MY GEARVertical Divider
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Scroll below to check out my recommendations for video gear and products that I've used myself!
COMING SOON: Videos for some tutorials of what to use, when to use it, and how! |
RAY'S GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS
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DESVIEW R7
FIELD MONITOR The Desview R7 field monitor is the best I've seen in its class. For under $250, the R7 gives you the ability to load custom LUTs (to preview color graded footage while your camera is recording flat/log footage), a very bright screen (1000nit) to function well in daytime lighting, a touchscreen for getting through menus quickly, and all other standard monitor features (peaking, histogram, waveform, vector scope, etc.) |
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COMICA BOOMX-D
LAVALIER MICROPHONE The Comica BoomX-D is the most feature-packed lavalier microphone of its class, perfect for portable setups, interview sets, and much more. Syncing them together is as easy as turning on the units. Can connect 2 transmitters wirelessly to 1 receiver, each with its own separate gain control. Unique to Comica's BoomX-D, the transmitter has a built-in mic if you choose not use a lavalier microphone. Otherwise, clip-on lavalier microphones are provided, each including a 3.5mm adapter that has a unique clip to fit into the transmitter to help hold the cable in place. |
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GODOX LC500R
RGB LED Wand Light This RGB light is the most feature-packed RGB LED wand light for less than $300. It has full spectrum RGB as well as lighting effects. It comes with accessories such as barn doors, a remote control, carry bag, and charger. Very useful for adding color to your sets and having a directional vertical light. |
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ANDOER CAMERA CAGE
CAMERA CAGE Shooting handheld is a good way to diversify your camera movements. The shakiness is a good way to feel more natural or to create faster, more random camera movements, good for action or sports genres. |
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V- MOUNT BATTERY PLATE
POWER SUPPLY V-mount batteries are a good universal battery supply that can be connected with several types of power adapters to power your camera, monitor, wireless transmitters/receivers, mics, lights, etc. Cheap V-Mount Battery Options: Neewer 190Wh 14.8V 13200mAh - Large capacity, basic battery. Pixel 99Wh 14.8V 6800mAh - Medium capacity battery with OLED display of battery usage. |
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STEP-UP LENS FILTER ADAPTERS
9-PIECE SET Step up filter adapters are a great way to save money on filters, such as the variable ND filter listed above. Get a filter for your largest-sized lens (based on filter thread) and use the step up rings for your smaller filter thread lenses. (Be sure not to get the step down filters! Step down filters mount a smaller filter on a larger lens filter thread, which could cause vignetting.) |
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HOHEM 3-AXIS GIMBAL
PHONE GIMBAL So many people start out with phone photo/videography! It's a great way to get started and phone cameras keep getting better every year. Plus, you probably already have a phone. For videos, a phone gimbal is a cheap and easy way to get stabilized footage so you can introduce camera movements to your phone videos! The camera movements you practice with a phone gimbal are the same movements you can use with a larger camera gimbal later on! |
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RAY'S VIDEO GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS
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ZHIYUN CRANE V2
MOTORIZED GIMBAL Getting stabilized footage is so important to increasing your production value! After having tried a couple gimbals, the Zhiyun Crane is my favorite of its class! Highly affordable and buttery smooth, the Zhiyun Crane gives you high-level features at a fraction of the price. Zhiyun has a phone app that lets you change settings and control the Crane remotely. The Crane can also connect to Panasonic or Sony cameras for focus control.
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SUPON LED-L122T
LED LIGHT PANEL This LED panel is the best of its class if you're working with a low budget and need a portable continuous light! It has a dimmer knob for both the light intensity AND the light temperature; it's very responsive. Plus, it has an LCD display that shows you the light intensity percentage, light temperature in Kelvin, and battery life. |
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TAKSTAR SGC-598
SHOTGUN MICROPHONE A great video needs great visuals AND great audio! An external shotgun microphone is the best place to start (never use camera on-board mics). The Takstar linked above is the best first step! Great quality for very little cost. Ready for the next step? Get the Rode NTG-2 or NTG-3. The NTG mics use a more reliable XLR cable data transmission and is fantastic at capturing the bass tones of vocals. Shoot it on-the-go on-location with the SM3 mount and boompole. |
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ZOOM H1N
AUDIO RECORDER Most DSLR/mirrorless cameras do not have good pre-amplifiers (converts the electronic signal from the mic; good pre-amps will help remove noise and audio distortion). I highly recommend investing in a separate audio recorder. If your camera has a microphone input, you can input the audio recorder's signal into your camera (but still record audio in your recorder separately!) to help piece together the separate video/audio later. The Zoom H1N is the best first step. It's highly affordable and is very portable. It has a built-in mic but you can also plug in an external mic (with a 3.5mm input). The next step I recommend is the Tascam DR-60DMKII. It offers more channels (mic inputs) for recording, more control of volume levels, more recording options, and the ability to use XLR mics. However, it's more bulky and does not have a built-in mic. (For something more portable with a built-in mic, try the Zoom H5.) |
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STEP-UP LENS FILTER ADAPTERS
VIDEO TRIPOD Step up filter adapters are a great way to save money on filters, such as the variable ND filter listed above. Get a filter for your largest-sized lens (based on filter thread) and use the step up rings for your smaller filter thread lenses. (Be sure not to get the step down filters! Step down filters mount a smaller filter on a larger lens filter thread, which could cause vignetting.) |
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