this video is sponsored by surfsharkvpn
i'm giving away a camera soon
quite possibly one of the ones on this
shelf right well not like
like a brand new one in a box but we
will talk about that later it has been a
hot minute since we have had the chance
to talk about cameras
and so that's what we're doing today
we're going to go over some of the
basics we're going to talk about some of
the gear that
i use to shoot these videos and the
adventures and talk about why the
average
joe or jane probably shouldn't buy their
camera
here in japan but let's start with what
is probably the most common question
that i get sent to me
what camera should i buy now this is a
really broad question but since cameras
are essentially
a tool and there to fill a need it's a
pretty easy one to answer
so i'm gonna start with an example when
i bought my drift car
i was given the advice to only change or
upgrade parts on that car
after breaking them now i am
paraphrasing and translating from
japanese here but i was told finding
your limits will teach you where you
need to invest your money
or improve your skills unless the change
is purely aesthetic
drive it until you break it and this
stuck with me in fact photography has
always been this way for me
most people's goal including myself is
just to take
nicer pictures in fact every photo that
you're looking at right now has been
shot on one of two cameras
either my iphone 6 plus or my iphone
8 plus in fact i rarely share anything
on twitter that wasn't shot on this old
iphone including night shots sometimes
i'll pair it with a moment lens
then i just pop it into lightroom mobile
and make some adjustments
like i will always say just shoot with
your phone until that's
not enough and then figure out what's
not enough do you need
more zoom do you want softer backgrounds
figuring out what your phone can't do
will help you narrow in on the needs
that you're trying to fill by
spending money on a camera now as for
camera choices if you already know what
needs you want to fill or if your goal
is just to buy a dslr because you want
the feel of a camera in your hands and
don't get me wrong the tactile aspect is
huge let's talk about how to choose a
camera
in just a second after i give some love
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it's all linked in the description down
below that is the end of the sponsor's
segment
onto picking a camera so if you're just
getting started into photography the
good news is there's not really any bad
modern dslr choices for beginners
especially for photography it's really
simple just find a camera and lens
within your budget from a maker that you
like
just find a camera that you like the
feel even the shutter sound
as long as it gets you out shooting i've
always loved lucas's advice because it's
representative of exactly how you should
be
approaching photography you should be
doing what you love with a
tool that you enjoy using it's that
simple
and for photos pretty much every modern
dslr can do
the basics now if you want to do video
you're going to need to do a little
more research but i'm going to go over
my gear in just a minute
and that'll hopefully give you a range
of ideas and potential starting points
now if you're looking to get really
technical and learn more about what the
gear can
and can't do i highly recommend checking
out gerald undone
he produces quite possibly the best and
most
detailed looks into cameras and gear
that you will find on the internet today
hi gerald hi norm all right now for my
gear breakdown i am gonna go fast
so stay sharp and be ready the first
thing i want to say is that brand
loyalty
doesn't matter anymore like you can have
a brand that you like that is completely
okay but there are so many good cameras
out there that it would be absolutely
ludicrous to limit yourself
to one single brand i use quite a few
different cameras and i separate them
all by use case i'm gonna go pretty
quick here starting with this right here
the a7
s3 probably my favorite camera to shoot
with this camera has it all
the autofocus beautiful 4k low light
it is my go-to for on-the-go documentary
projects
night shoots but because of the cost i
usually only use it for projects where i
know i'm gonna have the extra time or
space to
take care of it because i don't want to
damage it and i usually pair it
with a 12 to 24 or 24 to 105 lens for
the b-roll
now for really run and gun stuff i use
my canon 90d
it also shoots 4k but not nearly as
beautifully and
the low light isn't anywhere close to
being as nice
but it can and has taken a beating like
if i'm doing a rushed shoot or i know
i'm gonna have to repeatedly take that
camera in and out or put it down pick it
up i'm gonna use this camera because i
know it can take the abuse
and if it gets damaged or destroyed
which has happened
it's gonna set me back but only about a
third of what the sony would set me back
so there's that and for many of the same
reasons i'll often pair it with a cheap
canon 10 to 18 lens or sigma 17 to 70
because they're both decent lenses and
moderately easy to replace then comes
the black magic pocket cinema 6k
now this camera is a beast with
beautiful
image quality but takes quite a bit of
work and a little bit of knowledge
to use and no autofocus or stabilization
and massive
file sizes means i tend to use this
camera for stationary shoots
in more controlled environments often
paired with
lights and another camera and all that
but with all the adventures and
everything the camera i probably get the
most questions about
is the gopro now this camera is pretty
much always
on me it is small it's light it's got
decent image quality
it's also less than half of the price of
the 90d so i typically use it for
any situation where i think there's a
risk of dropping the camera or
losing or destroying it obviously great
for movement and action stuff
the newer models have image
stabilization and the audio is well
passable it is definitely not made for
low light situations
my biggest beef with this thing is that
it can be really temperamental like
sometimes it doesn't even want to turn
on you got to keep pulling the battery
in and out just to get it to start
especially the hero9 a gopro i don't
really need
5k in my action camera what i do need is
reliability it'd be great if it would
just turn on
when i push the button like right there
it's got a fully charged battery and
just
there we go only took three tries but i
will say that man can this thing take a
beating pretty much
all of my gopro end up severely beat up
or
potentially even destroyed some are just
missing
so if you're looking for something
durable definitely go for an action
camera but if you're looking to have
some fun
i recommend going with a 360 camera 360
cameras are just an
absolute delight to use albeit there is
a slight
learning curve but i almost always have
one on me no matter
what project they record 360 degrees
everything all at once and then you just
go and reframe it in the app
later my current favorite is this one
here the insta360 one x2 in fact i like
this one so much that i think i'm gonna
give one of these away
in our next video make sure those
notifications are on
heads up has been given now if i was
forced to choose between
a 360 camera and an action camera and i
didn't really need full
4k capabilities i would go for one of
these because they don't
miss anything you never know what's
going to happen around you knees
catch it all now it may not be as
indestructible in fact with the
lenses bulging out like this it's
probably the exact opposite
but if you don't destroy the camera
you'll definitely get the shot and
probably
have a lot of fun doing it also a quick
note on lighting equipment both for on
the go
and in the office i use aperture for
pretty much everything from lights to
domes to you name it
and now on to gear purchases because
i've gotten a weird number of dms from
people asking if they should wait until
they come to japan to purchase a camera
or if it's better just to buy it in
their home country and for the average
person
i would say there's no need to wait
until coming to japan unless there's a
very specific japan
only item or camera that you're looking
for
you can buy in japan if you want to and
there are plenty of great shops but
and these are the big ones it won't
necessarily be cheaper
it may even have a different model name
like the canon
m50 which is called the eos kiss m here
in japan
and some like the sony for example may
not even have access to
english menus most if not all of the
sony cameras that you buy in japan
only have japanese menus that you can't
change over unless you for example flash
the firmware and then
basically void your warranty they're
basically region locked and a lot of
people don't realize this
until they come to japan and
unfortunately some realize it too late
after they've already purchased the
camera
now if you're here less than six months
you may be able to go duty free
and save a bit on tax but between
exchange rates and the fact that a lot
of big box stores will inflate their
prices so that they can give you
points to spend in the store you may not
be likely to really find it
all that much cheaper also returns
aren't really a big thing in japan
most places won't even accept them
unless the item is defective and
even if it is defective more often than
not you need to bring the box with you
hence the shelf of boxes now my go-to
for buying camera gear has always been
moment mostly because they're just
really good people
and they've managed to ship me things
here in japan that other companies were
like sorry we can't ship this to japan
so
while a lot of my friends were having
their families pick stuff up and send it
to them i was just ordering on moment
and boom
here it was right in japan now one
important i'll be a kind of obvious note
is what you can find in japan
would be japan only or vintage items
that may be
difficult to find overseas but chances
are the average person isn't looking for
a
super niche japanese camera from the 50s
or
60s but i hope at the very least this
helps give you
a decent starting point or answer some
of the questions for beginners out there
i know a lot of you have some amazing
knowledge as well so i would love to see
you down
in the comments helping and supporting
each other answering questions and
building on that community we have and
if you missed the upcoming giveaway
announcement it was hidden in there
you're going to want to make sure all
those notifications are on and i mean
like
all of them this is going to be the year
of giveaways a lot of them for the
notification
squad another huge thank you to
surfsharkvpn for sponsoring this video
they are
linked down below thank you guys for
watching and you know
i will see you again real soon
[Music]
you