Starting Strong with the Best Studio Tech for Novices

YouTube Equipment Starter Guide For Beginners

Sumia Rafique

Feb 19, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to start creating videos and uploading them onto YouTube, you’ll need to have access to some basic equipment. This guide will go over everything you’ll need to be a YouTuber.

Table of Contents YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS The Wide-Angle Lens Optical Image Stabilization YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO Music Libraries Sound Effects

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

The best camera for beginners is the one you already have. Most smartphones these days already come equipped with a powerful camera that can record HD videos. If you still want to add a camera to your equipment list as a beginner YouTuber, you should look for a camera with the following eight qualities:

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

1. Fully articulated screen (flip screen)

2. Good continual auto focus while recording video

3. Good focus priority through face recognition

4. Touch to focus

5. Good low-light performance

6. external mic jack, hot/cold shoe bracket

7. optical image stabilization

8. good battery life

Check out my full list of 10 Things To Look For In A Vlogging Camera to understand the importance of these camera features.

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Below are the best cheap vlogging cameras that you can get for under $500. They all record at least 1080p HD video and all but the Sony Alpha a5100 come with optical image stabilization (if you want OIS with the Sony a5100, you’ll have it get it in the lens).

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	4K	Price
Yi 4KAction Camera	February2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$169 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixA900	February2016	Compact	Flip Up	Yes	$399 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixB500	February2016	SLR-like (bridge)	Tilting	No	$250 (MSRP)
PolaroidCube+	June2015	Action Camera	No	No	$99 (MSRP)
SonyAlphaa5100	August2014	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$450 (MSRP)

	Best cheap vlogging camera under $100: Polaroid Cube+ Even before GoPro released their GoPro Session, Polaroid was the first to come out with a 1.4-inch, cube-shaped action camera, small enough to mount on a bike or a helmet. This camera has built-in magnets so that you can attach them to metal surfaces. This action camera is water-resistant, shock-proof, and weather-proof. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps with its wide-angle lens. You can connect this camera with your phone to preview and take your shots.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $200: Yi 4K At $200, you can record 4K videos with the Yi 4K action camera. Like many other action cameras, this camera is small, durable, and shoots through a wide-angle lens. You won’t be able to take this camera underwater though because it isn’t waterproof. You’ll need to buy the right accessories for that.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $300: Nikon B500 The Nikon B500 gives you a non-interchangeable zoom lens so that you have more control over how you compose your shots. This camera records full HD 1080p videos at either 30 or 25 fps. You can only set its ISO as high as 3200, so it’s not going to perform the best in low-light conditions. The tilting LCD screen does not have touchscreen and cannot be fully flipped up or flipped to the side, it only tilts. For a camera in its price range, the Nikon B500 offers a lot of features.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $400: Nikon A900 The Nikon A900 not only comes with a non-interchangeable zoom lens, but it can also record videos in UHD 4K quality. Like the Nikon B500, the A900’s ISO goes only up to 3200, making it a weak performer in poorly lit conditions.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $500: Sony a5100 Among the cameras listed in our top cheap cameras list, the Sony a5100 is the only one you can interchange lenses with. All Sony E-mount lenses are compatible with this camera. This camera can record up to 1080p videos at 60 fps. Out of all of the above top cheap cameras, this one also auto focuses the best.

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

If you have a bigger budget to work with, the following vlogging cameras are great options:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$

	Best entry-level mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M100 The Canon M100 is a small and powerful camera that can shoot full HD (1080p) videos up to 60 fps. The touchscreen LCD of this camera flips up so that you can see yourself as you vlog in selfie mode.
	Best mid-range mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M50 The Canon EOS M50 can shoot UHD 4K videos at 23.98 fps. You can also record 120 fps slow-motion videos at 720p. Unlike the M100, which only has a flip up screen, the M50 has a fully articulated screen, so you can use this camera in selfie mode, all while using an on-camera shotgun microphone attached to the camera hot/cold shoe.
	Best DSLR camera for daily vlogging: Canon EOS T7i The Canon EOS T7i is a great DSLR camera for daily vlogging. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps, it can create HDR and time-lapse movies, and it also has a fully articulated screen.
	Best entry-level DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS SL2 The Canon EOS SL2 delivers a lot of power at a low price. This DSLR camera can capture full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps.
	Best mid-range DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS 80D The Canon 80D is an exceptional mid-range DSLR vlogging camera with many features. Coming with a 45-point all cross phase detection autofocusing and a dual pixel CMOS AF system, the camera is great at finding the right focus while recording video.

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

A lot of compact cameras already come with the lens as a part of the camera body. When it comes to these kinds of cameras, you won’t have to worry about which lens is right for you since the decision has already been made for you!

When you start looking into bigger cameras, though, you’ll have to think about which lens you want to shoot with.

The Wide-Angle Lens

Every YouTuber should have a wide-angle lens. With this kind of lens, you can fit much more of a scene into your camera frame, including your own face when you’re just an arm’s length away from your camera. This is especially important for YouTubers because most YouTubers have to operate their camera on their own, without the assistance of an additional camera person.

Optical Image Stabilization

You should also look for a lens with optical image stabilization if you’re shooting a lot of your YouTube videos handheld.

For more information on camera lenses, check out my Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses .

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

	Tripod If you plan to film yourself talking in front of the same, unchanging background for an extended period of time, it doesn’t make sense to film yourself handheld the entire time. You’ll just end up tiring your arm out and adding distracting shakiness to your footage. A tripod is a great solution to this problem. You can set up your framing once, press record, and leave your camera in its fixed position while you talk with both hands free.
	Joby GorillaPod With Ballhead When you film yourself handheld, it’s difficult to keep your arm higher up so that your camera shoots down at an ideal angle. You may also notice that a lot of your arm gets into your shot, which you and other viewers might find distracting. Holding your camera up by a GorillaPod, however, can give you the extension you need to get that higher angle shot more easily, all without so much of your arm getting into your shot.

Tripod If you plan to film yourself talking in front of the same, unchanging background for an extended period of time, it doesn’t make sense to film yourself handheld the entire time. You’ll just end up tiring your arm out and adding distracting shakiness to your footage. A tripod is a great solution to this problem. You can set up your framing once, press record, and leave your camera in its fixed position while you talk with both hands free.

Joby GorillaPod With Ballhead When you film yourself handheld, it’s difficult to keep your arm higher up so that your camera shoots down at an ideal angle. You may also notice that a lot of your arm gets into your shot, which you and other viewers might find distracting. Holding your camera up by a GorillaPod, however, can give you the extension you need to get that higher angle shot more easily, all without so much of your arm getting into your shot.

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Most vlogging cameras come with a built-in microphone that gets the job done. If you want higher quality audio recordings, though, you should check out the following list of top microphones.

Top Condenser Mics For Music and Singing	Top Condenser Mics For Voiceovers-Podcasts, Interviews	Top On-Camera Shotgun Mics	Top Shotgun Mics	Top Low-Profile Lavalier Mics
Audio-Technica AT2035 Rode NT1-A AKG C214	Apogee Mic 96K Blue Yeti Rode NT-USB Blue Snowball Audio-Technica AT2020 Rode Procaster	Rode VideoMic Go Shure VP83 Rode VideoMic Pro+ Sennheiser MKE 440	Rode NTG-3 Audio-Technica AT4053B Sennheiser MKH416	Rode SmartLav+ Audio-Technica ATR3350iS Sennheiser ME2

To read more about each of these microphones, check out our post on The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2018 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Using your smartphone’s camera to film your YouTube videos is a great idea since it’s light, portable, and most likely always with you. The following six smartphone accessories can help you make better YouTube videos:

Arkon Tripod Mount
FLII Selfie Ring Light
RODE VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Read about each one of these items and more in The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Lighting for home living and lighting for filming is very different. If you try to make use of just the lights you have at home, you may find that your footage is too dark, grainy, and orange-tinted.

The solution to this problem is getting additional video lighting equipment with daytime light bulbs.

	Daytime Light Bulbs Your home is most likely lit with incandescent light bulbs that illuminate orange-tinted light. You can remove those light bulbs and replace them with daytime light bulbs that illuminate more of a white colored light.
	On-Camera LED Light If you need more light just in front of the camera and you need this light to be portable, LED lights that attach to your camera’s hot/cold shoe will do the job.
	LED Ring Light If you need more light just in front of the camera, you don’t have a lot of space, and you don’t need this light to be small and portable, an LED ring light is the best piece of equipment for you. You can position your camera inside the circular space of the ring light. This kind of light also gives your eyes the circular shaped highlight that many people like to see.
	Softbox Video Light If you need more light and have more space, another piece of lighting equipment good for beginners is a softbox video light.
	Umbrella Video Light Umbrella video lights are very portable and affordable. The direction of the light from umbrella lights are more difficult to control than the light from softbox video lights.

If you’re looking for recommendations on which piece of lighting equipment to buy, check out my list of the Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

After you’ve recorded all your footage, you’ll need a computer to edit your video clips together. You can perform basic video editing tasks and upload your video onto YouTube with any computer less than ten years old.

Laptop computers are popular among YouTubers because their portability allows you to work on your videos from anywhere. This way, you can finish and upload your videos more frequently, which is another important part of being a YouTuber.

The following three laptop computers handle video editing very well:

MacBook Pro With Touch Bar
Dell XPS 15
Microsoft Surface Book 2

Read more about these laptop computers for 4K video editing in The Best Laptops for 4K Video Editing .

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each of these softwares in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube .	Filmora Video Editor (Windows, Mac) - $40 one year license, $79.99 perpetual license. Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Music is an important part of YouTube video creation. Here’s where you can get access to music:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

Sumia Rafique

Sumia Rafique is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Sumia Rafique

Sumia Rafique

Feb 19, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to start creating videos and uploading them onto YouTube, you’ll need to have access to some basic equipment. This guide will go over everything you’ll need to be a YouTuber.

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

1. Fully articulated screen (flip screen)

2. Good continual auto focus while recording video

3. Good focus priority through face recognition

4. Touch to focus

5. Good low-light performance

6. external mic jack, hot/cold shoe bracket

7. optical image stabilization

8. good battery life

Check out my full list of 10 Things To Look For In A Vlogging Camera to understand the importance of these camera features.

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	4K	Price
Yi 4KAction Camera	February2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$169 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixA900	February2016	Compact	Flip Up	Yes	$399 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixB500	February2016	SLR-like (bridge)	Tilting	No	$250 (MSRP)
PolaroidCube+	June2015	Action Camera	No	No	$99 (MSRP)
SonyAlphaa5100	August2014	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$450 (MSRP)

	Best cheap vlogging camera under $100: Polaroid Cube+ Even before GoPro released their GoPro Session, Polaroid was the first to come out with a 1.4-inch, cube-shaped action camera, small enough to mount on a bike or a helmet. This camera has built-in magnets so that you can attach them to metal surfaces. This action camera is water-resistant, shock-proof, and weather-proof. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps with its wide-angle lens. You can connect this camera with your phone to preview and take your shots.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $200: Yi 4K At $200, you can record 4K videos with the Yi 4K action camera. Like many other action cameras, this camera is small, durable, and shoots through a wide-angle lens. You won’t be able to take this camera underwater though because it isn’t waterproof. You’ll need to buy the right accessories for that.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $300: Nikon B500 The Nikon B500 gives you a non-interchangeable zoom lens so that you have more control over how you compose your shots. This camera records full HD 1080p videos at either 30 or 25 fps. You can only set its ISO as high as 3200, so it’s not going to perform the best in low-light conditions. The tilting LCD screen does not have touchscreen and cannot be fully flipped up or flipped to the side, it only tilts. For a camera in its price range, the Nikon B500 offers a lot of features.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $400: Nikon A900 The Nikon A900 not only comes with a non-interchangeable zoom lens, but it can also record videos in UHD 4K quality. Like the Nikon B500, the A900’s ISO goes only up to 3200, making it a weak performer in poorly lit conditions.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $500: Sony a5100 Among the cameras listed in our top cheap cameras list, the Sony a5100 is the only one you can interchange lenses with. All Sony E-mount lenses are compatible with this camera. This camera can record up to 1080p videos at 60 fps. Out of all of the above top cheap cameras, this one also auto focuses the best.

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

If you have a bigger budget to work with, the following vlogging cameras are great options:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$

	Best entry-level mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M100 The Canon M100 is a small and powerful camera that can shoot full HD (1080p) videos up to 60 fps. The touchscreen LCD of this camera flips up so that you can see yourself as you vlog in selfie mode.
	Best mid-range mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M50 The Canon EOS M50 can shoot UHD 4K videos at 23.98 fps. You can also record 120 fps slow-motion videos at 720p. Unlike the M100, which only has a flip up screen, the M50 has a fully articulated screen, so you can use this camera in selfie mode, all while using an on-camera shotgun microphone attached to the camera hot/cold shoe.
	Best DSLR camera for daily vlogging: Canon EOS T7i The Canon EOS T7i is a great DSLR camera for daily vlogging. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps, it can create HDR and time-lapse movies, and it also has a fully articulated screen.
	Best entry-level DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS SL2 The Canon EOS SL2 delivers a lot of power at a low price. This DSLR camera can capture full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps.
	Best mid-range DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS 80D The Canon 80D is an exceptional mid-range DSLR vlogging camera with many features. Coming with a 45-point all cross phase detection autofocusing and a dual pixel CMOS AF system, the camera is great at finding the right focus while recording video.

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

When you start looking into bigger cameras, though, you’ll have to think about which lens you want to shoot with.

The Wide-Angle Lens

Optical Image Stabilization

You should also look for a lens with optical image stabilization if you’re shooting a lot of your YouTube videos handheld.

For more information on camera lenses, check out my Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses .

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

	Tripod If you plan to film yourself talking in front of the same, unchanging background for an extended period of time, it doesn’t make sense to film yourself handheld the entire time. You’ll just end up tiring your arm out and adding distracting shakiness to your footage. A tripod is a great solution to this problem. You can set up your framing once, press record, and leave your camera in its fixed position while you talk with both hands free.
	Joby GorillaPod With Ballhead When you film yourself handheld, it’s difficult to keep your arm higher up so that your camera shoots down at an ideal angle. You may also notice that a lot of your arm gets into your shot, which you and other viewers might find distracting. Holding your camera up by a GorillaPod, however, can give you the extension you need to get that higher angle shot more easily, all without so much of your arm getting into your shot.

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Most vlogging cameras come with a built-in microphone that gets the job done. If you want higher quality audio recordings, though, you should check out the following list of top microphones.

Top Condenser Mics For Music and Singing	Top Condenser Mics For Voiceovers-Podcasts, Interviews	Top On-Camera Shotgun Mics	Top Shotgun Mics	Top Low-Profile Lavalier Mics
Audio-Technica AT2035 Rode NT1-A AKG C214	Apogee Mic 96K Blue Yeti Rode NT-USB Blue Snowball Audio-Technica AT2020 Rode Procaster	Rode VideoMic Go Shure VP83 Rode VideoMic Pro+ Sennheiser MKE 440	Rode NTG-3 Audio-Technica AT4053B Sennheiser MKH416	Rode SmartLav+ Audio-Technica ATR3350iS Sennheiser ME2

To read more about each of these microphones, check out our post on The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2018 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Arkon Tripod Mount
FLII Selfie Ring Light
RODE VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Read about each one of these items and more in The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Lighting for home living and lighting for filming is very different. If you try to make use of just the lights you have at home, you may find that your footage is too dark, grainy, and orange-tinted.

The solution to this problem is getting additional video lighting equipment with daytime light bulbs.

	Daytime Light Bulbs Your home is most likely lit with incandescent light bulbs that illuminate orange-tinted light. You can remove those light bulbs and replace them with daytime light bulbs that illuminate more of a white colored light.
	On-Camera LED Light If you need more light just in front of the camera and you need this light to be portable, LED lights that attach to your camera’s hot/cold shoe will do the job.
	LED Ring Light If you need more light just in front of the camera, you don’t have a lot of space, and you don’t need this light to be small and portable, an LED ring light is the best piece of equipment for you. You can position your camera inside the circular space of the ring light. This kind of light also gives your eyes the circular shaped highlight that many people like to see.
	Softbox Video Light If you need more light and have more space, another piece of lighting equipment good for beginners is a softbox video light.
	Umbrella Video Light Umbrella video lights are very portable and affordable. The direction of the light from umbrella lights are more difficult to control than the light from softbox video lights.

If you’re looking for recommendations on which piece of lighting equipment to buy, check out my list of the Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

The following three laptop computers handle video editing very well:

MacBook Pro With Touch Bar
Dell XPS 15
Microsoft Surface Book 2

Read more about these laptop computers for 4K video editing in The Best Laptops for 4K Video Editing .

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each of these softwares in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube .	Filmora Video Editor (Windows, Mac) - $40 one year license, $79.99 perpetual license. Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Music is an important part of YouTube video creation. Here’s where you can get access to music:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

Sumia Rafique

Sumia Rafique is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Sumia Rafique

Sumia Rafique

Feb 19, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to start creating videos and uploading them onto YouTube, you’ll need to have access to some basic equipment. This guide will go over everything you’ll need to be a YouTuber.

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

1. Fully articulated screen (flip screen)

2. Good continual auto focus while recording video

3. Good focus priority through face recognition

4. Touch to focus

5. Good low-light performance

6. external mic jack, hot/cold shoe bracket

7. optical image stabilization

8. good battery life

Check out my full list of 10 Things To Look For In A Vlogging Camera to understand the importance of these camera features.

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	4K	Price
Yi 4KAction Camera	February2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$169 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixA900	February2016	Compact	Flip Up	Yes	$399 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixB500	February2016	SLR-like (bridge)	Tilting	No	$250 (MSRP)
PolaroidCube+	June2015	Action Camera	No	No	$99 (MSRP)
SonyAlphaa5100	August2014	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$450 (MSRP)

	Best cheap vlogging camera under $100: Polaroid Cube+ Even before GoPro released their GoPro Session, Polaroid was the first to come out with a 1.4-inch, cube-shaped action camera, small enough to mount on a bike or a helmet. This camera has built-in magnets so that you can attach them to metal surfaces. This action camera is water-resistant, shock-proof, and weather-proof. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps with its wide-angle lens. You can connect this camera with your phone to preview and take your shots.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $200: Yi 4K At $200, you can record 4K videos with the Yi 4K action camera. Like many other action cameras, this camera is small, durable, and shoots through a wide-angle lens. You won’t be able to take this camera underwater though because it isn’t waterproof. You’ll need to buy the right accessories for that.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $300: Nikon B500 The Nikon B500 gives you a non-interchangeable zoom lens so that you have more control over how you compose your shots. This camera records full HD 1080p videos at either 30 or 25 fps. You can only set its ISO as high as 3200, so it’s not going to perform the best in low-light conditions. The tilting LCD screen does not have touchscreen and cannot be fully flipped up or flipped to the side, it only tilts. For a camera in its price range, the Nikon B500 offers a lot of features.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $400: Nikon A900 The Nikon A900 not only comes with a non-interchangeable zoom lens, but it can also record videos in UHD 4K quality. Like the Nikon B500, the A900’s ISO goes only up to 3200, making it a weak performer in poorly lit conditions.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $500: Sony a5100 Among the cameras listed in our top cheap cameras list, the Sony a5100 is the only one you can interchange lenses with. All Sony E-mount lenses are compatible with this camera. This camera can record up to 1080p videos at 60 fps. Out of all of the above top cheap cameras, this one also auto focuses the best.

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

If you have a bigger budget to work with, the following vlogging cameras are great options:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$

	Best entry-level mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M100 The Canon M100 is a small and powerful camera that can shoot full HD (1080p) videos up to 60 fps. The touchscreen LCD of this camera flips up so that you can see yourself as you vlog in selfie mode.
	Best mid-range mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M50 The Canon EOS M50 can shoot UHD 4K videos at 23.98 fps. You can also record 120 fps slow-motion videos at 720p. Unlike the M100, which only has a flip up screen, the M50 has a fully articulated screen, so you can use this camera in selfie mode, all while using an on-camera shotgun microphone attached to the camera hot/cold shoe.
	Best DSLR camera for daily vlogging: Canon EOS T7i The Canon EOS T7i is a great DSLR camera for daily vlogging. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps, it can create HDR and time-lapse movies, and it also has a fully articulated screen.
	Best entry-level DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS SL2 The Canon EOS SL2 delivers a lot of power at a low price. This DSLR camera can capture full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps.
	Best mid-range DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS 80D The Canon 80D is an exceptional mid-range DSLR vlogging camera with many features. Coming with a 45-point all cross phase detection autofocusing and a dual pixel CMOS AF system, the camera is great at finding the right focus while recording video.

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

When you start looking into bigger cameras, though, you’ll have to think about which lens you want to shoot with.

The Wide-Angle Lens

Optical Image Stabilization

You should also look for a lens with optical image stabilization if you’re shooting a lot of your YouTube videos handheld.

For more information on camera lenses, check out my Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses .

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

	Tripod If you plan to film yourself talking in front of the same, unchanging background for an extended period of time, it doesn’t make sense to film yourself handheld the entire time. You’ll just end up tiring your arm out and adding distracting shakiness to your footage. A tripod is a great solution to this problem. You can set up your framing once, press record, and leave your camera in its fixed position while you talk with both hands free.
	Joby GorillaPod With Ballhead When you film yourself handheld, it’s difficult to keep your arm higher up so that your camera shoots down at an ideal angle. You may also notice that a lot of your arm gets into your shot, which you and other viewers might find distracting. Holding your camera up by a GorillaPod, however, can give you the extension you need to get that higher angle shot more easily, all without so much of your arm getting into your shot.

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Most vlogging cameras come with a built-in microphone that gets the job done. If you want higher quality audio recordings, though, you should check out the following list of top microphones.

Top Condenser Mics For Music and Singing	Top Condenser Mics For Voiceovers-Podcasts, Interviews	Top On-Camera Shotgun Mics	Top Shotgun Mics	Top Low-Profile Lavalier Mics
Audio-Technica AT2035 Rode NT1-A AKG C214	Apogee Mic 96K Blue Yeti Rode NT-USB Blue Snowball Audio-Technica AT2020 Rode Procaster	Rode VideoMic Go Shure VP83 Rode VideoMic Pro+ Sennheiser MKE 440	Rode NTG-3 Audio-Technica AT4053B Sennheiser MKH416	Rode SmartLav+ Audio-Technica ATR3350iS Sennheiser ME2

To read more about each of these microphones, check out our post on The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2018 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Arkon Tripod Mount
FLII Selfie Ring Light
RODE VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Read about each one of these items and more in The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Lighting for home living and lighting for filming is very different. If you try to make use of just the lights you have at home, you may find that your footage is too dark, grainy, and orange-tinted.

The solution to this problem is getting additional video lighting equipment with daytime light bulbs.

	Daytime Light Bulbs Your home is most likely lit with incandescent light bulbs that illuminate orange-tinted light. You can remove those light bulbs and replace them with daytime light bulbs that illuminate more of a white colored light.
	On-Camera LED Light If you need more light just in front of the camera and you need this light to be portable, LED lights that attach to your camera’s hot/cold shoe will do the job.
	LED Ring Light If you need more light just in front of the camera, you don’t have a lot of space, and you don’t need this light to be small and portable, an LED ring light is the best piece of equipment for you. You can position your camera inside the circular space of the ring light. This kind of light also gives your eyes the circular shaped highlight that many people like to see.
	Softbox Video Light If you need more light and have more space, another piece of lighting equipment good for beginners is a softbox video light.
	Umbrella Video Light Umbrella video lights are very portable and affordable. The direction of the light from umbrella lights are more difficult to control than the light from softbox video lights.

If you’re looking for recommendations on which piece of lighting equipment to buy, check out my list of the Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

The following three laptop computers handle video editing very well:

MacBook Pro With Touch Bar
Dell XPS 15
Microsoft Surface Book 2

Read more about these laptop computers for 4K video editing in The Best Laptops for 4K Video Editing .

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each of these softwares in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube .	Filmora Video Editor (Windows, Mac) - $40 one year license, $79.99 perpetual license. Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Music is an important part of YouTube video creation. Here’s where you can get access to music:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

Sumia Rafique

Sumia Rafique is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Sumia Rafique

Sumia Rafique

Feb 19, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to start creating videos and uploading them onto YouTube, you’ll need to have access to some basic equipment. This guide will go over everything you’ll need to be a YouTuber.

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

1. Fully articulated screen (flip screen)

2. Good continual auto focus while recording video

3. Good focus priority through face recognition

4. Touch to focus

5. Good low-light performance

6. external mic jack, hot/cold shoe bracket

7. optical image stabilization

8. good battery life

Check out my full list of 10 Things To Look For In A Vlogging Camera to understand the importance of these camera features.

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	4K	Price
Yi 4KAction Camera	February2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$169 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixA900	February2016	Compact	Flip Up	Yes	$399 (MSRP)
NikonCoolpixB500	February2016	SLR-like (bridge)	Tilting	No	$250 (MSRP)
PolaroidCube+	June2015	Action Camera	No	No	$99 (MSRP)
SonyAlphaa5100	August2014	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$450 (MSRP)

	Best cheap vlogging camera under $100: Polaroid Cube+ Even before GoPro released their GoPro Session, Polaroid was the first to come out with a 1.4-inch, cube-shaped action camera, small enough to mount on a bike or a helmet. This camera has built-in magnets so that you can attach them to metal surfaces. This action camera is water-resistant, shock-proof, and weather-proof. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps with its wide-angle lens. You can connect this camera with your phone to preview and take your shots.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $200: Yi 4K At $200, you can record 4K videos with the Yi 4K action camera. Like many other action cameras, this camera is small, durable, and shoots through a wide-angle lens. You won’t be able to take this camera underwater though because it isn’t waterproof. You’ll need to buy the right accessories for that.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $300: Nikon B500 The Nikon B500 gives you a non-interchangeable zoom lens so that you have more control over how you compose your shots. This camera records full HD 1080p videos at either 30 or 25 fps. You can only set its ISO as high as 3200, so it’s not going to perform the best in low-light conditions. The tilting LCD screen does not have touchscreen and cannot be fully flipped up or flipped to the side, it only tilts. For a camera in its price range, the Nikon B500 offers a lot of features.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $400: Nikon A900 The Nikon A900 not only comes with a non-interchangeable zoom lens, but it can also record videos in UHD 4K quality. Like the Nikon B500, the A900’s ISO goes only up to 3200, making it a weak performer in poorly lit conditions.
	Best cheap vlogging camera under $500: Sony a5100 Among the cameras listed in our top cheap cameras list, the Sony a5100 is the only one you can interchange lenses with. All Sony E-mount lenses are compatible with this camera. This camera can record up to 1080p videos at 60 fps. Out of all of the above top cheap cameras, this one also auto focuses the best.

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

If you have a bigger budget to work with, the following vlogging cameras are great options:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip Up	No	$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$

	Best entry-level mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M100 The Canon M100 is a small and powerful camera that can shoot full HD (1080p) videos up to 60 fps. The touchscreen LCD of this camera flips up so that you can see yourself as you vlog in selfie mode.
	Best mid-range mirrorless camera for vlogging: Canon EOS M50 The Canon EOS M50 can shoot UHD 4K videos at 23.98 fps. You can also record 120 fps slow-motion videos at 720p. Unlike the M100, which only has a flip up screen, the M50 has a fully articulated screen, so you can use this camera in selfie mode, all while using an on-camera shotgun microphone attached to the camera hot/cold shoe.
	Best DSLR camera for daily vlogging: Canon EOS T7i The Canon EOS T7i is a great DSLR camera for daily vlogging. It can record full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps, it can create HDR and time-lapse movies, and it also has a fully articulated screen.
	Best entry-level DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS SL2 The Canon EOS SL2 delivers a lot of power at a low price. This DSLR camera can capture full HD 1080p videos at 60 fps.
	Best mid-range DSLR camera for vlogging: Canon EOS 80D The Canon 80D is an exceptional mid-range DSLR vlogging camera with many features. Coming with a 45-point all cross phase detection autofocusing and a dual pixel CMOS AF system, the camera is great at finding the right focus while recording video.

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

When you start looking into bigger cameras, though, you’ll have to think about which lens you want to shoot with.

The Wide-Angle Lens

Optical Image Stabilization

You should also look for a lens with optical image stabilization if you’re shooting a lot of your YouTube videos handheld.

For more information on camera lenses, check out my Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses .

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

	Tripod If you plan to film yourself talking in front of the same, unchanging background for an extended period of time, it doesn’t make sense to film yourself handheld the entire time. You’ll just end up tiring your arm out and adding distracting shakiness to your footage. A tripod is a great solution to this problem. You can set up your framing once, press record, and leave your camera in its fixed position while you talk with both hands free.
	Joby GorillaPod With Ballhead When you film yourself handheld, it’s difficult to keep your arm higher up so that your camera shoots down at an ideal angle. You may also notice that a lot of your arm gets into your shot, which you and other viewers might find distracting. Holding your camera up by a GorillaPod, however, can give you the extension you need to get that higher angle shot more easily, all without so much of your arm getting into your shot.

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Most vlogging cameras come with a built-in microphone that gets the job done. If you want higher quality audio recordings, though, you should check out the following list of top microphones.

Top Condenser Mics For Music and Singing	Top Condenser Mics For Voiceovers-Podcasts, Interviews	Top On-Camera Shotgun Mics	Top Shotgun Mics	Top Low-Profile Lavalier Mics
Audio-Technica AT2035 Rode NT1-A AKG C214	Apogee Mic 96K Blue Yeti Rode NT-USB Blue Snowball Audio-Technica AT2020 Rode Procaster	Rode VideoMic Go Shure VP83 Rode VideoMic Pro+ Sennheiser MKE 440	Rode NTG-3 Audio-Technica AT4053B Sennheiser MKH416	Rode SmartLav+ Audio-Technica ATR3350iS Sennheiser ME2

To read more about each of these microphones, check out our post on The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2018 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Arkon Tripod Mount
FLII Selfie Ring Light
RODE VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Read about each one of these items and more in The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Lighting for home living and lighting for filming is very different. If you try to make use of just the lights you have at home, you may find that your footage is too dark, grainy, and orange-tinted.

The solution to this problem is getting additional video lighting equipment with daytime light bulbs.

	Daytime Light Bulbs Your home is most likely lit with incandescent light bulbs that illuminate orange-tinted light. You can remove those light bulbs and replace them with daytime light bulbs that illuminate more of a white colored light.
	On-Camera LED Light If you need more light just in front of the camera and you need this light to be portable, LED lights that attach to your camera’s hot/cold shoe will do the job.
	LED Ring Light If you need more light just in front of the camera, you don’t have a lot of space, and you don’t need this light to be small and portable, an LED ring light is the best piece of equipment for you. You can position your camera inside the circular space of the ring light. This kind of light also gives your eyes the circular shaped highlight that many people like to see.
	Softbox Video Light If you need more light and have more space, another piece of lighting equipment good for beginners is a softbox video light.
	Umbrella Video Light Umbrella video lights are very portable and affordable. The direction of the light from umbrella lights are more difficult to control than the light from softbox video lights.

If you’re looking for recommendations on which piece of lighting equipment to buy, check out my list of the Top 17 Video Lighting Equipment For YouTubers .

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

The following three laptop computers handle video editing very well:

MacBook Pro With Touch Bar
Dell XPS 15
Microsoft Surface Book 2

Read more about these laptop computers for 4K video editing in The Best Laptops for 4K Video Editing .

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARES
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each of these softwares in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube .	Filmora Video Editor (Windows, Mac) - $40 one year license, $79.99 perpetual license. Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Music is an important part of YouTube video creation. Here’s where you can get access to music:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

Sumia Rafique

Sumia Rafique is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Sumia Rafique

Wanderlust Wonders: Crafting Engaging Travel Content for Your Audience

How To Become A Travel Vlogger | The Ultimate Guide of Travel Vlogging

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Want to become a travel vlogger?

Traveling around the world is one of life’s most exciting experiences – just ask anyone who has caught the travel bug. It is no wonder that travel videos are a big hit on YouTube. Any viewer can be instantly transported to another part of the world, all from the comfort of their seat.

With all the high-quality cameras and video editing software that are much more accessible to the general public now than even a few years ago, it has never been a better time to make a travel vlog.

Below, I have prepared a comprehensive guide on how to become a travel vlogger.

Table of Contents PART 1: TRAVEL VLOGGING EQUIPMENT 1.1 Travel Vlogging Cameras How To Choose A Travel Vlogging Camera Cameras That Are Good For Travel Vlogging Lenses That Are Good For Travel Vlogging 1.2 Travel Vlogging Accessories Camera Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging Smartphone Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging Camera Mounted Shotgun Microphone For Travel Vlogging Other Useful Travel Vlogging Accessories PART 2: TRAVEL VIDEO IDEAS PART 3: TRAVEL VIDEO EDITING Video Editing Software Travel-Themed Video Effects Music Libraries Sound Effects PART 4: TRAVEL VLOGGING TIPS

Create Your Travel Vlog with Wondershare FilmoraX

Wondershare FilmoraX is a video editing application that offers a lot of editing features that can be used both by a beginner and professionals alike. You can easily cut, split and trim your video, and apply transitions, filters, and texts, etc. to your travel vlog. What’s more, its advanced color grading settings and audio keyframing will add a unique flavor to your travel vlog. Just get started and make your video go viral!

PART 1: TRAVEL VLOGGING EQUIPMENT

In order to make travel videos, you’re going to need camera equipment. Below, I’ve prepared a comprehensive list of cameras and accessories that would be good for travel vlogging.

Filmstock Stock Media Library ](https://filmstock.wondershare.com/creative-theme-tourism?spm=rs.filmora%5Fweb&source%5Fchannel=seo%5Farticle )

1.1 Travel Vlogging Cameras

How To Choose A Vlogging Camera

When it comes to travel vlogging, you should look for a camera that ideally has the following eleven qualities:

It has a fully articulated screen (flip screen)
It has good continual autofocus while recording video
It has good focus priority through face recognition
It has touched to focus
It has good low-light performance
It has an external mic jack and a hot/cold shoe bracket
It has optical image stabilization
It is lightweight and portable
It has a good battery life
It is durable and weather-sealed
It has hyper-lapse/timelapse/slow-motion shooting modes

For more information on why a lot of these features are ideal to have in a vlogging camera, check out my post on the Top 15 Best Cameras for Vlogging 2020 .

Cameras That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

Considering my list on what to look for in a travel vlogging camera, I’ve prepared a table below of thirteen cameras I’d recommend for travel vlogging:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumixDC-GH5S	January2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$$
GoProHero6 Black	September2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS6D Mark II	June2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM6	February2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	Yes	$
SonyCyber-Shot DSCRX 100 V	October2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCG85	September2016	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCLX10	September2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonPowerShotG7 X Mark II	February2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$

Lenses That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

Every travel vlogger should have a wide-angle lens. Wide-angle lenses fit much more of a scene into your camera frame, making it ideal for capturing establishing shots. You’ll also need a wide-angle lens if you plan on holding your camera out in front of yourself with an extended arm to get selfie footage.

As a travel vlogger, you’ll also want to show some close-up shots of the various subjects in your scene. If you don’t mind walking up to these subjects, the lens I recommend for this is a standard lens.

If, however, you want to be able to shoot these close-up shots from a farther distance, you’ll need a telephoto lens.

But you probably don’t want to carry and switch so many lenses as you travel, right? A convenient solution is to get a zoom lens that covers a wide range of focal lengths. For example, travel vlogger Sam Kolder shoots with a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 lens – that’s a wide-angle lens, standard lens, and telephoto lens all in one lens!

If most of your travel video shooting will be done handheld, you should also definitely look for a lens equipped with optical image stabilization.

Check out my Best Camera Lens for YouTube to gain a more in-depth understanding of lenses and how they work.

1.2 Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

	1. Tripod Record stabilized shots and timelapse footage with a tripod.
	2. GorillaPod SLR-Zoom with Ballhead Wrap your camera around structures that your regular tripod can’t stay on. You can also hold out your camera further away from you using the GorillaPod as a selfie stick to fit in more of your background into your selfie shot.
	3. Stabilizing Gimbal Get super-smooth shots with a stabilizing gimbal.
	4. On-Camera LED Light Is there not enough light? Add an LED light to your camera’s hot/cold shoe.
	5. Neutral Density (ND) Filters Is it too bright outside to have your aperture wide open but you still want to get that cinematic look ? You can add ND filters to your lenses so that you can do just that in very bright conditions.
	6. Camera Cleaning Kit While traveling, you can get all kinds of unwanted substances on your lens and in your camera like dust, dirt, fingerprints, raindrops, snow, and sand, to name a few. If you bring along a portable camera cleaning kit with you on your travels, you can remove those things immediately so that your shots won’t be affected.
	7. Drone When it comes to travel vlogging, wide shots that establish the scene and setting are important. Drones are great for taking these kinds of wide shots from high places that you would not be able to get to by foot.

Smartphone Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

Using your smartphone as a travel vlogging device is a great idea! Your smartphone is a light and portable piece of equipment that you likely have with you at all times. Upgrade your smartphone travel vlogging setup with any of these 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers:

RAVPower Portable Charger
Arkon Tripod Mount
Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case
FLII Selfie Ring Light
Rode VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System
Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

Read more about each one of these items in my post The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Camera Mounted Shotgun Microphones for Travel Vlogging

These four shotgun microphones can mount directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe:

Rode VideoMic Go
Shure VP83
Rode VideoMic Pro+
Sennheiser MKE 440

Read more about each one of them in our post about The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2020 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Other Useful Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera backpack
Extra batteries
Memory cards
External hard drive
Power plugs and cables
USB card reader
Universal plug
D-ring clips (to prevent your equipment from slipping out of your grasp)
Smartphone SD card tray key (if you’re storing your recorded footage in your SD card)

PART 2: TRAVEL VLOGGING IDEAS

If you’re needing some travel video ideas either to get you started or to bring some fresh content into your channel, here are ten travel video ideas that you can try.

1. Travel Vlog

Travel vlogging, the kind where you film yourself just going about your day in a different part of the world, is a great way to not only document your travel moments and memories for yourself, but also a great way to share your experience with others.

Rather than being too picky with your video shots and possibly ending up with a lack of footage to work with, shoot as much as you can.

Try to capture your thoughts and feelings around the things you taste, smell, see and hear. Sharing these details can help your viewers feel more like they’re with you on your travels.

2. Tips or Tricks for Traveling

Although learning from mistakes during your travels can be a rewarding experience, most people want to avoid them and, rather, enjoy their trip as much as they possibly can. After all, travel, for most people, happens in intervals that seem too short. You can help this sizable group by offering travel tips and tricks.

Prepare a list of tips and tricks, a shot list of all the footage you’ll need to go along with those tips, and then capture all your footage. As you go through your list, you can then cut away to your associated travel shots.

3. Video Tour of a Location

Many people are curious about different parts of the world and would love to join a tour without the high cost of flights, hotels, meals, and admission tickets. Give them that experience by making a video tour.

4. Review An Attraction or Experience

A lot of travelers having a limited amount of time and money to enjoy their chosen travel destinations want to know which attractions and experiences to prioritize and which ones to skip. Help them make their decision by making a video review.

5. Timelapse Videos

All you need in addition to your camera is a tripod to get started with making timelapse videos. Your tripod stabilizes your shot as your camera captures all the changes that take place in a given location.

When your footage is sped up, your viewers can appreciate all the changes that take place that they may not have had the patience to sit through in real-time. It’s also interesting to observe the passage of time in a different way.

6. Average Daily Cost

Before going on a trip, many people try to make a budget and figure out how much money to exchange into foreign currency. Making a good budget and getting just enough foreign cash, though, requires you to know how much, on average, things cost.

Make a helpful video on the average cost of daily expenses including meals and transportation like Paolo did in the above video “Average Daily Cost in Tokyo Japan | Is it Expensive?.” His video actually helped me a lot when I was trying to come up with a budget for my recent trip to Japan.

7. Interview Locals

People don’t travel only to see popular attractions. A lot of people travel to connect with and understand people from different parts of the world.

Interviewing locals and sharing their thoughts can help to provide that kind of connection.

8. What’s in My Backpack?

Packing for a trip can say a lot about who you are as a person because it involves prioritizing items based on your personal values.

For your next trip, share a little part of yourself with your audience through a video about the things you’ve packed in your bag.

9. Talk About Your Own Home City

When you’ve lived in your own home city for so long, you might forget that people all over the world may marvel at the things you take for granted because all those things just happen to be at your doorstep.

Take advantage of the expert that you already are in your own home city and make an informative video for others who are taking a trip there.

10. How To Become a Travel Vlogger

After you’ve done a lot of travel vlogging and learned so much along the way, you can make a video about how to be a travel vlogger.

In the above video, Andrew Santos teaches how to make a travel video, all while hilariously poking fun at many of the cliché trends in the travel genre.

PART 3: TRAVEL VIDEO EDITING

Video Editing Software

When it comes to editing your travel video together, there are different kinds of software you can do that with.

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each software in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube – Top 8 Reviews .	Wondershare Filmora X (Windows, Mac) - start at $49.99 for one year license and Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

Travel-Themed Video Effects

If you use Filmora Video Editor, you can also take advantage of a variety of travel-themed video effects packs, like the one shown in the above video, filled with titles, transitions, filters, overlays, and other visual elements.

For my recent trip to Japan, I actually used Filmora Effects’ Japanese set.

At the 2:10 mark of the above video, I used an overlay of falling cherry blossom leaves. At the 3:03 mark of the same video, I used an anime-themed overlay.

At the 2:48 mark of the above video, I used a shoji door transition.

Music Libraries

Music is an important component of a lot of travel videos. Here’s where you can get them:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

PART 4: TRAVEL VLOGGING TIPS

Vlog/Life Balance

Give yourself more time at each location if you want to have a good balance between getting the shots you need and enjoying your present moment.

Theft Prevention

Carry a backpack that doesn’t have zippers on the outside that thieves can easily get to.
If you’re shooting with a flashy smartphone, make it look less appealing to thieves with a grotesque smartphone case, like an Otterbox.
In locations with high crime, pre-plan the shots you want to capture and take your SLR camera out of your bag only to take those shots. Otherwise, keep your SLR camera concealed.
Never leave your equipment unattended in a visible area, not even in a locked car.

Pre-Production and Planning

Before shooting, make a shot list of all the footage you need.
Have all your filming equipment that needs to be calibrated all calibrated and ready to use.

Onscreen Performance

Look into your lens, not the projected image of yourself on your camera’s flip screen.
Show a lot of energy as you film yourself.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, keep your talking head clips short and gradually build your way up to longer clips. You can break up longer sentences by saying a few words from one scene, saying a few more in another, and finishing off your last words, again, in another scene. Later, in editing, you can stitch all of those clips together to make one fluid sentence.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, you can capture your talking headshots later when you find a more secluded space.

Audio Recording

Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
Block wind from reaching your mic with windscreens and dead cats.
Upgrade your mic.
Adjust your levels.
Get close to the sound you are wanting to record.

Check out 10 Recording Tips to Get The Best Sound From Your Microphone for more audio recording tips.

Filming

To avoid crowds, wake up early and grab your footage early while everyone else is still sleeping or getting ready.
Capture wide shots, medium shots, and close-up shots for better coverage.
Use the Sun Seeker app to set up your sunrise/sunset shots better.
If your camera can record 4K footage, record in 4K all the scenes that you want to zoom in closer later in editing without losing quality (your video project in editing has to be at 1920p x 1080p for this to work).

Stabilization

If you’re trying to get shots with movement by walking, rather than walking as you normally would walk with your knees bent for steadier shots.
If you’re shooting something in front of your handheld, lean your arm against your own body for steadier shots.
Use a stabilizing gimbal with your camera.

Timelapse/Hyperlapse

Select scenes where you can see a lot of change over time (not a still building in front of a cloudless smoggy sky).
Set longer intervals for scenes that change very slowly over time.
Pre-set your focus. Turn autofocus off.
Shoot time-lapses/hyper-lapses in manual mode to prevent the flickering that occurs with changing light conditions in automatic settings.
If your camera is set on a tripod in a fixed position, turn your optical image stabilization off.
If you aren’t holding onto your camera as it’s in the middle of making a timelapse video, at least keep your camera and tripod attached by some kind of leash mechanism.
For moving time-lapses or hyper-lapses, try to keep one point of reference in the same position within your camera frame.

Slow Motion

Shoot slow-motion videos when there is plenty of light.
For actions that are as slow as walking, slowing down your footage to 50% of the original speed looks good enough. If your video editing project is in 30 fps, shooting your video in 60 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. If your video editing project is in 60 fps, shooting your video in 120 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. Any slower is overkill for slowing down the speed of walking.
For actions that are as fast as water splashing, slowing down your footage as little as 15% of the original speed can look good. For a video editing project in 30 fps, you would need a camera that can shoot at up to 240 fps to slow your footage down this much.

Storage and Back-Up

If you’re using a phone that can store images and videos on a separate SD card, take advantage of that and record your travel footage onto your SD card. Later, you can easily get to your travel media as it will all be in one place.
If you have your laptop on you, regularly transfer your media files from your cameras to your external hard drives.
If you don’t want to bring your laptop on your trip and plan to video edit once you’re back home, use a USB memory card reader that connects with an app on your phone to transfer your files into your external hard drive.
If you have access to a reliable internet connection and you leave your laptop at your place of accommodation, have your computer upload your files onto cloud storage while you are out to travel vlogging.
Take advantage of Google Photos’ free, unlimited cloud storage for video files up to 1080p.

Video Editing

If you’re editing a video project with videos from multiple different cameras, make sure to set the correct time and date on all of them before you start filming. Later, in editing, you can import all your image and video files and sort them in the exact order that they were taken.
If your video editing software can work with proxies, transcode all your video files into proxy files for much faster editing.

Posting On YouTube

Choose a title that people will search for. Keep your target keywords at the beginning of your title. “S01E01: My Summer Backpacking Trip” is not an effective title. Instead, a title like “Going Up The Eiffel Tower… Beautiful View of Paris!” would be better.

Ready to Become a Travel Vlogger?

Here in this article, I shared travel vlogging cameras &accessories, travel video ideas& resources, and travel vlogging tips. Did you get more hints to become a travel vlogger? Stay tuned and start your own travel vlog! Leave your comments below if you have any suggestions about this travel vlogger guide.

This past year has been a challenge, so if you want to make a #travelanywhere video without traveling, you can try Wondershare Filmora X video editor.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Want to become a travel vlogger?

With all the high-quality cameras and video editing software that are much more accessible to the general public now than even a few years ago, it has never been a better time to make a travel vlog.

Below, I have prepared a comprehensive guide on how to become a travel vlogger.

Create Your Travel Vlog with Wondershare FilmoraX

PART 1: TRAVEL VLOGGING EQUIPMENT

In order to make travel videos, you’re going to need camera equipment. Below, I’ve prepared a comprehensive list of cameras and accessories that would be good for travel vlogging.

Filmstock Stock Media Library ](https://filmstock.wondershare.com/creative-theme-tourism?spm=rs.filmora%5Fweb&source%5Fchannel=seo%5Farticle )

1.1 Travel Vlogging Cameras

How To Choose A Vlogging Camera

When it comes to travel vlogging, you should look for a camera that ideally has the following eleven qualities:

It has a fully articulated screen (flip screen)
It has good continual autofocus while recording video
It has good focus priority through face recognition
It has touched to focus
It has good low-light performance
It has an external mic jack and a hot/cold shoe bracket
It has optical image stabilization
It is lightweight and portable
It has a good battery life
It is durable and weather-sealed
It has hyper-lapse/timelapse/slow-motion shooting modes

For more information on why a lot of these features are ideal to have in a vlogging camera, check out my post on the Top 15 Best Cameras for Vlogging 2020 .

Cameras That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

Considering my list on what to look for in a travel vlogging camera, I’ve prepared a table below of thirteen cameras I’d recommend for travel vlogging:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumixDC-GH5S	January2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$$
GoProHero6 Black	September2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS6D Mark II	June2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM6	February2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	Yes	$
SonyCyber-Shot DSCRX 100 V	October2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCG85	September2016	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCLX10	September2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonPowerShotG7 X Mark II	February2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$

Lenses That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

If, however, you want to be able to shoot these close-up shots from a farther distance, you’ll need a telephoto lens.

If most of your travel video shooting will be done handheld, you should also definitely look for a lens equipped with optical image stabilization.

Check out my Best Camera Lens for YouTube to gain a more in-depth understanding of lenses and how they work.

1.2 Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

	1. Tripod Record stabilized shots and timelapse footage with a tripod.
	2. GorillaPod SLR-Zoom with Ballhead Wrap your camera around structures that your regular tripod can’t stay on. You can also hold out your camera further away from you using the GorillaPod as a selfie stick to fit in more of your background into your selfie shot.
	3. Stabilizing Gimbal Get super-smooth shots with a stabilizing gimbal.
	4. On-Camera LED Light Is there not enough light? Add an LED light to your camera’s hot/cold shoe.
	5. Neutral Density (ND) Filters Is it too bright outside to have your aperture wide open but you still want to get that cinematic look ? You can add ND filters to your lenses so that you can do just that in very bright conditions.
	6. Camera Cleaning Kit While traveling, you can get all kinds of unwanted substances on your lens and in your camera like dust, dirt, fingerprints, raindrops, snow, and sand, to name a few. If you bring along a portable camera cleaning kit with you on your travels, you can remove those things immediately so that your shots won’t be affected.
	7. Drone When it comes to travel vlogging, wide shots that establish the scene and setting are important. Drones are great for taking these kinds of wide shots from high places that you would not be able to get to by foot.

Smartphone Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

RAVPower Portable Charger
Arkon Tripod Mount
Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case
FLII Selfie Ring Light
Rode VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System
Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

Read more about each one of these items in my post The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Camera Mounted Shotgun Microphones for Travel Vlogging

These four shotgun microphones can mount directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe:

Rode VideoMic Go
Shure VP83
Rode VideoMic Pro+
Sennheiser MKE 440

Read more about each one of them in our post about The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2020 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Other Useful Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera backpack
Extra batteries
Memory cards
External hard drive
Power plugs and cables
USB card reader
Universal plug
D-ring clips (to prevent your equipment from slipping out of your grasp)
Smartphone SD card tray key (if you’re storing your recorded footage in your SD card)

PART 2: TRAVEL VLOGGING IDEAS

If you’re needing some travel video ideas either to get you started or to bring some fresh content into your channel, here are ten travel video ideas that you can try.

1. Travel Vlog

Rather than being too picky with your video shots and possibly ending up with a lack of footage to work with, shoot as much as you can.

Try to capture your thoughts and feelings around the things you taste, smell, see and hear. Sharing these details can help your viewers feel more like they’re with you on your travels.

2. Tips or Tricks for Traveling

3. Video Tour of a Location

4. Review An Attraction or Experience

5. Timelapse Videos

6. Average Daily Cost

7. Interview Locals

People don’t travel only to see popular attractions. A lot of people travel to connect with and understand people from different parts of the world.

Interviewing locals and sharing their thoughts can help to provide that kind of connection.

8. What’s in My Backpack?

Packing for a trip can say a lot about who you are as a person because it involves prioritizing items based on your personal values.

For your next trip, share a little part of yourself with your audience through a video about the things you’ve packed in your bag.

9. Talk About Your Own Home City

Take advantage of the expert that you already are in your own home city and make an informative video for others who are taking a trip there.

10. How To Become a Travel Vlogger

After you’ve done a lot of travel vlogging and learned so much along the way, you can make a video about how to be a travel vlogger.

In the above video, Andrew Santos teaches how to make a travel video, all while hilariously poking fun at many of the cliché trends in the travel genre.

PART 3: TRAVEL VIDEO EDITING

Video Editing Software

When it comes to editing your travel video together, there are different kinds of software you can do that with.

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each software in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube – Top 8 Reviews .	Wondershare Filmora X (Windows, Mac) - start at $49.99 for one year license and Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

Travel-Themed Video Effects

For my recent trip to Japan, I actually used Filmora Effects’ Japanese set.

At the 2:10 mark of the above video, I used an overlay of falling cherry blossom leaves. At the 3:03 mark of the same video, I used an anime-themed overlay.

At the 2:48 mark of the above video, I used a shoji door transition.

Music Libraries

Music is an important component of a lot of travel videos. Here’s where you can get them:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

PART 4: TRAVEL VLOGGING TIPS

Vlog/Life Balance

Give yourself more time at each location if you want to have a good balance between getting the shots you need and enjoying your present moment.

Theft Prevention

Carry a backpack that doesn’t have zippers on the outside that thieves can easily get to.
If you’re shooting with a flashy smartphone, make it look less appealing to thieves with a grotesque smartphone case, like an Otterbox.
In locations with high crime, pre-plan the shots you want to capture and take your SLR camera out of your bag only to take those shots. Otherwise, keep your SLR camera concealed.
Never leave your equipment unattended in a visible area, not even in a locked car.

Pre-Production and Planning

Before shooting, make a shot list of all the footage you need.
Have all your filming equipment that needs to be calibrated all calibrated and ready to use.

Onscreen Performance

Look into your lens, not the projected image of yourself on your camera’s flip screen.
Show a lot of energy as you film yourself.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, keep your talking head clips short and gradually build your way up to longer clips. You can break up longer sentences by saying a few words from one scene, saying a few more in another, and finishing off your last words, again, in another scene. Later, in editing, you can stitch all of those clips together to make one fluid sentence.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, you can capture your talking headshots later when you find a more secluded space.

Audio Recording

Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
Block wind from reaching your mic with windscreens and dead cats.
Upgrade your mic.
Adjust your levels.
Get close to the sound you are wanting to record.

Check out 10 Recording Tips to Get The Best Sound From Your Microphone for more audio recording tips.

Filming

To avoid crowds, wake up early and grab your footage early while everyone else is still sleeping or getting ready.
Capture wide shots, medium shots, and close-up shots for better coverage.
Use the Sun Seeker app to set up your sunrise/sunset shots better.
If your camera can record 4K footage, record in 4K all the scenes that you want to zoom in closer later in editing without losing quality (your video project in editing has to be at 1920p x 1080p for this to work).

Stabilization

If you’re trying to get shots with movement by walking, rather than walking as you normally would walk with your knees bent for steadier shots.
If you’re shooting something in front of your handheld, lean your arm against your own body for steadier shots.
Use a stabilizing gimbal with your camera.

Timelapse/Hyperlapse

Select scenes where you can see a lot of change over time (not a still building in front of a cloudless smoggy sky).
Set longer intervals for scenes that change very slowly over time.
Pre-set your focus. Turn autofocus off.
Shoot time-lapses/hyper-lapses in manual mode to prevent the flickering that occurs with changing light conditions in automatic settings.
If your camera is set on a tripod in a fixed position, turn your optical image stabilization off.
If you aren’t holding onto your camera as it’s in the middle of making a timelapse video, at least keep your camera and tripod attached by some kind of leash mechanism.
For moving time-lapses or hyper-lapses, try to keep one point of reference in the same position within your camera frame.

Slow Motion

Shoot slow-motion videos when there is plenty of light.
For actions that are as slow as walking, slowing down your footage to 50% of the original speed looks good enough. If your video editing project is in 30 fps, shooting your video in 60 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. If your video editing project is in 60 fps, shooting your video in 120 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. Any slower is overkill for slowing down the speed of walking.
For actions that are as fast as water splashing, slowing down your footage as little as 15% of the original speed can look good. For a video editing project in 30 fps, you would need a camera that can shoot at up to 240 fps to slow your footage down this much.

Storage and Back-Up

If you’re using a phone that can store images and videos on a separate SD card, take advantage of that and record your travel footage onto your SD card. Later, you can easily get to your travel media as it will all be in one place.
If you have your laptop on you, regularly transfer your media files from your cameras to your external hard drives.
If you don’t want to bring your laptop on your trip and plan to video edit once you’re back home, use a USB memory card reader that connects with an app on your phone to transfer your files into your external hard drive.
If you have access to a reliable internet connection and you leave your laptop at your place of accommodation, have your computer upload your files onto cloud storage while you are out to travel vlogging.
Take advantage of Google Photos’ free, unlimited cloud storage for video files up to 1080p.

Video Editing

If you’re editing a video project with videos from multiple different cameras, make sure to set the correct time and date on all of them before you start filming. Later, in editing, you can import all your image and video files and sort them in the exact order that they were taken.
If your video editing software can work with proxies, transcode all your video files into proxy files for much faster editing.

Posting On YouTube

Choose a title that people will search for. Keep your target keywords at the beginning of your title. “S01E01: My Summer Backpacking Trip” is not an effective title. Instead, a title like “Going Up The Eiffel Tower… Beautiful View of Paris!” would be better.

Ready to Become a Travel Vlogger?

This past year has been a challenge, so if you want to make a #travelanywhere video without traveling, you can try Wondershare Filmora X video editor.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Want to become a travel vlogger?

With all the high-quality cameras and video editing software that are much more accessible to the general public now than even a few years ago, it has never been a better time to make a travel vlog.

Below, I have prepared a comprehensive guide on how to become a travel vlogger.

Create Your Travel Vlog with Wondershare FilmoraX

PART 1: TRAVEL VLOGGING EQUIPMENT

In order to make travel videos, you’re going to need camera equipment. Below, I’ve prepared a comprehensive list of cameras and accessories that would be good for travel vlogging.

Filmstock Stock Media Library ](https://filmstock.wondershare.com/creative-theme-tourism?spm=rs.filmora%5Fweb&source%5Fchannel=seo%5Farticle )

1.1 Travel Vlogging Cameras

How To Choose A Vlogging Camera

When it comes to travel vlogging, you should look for a camera that ideally has the following eleven qualities:

It has a fully articulated screen (flip screen)
It has good continual autofocus while recording video
It has good focus priority through face recognition
It has touched to focus
It has good low-light performance
It has an external mic jack and a hot/cold shoe bracket
It has optical image stabilization
It is lightweight and portable
It has a good battery life
It is durable and weather-sealed
It has hyper-lapse/timelapse/slow-motion shooting modes

For more information on why a lot of these features are ideal to have in a vlogging camera, check out my post on the Top 15 Best Cameras for Vlogging 2020 .

Cameras That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

Considering my list on what to look for in a travel vlogging camera, I’ve prepared a table below of thirteen cameras I’d recommend for travel vlogging:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumixDC-GH5S	January2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$$
GoProHero6 Black	September2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS6D Mark II	June2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM6	February2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	Yes	$
SonyCyber-Shot DSCRX 100 V	October2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCG85	September2016	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCLX10	September2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonPowerShotG7 X Mark II	February2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$

Lenses That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

If, however, you want to be able to shoot these close-up shots from a farther distance, you’ll need a telephoto lens.

If most of your travel video shooting will be done handheld, you should also definitely look for a lens equipped with optical image stabilization.

Check out my Best Camera Lens for YouTube to gain a more in-depth understanding of lenses and how they work.

1.2 Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

	1. Tripod Record stabilized shots and timelapse footage with a tripod.
	2. GorillaPod SLR-Zoom with Ballhead Wrap your camera around structures that your regular tripod can’t stay on. You can also hold out your camera further away from you using the GorillaPod as a selfie stick to fit in more of your background into your selfie shot.
	3. Stabilizing Gimbal Get super-smooth shots with a stabilizing gimbal.
	4. On-Camera LED Light Is there not enough light? Add an LED light to your camera’s hot/cold shoe.
	5. Neutral Density (ND) Filters Is it too bright outside to have your aperture wide open but you still want to get that cinematic look ? You can add ND filters to your lenses so that you can do just that in very bright conditions.
	6. Camera Cleaning Kit While traveling, you can get all kinds of unwanted substances on your lens and in your camera like dust, dirt, fingerprints, raindrops, snow, and sand, to name a few. If you bring along a portable camera cleaning kit with you on your travels, you can remove those things immediately so that your shots won’t be affected.
	7. Drone When it comes to travel vlogging, wide shots that establish the scene and setting are important. Drones are great for taking these kinds of wide shots from high places that you would not be able to get to by foot.

Smartphone Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

RAVPower Portable Charger
Arkon Tripod Mount
Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case
FLII Selfie Ring Light
Rode VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System
Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

Read more about each one of these items in my post The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Camera Mounted Shotgun Microphones for Travel Vlogging

These four shotgun microphones can mount directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe:

Rode VideoMic Go
Shure VP83
Rode VideoMic Pro+
Sennheiser MKE 440

Read more about each one of them in our post about The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2020 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Other Useful Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera backpack
Extra batteries
Memory cards
External hard drive
Power plugs and cables
USB card reader
Universal plug
D-ring clips (to prevent your equipment from slipping out of your grasp)
Smartphone SD card tray key (if you’re storing your recorded footage in your SD card)

PART 2: TRAVEL VLOGGING IDEAS

If you’re needing some travel video ideas either to get you started or to bring some fresh content into your channel, here are ten travel video ideas that you can try.

1. Travel Vlog

Rather than being too picky with your video shots and possibly ending up with a lack of footage to work with, shoot as much as you can.

Try to capture your thoughts and feelings around the things you taste, smell, see and hear. Sharing these details can help your viewers feel more like they’re with you on your travels.

2. Tips or Tricks for Traveling

3. Video Tour of a Location

4. Review An Attraction or Experience

5. Timelapse Videos

6. Average Daily Cost

7. Interview Locals

People don’t travel only to see popular attractions. A lot of people travel to connect with and understand people from different parts of the world.

Interviewing locals and sharing their thoughts can help to provide that kind of connection.

8. What’s in My Backpack?

Packing for a trip can say a lot about who you are as a person because it involves prioritizing items based on your personal values.

For your next trip, share a little part of yourself with your audience through a video about the things you’ve packed in your bag.

9. Talk About Your Own Home City

Take advantage of the expert that you already are in your own home city and make an informative video for others who are taking a trip there.

10. How To Become a Travel Vlogger

After you’ve done a lot of travel vlogging and learned so much along the way, you can make a video about how to be a travel vlogger.

In the above video, Andrew Santos teaches how to make a travel video, all while hilariously poking fun at many of the cliché trends in the travel genre.

PART 3: TRAVEL VIDEO EDITING

Video Editing Software

When it comes to editing your travel video together, there are different kinds of software you can do that with.

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each software in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube – Top 8 Reviews .	Wondershare Filmora X (Windows, Mac) - start at $49.99 for one year license and Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

Travel-Themed Video Effects

For my recent trip to Japan, I actually used Filmora Effects’ Japanese set.

At the 2:10 mark of the above video, I used an overlay of falling cherry blossom leaves. At the 3:03 mark of the same video, I used an anime-themed overlay.

At the 2:48 mark of the above video, I used a shoji door transition.

Music Libraries

Music is an important component of a lot of travel videos. Here’s where you can get them:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

PART 4: TRAVEL VLOGGING TIPS

Vlog/Life Balance

Give yourself more time at each location if you want to have a good balance between getting the shots you need and enjoying your present moment.

Theft Prevention

Carry a backpack that doesn’t have zippers on the outside that thieves can easily get to.
If you’re shooting with a flashy smartphone, make it look less appealing to thieves with a grotesque smartphone case, like an Otterbox.
In locations with high crime, pre-plan the shots you want to capture and take your SLR camera out of your bag only to take those shots. Otherwise, keep your SLR camera concealed.
Never leave your equipment unattended in a visible area, not even in a locked car.

Pre-Production and Planning

Before shooting, make a shot list of all the footage you need.
Have all your filming equipment that needs to be calibrated all calibrated and ready to use.

Onscreen Performance

Look into your lens, not the projected image of yourself on your camera’s flip screen.
Show a lot of energy as you film yourself.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, keep your talking head clips short and gradually build your way up to longer clips. You can break up longer sentences by saying a few words from one scene, saying a few more in another, and finishing off your last words, again, in another scene. Later, in editing, you can stitch all of those clips together to make one fluid sentence.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, you can capture your talking headshots later when you find a more secluded space.

Audio Recording

Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
Block wind from reaching your mic with windscreens and dead cats.
Upgrade your mic.
Adjust your levels.
Get close to the sound you are wanting to record.

Check out 10 Recording Tips to Get The Best Sound From Your Microphone for more audio recording tips.

Filming

To avoid crowds, wake up early and grab your footage early while everyone else is still sleeping or getting ready.
Capture wide shots, medium shots, and close-up shots for better coverage.
Use the Sun Seeker app to set up your sunrise/sunset shots better.
If your camera can record 4K footage, record in 4K all the scenes that you want to zoom in closer later in editing without losing quality (your video project in editing has to be at 1920p x 1080p for this to work).

Stabilization

If you’re trying to get shots with movement by walking, rather than walking as you normally would walk with your knees bent for steadier shots.
If you’re shooting something in front of your handheld, lean your arm against your own body for steadier shots.
Use a stabilizing gimbal with your camera.

Timelapse/Hyperlapse

Select scenes where you can see a lot of change over time (not a still building in front of a cloudless smoggy sky).
Set longer intervals for scenes that change very slowly over time.
Pre-set your focus. Turn autofocus off.
Shoot time-lapses/hyper-lapses in manual mode to prevent the flickering that occurs with changing light conditions in automatic settings.
If your camera is set on a tripod in a fixed position, turn your optical image stabilization off.
If you aren’t holding onto your camera as it’s in the middle of making a timelapse video, at least keep your camera and tripod attached by some kind of leash mechanism.
For moving time-lapses or hyper-lapses, try to keep one point of reference in the same position within your camera frame.

Slow Motion

Shoot slow-motion videos when there is plenty of light.
For actions that are as slow as walking, slowing down your footage to 50% of the original speed looks good enough. If your video editing project is in 30 fps, shooting your video in 60 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. If your video editing project is in 60 fps, shooting your video in 120 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. Any slower is overkill for slowing down the speed of walking.
For actions that are as fast as water splashing, slowing down your footage as little as 15% of the original speed can look good. For a video editing project in 30 fps, you would need a camera that can shoot at up to 240 fps to slow your footage down this much.

Storage and Back-Up

If you’re using a phone that can store images and videos on a separate SD card, take advantage of that and record your travel footage onto your SD card. Later, you can easily get to your travel media as it will all be in one place.
If you have your laptop on you, regularly transfer your media files from your cameras to your external hard drives.
If you don’t want to bring your laptop on your trip and plan to video edit once you’re back home, use a USB memory card reader that connects with an app on your phone to transfer your files into your external hard drive.
If you have access to a reliable internet connection and you leave your laptop at your place of accommodation, have your computer upload your files onto cloud storage while you are out to travel vlogging.
Take advantage of Google Photos’ free, unlimited cloud storage for video files up to 1080p.

Video Editing

If you’re editing a video project with videos from multiple different cameras, make sure to set the correct time and date on all of them before you start filming. Later, in editing, you can import all your image and video files and sort them in the exact order that they were taken.
If your video editing software can work with proxies, transcode all your video files into proxy files for much faster editing.

Posting On YouTube

Choose a title that people will search for. Keep your target keywords at the beginning of your title. “S01E01: My Summer Backpacking Trip” is not an effective title. Instead, a title like “Going Up The Eiffel Tower… Beautiful View of Paris!” would be better.

Ready to Become a Travel Vlogger?

This past year has been a challenge, so if you want to make a #travelanywhere video without traveling, you can try Wondershare Filmora X video editor.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

Want to become a travel vlogger?

With all the high-quality cameras and video editing software that are much more accessible to the general public now than even a few years ago, it has never been a better time to make a travel vlog.

Below, I have prepared a comprehensive guide on how to become a travel vlogger.

Create Your Travel Vlog with Wondershare FilmoraX

PART 1: TRAVEL VLOGGING EQUIPMENT

In order to make travel videos, you’re going to need camera equipment. Below, I’ve prepared a comprehensive list of cameras and accessories that would be good for travel vlogging.

Filmstock Stock Media Library ](https://filmstock.wondershare.com/creative-theme-tourism?spm=rs.filmora%5Fweb&source%5Fchannel=seo%5Farticle )

1.1 Travel Vlogging Cameras

How To Choose A Vlogging Camera

When it comes to travel vlogging, you should look for a camera that ideally has the following eleven qualities:

It has a fully articulated screen (flip screen)
It has good continual autofocus while recording video
It has good focus priority through face recognition
It has touched to focus
It has good low-light performance
It has an external mic jack and a hot/cold shoe bracket
It has optical image stabilization
It is lightweight and portable
It has a good battery life
It is durable and weather-sealed
It has hyper-lapse/timelapse/slow-motion shooting modes

For more information on why a lot of these features are ideal to have in a vlogging camera, check out my post on the Top 15 Best Cameras for Vlogging 2020 .

Cameras That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

Considering my list on what to look for in a travel vlogging camera, I’ve prepared a table below of thirteen cameras I’d recommend for travel vlogging:

Camera	Camera Type	Flip Screen	Mic Port	Price
CanonEOSM50	February2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumixDC-GH5S	January2018	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$$
GoProHero6 Black	September2017	Action Camera	No	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM100	August2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS6D Mark II	June2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonEOS RebelSL2	June2017	Compact SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$
CanonEOS RebelT7i	February2017	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
CanonEOSM6	February2017	Mirrorless	Flip-Up	Yes	$
SonyCyber-Shot DSCRX 100 V	October2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCG85	September2016	Mirrorless	Fully Articulated	Yes	$-
PanasonicLumix DMCLX10	September2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$
CanonEOS80D	February2016	Mid-size SLR	Fully Articulated	Yes	$$
CanonPowerShotG7 X Mark II	February2016	Compact	Flip-Up	No	$

Lenses That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

If, however, you want to be able to shoot these close-up shots from a farther distance, you’ll need a telephoto lens.

If most of your travel video shooting will be done handheld, you should also definitely look for a lens equipped with optical image stabilization.

Check out my Best Camera Lens for YouTube to gain a more in-depth understanding of lenses and how they work.

1.2 Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

	1. Tripod Record stabilized shots and timelapse footage with a tripod.
	2. GorillaPod SLR-Zoom with Ballhead Wrap your camera around structures that your regular tripod can’t stay on. You can also hold out your camera further away from you using the GorillaPod as a selfie stick to fit in more of your background into your selfie shot.
	3. Stabilizing Gimbal Get super-smooth shots with a stabilizing gimbal.
	4. On-Camera LED Light Is there not enough light? Add an LED light to your camera’s hot/cold shoe.
	5. Neutral Density (ND) Filters Is it too bright outside to have your aperture wide open but you still want to get that cinematic look ? You can add ND filters to your lenses so that you can do just that in very bright conditions.
	6. Camera Cleaning Kit While traveling, you can get all kinds of unwanted substances on your lens and in your camera like dust, dirt, fingerprints, raindrops, snow, and sand, to name a few. If you bring along a portable camera cleaning kit with you on your travels, you can remove those things immediately so that your shots won’t be affected.
	7. Drone When it comes to travel vlogging, wide shots that establish the scene and setting are important. Drones are great for taking these kinds of wide shots from high places that you would not be able to get to by foot.

Smartphone Accessories That Are Good For Travel Vlogging

RAVPower Portable Charger
Arkon Tripod Mount
Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case
FLII Selfie Ring Light
Rode VideoMic Me
Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
Manfrotto TwistGrip System
Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

Read more about each one of these items in my post The 9 Best Smartphone Camera Accessories For Vloggers .

Camera Mounted Shotgun Microphones for Travel Vlogging

These four shotgun microphones can mount directly onto your camera’s hot/cold shoe:

Rode VideoMic Go
Shure VP83
Rode VideoMic Pro+
Sennheiser MKE 440

Read more about each one of them in our post about The 19 Best YouTube Microphones 2020 – Options for Music, Voiceovers, Vlogging, and more!

Other Useful Travel Vlogging Accessories

Camera backpack
Extra batteries
Memory cards
External hard drive
Power plugs and cables
USB card reader
Universal plug
D-ring clips (to prevent your equipment from slipping out of your grasp)
Smartphone SD card tray key (if you’re storing your recorded footage in your SD card)

PART 2: TRAVEL VLOGGING IDEAS

If you’re needing some travel video ideas either to get you started or to bring some fresh content into your channel, here are ten travel video ideas that you can try.

1. Travel Vlog

Rather than being too picky with your video shots and possibly ending up with a lack of footage to work with, shoot as much as you can.

Try to capture your thoughts and feelings around the things you taste, smell, see and hear. Sharing these details can help your viewers feel more like they’re with you on your travels.

2. Tips or Tricks for Traveling

3. Video Tour of a Location

4. Review An Attraction or Experience

5. Timelapse Videos

6. Average Daily Cost

7. Interview Locals

People don’t travel only to see popular attractions. A lot of people travel to connect with and understand people from different parts of the world.

Interviewing locals and sharing their thoughts can help to provide that kind of connection.

8. What’s in My Backpack?

Packing for a trip can say a lot about who you are as a person because it involves prioritizing items based on your personal values.

For your next trip, share a little part of yourself with your audience through a video about the things you’ve packed in your bag.

9. Talk About Your Own Home City

Take advantage of the expert that you already are in your own home city and make an informative video for others who are taking a trip there.

10. How To Become a Travel Vlogger

After you’ve done a lot of travel vlogging and learned so much along the way, you can make a video about how to be a travel vlogger.

In the above video, Andrew Santos teaches how to make a travel video, all while hilariously poking fun at many of the cliché trends in the travel genre.

PART 3: TRAVEL VIDEO EDITING

Video Editing Software

When it comes to editing your travel video together, there are different kinds of software you can do that with.

FREE VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE	PAID VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE
OpenShot Video Editor (Windows, Mac, Linux) ShotCut (Windows, Mac, Linux) Hitfilm Express (Windows, Mac) VideoPad Video Editor (Windows) Lightworks (Windows, Mac, Linux) VSDC Video Editor (Windows) Machete Video Editor Lite (Windows) Avidemux (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) Read more about each software in our post about The Best Free Video Editing Software for YouTube – Top 8 Reviews .	Wondershare Filmora X (Windows, Mac) - start at $49.99 for one year license and Free trial Final Cut Pro (Mac) - $299.99, Free trial Vegas Movie Studio (Windows) - $49.99

Travel-Themed Video Effects

For my recent trip to Japan, I actually used Filmora Effects’ Japanese set.

At the 2:10 mark of the above video, I used an overlay of falling cherry blossom leaves. At the 3:03 mark of the same video, I used an anime-themed overlay.

At the 2:48 mark of the above video, I used a shoji door transition.

Music Libraries

Music is an important component of a lot of travel videos. Here’s where you can get them:

ROYALTY-FREE MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID MUSIC LIBRARIES	PAID SUBSCRIPTION MUSIC LIBRARIES
Audionautix Bensound dig.ccMixter Free Music Archive Free Stock Music Incompetech Josh Woodward Moby Gratis Musopen Purple Planet Music TeknoAXE YouTube Audio Library	Premium Beat Audio Jungle	Audio Network Audio Blocks Epidemic Sound

Sound Effects

Free Sound Effect Sites

PART 4: TRAVEL VLOGGING TIPS

Vlog/Life Balance

Give yourself more time at each location if you want to have a good balance between getting the shots you need and enjoying your present moment.

Theft Prevention

Carry a backpack that doesn’t have zippers on the outside that thieves can easily get to.
If you’re shooting with a flashy smartphone, make it look less appealing to thieves with a grotesque smartphone case, like an Otterbox.
In locations with high crime, pre-plan the shots you want to capture and take your SLR camera out of your bag only to take those shots. Otherwise, keep your SLR camera concealed.
Never leave your equipment unattended in a visible area, not even in a locked car.

Pre-Production and Planning

Before shooting, make a shot list of all the footage you need.
Have all your filming equipment that needs to be calibrated all calibrated and ready to use.

Onscreen Performance

Look into your lens, not the projected image of yourself on your camera’s flip screen.
Show a lot of energy as you film yourself.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, keep your talking head clips short and gradually build your way up to longer clips. You can break up longer sentences by saying a few words from one scene, saying a few more in another, and finishing off your last words, again, in another scene. Later, in editing, you can stitch all of those clips together to make one fluid sentence.
If you’re nervous about talking to the camera in public, you can capture your talking headshots later when you find a more secluded space.

Audio Recording

Silence everything you don’t want your mic to record.
Put your mobile phone in airplane mode.
Block wind from reaching your mic with windscreens and dead cats.
Upgrade your mic.
Adjust your levels.
Get close to the sound you are wanting to record.

Check out 10 Recording Tips to Get The Best Sound From Your Microphone for more audio recording tips.

Filming

To avoid crowds, wake up early and grab your footage early while everyone else is still sleeping or getting ready.
Capture wide shots, medium shots, and close-up shots for better coverage.
Use the Sun Seeker app to set up your sunrise/sunset shots better.
If your camera can record 4K footage, record in 4K all the scenes that you want to zoom in closer later in editing without losing quality (your video project in editing has to be at 1920p x 1080p for this to work).

Stabilization

If you’re trying to get shots with movement by walking, rather than walking as you normally would walk with your knees bent for steadier shots.
If you’re shooting something in front of your handheld, lean your arm against your own body for steadier shots.
Use a stabilizing gimbal with your camera.

Timelapse/Hyperlapse

Select scenes where you can see a lot of change over time (not a still building in front of a cloudless smoggy sky).
Set longer intervals for scenes that change very slowly over time.
Pre-set your focus. Turn autofocus off.
Shoot time-lapses/hyper-lapses in manual mode to prevent the flickering that occurs with changing light conditions in automatic settings.
If your camera is set on a tripod in a fixed position, turn your optical image stabilization off.
If you aren’t holding onto your camera as it’s in the middle of making a timelapse video, at least keep your camera and tripod attached by some kind of leash mechanism.
For moving time-lapses or hyper-lapses, try to keep one point of reference in the same position within your camera frame.

Slow Motion

Shoot slow-motion videos when there is plenty of light.
For actions that are as slow as walking, slowing down your footage to 50% of the original speed looks good enough. If your video editing project is in 30 fps, shooting your video in 60 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. If your video editing project is in 60 fps, shooting your video in 120 fps will give you a 50% slow-motion video. Any slower is overkill for slowing down the speed of walking.
For actions that are as fast as water splashing, slowing down your footage as little as 15% of the original speed can look good. For a video editing project in 30 fps, you would need a camera that can shoot at up to 240 fps to slow your footage down this much.

Storage and Back-Up

If you’re using a phone that can store images and videos on a separate SD card, take advantage of that and record your travel footage onto your SD card. Later, you can easily get to your travel media as it will all be in one place.
If you have your laptop on you, regularly transfer your media files from your cameras to your external hard drives.
If you don’t want to bring your laptop on your trip and plan to video edit once you’re back home, use a USB memory card reader that connects with an app on your phone to transfer your files into your external hard drive.
If you have access to a reliable internet connection and you leave your laptop at your place of accommodation, have your computer upload your files onto cloud storage while you are out to travel vlogging.
Take advantage of Google Photos’ free, unlimited cloud storage for video files up to 1080p.

Video Editing

If you’re editing a video project with videos from multiple different cameras, make sure to set the correct time and date on all of them before you start filming. Later, in editing, you can import all your image and video files and sort them in the exact order that they were taken.
If your video editing software can work with proxies, transcode all your video files into proxy files for much faster editing.

Posting On YouTube

Choose a title that people will search for. Keep your target keywords at the beginning of your title. “S01E01: My Summer Backpacking Trip” is not an effective title. Instead, a title like “Going Up The Eiffel Tower… Beautiful View of Paris!” would be better.

Ready to Become a Travel Vlogger?

This past year has been a challenge, so if you want to make a #travelanywhere video without traveling, you can try Wondershare Filmora X video editor.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Youtube Help

[New] Starting Strong with the Best Studio Tech for Novices

Starting Strong with the Best Studio Tech for Novices

YouTube Equipment Starter Guide For Beginners

Sumia Rafique

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

The Wide-Angle Lens

Optical Image Stabilization

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Sound Effects

Sumia Rafique

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

The Wide-Angle Lens

Optical Image Stabilization

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Sound Effects

Sumia Rafique

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

The Wide-Angle Lens

Optical Image Stabilization

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Sound Effects

Sumia Rafique

Part 1: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: CAMERA

What To Look For In A Camera As A YouTuber

Best Cheap Vlogging Cameras

Best Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras

Part 2: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS

The Wide-Angle Lens

Optical Image Stabilization

Part 3: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: TRIPOD

Part 4: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: MICROPHONE

Part 5: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: SMARTPHONE ACCESSORIES

Part 6: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LIGHT

Part 7: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: COMPUTER

Part 8: YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: VIDEO EDITING SOFTWARE

YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: AUDIO

Music Libraries

Sound Effects

Wanderlust Wonders: Crafting Engaging Travel Content for Your Audience

How To Become A Travel Vlogger | The Ultimate Guide of Travel Vlogging

Richard Bennett

Create Your Travel Vlog with Wondershare FilmoraX

PART 1: TRAVEL VLOGGING EQUIPMENT

1.1 Travel Vlogging Cameras

How To Choose A Vlogging Camera

Cameras That Are Good For Travel Vlogging