The camera you choose will be the most influential tool used in the creation of your travel vlogs. I’ve purchased and used 3 cameras, the Lumix gx85 (bad purchase), the Lumix GH5 (ok purchase) and the Canon m50 (great purchase). I’ll explain why these were either bad or good purchases later but let me start by telling you what I think the most important features of a travel vlog camera are:
(ranked from most to least important)
Autofocus
Image Quality (color science, depth of field, low light performance, resolution)
Microphone Input Jack
Flip Screen
Stabilization
AUTOFOCUS
Autofocus is number 1 for me because if the shot isn’t in focus, nothing else matters. I’ve had 2 cameras with pretty terrible autofocus, (Lumix gx85 and Lumix GH5) and it is really really frustrating when you film yourself and the background is in focus or the camera is having a mini seizure trying to figure out what to focus on. Even when filming in 10 bit 4k on the Lumix GH5, if the shot is our of focus, none the beautiful sharpness or colors of 10 bit even matter. This is my biggest problem right now - the potential when the camera is in focus makes me pull the Lumix GH5 out and use it more often than it deserves. The Canon m50 is by far the best autofocus system i’ve used (it’s called dual pixel). Friends that use Sony also claim their cameras have great results but I have no experience with Sony as the lack of fully articulating screens has kept me away.
Some cameras with great autofocus: Canon m50 , Canon 6D II, Sony A7III, Sony A6500
IMAGE QUALITY
With travel vlogs, I quantify image quality by a cameras color science, depth of field, low light performance and resolution.
Color Science
Color science is all about how the picture looks right out of the camera. This will ALWAYS be a personal preference by whoever is making the videos. People will argue Sony has the best or Canon has the best or Nikon, but it’s like saying the Mona Lisa is better than The Starry Night. It’s all up to interpretation. For me, I like Canon color science the best (i also prefer starry night). The most important thing for me is not having to make color corrections while editing. Putting out 3 videos a week while traveling encourages me to streamline everything so I spend less time behind a screen and more time in nature. If you want to take the time to make color corrections, color science isn’t as important, but fair warning, it’s pretty tedious.
Depth of Field
Depth of field refers to the amount of the image that is in focus. When vlogging, it looks great when you are in focus and the background behind you is soft. It helps to highlight the subject whether it be you, a bird standing on a railing or a coconut half buried in the sand. If everything is in focus, it can be too much for the viewer to understand what you are trying to show them and you lose out on the intention of the shot. Think of a GoPro. It’s a great action camera but not a great vlogging camera because everything is in focus.
Low Light Performance
Low light performance is really important for vlogging every day stuff. For us, when we film in our bus at night or we shoot outside at sunset our shot is always pretty pixelated because none of our cameras are very good in low light. We do everything we can to get by, we use a LED hot shoe light and sometimes even the lights on our phones and it always looks really artificial. Having a camera that can perform well in these environments is a huge plus. Sony is known for being amazing in low light, but a lot will depend on the lens that you buy. A lens with a lower f stop will perform better in low light. Here’s my go to lens: Panasonic Lumix f/2.8
Resolution
Ok, this is a controversial one. When starting out, everyone thinks the higher the resolution I can film in, the better. So you will definitely need a camera that can film in 4k right? Well, there are a couple issues. First, editing 4k takes a while. Between creating proxies, rendering, exporting and uploading, your going to 3x or 4x the amount of time you spend waiting for your computer to process the files (depends on the quality of computer you have.) Ok so, big deal, I have to spend extra time but my videos are going to look great, who really cares? Well, the issue is, most people stream videos at 480p or 720p. Less than 1% of our audience watches our videos in 4k so after you factor that in, spending all that time and effort for less than 1% of the people that watch doesn’t really seem worth it. So what do we do? Well, we film and edit in 4k basically out of principle. After our 2015 MacBook Air kicked the bucket in El Salvador and I had to spend an absurd amount for a 2017 MacBook Pro, I have been justifying the purchase in my mind by using the computer to its fullest abilities by filming and editing in 4k. But deep down I know it’s not really worth it. If you’re just starting out, I would film and edit everything in 1080p. This is what we did for our first 2 years and it made our work flow much easier than it is now.
MICROPHONE INPUT JACK
Sound is so dang important. Think of it this way - if you’re watching a video and the image is a little messed up, it’s a little annoying but you can get by. But if there’s static or constant squeaking or peaking audio, it’s unbearable (for me anyways). If you’re going to be doing travel vlogs you’re probably going to be outside or in public places pretty frequently (unless you’re doing hotel room tours.) . You’re going to want a shot gun mic on your hot shoe to make sure your audio is crispy and the background noise/wind don’t drown you out. I like this mic: Rode VideoMic Pro+
FLIP SCREEN
You’re running around all day getting sick shots, the lighting is perfect, the location is beautiful, you’re delivery is impeccable. You close the vlog off with a witty pun that comes out of left field and you’re so excited to get into your editing chamber and see the masterpiece unfold in front of you. You import all the files, get yourself a glass of red wine, drag the first clip into the timeline, and… what’s that… it’s blurry. That’s weird. The next clip… also blurry. and the 3rd and 4th and all 172 clips you filmed that day because you accidentally had the camera on manual focus all day and had no idea because you couldn’t see yourself while filming. This is a non fiction story of myself and this is why every camera I vlog with going forward must have a flip screen. Remember using disposable cameras 10 years ago? You look through a little piece of glass and try to see what you’re taking a picture of but aren’t really sure until you get the photos developed? That’s what filming on a camera without a flip out screen is like. We had experience with a camera like this with our gx85 and had a minor panic attack every time we sat down to edit.
STABILIZATION
I put this at the end because it isn’t 100% necessary but definitely makes a huge difference. If you plan on filming a lot of B-Roll (basically any shots that aren’t of you or someone else talking) i’d recommend getting a camera with in-body stabilization or else the shots are going to be shakey. Also if you film while walking, each step you take is going to make the shot shake pretty bad. Stabilization really helps with this.