Camera equipment

To run a travel blog, you need a lot of camera material. To run a YouTube channel even more. Be it 4K shots, action cameras, lenses, Gimbals, HD as well as sportsdrone footage, mikrophones, royalty-free Sound; it can go to infinity. What camera equipment we have on board, you can find below.

One more thing we would like to note. From our point of view, it doesn’t always have to be the latest material – at least not as a hobby vlogger. The important thing is to get the best possible result out of the camera equipment. As long as not all functions are used by the existing equipment, we don’t think it’s necessary to have the latest camera.

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We primarily use the Sony Alpha 6300 for shooting movies. The image quality of the 24 megapixels is top. The camera comes with numerous setting options – if you have these under control, the Sony Alpha 6300 takes very good pictures. The casing is compact and easy to grip. We are satisfied with a battery runtime of around 4 hours in full operation. If you film or photograph very intensively or over several days, an additional battery pack is worthwhile at best.

We use two different lenses. Once the standard Sony 4/16-70 lens and the wide angle Sony wide angle lens 4/10-18

The wide-angle lens is especially important for taking good pictures of landscapes and indoor scenes.

The Standard lens of Sony / Zeiss covers a wide focal length range from wide angle to medium telephoto. The picture quality leaves nothing to be desired.

These two lenses are quite sufficient for us to create YouTube movies. What we do without is a good telephoto lens as well as a fish-eye. Both would be “nice-to-have”, but are not in proportion to our needs in terms of cost/benefit.

For smooth shots with the Sony Alpha 6300, there is no way around a tripod. With the Manfrotto Befree Advances Kamerastativ accompies us a compact, lightweight and easy to use travel tripod. The M-Lock twist lock allows it to be folded without protruding parts and easily transported. When we film with the Sony Alpha 6300, it is almost always with the tripod. Functionality and robustness are convincing.

The sound quality of YouTube videos is extremely important. Of course, there is the variant of recording film material without a second audio track. Unfortunately, it takes little background noise, and the quality leaves much to be desired. Wind and waves are enemy number one. Sometimes there is no other way; then we also accept a certain amount of noise. Meistens versuchen wir jedoch, eine separate Tonspur aufzunehmen. Qualitatively a clear difference. The disadvantage is that cutting becomes more cumbersome. With certain tricks, this can – at least partially – be circumvented.

For our background – as well as other important recordings we use the large Sony microphone, which goes along with theAlpha 6300 camera. The disadvantage is the size, which is why we usually make recordings with this microphone only near the car.

On the way, we carry our small clip-on microphones from Røde. Convenient and easy to plug them into the phone. With the associated adapter, even two devices can be connected. The microphone is so small that it can be hidden relatively well and is not visible. The audio quality is excellent, the voice clear and noise-free. The accompanying app is easy to use. The Røde SC6L Interview-Kit is not cheap. However, as a vlogger, the investment is definitely worth it.

The I-Phone 12 Pro Max as the small camera? Exactly! It’s hard to believe, but the I-Phone 12 Pro Max takes incredible pictures. A new cell phone was needed anyway, since the existing I-Phone was only partially functional anymore. It was obvious that it would take good pictures with its triple camera (wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle and telephoto) and 12 megapixels. How well, however, is surprising to us. Especially in the low-light range and in night shots, we are always amazed. The wide-angle camera is very convincing, we manage the same angle as with the Sony wide-angle lens. The autofocus adapts enormously fast to new lightning conditions an. The novel image stabilization due to the flexibly mounted sensor is also convincing. Hands-free videos are very stable.

But it’s not just the camera that inspires. The Super Retina XDR display, an extremely fast working speed thanks to the A14Bionic chip and a surprisingly long battery life round off the package. We got used to the missing home buttonwithin a very short time. The I-Phone 12 Pro Max has a proud price. Still, worth the investment for us and we wouldn’t give it away again. By the way, all our pictures on this page are shot with this I-Phone (except drone shots).

Although actually an action camera, we very often use the Go Pro Hero 9 Black for various shots. WWe always plan to take the larger Sony camera with us. However, the picture quality with the 5K video resolution is so good that we very often prefer this more convenient option – not only for action shots. The Go Pro Hero 9 Black comes with many innovations compared to the predecessor models, which are convincing. A fully displayable color LCD screen with a pleasant size of 3.5 centimeters diagonal and improved microphone is ideal for vlogging. The image stabilizer is also great. The fact that the Go Pro is waterproof up to 10m without a housing is the icing on the cake. So great underwater shots are no longer a problem. To get different angles, we film with two Go Pro 9s.

GoPro Max 360°

For the really cool action shots – in our case mainly during mountain biking – the GoPro Max 360° is used. This allows you to create a completely different image once again. Whether on the helmet or on the selfie stick – selecting the right sequence from 360° footage is ingenious. The disadvantage is that the work is significantly increased during cutting. For example, if you want to follow a curve while mountain biking, this is cool, but time-consuming. That’s why we use the GoPro Max 360° very specifially. Also because of the gigantic volume of data that is produced with these recordings.

Accessories

An action camera without accessories is only half the battle. To get different angles, it needs one or the other additional material. We very often use the chest strap, handlebar mount and helmet mount. The selfie stick and the Joby Gorilla tripod are also very practical and recommended.

Selfie stick, swivel arm and tripod

Joby GorillaPod Stativ

Chest strap GoPro

GoPro accessories set

GoPro Flex Clamp

Despite the good image stabilizer on the I-Phone, the image is much more stable with a gimbal. The Gimbal Zhiyun Smooth4 is convincing in terms of price/performance ratio. However, you have to get to grips with the device a bit. Good camera work doesn’t happen overnight. For some CHF 100.00, however, it’s a great device that produces smooth recordings, especially in sports with fast movements.

Drone footage is an important component for us. Based on size, functionalities and price segment, we use two drones for different applications.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro

With the DJI Phantom 4 Pro our landscape shots are created with 4K quality. This one is a bullet – in sport mode it brings you speeds of up to 45 km/h. It also has a good range and covers decent distances. The handling is extremely robust and the sensor technology has always worked flawlessly so far. Very often we also use the drone forfollow-me mode, whether it’s vehicle or biking. A feature that has a lot of value for us. It can also take a beating in terms of wind. The drone is delivered in a sturdy case. However, it is not very handy, which is why it is only used near the vehicle.

DJI Mavic Mini

It is the size in particular that was the deciding factor in buying the DJI Mavic Mini Our desire was to have a drone with us on hikes and bike tours. Due to the handy pack size, the Mini performs excellently. The image quality and sensor technology does not come close to the DJI Phantom Pro. However, it must also be said that there is a significant price difference here.