Youtube travel show - video camera
May 4, 2020 9:25 AM Subscribe
A low budget one man type of travel show, similar to "Bald and Bankrupt". What sort of camera setup would you use?
I am looking to buy camera and all related gear but it seem like there are a lot of conflicting aspects in terms of what would best work. Please give me your own opinion and advice, here are some of my key criteria:
1) I am thinking it has to have the option for mic jack / external mic, relying on the built in mic seems to often give really shitty audio.
2) Size, as compact as possible, needs to be easy to tote around while travelling
3) Price - not so much that I cannot spend the $$$, I guess "discreet" is more the thing... where I will be shooting there could be thieves as well as police or other officials that would think "journalism" if they see a really pro looking setup.
When I look up "prosumer" level cameras I see fairly bulky and fancy looking units. Again my main concern here is I do not want to look too juicy to thieves, and I need to be able to work in places where border guards will not immediately think "journalist" and police and others will think more "tourist who just happens to have good gear".
Oh, and:
1) one man show, so all auxilliary gear etc needs to fit in like a backpack or large tote bag
2) needs to be digital, such that uploading footage to the cloud is easy
3) should be flexible such that it is easy to point and shoot throughout travels, as well as set up like on a tripod for properly framed scenes
If I am thinking about this entirely wrong, please tell me that, too.
If you think "just shoot with your phone" that is kind of off the table, I want to be producing semi-pro quality video and audio when I do this.
So please, tell me, what would you buy?
I am looking to buy camera and all related gear but it seem like there are a lot of conflicting aspects in terms of what would best work. Please give me your own opinion and advice, here are some of my key criteria:
1) I am thinking it has to have the option for mic jack / external mic, relying on the built in mic seems to often give really shitty audio.
2) Size, as compact as possible, needs to be easy to tote around while travelling
3) Price - not so much that I cannot spend the $$$, I guess "discreet" is more the thing... where I will be shooting there could be thieves as well as police or other officials that would think "journalism" if they see a really pro looking setup.
When I look up "prosumer" level cameras I see fairly bulky and fancy looking units. Again my main concern here is I do not want to look too juicy to thieves, and I need to be able to work in places where border guards will not immediately think "journalist" and police and others will think more "tourist who just happens to have good gear".
Oh, and:
1) one man show, so all auxilliary gear etc needs to fit in like a backpack or large tote bag
2) needs to be digital, such that uploading footage to the cloud is easy
3) should be flexible such that it is easy to point and shoot throughout travels, as well as set up like on a tripod for properly framed scenes
If I am thinking about this entirely wrong, please tell me that, too.
If you think "just shoot with your phone" that is kind of off the table, I want to be producing semi-pro quality video and audio when I do this.
So please, tell me, what would you buy?
I watch a lot of vanlifers and liveaboard sailors and narrowboaters, most of whom list their entire gear situation in the description of every video because they get asked so much, or have web pages. Here's a sample:
Trent and Allie
The Indie Projects (and Theo just launched an offshoot channel to focus on photography)
Gone With The Wynns (see "cameras and computers")
Minimal List just made a three-part series on how they make their shows, starting here (and I think theirs is especially interesting because they're using cheaper-end equipment but are production industry professionals so are making very good use of what they've got)
It seems to boil down to one action camera (gopro, sony, or dji), one good dslr, one or two phones, a dji drone if ya fancy (and traveling in places where they are allowed). People seem split on whether to go with higher end camera mike ($$$) vs wireless lavaliers (sleeker, but a pain in the ass for battery issues) vs wired lavaliers (reliable, clunky). Most people have a Xoom or similar for certain circumstances, and that's pretty solid hardware even on older models.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:36 AM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Trent and Allie
The Indie Projects (and Theo just launched an offshoot channel to focus on photography)
Gone With The Wynns (see "cameras and computers")
Minimal List just made a three-part series on how they make their shows, starting here (and I think theirs is especially interesting because they're using cheaper-end equipment but are production industry professionals so are making very good use of what they've got)
It seems to boil down to one action camera (gopro, sony, or dji), one good dslr, one or two phones, a dji drone if ya fancy (and traveling in places where they are allowed). People seem split on whether to go with higher end camera mike ($$$) vs wireless lavaliers (sleeker, but a pain in the ass for battery issues) vs wired lavaliers (reliable, clunky). Most people have a Xoom or similar for certain circumstances, and that's pretty solid hardware even on older models.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:36 AM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Casey Niestat is a YouTuber who shoots a lot of travel footage and has videos about his gear. He mostly used a DSLR on a handheld gimbal (stabilizer) which looks amazing.
The downsides of his setup are that the DSLR Is heavier and bigger (more noticeable to bystanders) than shooting on a phone, DSLR audio often needs to by synced (not hard but it’s an extra step that can be a bit annoying) and the footage quality means more hard drive and computer memory are needed for editing.
Shooting on an iPhone XR or better, with a handheld gimbal and a lighting-attached mic, would also look great and have a somewhat easier workflow.
You’ll want a self-light for night shots too.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 11:16 AM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
The downsides of his setup are that the DSLR Is heavier and bigger (more noticeable to bystanders) than shooting on a phone, DSLR audio often needs to by synced (not hard but it’s an extra step that can be a bit annoying) and the footage quality means more hard drive and computer memory are needed for editing.
Shooting on an iPhone XR or better, with a handheld gimbal and a lighting-attached mic, would also look great and have a somewhat easier workflow.
You’ll want a self-light for night shots too.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 11:16 AM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]
Ed Pratt unicycled 22,000 miles around the world solo in 3 years and filmed most of the way. His videos include a listing of the equipment he used.
posted by Lexica at 4:49 PM on May 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Lexica at 4:49 PM on May 6, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Hey there guys I want to thank you all for pointing me in useful directions, and I figured if you took the time to answer you might want to hear the resolution.
So I ended up buying a GoPro 8 Black, with the intention to get the display mod when that is available soon, to aid in the vlogging / talk to the camera as I walk type of footage. I got an extended accessories set, so I can easily attach it to pretty much anything conceivable.
This weekend will be time to start testing it out and taking my little baby steps back into the public after it seems like a decade of "no comment". This dumb little askme comment becomes by default the official launch of what I hope will become a marginally profitable travel reportage / writing / vlogging type deal. I have unprivated a lot of my old old youtube channel, and will be using that as my platform initially. You can see (currently only old old) stuff here. I also went ahead and consolidated my 30 years of expat travels on a Google map here. I have a pretty extensive network of friends to retrace old steps, and plenty of appetite to push into parts unknown. But first things first, documenting life and culture in Yiwu, China.
Thanks again everybody! Let's see if some shit can be made to happen 6 months or so down the road...
posted by Meatbomb at 4:30 AM on May 8, 2020
So I ended up buying a GoPro 8 Black, with the intention to get the display mod when that is available soon, to aid in the vlogging / talk to the camera as I walk type of footage. I got an extended accessories set, so I can easily attach it to pretty much anything conceivable.
This weekend will be time to start testing it out and taking my little baby steps back into the public after it seems like a decade of "no comment". This dumb little askme comment becomes by default the official launch of what I hope will become a marginally profitable travel reportage / writing / vlogging type deal. I have unprivated a lot of my old old youtube channel, and will be using that as my platform initially. You can see (currently only old old) stuff here. I also went ahead and consolidated my 30 years of expat travels on a Google map here. I have a pretty extensive network of friends to retrace old steps, and plenty of appetite to push into parts unknown. But first things first, documenting life and culture in Yiwu, China.
Thanks again everybody! Let's see if some shit can be made to happen 6 months or so down the road...
posted by Meatbomb at 4:30 AM on May 8, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rdn at 10:29 AM on May 4, 2020 [1 favorite]