Tools I Use

This is the gear I use for the standard Video Creators videos. Interviews and different shooting environments may call for gear other than what’s listed here, but these are my go-to staples for the majority of my videos.

Camera: Panasonic GH5s – This is my main production camera because it has professional 4K video, allows for a great deal of color grading, and is very small and portable. It gives you much more control over the image and the quality of the video than a DSLR does.

Lens: Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8 II – This is my main lens. It adds some extra image stabilization and enough zoom to properly frame a subject that’s further away. The camera has a cropped sensor, so this lens is effectively a 24-70mm lens.

Memory Card: SanDisk 64GB Extreme PRO SDXC – Whenever you’re shooting in 4K resolution you want to make sure you’re using a card that can write the video files to the disk as fast as the camera is shooting it. Otherwise, if the card can’t keep up with the camera your camera will constantly stop recording at the most inopportune times. This card keeps up with my Panasonic GH5s with no issues at all.

Shotgun/Boom Microphone: Rode NTG-3 – I love this mic! In fact, whenever I’m in my studio, this is the mic I’m using. It picks up great audio, better than the lavalieres or other shotgun mics. It has a much fuller and more natural tone than it’s cheaper counterparts. Since sound makes or breaks an otherwise mediocre video, it’s important that I capture audio that feels like a natural conversation rather than something that sounds forced, hollow, tinty, or whatnot. Don’t skimp out on audio!

Boompole: Rode Micro Boompole – While the Rode NTG-3 can be mounted on a camera as a shotgun mic, you’ll get the best result by having the mic as close to the audio source as possible. That’s why I use this pole to hold the mic just out of frame with the shockmount below.

Shoutmount: Pearstone Shockmount – You need a way of attaching the shotgun microphone to the boompole. This is what I use because it isolates the mic from any external vibrations, like hand rubs on the pole or accidentally bumping the pole against something.

Wired Lapel Mic: Tascam DR-10L – Whenever I’m shooting outdoors, I almost always use this and clip it under my shirt. It’s so quick to setup and use, records the audio at different levels so I don’t accidentally clip and distort the audio, and runs for up to 10 hours on one little AAA battery. It records the audio directly onto a micro SD card and clips onto my belt or fits in my pocket. If there’s several of us in the shot, I clip one of these to each speaker and record each speaker’s audio separately. Later I take audio off the recorder and sync each speaker’s audio to the video.

Studio Lighting: Pro Travel Lighting Kit – I originally bought these lights for a big shoot I was doing overseas, but now I use them as my main kit in my studio. These look soooo good compared to cheaper lighting setups. The quality of the light from this set for video is amazing. I love them!

Live Streaming Lighting: Chinese Lanterns – I hang a Chinese Lantern on each side of my desk for lighting my face when I live stream from my computer. Over time I discovered they do a great job at lighting my office in general, and now I use them to light the shots of any video I shoot in my office in general. They’re inexpensive and do a great job at casting a soft light evenly around the room in every direction. You’ll also need a cord and hanging kit along with daylight LED bulbs.

Grey Card: Lastolite EzyBalance Grey Card – If you have a camera that lets you set custom white balance so it accurately records all the colors it’s capturing (instead of using the default modes of sunny, florescent, cloudy, shade, etc.), you’ll need a grey card to properly tell your camera what colors look like in your lighting environment. I use this one because it’s small, compact, and is easy for me to pack when I travel.

Tripod: Manfrotto 055XPROB – For years I used a cheap plastic tripod, which worked fine when I was using lightweight equipment, but it became increasingly wobbly and difficult to adjust. Plus, I didn’t feel safe trusting a tiny insecure plastic clamp to keep my camera from falling, so I switched to this tripod and love it! It’s very sturdy, safe, and allows for some pretty creative shooting angles.

Tripod Head: Manfrotto 128RC Fluid Head – Since the Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod does not come with a head, this is the one I purchased. It makes very small adjustments very easy and smooth, and it is a great substitute for a slider to get those slow, cinematic motion shots.

Camera Bag: Lowepro Flipside 300 AW II Camera Backpack – I’ve used a lot of camera bags and, while they all have pros and cons, I do love this bag. The front pocket is a bit snug for anything more than a few extra batteries and an iPad, but the main compartment fits pretty much everything else. I especially love that I can strap a tripod and light stand onto this thing with no problem.

I’ve used several different camera and gear setups for vlogging, but this is what I’m currently using. It works very well for me.

Camera: Canon G7x Mark II – This is easily my favorite vlogging camera. I use it for b-roll on Video Creators, as well. It has a fast f/1.8 lens, which makes it great for getting some shallow depth of field as well as shooting in low light settings indoors. It also has built-in image stabilization, which is a must if you’re shooting hand-held vlog shots. Plus, there’s a flip-up screen so you can see a preview of yourself and frame up your shot. It’s also small enough to fit in your pocket and it turns on quickly so you can get that spur-of-the-moment shot. Great little camera!

Camera: GoPro Hero 4 Black – The GoPro is my back-up vlogging camera. I use this to get additional footage for the vlog for a time lapse or to mount in the corner of the room and get a good, wide shot of all the action. This used to be my main vlogging camera, but the audio it captures is kind of weak, there’s no image stabilization, and low light video clips indoors is pretty grainy.

Memory Card: SanDisk Extreme 64GB UHS-I/U3 Micro SDXC – While a 64GB card may be overkill for some cameras, the GoPro shoots in 4K, which means it creates file sizes that are much larger than standard 1080p definition. I also use this card because it writes the video files to the card fast enough to keep up with what I’m shooting so errors don’t occur.

Protective Stuff: GoPro Protective Lens and Mount – Since I don’t shoot the GoPro inside the waterproof case in order to capture better audio, I want to be able to quick toss the camera into my pocket, a backpack, or the diaper bag without worrying about scratching the exposed lens. So I just slip the lens protector on and wrap the camera in the frame mount. I even looped a wrist strap through the holes in the bottom of the frame mount to help eliminate accidental camera drops.

Camera Mount: GoPro Jaws Flex Clamp – I bought this because it’s the most versatile way to mount the GoPro to pretty much anything you want. I use this when mounting the GoPro to the car dashboard for car vlogs, I attach it to a desk to capture a time lapse video, or to clamp the camera in a discrete part of the room as a hidden camera.

Batteries: Wasabi Power Battery (2-Pack) and Dual Charger – The GoPro comes with a single battery, which lasts for about one full day of vlogging (about 30-40 minutes of recording time), but when you’re out having fun vlogging with your family, you don’t want to accidentally find that the camera was turned on inside the backpack and drained the battery. That’s why I always carry and extra battery or two with me.

Tripod Mount: GoPro Tripod Mount – Sometimes I want to lock the GoPro down on a traditional tripod instead of the Jaws Flex Clamp. This is what I use to do that.

Portable Tripod: SwitchPod – I love this tripod so much! It’s small, portable, and rigid. It solidly holds any camera, including heavy DSLRs. Plus, with a ball-head mount, it quickly converts into a great tripod. This is my go-to tripod for vlogging and on-the-go shots.

Portable Tripod: Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Flexible Mini Tripod w/ BH1-01EN Ball Head – This tripod is also small and portable, but it’s flexible so I can wrap the legs around almost anything and get a good shot from weird and out-of-the-way places. The SwitchPod is my preference for normal vlogging, though.

Here’s the hardware and software I use to edit all my videos, both for Video Creators and our family’s vlogging channel.

Computer Platform: Apple iMac – We’re pretty big Mac fans around here. Nothing against PC, but we like how the systems are designed for creative work, so we tend to do most of our work on Macs.

Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro – I edit pretty much everything Premiere Pro, with the exception of occasionally hopping over to Adobe After Effects for some special tasks. It has a bit of a learning curve to it if you’re coming from something like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, but learning it is definitely worth it. Your videos will be more professional and you’ll edit your videos much faster than before. When I first started with Premiere Pro I went through the Premiere Pro Essentials Training on Lynda.com, which takes about 8 hours to complete, but will save you much more time in trying to figure it all out yourself. If you want to edit with something that’s more basic and cheaper, I recommend using Adobe Premiere Elements.

Thumbnail Software: Adobe Photoshop – We edit all our thumbnails and other graphics in Photoshop just because it’s pretty simple to use, yet has all of the advanced features you could ever want to design a stunning thumbnail graphic.

Audio Software: Adobe Audition – We use Adobe Audition anytime we need to edit our audio. That includes improving the audio for a video or even editing entire podcast episodes.

Thumbnail A/B Testing: TubeBuddy – While there’s a lot of YouTube channel management tools built into TubeBuddy, we primarily use it to A/B test thumbnails on our videos.

Data Analysis: VidIQ – We use VidIQ’s Chrome extension around here a lot, primarily to get a useful look at the data of other people’s videos on YouTube. We use it a lot when researching content and developing YouTube strategies for clients.

Thumbnail Design: Custom Thumbnails – My wife uses these guys a lot to create amazing thumbnails designed for her videos. They know the insides and out of YouTube thumbnails, what generates traffic, and what doesn’t. Highly recommend!

Video Studio Setup: Create a Professional Video Studio – If you want all the details on how to setup a professional studio for your videos or for live streaming, my friends at Live Streaming Pros put together a great course with all those details. It was helpful for me as I planned out my own studio.

I have equipment that’s a bit more specialized in its usage. I don’t use this gear too often, but when I do there’s usually no substitute for it.

Lens: Panasonic Leica 12mm f/1.4 – This is the main lens I use whenever I’m in a dark environment and need to let more light into the camera for better image. It’s also great in low light and gives a natural depth-of-field.

Black Background: Savage Seamless Background Paper – If you’ve seen any of my recent videos you know that I have a black background behind me. This is what it is. Just a big simple role of black paper. There’s other black materials you could use, like a black wall or cloth, but I like paper the best because it reflects the least amount of light giving it the best look.

Background Support System: Impact 12′ Support System – Of course, having a big role of black paper for your background is worthless if you can’t hang it behind you. I use this support system for the role of black paper because it allows me to role up the paper role when I’m not using it. That way I can protect the paper from my kids who often kick balls around in the room.

Budget Lighting: Impact Soft n’ Natural Kit – While these are not the actual lights I use, these are the ones I recommend for most in-home use if you’re on a budget. They’ll give you a lot of flexibility and will really help you get vibrant colors from your shot.

Wireless Mic: Sennheiser EW 100 ENG G3-A – Sound quality is more important than video quality because people will be forgiving of a shaky camera and poor lighting, but if the audio quality sounds bad, people will quickly abandon your video and deem it as unprofessional. So having a decent microphone for your videos is definitely important and this is one of the best. I’ve wasted my money on cheaper wireless mics before that introduce static and pops into the audio. You get what you pay for and this mic is great.

Microphone Wind Muff: Rode NTG-3 Dead Cat – Having this is a must if you ever shoot outdoors. It breaks down the wind and stills the air around the microphone so you get clean and clear audio even on windy days.

Audio Recorder: Zoom H4N – Of course, you need a way to record the audio from the shotgun microphone. Since it doesn’t connect directly to the DSLR camera I record audio directly into the Zoom H4N and then sync the audio with the video clip in Adobe Premiere Pro (and easy process that takes about 5 seconds). This recorder has a lot of other great features, too, including two solid on-board microphones if you want to use it as a handheld recorder.

DSLR Compatible Shotgun Microphone: Rode VideoMic Pro – Since the Rode NTG-2 doesn’t connect directly into my camera, if I’m out filming on my own I’ll use this microphone. It mounts directly on top of my DSLR and connects directly into the audio-in jack in the camera. It does great as long as the audio sources are close to the camera. That’s usually when I set my camera lens to 17mm to get a good wide angle so I can get my camera as close to the audio source as possible.

Interview Microphone: Shure SM58-LC – This handheld mic is amazing for interviews, even in extremely loud environments, like convention floors. It picks up only audio sources that are directly in front of it and blocks out everything else, giving me very clean sound even if explosions are going off all around us (not that I’ve tested it in that environment, but you get the point).

Camera Handheld Mount: Vello ActionPan Grip – Sometimes I want to get a running shot that’s close to the ground or just need to get a firm grip on the camera in a way that doesn’t cause it to shake. This helps me get those moving shots while providing more stability for the camera.

Camera Stabilization: Zhiyun Crane v2 Gimbal – This is a great tool for those silky smooth, cinematic shots. It takes a bit of practice to really use effectively, but the shots you get from this are just beautiful.

Portable Light: VILTROX Super Slim LED Light Panel – Lighting tends to be big and bulky, but not this light. It’s very slim, fits perfectly into the back flap of the backpack, is bright, adjustable, and runs for a long time on one battery charge.

Portable Light Stand: Manfrotto 156BLB Black Mini Kit Stand – There’s not many portable light stands out there that you can pack onto a travel backpack, are study, and still extend to be pretty much standing height. This is one of the few.

While much of my business relies on video equipment, a lot of it is also based on my website here at videocreators.com. These are the tools that keep this place running smoothly and securely.

Web Hosting: Pagely.com – My website is built on WordPress and no one hosts WordPress better than Pagely. Their service is optimized to keep WordPress running as fast and smoothly as possibly. I used to pay a lot of money to patch together a system of multiple services to keep my site quick and responsive until I switched to these guys. Now they do it all for me for about half the cost.

Alternate Web Hosting: Stablehost – Since Pagely only supports WordPress, I have other sites and scripts hosted with Stablehost, which supports pretty much everything. So far my experience with them has been great. Super affordable, fast sites, and quick customer support.

Domains and SSLs: Namecheap.com – There’s a lot of places to register domains online, but I prefer these guys because they’re one of the cheapest and fastest places online to buy them. Plus, I already get my SSL certificates from them to secure my sites.

Email Campaigns: ConvertKit – I use ConvertKit for all my email campaigns. It manages my email newsletter lists well and integrates with my ecommerce system here. Plus, it gives me a lot of stats about my list and subscribers helping me know what kind of emails people find valuable and what they don’t.

eCommerce and Course Delivery: Thinkific – Since a lot of people have requested that I share the details of what I use on this site to deliver my ebooks, downloads, and video courses, my secret sauce is the Thinkific platform.

Online Community: Mighty Networks – We host a private, membership area for clients and creators. While the billing for it happens in Thinkific, the actual service we use to host the community is on Mighty Networks.

No one makes it in business alone. If I could list my wife here, I totally would because without her none of this would happen, but here’s a few other people who have partnered with me.

Taxes, Accounting, and Bookkeeping: MidAtlanticCPAs.com – I’ve been using these guys for years. They’re great! The lady who handles my account there pretty much functions like my C.F.O. now. They work with a lot of YouTube creators and are very familiar with a lot of the intricacies that are specific to our businesses and industry.

Video Editing: Julia Lincoln-Stefan at Studio Lilum – Julia and her team have been editing my videos at Video Creators for several years now. They do excellent work! They’re prompt, communicate well, always meet deadlines, and have very professional editing skills. Better yet, they know how to edit specifically for the YouTube platform.

Vlog Video Editing: Christina Fleming – Christina and her team do an excellent job at taking your raw vlogging footage and turn it into a story that’s optimized for YouTube. They’ve been editing my wife’s content at Reclaiming Motherhood for several years now.