You don't need gear... but sometimes it's nice to have 🎞

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Greetings, friends -

We often get questions from people who are interested in creating content about camera gear. "What kind of camera do you use?" or "What setup do you guys use to shoot your videos?"

Some of you may be wondering this too, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to share our answer to these questions in this week's newsletter.

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The short answer is that you need very little gear to create good videos. The most important thing at the end of the day is the content itself - and shooting that content on a slightly higher quality device is often not the priority as compared to just coming up with a better content idea in the first place.

When we started shooting our videos, we used a very simple setup with a point and shoot camera and external microphone. That was it. Others we know have made full length YouTube videos entirely using their iPhones, and, to the average viewer, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of content shot this way.

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With that said, however, we've definitely accumulated some more advanced gear as we've spent more time shooting videos for YouTube. On the camera side, we've upgraded from the point and shoot to using a full size DSLR camera, specifically a Sony A7Siii. This camera is an absolute beast, especially when paired with a FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM lens (perfect for most scenarios for casual vloggers).

On top of this, just this week, we acquired a small rig for our main shooting camera which incorporates a side grip (for more of a balanced hold while shooting), a handle above the camera (for low shots or for easy transporting), and more docking stations for additional camera attachments like microphones or lights. This was something we've wanted for a while, and which we anticipate will be super helpful as we continue to shoot more videos like our most recent upload, which saw me following Em around with a camera as she did her first week at BJJ.

Finally, audio is an area that we've always taken very seriously. In our experience, having mid-tier video quality is somewhat acceptable to a lot of people (again, if the underlying content is really good, and if the focus of the video isn't specifically on visuals), but poor quality audio makes almost anything near-unbearable to watch or listen to. We like audio devices from Røde, and have in particular enjoyed using the Wireless Go II for its flexibility of use and audio quality generally.

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We anticipate shooting more videos where we'll be moving and capturing moments on the fly, and having the specific gear we've purchased definitely helps us capture those moments better, and ultimately make better content for our channel!

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