalier microphone isn't what you're after
then you could look at a mini shotgun microphone,
something like the Rode Videomicro,
it's an amazing microphone.
Or if you're after a wireless set up,
then you could look at the Rode Filmmaker Kit.
Now, the beauty of phones these days is that we can
pretty much connect almost any microphone
to our smartphones for getting great audio.
So no matter what the microphone is,
there will be some sort of an adaptor that you can get
to connect through.
Now if you are on an iPhone, anything from a seven and up
and with the newer phones then obviously you will need to
use that lightning to 3.5 mm or lightning to headphone jack
adaptor that came with your phone, or, if you've lost it
you can definitely pick those up aftermarket as well.
Now obviously the other piece of the puzzle is
with some of those microphones,
you will need to look at some mounting options
to mount that shotgun microphone or that wireless set up
alongside your smartphone and ideally it's mounted
on the tripod right next to your phone.
There's a great piece of gear called
a hot shoe extension bar.
So what you do with that is you actually attach that
to the tripod and then you've got room there
to mount your phone mount on one side
and your microphone on the other side.
And again all the links to everything that we're
mentioning here will be down in the description box as well.
But these extension bars aren't just limited
to holding your phone or your microphone.
You can actually use them for our next piece of gear
that we're looking at as well, which is lighting.
Now, lighting is another one of those critical elements
of video, as not only does it help your shot look good,
it can also help your viewers consume your content
by making it more aesthetically pleasing
or easier for them to watch.
So the idea with lighting is you can get really complicated
and I will put a link to some lighting videos
that we've got, up in the cards, but the overall,
fundamental key, or the most important part of lighting
is to make sure that your subject,
or whoever is speaking or presenting in your videos
is lit well, so that your viewer can connect with them
and the message that they are delivering.
So these days there are some really great,
small, portable lighting options
that are great for filming with your smartphone
because they're small, they're light, they're easy
to travel with and they've got decent battery life as well.
So our top two recommendations for small, portable lights
is the Aperture Amaran AL-M9, it's an amazing little light,
with about a two-hour battery life.
And the other one is called a Litratorch.
Now this is again, a crazy bright, super small light
that is aimed actually at the adventure or the action sports
industries because it's waterproof, it's drop proof, it's,
yeah a crazy little light.
Now, we'll put some links up in the description
talking through some portable lighting options,
but those are two that I would recommend right now.
Now obviously, if you don't have any lighting then you can
always use whatever you have around, use a desk light,
use a lamp, whatever you've got to get your subject
or yourself lit well.
If you got nothing else, then sit in front of a window
or use sunlight, just make sure that you are lit well
for your videos and for your live streams.
Okay, so we've covered off tripods, audio and lighting.
The next category is really additional gear, extra stuff
that you can use to take your live streams up a notch.
Now, the first one we're gonna look at is the Osmo Mobile 2
which is a gimbal stabilizer for your smartphone.
This will work on both iPhones and Android phones
and it's essentially a stabilizer,
meaning if you're gonna be walking around,
it's gonna hold your phone rock solid
and take any shake or any jitter out of it.
So if you are doing live streams when you're walking around
and talking to your audience and connecting with them
that way, then this is an awesome addition to your toolkit.
Now, another piece of additional gear that you can use
to take your live streams up a notch is a wide angle lens.
Now just clipping a wide angle lens onto your smartphone
camera is gonna give it much wider shot,
which is actually a lot closer to what you would find
if you were using a DSLR or another camera
and creating videos that way.
So these are perfect if you're going to be doing something
where you wanna show off some really nice scenery
and you wanna get a heap of it in there, or maybe you wanna
show off a room, and get a lot of that in there,
it's perfect for real estate and things like that.
But also if you're gonna have multiple people in your
live stream then a wide angle lens is gonna give you so much
more room and flexibility so that you don't have to,
pretty much sit on top of each other
in order to both be in the shot.
So the one that we currently recommend that works on both
iPhones and Android is a TECHO brand lens,
and again links will be down in the description.
But this one should work on most smartphone cameras
because it is huge, but it's got really decent quality glass
and there's minimal distortion or warping, which is the
biggest thing that you'll find on cheap end wide angle lens
adapters, so there's none of that on this one.
And the last piece of additional gear, it's not really gear,
it's an app and I'm sorry iPhone users, this one is only for
Android users and it's an app called Oratory.
Now this thing, if you've got an Android phone
is an absolute game changer, so much so
that if you've got an iPhone you may wanna consider getting
an Android phone just for this app.
Now, I'm definitely not sponsored or anything like that,
but this is an amazing, amazing app and it is a real game
changer because what it lets you do is turn your phone
into a teleprompter, yeah we've got that on iPhone too,
no, no, no, this will let you convert your phone into a
teleprompter with an overlay of your script or your dot
points, or the things you wanna cover off in your
live stream and move it up next to your camera
and still have your Facebook Live, Instagram Live
or any other app open and running underneath it.
So there's no other app out there that lets you do this
and there's no app that comes close to doing anything
like this on iPhone or on iOS.
Now for me I think this app is an absolute game changer
whether you are used to using teleprompter for your videos
or whether you just wanna have a couple of dot points
on there, maybe you're doing a live stream about a product
or a product launch or something where you really don't
wanna miss anything, you don't have to look away at notes,
you can have your dot points right up there
underneath the camera, and really if you wanted
to write out a full script and read it word for word
you can position those dot points right up against
the camera lens so that you're able to read word for word
and your viewers will still think that you're looking
and talking directly to them, so, an amazing app,
unfortunately for right now it is only for
Android users, but it's called Oratory.
So those are our top recommendations for live streaming gear
and apps for live streaming from your smartphone.
Now, if I had to prioritize these things
I'd probably say go with your audio first,
upgrade your audio gear first, then tripod,
then closely followed by lighting,
so at least if you've got your audio and your phone stable
then you can use a window, use natural lighting,
whatever you've got in the house or your office
to get the lighting done, but these things are compounding,
and the more of them that you can tick off, and the more of
them that you can improve in your live streams, then your
live streams are gonna get progressively better that way.
Alright, so that's live streaming, now if you're looking
to get better results while you're filming,
then check out the videos linked on screen, all about
filming on iPhone and on Android and getting better
results with those two, and I'll see you soon.