- In this video, I'm going through
some of the best vlogging cameras that you can get
for your vlogging adventure and I'm not doing it alone.
I have a group of friends with me
and we're all talking about the cameras that we use
and some tips to, wow.
(dramatic music)
- Yo, bro. - Yo, what's up?
Check it out, it's Josh from MAKE. ART. NOW..
- Oh, did I interrupt you?
- Okay so I teamed up with a group of vloggers
and we're all talking about the cameras that we use
and some things that you need to consider
when you're out vlogging.
I gotta see this camera.
- I broke the screen
so you can now hinge it all the way backwards.
Don't even needed the a6400, you got this one.
- Guys, if you're new here, my name is Jeven Dovey,
I do a lot of filmmaking tutorials, YouTube training,
and I actually started my channel
by just doing tons and tons of vlogs.
So make sure you hit that subscribe button
and turn on those bell notifications
so you don't miss any of these tutorials.
Now the reason that I pulled in a bunch of my friends
to see their vlogging setups is to show you guys
that it really doesn't matter what you shoot on
because at the end of the day
what matters is the content that you're shooting
and out of all of this I just want you to get inspired
and see what different people are using
to hopefully find ways to either upgrade your kit,
build your kit or just think of different things
that you could use to potentially vlog with.
Now for me I've been shooting on the Olympus E-M1X
and that's what you saw on the intro here.
And the reason is the autofocus.
The autofocus on this camera is amazing
and I come from the Micro Four Thirds world,
so this camera that I'm shooting on right now
for in my office is the Panasonic GH5
and this is my go-to camera for everything that I shoot.
However, the autofocus isn't that good
so when I'm out vlogging,
I've now switched over to the Olympus E-M1X
which yes this is a more expensive camera,
it's not gonna appeal to everyone out there.
However, it works very well for vlogging,
it's got face detect, it's got all of that good stuff
so your shot is always in focus
and you don't really have to worry about it.
So my friends Eric and Allison are traveling the world,
their channel is The Endless Adventure
and they are non-stop vlogging.
So let's hear from them on the cameras that they use
and they also have some awesome tips for you
for when you're out vlogging.
- Thanks a lot, Jeven for having us in the video.
For everyone watching right now, my name is Eric.
- And I am Allison,
and our channel is The Endless Adventure.
- And our content is focused on just traveling the world,
showing off the most unique foods
and unique places that we can find.
When we first started vlogging, we started on a Canon G7 X
which is a little point-and-shoot camera
and it was a great tool to start with
but since then we've always been trying different cameras,
we went through maybe six different cameras at this point
and what we finally settled on is the camera
that we're filming with right now, the Sony a7III.
The first thing that I love about this camera is the size.
Now of course it's a lot bigger
than the Canon G7 X that we started on
but it's also much smaller than a classic DSLR.
- And I love the autofocus on this camera.
On our previous ones, I wear glasses
when I'm not wearing my contacts, especially on travel days
and it would never find me in a shot.
I was always blurry and I always ruined so many shots for us
but this one is amazing. - Never had a problem
since we switched to this one.
- Another thing we love is the battery life on this.
We used to go through how many batteries in a day?
- I'd go through three or four batteries a day.
- At least and now we go through one, not even one.
- Yeah.
- We don't even get through this full battery in a day.
- The other thing I love is that with this camera,
it creates amazing 4K video, has 120 fps slow motion,
all that good stuff but it's also an amazing photo camera.
I think it's 24 megapixel
so you can get really high quality photos
but also easily switch to video mode
when you're kinda running and gunning
and vlogging on the fly.
As far as audio goes, we use this camera
with a RODE VideoMicro which is this tiny microphone
that's under $100 USD, it's not the greatest microphone
but it doesn't require an external battery
and as you can hear the audio is decent on it.
There's one other small thing
I wanna mention about our setup,
we always make sure that we have a solid wrist strap
attached to the camera and I've seen other vloggers
walking around without the wrist strap on there
and to each their own but for us
if we're ever holding the camera, we have the wrist strap on
because with a camera this expensive,
you don't wanna take any chances.
I also carry the Peak Design Capture Clip on my belt
everywhere I go to keep my camera nice and secure.
- So on to the dislikes.
The first big one is that this does not have
a flip-out screen and it flips up but not out
so we don't ever actually know what we look like.
- But Sony just came out with the a6400
which is a smaller camera than this with a crop sensor
but it does have a fully flip out screen.
- So while this sucker is lighter than a DSLR,
it does get pretty heavy which is really unfortunate
when we're trying to do long talking spots,
poor Eric's arm gets wiggly or when I'm trying to film stuff
and I don't have as much strength,
it can really wear you down after a while.
- Yeah, we've also got a pretty large
hefty lens on this thing so if you get a lighter lens,
it might not be that big of an issue.
But if you do want something lighter,
go with the Sony a6300 or the a6400 that I mentioned.
We actually carry around an a6300
as our secondary camera and we love it.
The low-light performance on this camera is pretty good.
Now the camera we had before this was the Sony a7S II
and that one's kinda known
for its awesome low-light performance
and it really was great in low-light.
So it was a bit of a quality hit that we had to take
by switching to this one but it has so many more features
like the autofocus and stuff like that
that I think it was worth it.
So it just depends on what's most important for you.
- Yeah we're not night owls anyway
so it's not that big of a deal.
- So those are our likes and dislikes
about the Sony a7III that we use
but we also wanna run through some of the other gear
that we carry as well.
So we already mentioned the a6300
that we carry as our secondary camera
but we also have a GoPro HERO7
for the action shots and the underwater shots
and of course we have our tiny little DJI Spark drone.
It might not produce the best video quality
but it's small and it's light and it gets the job done.
- Our biggest tip for people
that are just starting out vlogging
is to not feel like you have to be
a natural at vlogging when you start.
- Yeah definitely, when we first started out,
we were super awkward on camera.
- [Allison] The only thing I said
for our first year was yeah.
I didn't know how to interact with the camera.
- I think the main thing is to work
on having your personality show through.
One trick that we use is when I looked at the camera,
it can be really intimidating
but I just tried to envision like my mom or my best friend
or something which at that point
were the only people watching anyway.
But don't feel like it's a skill
that you have to be a natural at,
you know, it's something that you can learn
because we were not naturals at all,
we just had to learn it as we went.
- Just don't put too much pressure on yourself,
just have fun, you'll get better,
you'll look back, it'll be cringey and that's totally fine,
it means you're doing it right.
- All right, back to you Jeven.
- So I know a lot of you are Sony fans
and one of the biggest issues when it comes to vlogging
with a Sony camera is that you don't have a flip-out screen.
Now Josh here found a solution to that
and I want you to see his setup
because this is interesting for sure.
- This is what you should not do.
Unless you have a robust insurance plan, don't do this.
But I basically bent the hinges on my camera
so now the monitor instead of stopping right there,
I can now bend it all the way over and I vlog upside down.
It sounds stupid but let's try.
Oh yeah totally works, I have face tracking locked on.
This was just a simple five-minute tweak,
bending the hinges and making the monitor
go pretty much backwards.
And to be honest with you, when I did it a month ago,
I didn't think it was gonna work out that well
and after shooting on it, on all three of my Sony cameras
without any issues it's worked out really, really well
and in post all I have to do is just rotate it 180 degrees.
And I think it works great.
- Hey, it works great if you are a Sony shooter,
you already have these cameras now,
I'm not gonna suggest you go and do this
because you are ruining your camera
but Josh does have a video all about this on his channel.
So if this is something that you wanna do
and you already have this camera,
then I will link down to it down below.
Now if you're looking for a cheap vlogging setup,
I recently reviewed the Canon M50 and personally I think
that this is a perfect starter vlog camera
because the autofocus is really good,
it's a super lightweight camera, super easy to use.
However, the one downside with it
is that you can only really shoot 1080p.
The 4K doesn't work that well because it's cropped in,
you got this crazy jello effect going on
but if you're looking for a starter vlog camera
then the Canon M50 is a great place to start
and my buddy Jon Barr uses it all the time
and he highly recommends this camera.
- Thank you, Jeven.
I've had the M50 for 10 months now and let me say
upgrading from the tiny point-and-shoot camera
that I had for the first two years of my YouTube career,
this has been a game changer for me.
It's small, it's compact, it's just one pound.
I can take it anywhere in the world
and it's not gonna bother my back
when I've got a backpack on, I'm using an 11-22 right now.
I love the flip screen, I would never get a camera
that does not have a flip screen where I can adjust myself
and set up shots just right.
For me the Canon M50 is the best portable vlogging camera.
Thanks a lot, Jeven.
- I think one of the things that you need to think about
when you're vlogging is you wanna focus more
on the content that you're shooting.
I said this at the beginning, focus on the content,
not the gear so much.
So if you are just starting out in this world
and you're just starting to learn cameras
and everything that goes into shooting content,
then picking a camera that's easier to use
is going to help you develop your skills as a vlogger.
So starting with something like the Canon M50
or just your phone is the best way to start.
You can vlog using your phone, you can vlog using a GoPro.
I spent two weeks in Thailand and I completely vlogged
only using my GoPro which worked great
because I was more focused on the content
that I was shooting even though I did have
a bigger Sony camera with me when I was there,
I used that for just like some B-roll shots
but focused more on just capturing
the vlog content using a GoPro.
Now my friends over at the WAY AWAY
are also traveling the world
so I got some more tips for you from Ashley and Josh.
(upbeat music)
♪ I've been waiting for the chance to prove myself ♪
♪ Take the wheel, hit the gas ♪
♪ Gonna raise some hell ♪
- Thanks, Jeven, we're Josh and Ashley
and we run a travel YouTube channel called the WAY AWAY.
- We've been traveling around the world
for about four years now since 2015.
We usually focus on Europe but right now.
- We are in Bangkok, Thailand.
♪ Can't stop me now ♪
- So the camera that we use to record with
is the Panasonic GH5, I have a Rode Studio Mic Pro+
as the microphone, we also have a GoPro,
sometimes we use this iPhone here which is an iPhone XR.
And as you can see I'm walking, it's not too bad shaky.
We also have a DJI Mavic Air
which is fantastic for drone shots
and that's about it as far as cameras go.
(upbeat music)
♪ All I can see ♪
- We have stopped for one of our favorite things
here in Thailand, some Thai iced tea,
it's delicious and refreshing and perfect for right now.
We wanna talk about a few different things
about our camera startup that we really like.
One of the things that I really appreciate
is that it has a flip-out screen
and we can be sure to frame everything
the way that we want.
- [Josh] So it's not a shot of our chins or our nose.
- [Ashley] Yeah, another thing is that when we film slo-mo,
you can actually play it back in slo-mo--
- [Josh] It's real slow-mo.
- [Ashley] Amazing, I love that part.
And lastly, for a really good camera,
it's a fairly light camera. - Yeah.
- [Ashley] And our lens
is fairly light as well which is helpful.
- As the person doing the filming,
one of the things that I really appreciate
is that one battery can usually last me all day,
I don't have to carry around tons of extra batteries.
The lenses and the body itself work in tandem
to do stabilization so even if I'm moving around,
it's not gonna be super shaky.
Another thing is that the camera itself is weather-sealed
and it has a ruggedized metal body
meaning it can take a few knocks
and it can get splashed or rained on a little bit
and it'll be okay. - Which it has.
- It has 422/10 megabit, 400 megabits per second,
10-bit file size which basically just means
about as good as you can get
without going crazy overboard.
It's not the best but I think it's probably the best
in class for the price and the style of camera that it is.
And as much as I do love this camera,
there are a few things that are negative.
Despite it being in my opinion the best in class,
here are some cons that I wrote down.
Autofocus is bad while recording.
If you need autofocus, it's not very good.
A lot of the native lenses are fly-by-wire
meaning it's not fully mechanical,
it's hard to manually focus too.
You gotta be very precise, it's not great in the dark,
low light isn't very good.
It has a very small Micro Four Thirds sensor
meaning it's hard to get a wide-angle lens
and one last thing is you can't charge it over USB,
you can only charge the battery with it out of the camera.
So when you're out of batteries,
you either have to swap a new battery in or you're just out.
(upbeat music)
So those are our thoughts on the GH5 specifically
but we thought it'd be good to try
and give you guys a tip in terms of travel vlogging.
It can be really easy to go overboard on B-roll,
basically just pretty shots and music.
People are watching your vlogs for you and your experience
and your personality, it's not about pretty shots.
They serve a purpose but only for a very short time.
I try to keep pretty shot sequences
down to 15-30 seconds maximum, if I can.
- We wanna thank you, Jeven for asking us
about our camera equipment.
And we hope all these tips help you guys out.
- Okay so we can't do a video about the best vlogging camera
without mentioning the DJI Osmo Pocket
because this camera works very well
but some of the issues with it
is that it is so small, the audio is not the best
'cause you just have the little hole on the front,
so if there's wind or anything like that,
it really doesn't sound the best.
If you hit this in any way, you kinda hear the sound
and it's not the widest lens in the world.
However there's a little solution, check this out.
A little wide-angle lens from Ulanzi
and now you have a much better vlogging camera
with the DJI Osmo Pocket.
So definitely a good option if you want something small
that you could always have in your pocket,
I highly suggest the DJI Osmo Pocket,
it's something that I use, I keep it on me everywhere I go
because it's so easy for me to just pull this out
and do some quick vlogging like this, super stable,
and like I said this little wide lens thing
makes such a difference.
Alright so I asked my buddy Tal from TheTravelingClatt,
he is in New York right now,
on the cameras he uses when he's out vlogging.
- Hey Jeven, so I'd like to introduce myself to you
and your audience, my name is Tal,
also known as TheTravelingClatt online
and I've been traveling around the world
for the last four years exploring the best things
to see and do on our planet
as well as tasting some delicious food.
More recently I moved to New York City
and I've been exploring the best sights
and sounds in each of New York City
and with that I've been able to test my gear
and push it to the limits whether I've been in snow storms
or on a bright sunny day or in freezing cold,
it's been really fun to test out how my gear works
in different environments here in New York City.
So currently my vlog setup is as follows,
I have a Sony a7S II with a 16mm prime lens on it,
that is actually not built for this camera.
On top of that 16mm prime, I have a wide-angle adapter
that I think brings it up to about a 10 or 12,
I'm not 100% sure, I bought it on one of my trips to Japan,
as well at the bottom of the a7S II,
I have a JOBY GorillaPod,
the more expensive version that's made out of metal
and on top of the camera in the hot shoe
I have a Sony microphone, it's the basic one that Sony makes
that doesn't require any cables or any batteries,
it just plugs in straight to the hot shoe of the camera
and connects immediately and on top of that,
I have a dead cat that I bought at B&H Photo
here in New York City and I use that to record my audio.
So some upsides and downsides to my camera setup,
what I like and what I don't like about it.
For one I can't use the full capabilities
of my full-frame camera, my camera is a mirrorless camera,
the a7S II and it's full-frame
but I can't use the capabilities of it
because I'm using lenses
that were not built for this camera.
I partly used those lenses because I purchased a camera
I was using the a6500 before this one
and I just still have the same glass from this camera,
so I can't get those full shots that I always like to do
but what I really like about these small lenses on my setup
is the fact that they're very discreet
especially when I take the little adapter off,
it's just really tiny and I like to be
as discreet as I can when I'm vlogging
especially when I'm traveling around the world
to different countries
so it really, really helps out in that aspect,
At the bottom of my camera I have a JOBY GorillaPod
like I mentioned, I really like this tripod
because it works for everything that I need it to
but I also really hate this tripod
because it's really loose.
I can't really rely on this tripod,
I can't just leave it and count on it to stay up,
drives me a bit wild.
So in the world of YouTube there's a lot of competition
especially when it comes to gear so starting out
you might be a little overwhelmed
with what some type of camera you might wanna go to,
what kind of camera setup that you wanna go to,
whether you wanna spend $2,000, $5,000,
$100 on the camera setup, I am here to tell you
that it honestly does not matter
as long as you can shoot at least 480p at the very least,
it doesn't even matter if it's a potato.
If you can literally pick up a potato
and shoot 480p video with it,
I promise you as long as the story
and the content itself is good,
you'll be able to gain some sort of fan base,
some sort of audience, some sort of community
that will watch and engage and like your videos.
The camera quality really you can ask any creator,
really does not matter if you look on my channel personally,
all of my top videos were shot
with probably the worst cameras that I had
but it doesn't matter because it was either information
that people wanted to see, content that engaged with people,
made people happy or stuff that I knew was going to blow up.
So you could literally film on a potato
and it does not matter.
I for the past five years that I've been doing YouTube
have used over 15 cameras from five different brands
and I promise you that it never ever ever matters.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that the camera quality
has never been the determining factor
for a video of mine to blow up or to do well on YouTube.
That's my basic outlook on this whole YouTube thing,
it doesn't really matter what camera you have,
just as long as you're making that good content.
I'm gonna send that back off to you, Jeven.
We'll see ya.
- So for someone who's getting into vlogging,
what would be like one tip that you would say
for their YouTube channel?
Like what's something that they should think about?
- I think if you're just starting out with vlogging,
the first thing is gonna be that fear
of just being weird or having people stare at you.
Like right now there's probably five people staring at me
somewhere collectively.
- There's been people staring at us all day.
- Yeah but like two people right here,
they just stared at me, so what,
and then they passed and they left
and the truth is is that if you can figure this out,
if you can master this, it's worth $10 million.
- Good advice.
- You're gonna say no to $10 million?
- Definitely good advice, you just need to go out there
and shoot and not worrying about what people are thinking
when they're seeing you out vlogging,
you gotta remember, you're putting your content
online for people to watch
so who cares if they're watching you in public
because all of these people are gonna be,
thousands of people are gonna be watching you
and what you do on a camera and judging you there.
When it comes to creating vlogs,
you just have to remember a few things.
You just have to go for it,
you have to just get out there, shoot the content,
but you also have to think story first.
Don't just shoot a bunch of random stuff
and think that people are gonna wanna watch it.
You wanna come up with an idea
and you wanna come up with a story
before you flip on the camera.
So always think through what it is that you're shooting
and come up with more of a plan
before you hit that record button
and just spray the camera around shooting everything.
Guys if you wanna learn more
about how to grow your YouTube channel,
things that work, how to go after topics that work,
I'll put a link down below in the description
and at the end on the end screen to a playlist
that's all about how to start your channel,
how to grow your channel,
and best practices when you're going out there
and creating your vlogs.
Alright, make sure you head over
to all of my friends' channels, check them out,
they got some really awesome content
and you'll be able to see all these cameras in action
when they're out vlogging.
Alright guys, that's it, I'll see on the next one.