**Creating High-Quality Videos on a Budget**

If you're looking to create high-quality videos without breaking the bank, you've come to the right place. In this article, we'll explore three essential components of creating great-looking and sounding videos: camera equipment, lighting, and sound.

**Camera Equipment**

The first step in creating high-quality videos is investing in good camera equipment. While it's tempting to use your smartphone to record video, most phones from the past few years take perfectly serviceable video overall. However, if you're looking for a more professional-grade camera, consider using an iPhone 11 Pro or another high-end smartphone. If not, there are plenty of other options available, such as a budget-friendly iPod Touch. The key is to find a device that can deliver good image quality and has the necessary features, such as 4K resolution and stabilization.

In our case, we'll be using an iPhone 6s, which may seem like a low-end device compared to today's standards. However, it still takes amazing video, and for this specific project, its limitations won't hold us back. We've chosen to film in a non-studio location with limited lighting, but as we'll see later, that can be easily addressed.

**Lighting: The Key to Good Video**

Good lighting is essential for creating high-quality videos. Unfortunately, most smartphones and iPods struggle to produce even lighting, especially when shooting indoors. This is where lighting equipment comes in. While it's tempting to invest in expensive studio-grade lights, there are plenty of affordable options available.

One of our favorite budget-friendly lighting solutions is the 8-inch ring light from UBead. It's USB-powered, compact, and has multiple brightness settings, making it perfect for adjusting to different lighting conditions. The best part? It costs under $30, making it an incredibly affordable option for beginners. This little light shines with a daylight white temperature, which is perfect for our video project. We've found that it provides excellent coverage, even in darker environments, and can be adjusted to suit the needs of our shot.

**Sound: The Often-Overlooked Component**

Good sound quality is often overlooked when it comes to creating videos. However, audio plays a crucial role in engaging your audience and elevating your video from good to great. For this project, we're using the Road Micro Video Micro, which is an affordable and highly-regarded option for capturing high-quality sound.

This microphone is surprisingly small, weighing only a few ounces, but it packs a punch when it comes to sound quality. It even features a shock mount, which helps to minimize unwanted vibrations and bumps that can affect audio quality. The best part? It's relatively inexpensive, with a price tag of around $60.

However, there are a couple of caveats to consider when using the Road Micro Video Micro. Firstly, it requires a patch cable or adapter to connect it to your device, which adds an extra $15 to the overall cost. Secondly, you'll also need to invest in a cold shoe mount, which can be purchased for under $10. These may seem like minor issues, but they're essential for achieving professional-grade audio quality.

**Putting It All Together**

Now that we've covered each component individually, it's time to put them all together. By investing in good camera equipment, using affordable lighting solutions, and capturing high-quality sound, we can create a video that looks and sounds great – even on a budget.

In this specific project, we're using an iPhone 6s, which may seem like an unusual choice for a filmmaking device. However, it still takes amazing video, and with the right equipment, we can achieve professional-grade results. The ring light provides excellent coverage, even in darker environments, while the Road Micro Video Micro captures high-quality sound that elevates our video from good to great.

By following these tips and investing in the right equipment, you can create high-quality videos without breaking the bank. Whether you're a seasoned creator or just starting out, there are plenty of affordable options available to help you achieve your video production goals.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso you're an aspiring youtuber or maybe you're the parent of an aspiring youtuber you've got your idea you're ready to start your channel but wait a second you got to get some gear you're gonna want to launch with three things quality visuals lighting and sounds great news we've got you covered for under 150 bucks if you already have a camera and three hundred and fifty bucks if you don't because not everyone has access to studio grade cameras and lighting like we do super quick aside though this video is aimed at beginners looking to make more traditional youtube video formats things like blogs halls how to's there are other types of videos that might require more specialized equipment like this gimbal that's for a future video let's kick things off with cameras you probably already have a good one in fact you're probably watching this video on it right now hmm yep you guessed it it's your cell phone most phones from the past few years take perfectly serviceable video overall it's a great place to start but what if your phone has a broken lens or you're a parent who doesn't want to buy their kid a cell phone well for that I really like the iPod Touch it's got a decent camera and you get access to the App Store which is full of video apps plus free editing software with iMovie currently I use an iPhone 11 Pro which takes amazing video so no problems there but for the sake of this video let's use an iPhone 6s that we have laying around in a non studio location so we found a room to set up in it's pretty dark in here there's only one single light source and it's pointing down because it's on the ceiling which obviously isn't great and it's a little bit backlit so let's go back in the studio and talk about lighting if you're gonna use a cell phone or an iPod to shoot your video you're gonna need good lighting now you've probably seen those massive 18-inch ring lights for sale online but they're really expensive and if you're just starting out you probably don't need to go there oh oh we're kill I really like this 8 inch ring light from UB sighs it's USB powered it comes with its own tripod and it has 11 different brightness settings and three different color temperature settings so you can pretty much shoot in any not to mention it cost under 30 bucks it's not so small that you have to sit right up against it when you're recording but it's also compact enough that you can move it a little farther away and not have a huge footprint wherever you're shooting we're back in our vlog studio on our iPhone 6s let there be light ah so much better right so this little ring light shoots in a daylight white temperature which is what you're seeing right now but if you want something a little more specialized you can switch it up to a cool white or even a warm white but for the purposes of this video let's go back to daylight it looks so nice it also has a wide range of brightness setting so whether you're sitting up close or a little farther away you're gonna be able to have the light catch you which is fantastic goes all the way from dim to wow my future's so bright I have to wear shades so we've got our camera we've got our lights and now we need to talk about sound it's a little bit echo in here is there anything more important than high quality video yes audio audio is what keeps your viewers watching it is the thing that elevates a good video to a great video it doesn't matter what you're shooting on as long as it has a headphone jack or adapters into a headphone jack you know what I'm talking about Road makes this awesome little microphone called the video micro that's about 60 bucks and sounds great it even comes with this little shock mount which is awesome if you take your filming on-the-go it's not gonna pick up any unwanted bumps or vibrations two small caveats though with this one if you're using the Apple device you're gonna need what's called a patch cable or running about 15 bucks and on top of that you're gonna want to buy what's called a cold shoe mount so this is just a little tiny device that goes on your tripod it's pretty cheap under ten dollars and it'll enable you to put your microphone up there and not have to worry about it falling off anywhere okay let's put it all together voila we've got camera we've got lights and now the video micro is plugged in giving us a much better audio quality now this isn't studio grade videography but that's okay sometimes you just have to work with what you can afford and this is a pretty inexpensive setup even just adding this tiny bit of polish can make the difference when you want your viewer to come back video after video there you have it three inexpensive ways to make your content look and sound a thousand times better we'll put product links down in the description and if you're a seasoned creator drop your best gear recommendations down in the comments begin humansso you're an aspiring youtuber or maybe you're the parent of an aspiring youtuber you've got your idea you're ready to start your channel but wait a second you got to get some gear you're gonna want to launch with three things quality visuals lighting and sounds great news we've got you covered for under 150 bucks if you already have a camera and three hundred and fifty bucks if you don't because not everyone has access to studio grade cameras and lighting like we do super quick aside though this video is aimed at beginners looking to make more traditional youtube video formats things like blogs halls how to's there are other types of videos that might require more specialized equipment like this gimbal that's for a future video let's kick things off with cameras you probably already have a good one in fact you're probably watching this video on it right now hmm yep you guessed it it's your cell phone most phones from the past few years take perfectly serviceable video overall it's a great place to start but what if your phone has a broken lens or you're a parent who doesn't want to buy their kid a cell phone well for that I really like the iPod Touch it's got a decent camera and you get access to the App Store which is full of video apps plus free editing software with iMovie currently I use an iPhone 11 Pro which takes amazing video so no problems there but for the sake of this video let's use an iPhone 6s that we have laying around in a non studio location so we found a room to set up in it's pretty dark in here there's only one single light source and it's pointing down because it's on the ceiling which obviously isn't great and it's a little bit backlit so let's go back in the studio and talk about lighting if you're gonna use a cell phone or an iPod to shoot your video you're gonna need good lighting now you've probably seen those massive 18-inch ring lights for sale online but they're really expensive and if you're just starting out you probably don't need to go there oh oh we're kill I really like this 8 inch ring light from UB sighs it's USB powered it comes with its own tripod and it has 11 different brightness settings and three different color temperature settings so you can pretty much shoot in any not to mention it cost under 30 bucks it's not so small that you have to sit right up against it when you're recording but it's also compact enough that you can move it a little farther away and not have a huge footprint wherever you're shooting we're back in our vlog studio on our iPhone 6s let there be light ah so much better right so this little ring light shoots in a daylight white temperature which is what you're seeing right now but if you want something a little more specialized you can switch it up to a cool white or even a warm white but for the purposes of this video let's go back to daylight it looks so nice it also has a wide range of brightness setting so whether you're sitting up close or a little farther away you're gonna be able to have the light catch you which is fantastic goes all the way from dim to wow my future's so bright I have to wear shades so we've got our camera we've got our lights and now we need to talk about sound it's a little bit echo in here is there anything more important than high quality video yes audio audio is what keeps your viewers watching it is the thing that elevates a good video to a great video it doesn't matter what you're shooting on as long as it has a headphone jack or adapters into a headphone jack you know what I'm talking about Road makes this awesome little microphone called the video micro that's about 60 bucks and sounds great it even comes with this little shock mount which is awesome if you take your filming on-the-go it's not gonna pick up any unwanted bumps or vibrations two small caveats though with this one if you're using the Apple device you're gonna need what's called a patch cable or running about 15 bucks and on top of that you're gonna want to buy what's called a cold shoe mount so this is just a little tiny device that goes on your tripod it's pretty cheap under ten dollars and it'll enable you to put your microphone up there and not have to worry about it falling off anywhere okay let's put it all together voila we've got camera we've got lights and now the video micro is plugged in giving us a much better audio quality now this isn't studio grade videography but that's okay sometimes you just have to work with what you can afford and this is a pretty inexpensive setup even just adding this tiny bit of polish can make the difference when you want your viewer to come back video after video there you have it three inexpensive ways to make your content look and sound a thousand times better we'll put product links down in the description and if you're a seasoned creator drop your best gear recommendations down in the comments begin humans\n"