What I Use to Record my YouTube Videos
BEHIND THE SCENES OF TORONTO REAL
One of the first things on my list of to do's when I decided to embark on my YouTuber journey with the Toronto Real podcast was to figure out what kind of camera I needed. I was looking for something simple, that was easy to use, that could be operated by only one person and relatively inexpensive. I did a bit of research on YouTube to see what some of the prominent YouTubers were using, and although most of them were using cameras in the $1000 range, many of them made sure to say that gears didn't matter. The best camera is the one you have. Casey Neistat, a prominent filmmaker and YouTuber, recently did a really neat video called Casey Neistat's Guide to Filmmaking where he explains and shows the differences between various cameras ranging from about a hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars. You can see the different results from each, but they all do a good job, enabling the creators to tell a story, which is the most important thing and requires the most attention.
In my case I had (still have) an iPhone 5c. Studying the scenes on London Real TV, I noticed that they use at least 3 cameras (one of the host, one on the guest and one on both of them at the same time). So I figured I probably needed at least one more camera so that I could have one to capture the guest and one to capture both of us. I think it's a good idea to have at least two cameras, not only to be able to capture different angles, but also as a back up in case on of them fail during the interview. This is something that has helped me from the very first interview. When I was recording my conversation with Jade, the alarm on my phone when on and as a result it stop recording. But since there were two cameras recording at the same time, the other one kept going while I restarted the phone.
USING THE IPHONE
Using the phone for long movies is a little tricky. There's only so much space your phone can take. Being that I didn't have plans to record videos with my phone at the time I purchased it, I chose the one with 16GB of storage as opposed to 32GB. I quickly realized that I had to make sure I took out all my songs and images from the phone so that it can record for a long period of time. With about 10GB of space, I can record about 2 hours. When I have an interview coming up, I typically un-sync all my songs, audiobooks, apps that I don't use and photos to have the required amount of space to record my conversation. Another important tip is to turn on the Airplane Mode before recording so you don't get a phone call during the interview, which will automatically stop the recording if the phone does ring. I put the phone in selfie mode so it's easy to see what will be recorded and the phone is held by a GripTight Mount on top of an Action Clamp and GorillaPod Arm attached to the table. This was my set up for the first couple interviews. But I wanted it to be a little higher so I got a inexpensive mid-Size Tripod
to hold the camera instead. I recently learned that the quality of the image on the selfie side is not as good as the one on the back of the phone, so I plan to start recording the other way the next time around and see if I can get a better image.
USING THE CAMCORDER
The camcorder is a little more complex to operate than the iPhone but offers more recording time, provided that you get a good memory card because the one that came with the one I bought didn't have a lot of storage so I bought a 32GB memory card to be able to record in HD. The camcorder is located on the conference table facing both of us on the same tripod I got from a local store.
USING TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAMERA
One thing I noticed about using different cameras is that the image is not the same. The colors don't look quite the same. I'm still playing around with the various settings on the camcorder and also while editing to correct it as much as possible, but I imagine having two similar cameras would eliminate that issue. Something to keep in mind.
Below are affiliate links to the equipments I use :
One of the first things on my list of to do's when I decided to embark on my YouTuber journey with the Toronto Real podcast was to figure out what kind of camera I needed. I was looking for something simple, that was easy to use, that could be operated by only one person and relatively inexpensive. I did a bit of research on YouTube to see what some of the prominent YouTubers were using, and although most of them were using cameras in the $1000 range, many of them made sure to say that gears didn't matter. The best camera is the one you have. Casey Neistat, a prominent filmmaker and YouTuber, recently did a really neat video called Casey Neistat's Guide to Filmmaking where he explains and shows the differences between various cameras ranging from about a hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars. You can see the different results from each, but they all do a good job, enabling the creators to tell a story, which is the most important thing and requires the most attention.
In my case I had (still have) an iPhone 5c. Studying the scenes on London Real TV, I noticed that they use at least 3 cameras (one of the host, one on the guest and one on both of them at the same time). So I figured I probably needed at least one more camera so that I could have one to capture the guest and one to capture both of us. I think it's a good idea to have at least two cameras, not only to be able to capture different angles, but also as a back up in case on of them fail during the interview. This is something that has helped me from the very first interview. When I was recording my conversation with Jade, the alarm on my phone when on and as a result it stop recording. But since there were two cameras recording at the same time, the other one kept going while I restarted the phone.
USING THE IPHONE
Using the phone for long movies is a little tricky. There's only so much space your phone can take. Being that I didn't have plans to record videos with my phone at the time I purchased it, I chose the one with 16GB of storage as opposed to 32GB. I quickly realized that I had to make sure I took out all my songs and images from the phone so that it can record for a long period of time. With about 10GB of space, I can record about 2 hours. When I have an interview coming up, I typically un-sync all my songs, audiobooks, apps that I don't use and photos to have the required amount of space to record my conversation. Another important tip is to turn on the Airplane Mode before recording so you don't get a phone call during the interview, which will automatically stop the recording if the phone does ring. I put the phone in selfie mode so it's easy to see what will be recorded and the phone is held by a GripTight Mount on top of an Action Clamp and GorillaPod Arm attached to the table. This was my set up for the first couple interviews. But I wanted it to be a little higher so I got a inexpensive mid-Size Tripod
to hold the camera instead. I recently learned that the quality of the image on the selfie side is not as good as the one on the back of the phone, so I plan to start recording the other way the next time around and see if I can get a better image.USING THE CAMCORDER
The camcorder is a little more complex to operate than the iPhone but offers more recording time, provided that you get a good memory card because the one that came with the one I bought didn't have a lot of storage so I bought a 32GB memory card to be able to record in HD. The camcorder is located on the conference table facing both of us on the same tripod
I got from a local store.USING TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAMERA
One thing I noticed about using different cameras is that the image is not the same. The colors don't look quite the same. I'm still playing around with the various settings on the camcorder and also while editing to correct it as much as possible, but I imagine having two similar cameras would eliminate that issue. Something to keep in mind.
Below are affiliate links to the equipments I use :
