Don’t know what equipment to buy? Don’t worry, the video market is large, it can be confusing to navigate especially if you’re just starting out. I’ll help you out.
1. A Camera
Someone once told me “the best camera is the one you have on you”. Your phone works just fine if you’re just starting out. Have you seen how many cameras are on the new iphones? Don’t spend thousands of dollars on a new camera especially if you’re just starting out. My first YouTube videos were filmed on my phone, there are film festival videos shot on phones, don’t stress if you don’t have the newest fanciest 4k cannon.
2. A Tripod
Tripods are so important and such a good way to up your video game. It gives you so many unique angles, and makes shooting by yourself exponentially easier. Plus, it stabilizes your video for you. This is the Tripod I use.
3. A Microphone
I wish I would have gotten a microphone way earlier in my videography career. You can get a lavaliere for cheap on amazon, or invest in the microphone I have, the Q2U which I use for podcasts as well. Rode microphones are also super good quality. I highly recommend getting an external microphone to make your audio sound so much better.
4. Lighting
Lighting is essential to making a great video. But before you go out and buy thousands of dollars worth of lighting equipment, you can make good lighting for free. Use the sun! Especially is you don’t have money to spend on a lighting kit, natural lighting will give you soft shadows, hard shadows, and anything you’re going for based on the time of day. Experiment with different time of day and how that changes the lighting. But if you are looking to buy a fancy light kit I recommend this one. (Really any light kit from GVM is going to be good.)
5. Don’t Forget about Storage
Where is your video going? Do you have enough storage on your phone? Do you have the right SD card? Ask yourself these questions BEFORE going out to shoot. If you don’t have enough storage or the right kind of storage, you’re not going to even be able to shoot. I use an external hard drive (4TB) to backup all my work. It also gets my videos off my phone so I can have more storage to play around with. Even if your video is short, you are going to film more than you think. Get AT LEAST a 32 GB SD card!! SanDisk is a great brand for SD cards.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these things are essential for beginner videographers, but make sure to do your own research too. What piece of equipment works for me may not work for you. But most importantly, you need creativity! Sure, all these things are important for videos, but you need a good idea and a creative mind in order to pull everything off. Happy creating!
