YouTube Video Gear

My workhorse camera for video and the occasional still shot. Way more capable than I am, with solid 4K capabilities. Sony has its challenges, but it seems to be a bit of a YouTube standard so it's easy to get settings and ideas.

My primary lens for video and general photography. Good image quality and low-light performance, without the wallet shattering cost of the Sony GM lenses.

A travel tripod is great for location shooting or keeping your video game going on the road. I have the photo version with a ballhead that came out before this video version.

I tend to use OEM batteries with my cameras. They're too expensive to trust to knockoffs in my opinion. I got a couple free Sony batteries via rebates and the A7IV is pretty coservative with batteries so you could get by with 1 extra.

Definitely in the nice to have category since you can charge the battery in-camera, I still like an external charger. For travel, I just use the USB-C cable directly to the camera although I find it's much slower than an external charger.

A more traditional action cam, I use mine for bicycle and travel and water-related videos.

I recently went 'mainstream' and got the DJI Wireless Mic 2. I was very happy with the Sansom unit below, but basically had a bad case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and wanted to try something new. It's been good after a couple videos, but I'll update this text as I get more experience with the unit.

I like wireless lapel mics since I'm not an audio engineer and record in a room with a lot of echo. This set isn't as popular as the DJI wireless mics, but works great, is compact, and has a nice protective case that also charges the set.

A shotgun mic works well when you can't put a mic on everyone or want to get ambient audio.

These are pretty much the industry standard for audio, and I usually use these for editing and mixing my audio.

Lighting is still a bit of a dark art to me (pun intended), but you need a good primary or key light. Amaran is the budget brand of industry standard Aputure. This is a solid light, and I like that all the Amaran and Aputure stuff communicates via their app, which allows you to turn on and adjust all your lights with a couple taps on your phone.

A softbox diffuses the rather harsh light and casts a soft, even light on your subject. It acts a bit like an umbrella so it can be stored and transported as needed.

Stick lights can be used as fill lights, to add a splash of background color, or for effects like lightning strikes and police lights. There are cheaper options, but this works with the Amaran/Aputure app.

Similar to the above, but smaller and more portable. When traveling, I'll use a couple of these lights for a small portable lighting setup.