Want to start vlogging and you are not sure about the vlogging equipment to begin with? You do not need to look further; this guide gives you the Canon EOS M50 ultimate vlogging kit for beginners. This article would not just shout down your throat to buy what we are recommending but we start with the absolute requirements that compact cameras must fulfil to be crowned the ultimate in vlogging. Furthermore, we will compare our ultimate kit with that recommended by Canon itself and let you be the judge by simply looking at the features. With the camera, we only recommend the very best vlogging equipment that you will need, nothing less than absolute best. This article will not leave you hanging after recommending the ultimate kit but also guides you through the perfect settings, you will need for different kinds of shots, may they be cinematic, in low light, or even indoors.
Before We Begin
Now, before we actually begin our ultimate guide for vlogging kit or vlogging equipment for best video quality, there are some important checkboxes or requirements that a camera must fulfil to rank as the ultimate vlogging camera for beginners. We will talk about these requirements first and then move on to the vlogging kit.
The very first thing that must be kept in mind is it is affordability. It won’t be quite right for a beginner to start shelling out thousands of bucks right when they jump into this field. The camera must be compact. If you are just starting out, you might not understand the significance of the weight of a camera. Unlike photography, you are going to be in constant motion while vlogging and during the whole process, your arm holding the kit will be stretched out. If it isn’t lightweight, you will feel the consequence in your arm and your vlogs will suffer. The next thing on the list is Image Quality and by that, we mean that it must have an impressive dynamic range and decent lens size. One other thing that factors in Image Quality is Autofocus. We cannot stress the importance of Autofocus in vlogging, you are going to be moving around all the time that is the reason why the camera must have awesome autofocus. The camera must also support a range of Video Capabilities. It must be able to shoot in at 24,30 and 60 FPS in at least 1080P FHD to get you different kinds of shots such as cinematic or even slow-motion. Flip out screen is also a must. When you are taking shots that are too high or too low, your eyes will not be on the same level as the camera screen, that is where a flip-out screen comes in handy. It must also feature a Large Aperture and decent inbuilt Audio is always a plus.
The Canon EOS M50:
You might ask why we chose the Canon EOS M50 as the ultimate camera, it is because it is not only the perfect vlogging equipment for a beginner but also the best choice for a pro vlogger. And in addition to checking all of the boxes and requirements that we have listed above, it goes beyond. The very first thing the beginners will love about it is that it does not put a dent in your wallets, it is ultra-affordable at just $599. It has a body smaller than a DSLR but packs all the great features of one. It not only has a great Image Quality but also Dual Pixel Autofocus by Cannon, which is kind of a market leader. It does shoot in all frame rates listed above but also shoots in 4K, which makes it even more desirable in the price range. Canon M50 is one of the very few cameras for vloggers that features a port for connecting an external mic, a beginner might take it for granted but ask those veterans the difficulties of not having one.
Vlogging Kit Recommended by Canon:
The thing is before recommending the ultimate vlogging kit or vlogging equipment for beginners, we are going to have you look at the vlogging kit recommended by Canon, itself. Now, we do not say that it is not good, it is, in fact really good but not the ultimate. Therefore, we will list both and help you understand why ours is the best vlogging equipment for beginners as well as pros.
Canon recommends that you pair your M50 with an EF-M 15-45mm IS STM lens. That is a great lens overall but wait till you get to ours, you will be blown away. Furthermore, Canon recommends GorillaPod 1K portable tripod and RODE VideoMic GO. To store all your footage, you are recommended to use a 32GB SDHC card.
Before we continue and recommend the Ultimate Vlogging Kit for beginners, we must add here that the kit recommended by Canon is also really good and usable in all conditions but if you want to step up your game and start with the best and the ultimate experience of vlogging, continue reading.
Canon EOS M50 Ultimate Vlogging Kit:
Canon M50 with the kit lens is no doubt a great camera and has a long array of features such as its 4K shooting capability and its ability to wirelessly pair up with your phone through Wi-Fi, which is very handy. But a camera alone does not give the ultimate experience, it is only when a great camera is paired with great accessories and gear, that it becomes the ultimate vlogging equipment or vlogging kit for beginners. Let’s dive straight into what gear you will need with your M50 to make that happen;
Lens
The very first thing that you will need besides your camera is a great lens. It is the lens that defines the Image Quality of your vlog. The Canon M50 comes with a fairly decent kit lens with an aperture of F3.5. It is important to know that aperture means the amount of light that is going to go into your lens, that is why bigger (or lower the F-stop) is always better. A bigger aperture means that the number should be smaller. So for example, an F1.8 lens will let more light in (and be better in low light) than a F3.5 lens. The kit lens is quite good but for the ultimate kit, an ultimate lens is required. That is why we recommend the Sigma 16mm with an aperture of F1.4. It must also be noted here that the EF Lens recommended by Canon is good but just look at the features of Sigma below and choose yourself (we prefer the sigma).
Sigma 16mm:
A great lens coupled with an already great camera makes the best vlogs with only natural light. The Sigma 16mm is a wide-angled blur beauty of a lens. It proved itself a gamechanger for vlogging and for good reason. This lens was designed specifically keeping vloggers in mind hence it sits at the sweet spot of wide-angle, not too much to make it a fish eye but wide enough that if the vloggers would want to shoot selfie videos, it will keep a fair amount of background in the frame.
Sigma 16mm comes with an aperture of F1.4 and we cannot express enough how good it is. Aperture is what controls the light and this F1.4 lets the Sigma shoot great quality vlogs, with good audio quality as well, not only in bright environments but also in dim-lit environments. For example, the kit lens will experience difficulty when vlogging interiors of hotels, inside transportation, or even at evening time, but not the Sigma 16mm.
Apart from the aperture, this lens features a great shallow depth of field. Which in simpler terms makes the lovely blur and the bokeh effect. The shallow depth means that it can make it work on a very small object thus making it focus on smaller objects easier and also, it can shift the focus from the subject to background to subject very smoothly and quickly.
If you’d like to take advantage of this shallow depth of field in bright sunny days it is important that you purchase a Neutral Density Filter (ND Filter) with this lens. Its large aperture makes it capture a lot of light, but instead of using ISO to control that, we recommend using an ND Filter to keep your vlogs looking cinematic even in the brightest situations. The filter thread of this lens is 67mm, so be sure to purchase a 67mm filter for this lens, or use step-up rings to larger filters.
The only thing that the beginners probably would not like about this lens is the price which is almost equal to the camera itself. You can get it at $450 but before you panic, know that this is the absolute beast of a lens and you cannot get any lens of this quality, made specifically for vlogging, even at this price point. You might start with your kit lens but when you know what Sigma 16mm can do, you will definitely want to invest in it. Just remember, cameras come and go, but lenses are an investment.
Gimbal Feiyu G6 Max:
Another accessory that vloggers can definitely not survive without is a Gimbal. Beginners might question the need for a gimbal but when you are out on the street or even in any situation and vlogging, you simply cannot keep the camera stable just by holding it. You can either focus on keeping the camera stable by using both hands or make a good vlog. A good gimbal is a must and Fieyu G6 Max is the gimbal that will not only fulfil your stabilization needs but comes with a handy array of features. Canon has recommended GorillaPod but it must be noted that unlike G6 Max, GorillaPod was not specifically designed for vlogging but for DSLRs, that is why it is a bit heavier than G6 Max. In no way do we mean that the G6 Max is feathery light, it is a bit heavy but not at the level of GorillaPod. If you want the G6 Max to get even lighter, you can remove the tripod, and to be honest, you are not going to need a tripod when you are on a constant move.
That said, you cannot only use the Gimbal for stabilization but if you want to shoot a selfie video, just tap three times on the Gimbal and it will make the rotate towards you. Isn’t that just lovely? If you want it to rotate back, just tap twice again.
RODE Wireless GO Mic:
An ultimate vlogging kit will always lack if a good mic like a lav mic is not mentioned. The external microphone is where the M50 stands out. Unlike, most other vlogging cameras, it comes with a port for an external mic, saving you a lot of time and keeping it simple. Some say that great audio makes the video great. Canon has recommended the Rode Wireless GO, although, the quality of all the mics manufactured by RODE is phenomenal for vlogging, we recommend the Rode Wireless GO. It comes with a receiver that is fitted onto the camera and a mini receiver which can be clipped directly onto your shirt. While vlogging, you will be moving, of course and there will be wind or traffic, so what happens if you are holding your mic too far, distortion, and noise in your audio. That’s where the Rode Wireless GO shines, no matter how far you stretch your arm, the mic clipped to your shirt will keep the audio clear and crisp.
The Rode Wireless GO is such a good mic we actually have an article all about it, click here to check it out.
Extra Gear:
Aside from all of the essentials, there are a couple of things that might make a beginner’s vlogging experience much simpler and better.
First is the phone grip, which can be used for mounting your phone on the Gimbal and act as a secondary display and the second is the Lume Cube Vlogging light which is not very big but ultra-portable and can come in handy in the low light situation.
Perfect Settings for Vlogging:
Now, that you have gathered all of the gear and assembled your ultimate vlogging kit, it is time for you to understand the perfect settings you will need for vlogging. We are going to start with Camera Settings which need to be set up once, then we will move towards Shot Settings which will vary with the type of video you want to shoot and the amount of light available.
The very first that we need you to do is rotate the top camera dial to movie mode and then hit the menu button on the screen. Menu options change depending upon what the top dial is set upon, so make sure it is in movie mode. In the menu, change the Guided Menu to Standard Menu. Although, Guided Menu is intended for beginners but we recommend standard for getting the most out of your camera.
Then, select the right format of videos for your region. It might be done by default, but to be safe, change it to NTSC for America and PAL for Europe and most of Asia. These settings can be found in Setup Menu under Video System. Honestly, this is not as much of a concern as it use to be before the age of the internet, but it is important that you keep your format consistent.
Canon has enabled View Finder by default but we recommend enabling Live View instead of that. In View Finder, if you accidentally cover the eyepiece, the screen turns off which might be very annoying so just disable that.
You might want to dig more into Manual Sound Settings, Custom Picture Profile, or the Customized Menu but for beginners and for the sake of keeping it simple, we recommend that these settings be left to default.
Above are all the camera settings that a beginner needs to take care of, now we will talk about the shot settings.
You need to understand the FPS first. 24 FPS or 25FPS (depending on if you’re shooting NTSC or Pal) gives you just the right amount of motion blur to make your video look professionally cinematic. If you’d like to shoot in slow-motion film in 50FPS or 60FPS.
For every shot in every possible setting, you have to control the exposure. It can be Auto controlled but the manual is better. Exposure constitutes shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Shutter speed is set to double the frame rate, at 24 fps about 50. More aperture is better meaning have a smaller number such as f/1.4. ISO is always small unless in low light but it creates noise in your video.
Autofocus should always be enabled because Canon’s Dual Pixel Autofocus is really good, but the digital Image Stabilization should be disabled.
Time-lapse can be found in Shoot Menu and you can customize it as you prefer.
You must shoot all your vlogs in 1080P, never in 720P. Although, you get the option to record in 4K in this camera but you should know that it crops in your image and you also lose the Dual Pixel AutoFocus. If we are honest, this camera is a REALLY good 1080P camera and a not so good 4K camera.
Conclusion:
It must be said that there was no particular ultimate kit for vlogging before M50 could be coupled with the Sigma 16mm. We would not have ranked it the best unless we were not sure. After all the features and facts are said and all the talk about the ultimate kit is done, we assure you that this kit is the ultimate not only just for beginners but also professionals in vlogging. To wrap it all up, we started by explaining all the tools and the absolute musts a camera should have to be called the best. We then listed the kit recommended by Canon so you can see for yourself, how our ultimate kit ranks beside it, and not only that, we give you a detailed look into the perfect settings for vlogging, so you can start vlogging without getting overwhelmed. But do make sure to sharpen your editing skill with an editing software as well. Now, all we say is Happy Vlogging.