Budget-Friendly Equipment to Buy for Making Professional Videos at Your Desk
Do you want to make your own videos and don’t want to spend a lot of money or time searching for different products? This post is relevant to anyone looking to create educational content or video podcasts or just wants to look good on Zoom calls.
The equipment described in this post will cost around $300 and is a great starting point for any professional environment. There are more expensive setups I could recommend, but we’re aiming for simplicity and ease of use.
You will need 3 things: a microphone, a recording device and some lighting.
Microphone
The Blue Yeti is the gold standard in microphones. It is one of, if not the most popular, tabletop microphones in the world. This microphone is easy to use and plugs into your computer via USB.
There are two ways to use a microphone like this. You can keep it on your desk, which is totally fine, or you can purchase an arm that allows you to move or reposition the microphone for comfort. Most of them clamp to your desk and can screw into your microphone.
Would I recommend this to get started? I would say no, you don’t need this at the beginning, but after a while, you might find that you don’t want to lean in to speak, and you want to sit back in your chair. With the arm, you can reposition the microphone to follow you. I think it’s worth noting that there are big creators out there who just have the mic on their desk, so the arm is not 100% necessary.
Recording device
There are a few ways you could do this, but I’m going to recommend buying a webcam. You could use your iPhone because iPhone quality would be better than your standard webcam. You could also use a real camera, which would look even better, but what most people want is a setup where you can sit down, press record, and have the footage ready to edit. The more cool stuff we add, the more complicated it becomes, and the more troubleshooting will be needed.
Let me introduce you to the Logitech C920x HD Pro Webcam.
This webcam can be mounted on top of your monitor or on a mini tripod using the screw hole underneath.
Lighting
We are going with another Logitech product for the lighting to keep things simple. What I like about the Litra Glow by Logitech is that it is softer than similar lights in the category. Softer lighting is more flattering and reduces the appearance of wrinkles.
The light should be placed on your monitor, close to your webcam, and slightly off-center.
Final thoughts
For about $300, you’ll be set up to professionally record webinars, podcasts, and even live-stream playing video games if that’s your thing. Logitech manufactures all of these products, so you might be able to find them bundled together on Amazon. Questions? Drop them below.