Upgrading your studio is every content creator's dream. Having a simple set up which is easy to use is also is the goal. But doing it in a small apartment was a challenge.
Finally have something easier! Hope you get value from this video.
Over the years, I've changed many things and gone bigger and smaller in terms of equipment.
Incase you’d like know what things I used to upgrade my Studio Set or you would like to upgrade your studio up like mine read on because I share all the trade secrets to my set up.
Camera - ZV1
Lots of research went into getting this as my go to camera for my "vlogs" and art videos. I touch on this in the video but having a budget friendly 4K video camera has been a game changer for me. I've heard a buzz that youtube pushes 4K videos in the algorithm.
4K does load the system a lot, but if you find a way to simply your shooting and footage it can take half a day to edit your videos, make sure you're not editing on optimized footage because that puts a lot of load on your system.
Lights
Earlier I had invested in LED lights, which were economical and excellent. But with time they began to flicker and I needed to upgrade my lights. Truth is that I didn't really know that much about lighting because in news channels we depended mostly on outside light or the camera light (which is very strong and is basically a spotlight). In my job with the production company I had to relearn lighting and honestly I'm still learning so much. It's with fantastic youtube videos on basic light set ups which I learned that a soft box as your main light is a great investment.
I got a the Godox Light with the octagon soft box reflector mostly because it gave my eyes the perfect catch light. This has become my main light for my face, when placed ahead of me with the camera, it gives the perfect soft shadow behind and looks super balanced.
I did use a back light which separated my face with the backdrop (this I recently applied in my videos) I don't have a RGB light yet (since right now I don't have the budget for that expense) but would recommend you getting one if you can afford it. Word of caution thought is that don't go for the cheap RGB lights, I did and mine stopped working after the return widow closed so I'm stuck with a light that doesn't work.
What I did use to separate the backdrop was a simple ring light behind which my daughter Zoe was operated (with the small switch) which is why you'd hear her laughing in the video. Later on I'm going to experiment with lights on the backdrop so lets see how that works out. For that I'm gonna planning for a good quality RGB LED light. That too in addition will be a game changer because you don't have to keep changing your backdrop, the light would do that for you.
Audio
My Audio has also been upgraded. The SonyZV1 comes with an excellent mic however because its far away it captures a lot of ambient sounds as well. So as a secondary audio recorder I got a Zoom H1n Recorder I once long time ago saw one of India's leading wedding photographers use this to record separately and I loved the quality. There are many Zoom recorders I think the latest one is the Zoom H5 Four-Track Portable Recorder and there are even exclusive Podcast recorders which are all great. But I that those were way more specialized and high end, where for my content needs I was happy with the budget friendly first generation recorder.
The only challenge is syncing the sound when you edit so you need to plan your shots in a way that you record at the same time so its easier to do that.
Small Space Adjustments
When you have a small space, investing the right equipment becomes important. One of our plans later on, would be to move cameras from the floor space to ceiling mounts. But that's just a plan, it's hard to implement this in a home studio set up, but we have taken away the concept of a "living room" in our apartment and make the entire set up to work for us to maximize on space.
So my husband has his office space, my daughter has her play space, and school homework space. We have an area where we eat our meals which now doubles up as a shooting spot for me as well.
That said, there are always going to be tweaks you'd want to keep doing. Over the past 12 years since I left main stream job, its always about keeping upto date with the latest gizmos and working on maximizing whatever you can afford and manage. Hope this post and video help you get an idea to transform your space, or learn how to make the most with what you have. Eventually content is king, but with the equipment worries out of the way, I can now focus on getting on with content creation.