If you have truly amazing and unique content, then you might get away with using your smartphone. But to create quality videos you need the right equipment for cinematic and building aesthetics. Here is the list of basic equipment that you need to start vlogging.
Camera
The most important and obvious thing will be a nice and decent camera for your work. For beginners, you can get work done by your phone’s camera but as you progress in your career as a blogger you’ll need better equipment for high-quality videos
You’ll need a lens that will cater to your needs and a nice DSLR so you can get your work captured in HD resolutions
Getting an expensive camera isn’t the only fix for the problem, you’ll have to learn all the functionality present on the camera and they vary from purpose to purpose. There is a lot to learn about a camera and one has to put their time and effort into learning and practicing all its details
Most people opt for go-pro and a web camera too and they prove efficient depending on the type of work you’re doing. These are just examples of what you must have on with you for vlogging, the real decision relies on the type of work, genre wants, and most importantly your budget.
Drone
Drones are becoming more and more common in today’s world. They are used in vlogging, weddings, parties, and all kinds of events that need an Arial shoot of the event. Vloggers use these drones to put special effects in their blogs. You’ll find most travel vloggers using drones to get the maximum landscape they are visiting and that is one of the most interesting parts of the video.
Drones arena an expensive investment but they are surely worth it. They’ll give you everything from a stable shoot to an Arial shot, a video of the place you can’t reach yourself and a very cool landscape shot too. Learning the drone and taking of it is also a hassle but it’s worth it as you can see yourself the result of drones in the vlogs of famous people are self-explaining why one should have a drone for vlogging.
Spare batteries
If you’re planning on making a vlog a little far from your house or you’re making a travel vlog, spare batteries and power banks are a must-have. They don’t seem of much use till you get to a point where there is no electricity easily available and you’re in front of an epic view without the battery in your camera, GoPro, your mobile, or your drone.
Spare batteries are as important as any one of the gear you need for vlogging and one shouldn’t just miss out on them when planning a trip to film for vlogging.
Tripod Stand
A tripod stand is also a must-have for vloggers, it’s the basic necessity as you can’t have a person hold the camera with such stillness, and you’ll need a more permanent way of holding the camera rather than a human being
You can have a tripod or a quad-pod, whatever you’re comfortable with while making your videos. They are very economical but it is advised to go for a more reliable one to ensure your camera safety so that it can last longer.
No matter how strongly you hold your camera, there are chances of getting shaken footage. Gimbal stabilizers are specialized to balance your camera and smoothen out your video even when you’re moving fast. It’s a great investment and also worth the price.
Just like a gimbal, you’ll find many different stands that will help you secure the video device you’re using and let you get the perfect video clips for your vlog.
Microphone
Now that we have set the video quality, it’s time to talk about audio quality! No one likes background noise of any kind unless the context requires it to be like that. The audio quality can be enhanced by using a good microphone in a nice environment where there is minimal background noise and minimal people. In case of compulsion of making in a video where there is a bit of noise, you’ll need a better-directed microphone so you can get audio from the selected person or thing only. You’ll need to further use noise reduction software’s just in case to optimize it further.
USB microphones are considered standard picks for YouTube. They are popular due to the ease of support and their sound quality.
Shotgun microphones are in trend because of their sound quality and affordability. They are a reliable option for video recording with a small camera
Lighting
Lighting is important for a good quality video. We need to give people better lighting. The video made cannot have dark spots or difficulty of any kind for the user. If the lighting isn’t proper your viewers will have a difficult time grabbing the sense of your video and the video will lose its essence.
Ring lights are famous among vloggers as they provide light all around the subject. Most beauty and makeup vloggers use this type of light because it lights up the face and removes shadows.
If you want to record wedding videos or documentaries you should go for on-camera lighting as it provides continuous lighting and can be mounted on cameras.
Umbrella lighting is an inexpensive and portable alternative for soft-box because they also provide soft lighting.
Video editing software
When you’ll be done collecting your hardware equipment you would need good video editing software along with a decent graphics card in your personal computer or laptop. Editing software can help you modify your video according to your liking.
Adobe premiere is a popular choice that most YouTubers opt for editing their videos. It offers a wide range of editing elements like trimming, freeze frame, and bounce-back effects. You can turn your videos into high-quality content that your viewers will love and might end up subscribing to your channel.
You can have the best video clips with great audio and quality but without the proper compilation of the mentioned, they won’t reflect the true purpose and art of your vlog. You’ll need to learn a video editing software or get a person to edit it for you. But the little details in the animation and compilation of the video is the final touch you need for the vlog to become successful and liked by people.
Along with all these gear and equipment, you’ll need to be consistent in your work and learning and experiencing how to use these gears. Having these gears is one thing and having a strong grip on using them is another. You cannot learn them all in one day and you should try to have a tight grip on every one of these ones by one