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This can be a very scary question! And it’s probably what’s keeping you from creating videos.

You don’t have money to invest in a professional camera, editing software, lighting kits, and every thing else that comes with video production!

Well I got you covered! I’m going to go over the only things you will need to start creating videos now, with equipment you already have!

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Camera

You are obviously going to need a camera to make a video. But what if I told you, you can use your phone!

That’s true. Most phones these days have such high quality cameras in them that most people won’t even be able to tell the difference.

Two tips for using your phone though. Make sure you hold your phone horizontally, not up and down. This is the biggest pet peeve I have with phone videos. When you hold your phone up and down you will get those black bars on the side when you upload to YouTube. Your video will not fill up the entire screen and it just doesn’t look good.

And the second tip is don’t use the selfie camera to record. The selfie camera is the camera on your screen. The camera on the back of the phone is better. Just make sure you know where your frame is when you set up your shot so you know you are in the frame!

So don’t be scared away from video if you don’t have a fancy camera because the next equipment is what will make your video quality even better!

Lighting

I have a whole blog post on lighting right here if you want more information on it.

But the best lighting you can have for your video is natural light! That’s right, sun light is free folks and it’s the best you can get for your video.

If you work full time and don’t have time during the day to shot videos, maybe save a Saturday or Sunday to film a bunch of videos at once. This is what I do. I batch film all the videos I want to get done on a nice sunny day.

If you don’t have a window that gets plenty of sunlight, take it outside! Make sure there isn’t a bunch of background noises and you are standing in shade. You don't want the lighting to be too harsh, so standing in the shade will diffuse the harsh lighting.

The best time to film a video outside would be first thing in the morning. It’s usually a little quieter out before people get started with their day and the morning sun light is fantastic!

Tripod

I would recommend spending the money for a tripod. Amazon usually has some great tripods at reasonable prices.

You should have a tripod because you will avoid having your video be shaky and you don’t have to rely on someone else to hold your camera.

But if you absolutely can not get a tripod… Books and boxes are your new best friends! And I will tell you, I did use a few boxes and books in my first couple videos!

Just make sure your camera or phone is level and have a few safety precautions because you don’t want your phone falling off a stack of books and shattering!

Microphone

This is a tricky one. Yes, a microphone will make your audio sound much better. But microphones are pricey. If you plan to just stand in front of your camera (phone) and talk, you wouldn’t have to invest in a mic right away.

To make sure your audio sounds good without a mic, make sure you are in a quite room (doors and windows closed, no appliances or fans running in the background) and you are talking loud enough but not too loud. After you film a few videos you will figure out what the best volume for your voice will be.

If you want to film a voiceover video or a screenflow video you can use headphones that have a mic, like your earbuds. Or you can use the voice recorder on your phone!

I actually used the voice recorder on my phone for a long time before I invested in a Blue Yeti mic.

What you will do is record what you want to say in your video on your phone. It’s easier to take a few lines at a time instead of voicing over the entire video at once.

If you plan to edit on your computer you will want to email yourself the voice memo file and upload it to what ever editing program you are using!

And that’s pretty much all you will need to start making videos! Not much of an investment at all.

It doesn’t have to be difficult and pricey. Just work with what you got! DIY is your friend!

If you want a list of all the tools I use to create my videos enter your email address here!

If you would like me to help you set up your filming setting and come up with some great video ideas that will drive traffic to your website, click here to pick your package to start working with me ASAP!

Let’s talk in the comments below; What equipment questions do you have? What piece of equipment got you like huh? Lets provide some tips to each other below!

P.S. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want to see my tips BEFORE the blog post!

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