What Video Equipment is Required to Start a Youtube Channel?

Many video entrepreneurs would love to have their own YouTube channel, but most haven’t considered the video equipment required to start a YouTube channel before jumping in feet first. Today, there are so many different types of microphones, video cameras, webcams, sports cameras, etc., how can you tell which is the best? How can you get the best picture quality? How do you make the audio sound great? These are all questions frequently asked by today’s video freelance professionals.

We have compiled a list of the basic gear and other video equipment required to start a YouTube channel from the video above. Below is a list of gear you would most likely need on a day-to-day basis, regardless of what kind of channel you want to start or content you want to share.

For the Vlogger

The cheapest and simplest way to get started on YouTube is to jump into vlogging or video blogging. The gear necessary from the standpoint of the video equipment required to start a YouTube Channel for vlogging is pretty minimal; when creating vlogs (video blogs), the focus needs to be on what you’re saying rather than what you’re showing. The message in your vlog is the main reason your audience would tune into your channel (tutorial, product review, movie previews, etc.). For this purpose, your equipment does not need to be too fancy (think garageband). These 4 pieces will get you well on your way as a vlogger:



Hand Held Camera

A good option for vlogging is a hand-held camera such as a GoPro or a handheld camera. You will need a camera that is very portable, lightweight and easy to use on the go.

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Cell Phone Camera

Cell phone cameras from any commercial smartphone these days have more than adequate video quality to record a vlog. Just be sure to always hold your smartphone camera horizontally as keeping them vertical can be quite uncomfortable for the viewer. (Is a movie screen wider than it is tall? Your video should be, too!)

Webcam

These are not as great in quality as cell phone cameras or handheld cameras, but they are usually easy to find, cheap to buy, and they get the job done. Plus, you probably already have one. As mentioned before, your voice and message are more important in a vlog than the quality of the video.

DSLRS

If quality is an absolute must for you, which is fine since you are on a video sharing platform, a DSLR is your best bet to get started. The video quality it offers is nearly professional and you can zoom in and focus with these cameras, as well as shoot full-length HD videos with ease. They do provide an ultra cool “film” look, but they sure won’t come cheap.



Video Equipment Required to Start a YouTube Channel with Game Commentary

For Console
For those who like to vlog about gaming and create a lot of gaming commentaries, a good device to record your games is a capture card. It lets you dub your commentary on top of live console gameplay. All you need to do with this is connect it to your gaming console, television set, and computer through the HDMI in/out and let it record – it’s that simple! It will then keep recording as long as it’s connected and you can edit out the parts that you don’t want. You don’t need to click to start recording and the quality is also amazing.

For PC
For PC gaming, the best equipment to use includes Fraps or DXtory to record the footage. If your PC gets bogged down while recording certain games, you can also run your PC through an external capture card with the help of an HDMI cable to remove some of the lag.

In general however, starting a video game channel on YouTube, is very different both in terms of tips about how you build subscribers, get video views and the equipment you need in order to be successful and making money by publishing videos of you playing video games.

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Microphones

Voice quality is another important element of a good YouTube video, and to get the absolute clearest sound, all you need is a very simple, stripped down microphone such as the Logitech ClearChat. This one is so simple and free of extra features that it can easily capture RAW audio straight to your computer without any filters or compression. Plus, it is extremely cheap and great for traveling.

For a little more advanced recording at home, a Blue Snowball microphone is one of the best you can find. This is a very simple USB plugged right into your computer. It is easy to use and gives pure quality sound. Simply a condenser mike, a Blue Snowball microphone is a good idea as you can also get a pop filter with it to neutralize the plosive sounds (b, d, p, etc.) when recording. One word of caution: this mic is very sensitive, so make sure you don’t have any background noise when recording with it.

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For The Adventurous And Sporty

For those who like to record a lot of action and just go out and do a lot of crazy stuff like skydiving, extreme sports, and skateboard tricks, you cannot do better than a GoPro. These are very small hand-held cameras that are extremely strong – nothing will break these cameras! They also shoot extremely high-quality video and can fall from just about any height, be used and abused in any way.

Action cameras are very simple to operate, super-small, and come in a hard-as-nails case, which in itself is pretty indestructible. You can also take these underwater.

For sick aerial videos and offering your viewers an interesting visual perspective, you might also consider adding a drone to your gear bag. Even with the most recent release of the DJI Mavic 2, my DJI Mavic Air is more than plenty to grab amazing footage and share my island home of Cozumel, Mexico with others.

Check out this quick tall ship chase video I recently posted to my own YouTube channel:

In Conclusion

Starting your own YouTube channel can be quite easy and most definitely fun! There does not need to be a great expense involved when selecting the video equipment required to start a YouTube channel. The basic gear listed above will give you a good start as a freelance video professional on YouTube. Remember! It is not the equipment that makes your channel; it is the voice of that channel that builds the audience and the techniques you use to get professional video results! You need to have something that your audience finds interesting, a passion for something that you want to share with others. That is what will really make people watch you, like your videos and build YouTube channel subscribers. If you don’t have that, all of the latest and greatest equipment in the world will be useless.

https://videotoorder.com/blog/build-youtube-channel-subscribers/

Ruben Roel

Ruben Roel is a Marketing Professional based out of Dallas, TX. He is the Executive Editor for Vtrep. Fluently speaks digital media, small business development, and search engine marketing. Ruben can be reached via email: editor@vtrep.com

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