Vlogging is one of the best ways to gain traction and build a community on YouTube. Viewers love seeing into another person’s everyday life and enjoying mundane tasks like cleaning, shopping, and organizing.
But in order to lure viewers to your channel with these simple videos, you need a great camera.
How do you find a good camera for YouTube vlogging?
What You Should Know about Vlogging
Before you begin shopping for a good camera for YouTube, it’s important to understand the vlogging process.
Vloggers record their daily lives. They show what they do throughout the day and highlight activities like preparing meals, practicing their morning routines, shopping, showing the items they purchase in hauls, cleaning and organizing their homes, and sharing special events with their families and friends.
Others record videos related to their business to build up an audience for their goods or services.
Think about what you do on a daily basis and for fun and then imagine recording it. The videos are posted, often with minimal editing but this isn’t always the case, and they range from about 10 minutes to 60 minutes in length.
To create a vlog that people enjoy watching, you need a video camera that produces high-quality video and that is small and light enough to carry with you wherever you go.
The quality is sometimes less than a camera you’d use to produce a sit-down “studio” type video, but many compact and lightweight vlogging cameras today offer great quality.
Originally, many vloggers simply used the video camera on their phones to record vlogs. Many still do, and some who’ve made a career of vlogging even use their phones in a pinch.
But if you really want to excel and grow your YouTube following, you must invest in a good camera.
How to Choose the Best Vlogging Camera
There are a few things you’ll want to consider before you settle on what vlog camera you want to invest in.
First, consider your budget. Cameras come in a wide range of prices, so you want to set a budget and try to stick within that budget. You can get a good camera for YouTube regardless of how much you want to spend, so don’t assume you need to shell out thousands of dollars for the right YouTube camera.
Next, you’ll want to assess the following of each of the cameras in your price range:
- Video quality
- Storage
- Sound quality
- Ease of use
- Design
It might help to create a list where you post each of the cameras in your price range and then rank them based on what you learn from research about each of these factors.
Now that you have an idea for how to shop for a vlogging camera and you know what you’re looking for in this type of camera, here are our top 7 picks for a good camera for YouTube:
Canon PowerShot SX730
Click image to view at Amazon.
This camera is one of the most affordable options on the market that has a flip screen. Flip screens work great for vloggers because they are able to see the video they are creating as they create it.
It also has a 40X optical zoom and offers continuous shooting at nearly six frames per second. It also has built-in Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth.
The drawback of this camera for a YouTube blogger is that you can’t shoot in in 4k, only HD. There’s also no viewfinder or electronic level and no touch-sensitive LCD. But we think it’s great for vloggers who need a high-power zoom, such as someone vlogging crafting or cooking.
Check the price of the PowerShot SX730 at Amazon.
GoPro HERO 7
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This camera is for the most active vloggers. It has time warp video capture, great control features, and smooth video stabilization.
The only drawback of this camera is that you aren’t able to livestream in 4k, which is something most people who are new to vlogging aren’t that concerned about. If you are planning to create videos that feature outdoor adventures or sports activities, this is a fantastic option.
Check the price of the HERO7 at Amazon.
Panasonic GH5
Click image to view at Amazon.
This is one of the most durable vlogging cameras out there. It offers a 4k mirrorless camera, Venus engine processor, and is dust-, splash-, and freeze-proof to negative 10 degrees F. We’d say it’s a fantastic camera for outdoor vlogging thanks to these features.
It also offers 4k smooth quality video, advanced panning control, and no recording duration limit.
As great as this camera is, there are still a few things it could improve on. For example, the Bluetooth capability is outdated and over time the features haven’t improved all that much with each new iteration of the camera. It’s an ideal photography camera, but it’s still great for active, outdoor vlogging.
Check the price of the Panasonic GH5 at Amazon.
Canon VIXIA HF G40
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This camera boasts a lot of space and can save you if you are someone who isn’t backing up data as often as possible. It has two SD card slots, which means you can use to cards simultaneously, doubling the memory.
It also has high-battery capacity which is great for vloggers because you are out and about so much and recording so much footage. It doesn’t have the best autofocus, but we still think it’s a great camera for those who are just getting started with vlogging.
Check the price of the Canon VIXIA HF G40 at Amazon.
Sony DSC-RX100 MkIII
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This is a great value camera for YouTube vlogging and offers a tiltable LCD screen and a pop-up viewfinder. You aren’t going to find a better camera at this price point.
Check price of the Sony RX100 MkIII at Amazon.
Panasonic Lumix G7KS
Click image to view at Amazon.
This camera was designed with vloggers in mind. It offers 4k video capture and a high-resolution viewfinder.
It’s also incredibly easy to use.
The wi-fi function is complicated, but we still think it’s a top-notch camera for both new and experienced vloggers.
Check the price of the Lumix G7KS at Amazon.
Sony Alpha a6400
Click image to view at Amazon.
This camera is great for capture details. It features a tiltable LCD screen and creates clear, crisp images. It also has a Real-Time Eye Auto Focus feature that is great for vloggers.
There’s no built-in image stabilization, so if you’re replacing a camera that had it you’ll need to adjust until you get used to not having the feature.
Check the price of the Sony a6400 at Amazon.
There you have it.
Our list of seven great vlogging cameras to get you started or up your game on YouTube.