From Zero to Hero in YouTubing Equipment Essentials

YouTube Equipment Starter Guide For Beginners

Sumia Rafique

Feb 19, 2024• Proven solutions

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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 YouTuberBest Cheap Vlogging CamerasBest Entry-Level and Mid-Range Vlogging Cameras YOUTUBE EQUIPMENT: LENS The Wide-Angle LensOptical 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 LibrariesSound 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	Release Date	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	Release Date	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. |

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:

1. Arkon Tripod Mount
2. FLII Selfie Ring Light
3. RODE VideoMic Me
4. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set
5. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone
6. 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:

1. MacBook Pro With Touch Bar
2. Dell XPS 15
3. 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

1. Filmstock Sound Effects
2. Freesound
3. PacDV
4. Sound Bible
5. Sound Gator
6. Sounds Crate
7. Zapsplat

Sumia Rafique

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

Follow @Sumia Rafique

Crafting a Distinctive Sphere of Influence

How to Find Your Niche and Style - a Starter’s Guide

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

With over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s no longer enough just to make a great video. If you want to be found and to be able to monetize your YouTube channel, you’re going to need to find your niche.

If you’re serious about turning your YouTube hobby into a lucrative career, you’re going to need a niche that not only lets you do the things you’re passionate about but which also gets you the views you need. The perfect niche will be something that your audience is already looking for, not ridiculously competitive, and which still allows you to demonstrate your passion and knowledge.

It’s not easy finding a perfect niche on YouTube. You’re going to need some creativity, self-awareness, directed intention, and a good deal of thought, so be prepared to invest some time and energy into this process. If you don’t get it right the first time, take a moment to figure out where you went wrong and just try again. Or you can try some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to help you find your niche. You’ll also be able to use the platform to learn more about the niche of your similar channels. Let’s take a look at how you can start looking for your ideal niche on YouTube.

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Best YouTube Video Editor for Beginners

Make your first YouTube video effortlessly with a versatile video editor Filmora.

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Quick Jump Menu:

• How to Find Your YouTube Niche [5 Tips]
• Best 14 Trending Niches on YouTube [High CPM Niches]

Is There an Audience for This Niche?

If you’re ready to start hunting down your niche, there are a few ways to go about it. You could start by listing your hobbies and looking for trends with those, or by thinking about what types of videos you like to make the most. How could what you do for a living inspire your channel or your knowledge of a particular topic?

The key is to discover where you can bring something unique or interesting to YouTube, hopefully by combining your passions, hobbies, and knowledge into one big ball of brilliance. For example, if you’re keen to do cooking tutorials but spent a year traveling Asia, why not do Asian-inspired cooking? Or if you have a passion for fashion but work as a recruitment consultant, why not offer content about dressing for work and interviews?

This sweet spot where your passion and talents meet with your video genre is where you’ll find your ultimate niche lurking.

Why Is It Important to Find Your Niche?

Finding a niche is all about giving your viewers what they want to see. Imagine you travel and upload vlogs about your travels every day. Almost all of your content is about travel, but then one day, randomly, you upload a video about cooking food. Your video was popular, you got more than 30k views, but only five people subscribed to your channel; why?

The answer is simple. If those who viewed the cooking video considered subscribing, they would have clicked onto your channel and seen that none of your other videos were about this topic. Despite uploading a good video, you seemed irrelevant to them, so they didn’t bother.

From the point of view of your subscribers, they want to know what you’re all about. They need to feel confident that, when they subscribe to you, they’ll be getting lots of quality content about the things they are most interested in. Having a clear and focused niche will allow you to do this for them.

Narrowing Down Your YouTube Niche

The smaller and more specific your focus, the easier you’ll find it to get and hold onto subscribers. For example, if you’re niche is about dog training, why not focus on even more about doing it about training pugs? If you’re doing a parenting vlog, make it more specific by doing a parenting vlog for mums of boys, or twins, or toddlers.

By narrowing down your focus, your audience will be much easier to market to and to appeal to. When someone from your target audience finds your channel, they’re going to think ‘wow, this is just what I’ve been looking for’, and they’ll watch, like, share and interact with your videos way more than someone who is just a little bit interested.

How to Find Your Niche [5 Tips]

If you’re still at a loss of how to identify the best niche for your YouTube channel, let us help. Here are some key things to think about when looking for your niche which will help you get where you need to be:

• What are you good at? What are you passionate about?

Make a list of things you’re good at. Don’t be modest now, this isn’t the time. Think about what other people would ask for your help with, and what you’re most confident with. Getting to grips with what you have a talent for is a great place to start.

An example of this is PONY Syndrome, a makeup artist renowned for her Taylor Swift transformation. She found that people would often come to her for makeup advice, so she started making videos of her techniques. Fast forward a couple of years and she’s got four million subscribers and a profitable YouTube channel.

You might not think you’re an ‘expert’ in an area, but often it’s the interesting combination of your talents and passions that makes you unique. Coach Tulin is a wonderful lady who is of a plus size but who is also passionate about fitness. She’s made a popular channel that demonstrates how to modify popular exercises to make them accessible for plus-size people, as well as showing just how to fit plus-size people can be! Her fan base is smaller, at 89k subscribers, but she’s still a big influencer in her field.

Subscribers who get help from you are more likely to come back to you time and again. Although we all have a good laugh watching cat videos and other entertaining clips, the YouTube channels that tend to make the most money are those which genuinely help people.

• Is there an audience for your potential niche?

Once you’ve got an idea about your potential niche, you’ll need to make sure there are actually people out there who want to watch it. To test this out, think about a video you could make for your niche and try looking it up on YouTube. If there are a ton of results, your niche is probably not focused enough. If there are zero results, probably nobody is looking for that type of video.

You’re looking for somewhere in between the two extremes. If a couple of well-established channels have made a video or two on your topic, but haven’t really focused on it, you can be confident that there is an audience out there but not too much competition. You could also look for something that there are a lot of blog posts or websites about and be the first to migrate the content to YouTube.

For example, if you were to search ‘makeup tutorial’, you’ll find around 23 million results. Most of these are from established influencers who have already pretty much cornered the market, so getting a foot in the door as a new YouTuber here is going to be tough. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, but you’ll have to work hard to make your channel stand out. Be original, put your own spin on the genre and you’ll get there eventually.

If you were to start drilling down into that niche, you’ll start to see where the opportunities exist. For example, if you narrow down your makeup search for ‘makeup tutorial for Asian male’, the results are in the region of 496k videos, a good deal less than the high-level outcome. If this was your passion, your talent and you could make great videos about it, you stand a good chance of breaking into this niche relatively easily.

• What will you do differently to other channels?

With so much content out there to view, you’re not going to make your millions on YouTube if you’re boring. Viewers know that fun, quality content is out there, and will seek to find someone better than you if you’re too ‘run of the mill’ for their taste. People come to YouTube for information, but stick around for personality, so inject some of yours into everything you do.

There are loads of ways you can bring excitement and engagement to your YouTube channel. Think about the way you look, the way you talk, how your introduction is made, the effects used in your video, the overall concept, the direction of the camera work… the possibilities for making unique and exciting videos are pretty much limitless, but you’ll need to get creative if you want to stand out from the crowd.

• Can you make money in this niche?

The majority of people start YouTube channels with big dreams of making millions from their work. However, if you’re in the wrong niche to start with, you could fall flat on your face before you even start. Researching whether it’s possible to monetize your YouTube niche is crucial; here’s how to find out:

1. Will a company be likely to sponsor you to use their products?
2. Can you create a ‘side business’ alongside your channel?

Sponsorship can be super lucrative, but very difficult to secure. Is there a company out there that has products you could use in your videos? If so, do they already have preferred YouTubers that they sponsor? As for a side business, you could look to doing anything from offering one-to-one consultancy to selling products via Amazon on an affiliate deal. The important thing is that you need to have a plan from the start.

Check out the most profitable niches for monetizing your YouTube channel below.

• Can you generate enough content in this niche?

How many topics can you think of to make videos about for your channel? If you can’t think of at least 10 off the top of your head, that’s not a good sign. You’re going to need lots of ideas and inspiration for your YouTube videos, and if you’re already struggling to think of things to do, imagine how much you’ll be struggling two, three or four years down the line.

You need to absolutely love and be inspired by your niche because chances are you’ll be making videos on this topic for many years to come. Are you completely sure that you’ll be as enthusiastic about this topic next year? Will your passion for the content stand the test of time? Try to project how your life will change over the coming years and whether your niche will be suited to you as time goes on.

Best 14 Trending Niches on YouTube [High CPM Niches]

There are some YouTube niches that are easier to monetize than others. That’s not to say you should restrict yourself to only these niches, but if you’re stuck for inspiration, you’ll find these focused areas are a good place to start your search.

#1 Makeup

By far and away one of the most popular YouTube niches, makeup can be a great place to start. Although you’ll find lots of competition here, there is a massive audience too.

#2 Gaming

Gaming YouTubers are probably the most well-known; who hasn’t heard of PewDiePie? And they’re making money doing the thing they love most: gaming. It’s tough to stand out in this crowded niche, but if you can be fresh and different, you could start building your own fan base.

#3 Food

If you love to cook (or even just to eat!) food channels can be fab. Showing off recipes is a tried and tested moneymaker, as is showing how to use gadgets and tools in the kitchen.

#4 Tech review

We’re all using technology at home, at work, and in our pockets, and want to know that we’re buying the right stuff and using it the right way. People are hungry for this type of content, whether it’s apps and software or physical hardware.

#5 Travel

Travel channels have some of the sexiest content on the web, and people love to see what the world is like out there. Invest in a good action camera and find an angle to the places your visit, such as the best places to eat, hidden gems, etc.

#6 Fashion

Fashion can be great for YouTube, from reviewing clothing items to keeping your audience updated on the latest trends. It’s a great niche for getting sponsors and earning from affiliate marketing too.

#7 Sports

You’ll never run out of content if you’re busy keeping people up to date with their favorite sports teams. Just be careful not to show copyrighted material as you could find your hard work being taken down.

#8 Animals

It was cat video’s that birthed the notion of a viral video, and even today hilarious animal clips can garner a huge audience. As well as animals doing funny things, you could also make videos about animal care, training, and reviews of pet products.

#9 Photography

Thousands of budding photographers look to YouTube for good advice on how to take better shots. Photography channels can also review equipment and can benefit from affiliate links for these.

#10 Movies

If you’re a movie buff, why not take your opinions of the big screen to the small (and often tiny) screen? Post reviews, do top tens, or even create parodies of movies yourself. Just watch out for that copyright issue again.

#11 How-to tutorials

Everyone needs to know something in their life, whether it’s how to tie their shoelaces or how to change a spark plug on a car. Answering these ‘how to…’ questions could get you ranking highly and gathering millions of views.

# 12 Music

You have to be careful when doing a music channel, as you’re unlikely to get permission to play actual tracks. However, you could do commentaries on music news, give advice on instrument care or even teach people how to play. If you’re a musician yourself, this is a great way to get more exposure for your band.

#13 ASMR

One of the fastest-growing niches on YouTube, ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response to give it its full name, is all about the experience. Using soothing sounds and imagery to relax viewers, ASMR YouTubers look to create a physical response in the viewer to something happening in the video.

#14 Lifestyle

Lifestyle vloggers are those who don’t really fit into a particular niche. They tend to be highly immersed in the YouTube community, disclosing personal information about themselves and sharing their interests with their audience.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett