DIY Video Equipment

So you want to get started with video content, but you don't have a filming studio and you don't have any money to invest in video equipment right now. In today's video, I'm going to walk you through some DIY YouTube equipment that you can use to start creating quality video content today. Hey guys, my name is Trena and welcome to another episode of Just the Tips. If you are new here, make sure you subscribe to my channel down below because I'm posting new videos every single week on how you can use YouTube and video in your business. Strategy Coach, go ahead and let me know. What Is the number one piece of equipment you wish you had for your YouTube channel? Is it a camera? Lights, Background? Let me know down in the comments section what equipment you wish you had. And let's just jump right on into how you can start DIYing your YouTube equipment. Let's first talk about backgrounds. I know a lot of people get hung up on backgrounds, but it's not as important as you might think it is. I'm currently filming in front of just a plain wall. It's not the perfect color wall, it's not the color wall I want to be filming in front of, but it works. I'm focusing on the content I'm sharing and that's really what has been able to grow. My channel is focusing on my content, but if you're still set on changing that background, you can always buy photography paper. I'm going to put links to everything I mentioned down in the description box below. And with the photography paper, you can get any color you want, whether it's teal, pink, purple, whatever your brand. Colors are all. All you need to do is just tape it on the wall and now you have the color that you want without having to paint any walls. You can also grab some fabric from Joann Fabrics, but make sure that fabric is tight against the wall or tight against something to hang on. When it starts to get crinkly or wrinkly, it starts to look a little sloppy in your background. So just make sure that when you hang the fabric that it's tight, maybe tacked to the floor, tacked to the wall, whatever. I do know a lot of people really like the blurry background that they see in a lot of videos because do be aware that that blurry background is accomplished by a specific lens on a DSLR camera. So if you don't have a DSLR camera or the money to invest in a DSLR camera, you're not going to be able to get that blurry background that you see. So I just wanted to let you know, heads up on that background choice. Next, let's talk about lighting. And honestly, the cheapest lighting is free lighting and that's just putting yourself in front of a window. So natural sunlight is the best lighting you can get. Just put your camera basically on a window seal, right, and, and film in front of it. You can throw that fabric behind you or that paper behind you and instantly have a great setup for your videos. If you can't film during the day or your window doesn't get a lot of natural light, I would suggest buying a few daylight balance light bulbs. Again, I'll link the ones that I use down below. And what's great about daylight balance light bulbs is they emit a more neutral or a bluer light. So when you're seeing the yellow light on your videos from your light bulbs, that's because regular light bulbs emit a yellow light. By getting a few daylight balanced light bulbs, putting them into some lamps that you have and getting them as close to you as possible will instantly make you have that bright light that I currently have right now. Cameras. I'm not telling you to go out and buy a fancy DSLR camera. I'm currently filming on a Canon G7X and it was around $600 or $700, and that's what I've been filming on for the past year. But you can start filming with something you already have, your phone. And when you film with your phone, you want to make sure you're filming with this camera and not your selfie camera, because the selfie camera isn't as high quality as this camera. So all you need to do is set it up on some books or buy a cheap tripod off of Amazon and record from this camera. Honestly, you guys, cameras on phones are so much better than they were even a couple years ago. So it's perfectly acceptable to to film your YouTube videos on your phone. Next is audio. And audio is so important because the two things that can cause people to click off your video instantly is lighting and audio. So one of the cheapest ways to really up your audio game without buying anything is again, your phone. Your phone probably has a voice memo app. Just turn that on when you're ready to record and have the mic part of your phone close, close to you. So maybe set it up on some boxes and have it pointed directly to your face, not in the screen like this. But the mic is here and you can use that voice memo app as your audio track. What you will do is take that audio track, email it to yourself and then sync it with your video file in your editing program. You don't even have to buy a fancy mic. Now if you're filming on your phone, you obviously can't use the Voice Memo app, so I suggest investing in a Rodeo Lavalier mic for smartphones. This runs generally around $80 and this will be the best investment that you make for your videos and essential. Honestly, audio is so important with your videos and I will link that down below. So now that you're ready to start creating video content, make sure you have your YouTube channel set up properly. Grab my 10 step YouTube checklist. That's going to walk you through everything you need to do to get that channel set up for success. If you like this video, be sure you give it a thumbs up, you share it and you click that circle subscribe button right there. Because I'm posting new videos every single week to help you build a video strategy on YouTube for your business. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next video. Bye.