Budget Friendly Vlogging Gear For Your Food and Travel Adventures
High quality vlogs doesn’t always mean expensive cameras and equipment.
Documenting Your Adventures is Expensive
Growing up in a third world country, I scoured the Amazon, Shopee, and AliExpress for the best and most budget friendly vlogging gear that I can find so that I can make my dreams of being a food and travel content creator come true.
And let’s face it, finding good camera equipment to suite those needs is really difficult when you’re on a tight budget. But no worries, throughout my many years of doing this as a hobby I have amassed quite a few pieces of gear that are a really great value for the price you are paying.
Note that by paying a budget price, you are of course losing out on extra features that would make your life easier. But that’s the thing, you don’t need quality of life features to make excellent content. All you need is passion and the motivation to improve.
So let’s get right into it, what affordable options are there to help you start creating amazing content?
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You can check out (and purchase) all the gear that I currently use on my gear and software page.
Cameras
Let’s take a look at reality, this is probably the most expensive and the most important thing you’ll have to spend money on to get started.
And it’s really hard to find a budget friendly camera under 500 USD. However, there are some cameras that work quite well, and if you can stretch your budget a little bit to the 700 USD price range then you can get something that is really great.
The camera that I personally use is the Fujifilm XT20. I got it with the intention of street photography but it also works quite well for videography, the only issue I have with it is that the screen doesn’t rotate outwards to give me a selfie view which makes it tricky to vlog segments where include my face.
Your Mobile Phone / Tablet
No seriously. Phone cameras nowadays are very sharp and are even capable at recording 4k videos.
If you are reaching for 1080p at 60fps then no doubt your current phone is more than capable at producing a great quality vlog.
The current phone that I use is:
The DJI Osmo Pocket is an all in one gimbal and camera that is very light and portable.
Capable of taking 4K/60fps video and with many features such as face tracking and a built in microphone, this little camera is a very compelling purchase for vloggers who want an all in one solution.
If you want a traditional camera that can be used with tripods and other accessories then the Cannon PowerShot G9 is a great beginner camera.
It’s vlogging capabilities are quite limited, only being able to shoot at 1080p and a fixed screen. However, if you intent to mostly take photos (for say a blog) then the Cannon PowerShot G9 is a great option.
This one is a bit more expensive than the rest coming in at around 700 USD however, this camera was made specifically for vlogging and is one of the best in the market.
A flip out screen and 4K video capture capability, and not to mention Sony’s line of over 70 lenses, this camera is a great option not just for vlogging but getting into photography as a whole.
If you’re looking at a Go Pro style camera then look no further, coming in at only 90 USD the AKASO EK700 is a great budget alternative.
With 4K/30fps recording capability and waterproofing, this camera is ready for action.
Microphones and Audio
The second most important thing to consider when vlogging is the audio, You can have great quality video but when your commentary sounds like a 1970s Russian Space Program version of Siri then your viewers won’t find your content enjoyable to watch.
The good news is that good quality audio is affordable and easy to come by, in fact, the built-in microphone that’s on your camera may already be good enough to capture decent audio.
The key word here is decent. Eventually you’ll want to upgrade to something better, and even the cheapest and most budget friendly of microphones can provide a good boost to audio quality compared to the ones built into your camera.
I personally use the ones listed below myself, and the audio quality great.
A budget option you’ll commonly find is the lavalier mic, these plug in straight to your phone or camera’s audio jack and is clipped onto your shirt near to you mouth to pick up audio.
They’re small and portable (although the wire may be cumbersome) and can provide good audio given its price.
Shotgun mics sit on top of your camera and this is the one that I personally use.
The Boya MM1 (also known as the Movo VXR10) is a cheaper alternative to the Rode’s offering and produces sound quality that is on par.
I have been extremely satisfied with this product and I cannot recommend it enough for those looking for a budget friendly audio solution.
For commentary or documentary style vlogs, you would need something more stationary and powerful compared to a shotgun mic.
The Razer Seiren Mini is probably the best budget friendly microphone out there, originally designed for streamers, this can also be used to record voice overs and podcasts.
Tripods and Gimbals
You wouldn’t want to be carrying a camera around all day, you’ll need a place to set it down while you conduct your shots, for that you’ll need a tripod. There are a lot of great options out there and good news, tripods are pretty cheap.
Here are few options to consider
This is the one that I use, it’s small, light weight, and easy to carry around. The swivelling metal ball joint is a nice to get that perfect angle,
And this thing is built like a tank, so no worries about it getting damaged
For a little bit more money, you would be able to get the Joby Gorilla Pod, the most popular vlogging tripod there is.
Due to it’s flexible ball jointed legs you can position your camera everywhere and anywhere as well due to its rubberised grips.
Optional Extra Accessories
These are optional extras that you might need, these are completely optional but they will help in the long run to make vlogging a little bit easier.
Whatever budget you have left over I recommend investing them into these two things to start off with.
Do not skimp on storage, high speed means that transferring images and videos from camera to computer will be much faster and less time consuming.
And high capacity means that you won’t have to worry about running out of space mid shoot
The SD cards I use are all from SanDisk which I personally recommend
If you’re using your phone to record or any small, compact, or mirrorless camera, then the battery life on those will not last you long, especially if you are recording at a higher resolution and frame rate.
I recommend the Anker PowerCore 20100 mAh battery pack, this is one that I use myself and it has plenty of juice to charge your devices multiple times.
For reference it can charge an average iPhone about 6 times
Video Editing
When you finally have all the beautiful footage from your travels, you’ll need to combine them together to create a video that you can post onto YouTube or TikTok. For that you’ll need some sort of editing software.
You could go the expensive route and used Adobe Premiere Pro or Apple’s Final Cut Pro but there are plenty of FREE options out there for you to use.
For editing on mobile phones or tablets, I have 2 FREE options that I would recommend:
Vllo - a powerful video editor that’s popular in Korea used by a few YouTuber’s such as Darcie and Eyol
CapCut - a powerful video editor that is a favorite amongst many TikTok creators.
For editing on a Mac or PC I have a few more options, all of these are FREE:
CapCut - not only can it create short form TikToks, it can also be used to create full length YouTube videos
iMovie - a simple video editor that is pre installed on all Mac devices
Lightworks - a great video editor that is easy to use but is only limited to publishing 720p videos for free
Davinici Resolve - (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), I have no idea why this is free, this one is on par with professional grade tools, in fact, film making professionals use this. There is a steep learning curve but it is an extremely powerful piece of software.
That’s All You Need!
Yep that’s it, all you need to get you started vlogging and documenting your favorite memories and adventures!
In the future when you are more deep into this hobby or job, you can spend a little more on gear and even buy yourself things like drones or stabilizing gimbals!
I started off recording funny skits and videos on my dad’s compact point and shoot camera, back then I could only shoot videos for 5 minutes before the recording would automatically stop. Nonetheless I had countless hours of fun recording and editing funny videos with my friends to post onto YouTube.
Nowadays, I am much older and have slightly more money spend, I still kept to purchasing budget friendly gear as to not break my bank account. A college student can only afford so much…
But despite my gear not being the most expensive or even the most popular, I still manage to develop my photography skills and videography skills to a point where I can take fancy photos of food for this here blog.
But nice looking photos and videos aren’t what draws in your viewers, it’s the story and information provided to them with your content. Your family and friends will care more about the story and adventures you went on rather than the fancy editing and cinematic b-rolls.
The nice looking images are just the icing on the content cake.
Remember, it’s not about the equipment you have, it’s about the passion to tell a story.
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