Get Your Equipment
I’ll do a more in depth article which will break down equipment lists and options in the future, but I’d be remiss not to give at least a brief overview of the most important part of what you’ll need to start your very own travel vlog – The Equipment!
Most people nowadays have a mobile phone in their pockets which are more than capable of capturing great footage for a travel vlog. The added benefit of using a smart phone for vlogging is that they will feature both front facing and back facing cameras. The back camera will be the higher quality camera and you can use this to capture footage of locations or events, and if you’re travelling with a friend or loved one, you can use the back cameras to film each other and present to camera.
The front camera is also super useful if you want to quickly record your thoughts or reactions to a place your visiting. The footage won’t match up to be quite as good as the back camera, but most audiences on YouTube will understand and be forgiving that a travel vlog is a type of documentary and whilst we’d all love to have the perfect shots, there is a lot of charm to the live nature of travel vlogs.
If you want to take things up a notch you could take a camera with you on your trips to capture photos and videos. DSLR, Mirrorless and even fixed lense cameras can all take amazing quality footage these days. Many cameras on the market are capable of recording footage at a quality that are used in TV shows and movies, and these are expensive, but prosumer friendly models are available in highstreet shops these days. Nikon, Panasonic and Canon are the big brands in these cameras and the quality in all of them has reached a level nowadays that any would do you a great service.
Other options include small handycams or GoPro cameras which are perhaps slightly more limited then DSLR cameras, but these are often more portable and will still get great quality footage.
Beyond the camera or smart phone to record the footage itself, you’ll also want to make sure that you have lots of memory cards and spare batteries for whichever option you plump for. There is nothing worse than being at a great location and you see your battery level go to red! Have spare batteries and portable batteries for your mobile.
