Is Camera YouTube Dead?

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
Thank you, hello and welcome.
My name is Tom.
This is the Enthusiasm Project,season 13, episode 7.
I can remember these numbersand names of things.
And welcome to another episode.

(00:46):
Got some fun and interestingstuff.
I've made some.
I've made some cool timelinesin my keynote presentation for
today.
So I'm excited to kind of sharethat.
We get to talk a lot aboutcameras today.
I haven't I feel like I haven'ttalked about cameras in a while
.
That is one of my favoritethings and it used to be
something that I talked about.
I mean, it is still something Italk about nonstop in life, but
it really, you know, I don'tknow, just feel like I haven't

(01:09):
talked about cameras in a while.
So we're gonna talk about that,talk about some other stuff
that I've been working on andsome cool gear.
And as we shift gears, beforewe get into the main topic, of
course, it is time to talk aboutthe mic of the week, because
again I am using a differentmicrophone on all 10 of these
episodes for season 13.
And then at the end we will doa vote to see which one I don't

(01:33):
know see if there's a clearwinner.
I need to also figure out howto do the vote between, like the
audio version and the YouTubeversion.
How do I add things?
I don't know, we'll figure thatout.
I feel like a Google formprobably is an answer or
something.
But this week I'm using one ofmy favorite microphones that
I've honestly been neglecting alittle bit For whatever reason,

(01:53):
I don't know why, and once Istarted using it again on a
stream, a podcast earlier thisweek that I was doing with
someone else, it's like yep,this is, this is the way to go,
the Shure Super 55.
So if you're watching the videoversion you can see this is
basically the Elvis mic.
This is kind of that classic,you know.
It's the mic emoji mic,basically that real retro style

(02:16):
design.
Shure has been makingmicrophones that look like this
for many, many decades.
The Super 55 is one of twomicrophones that Shure currently
makes that look a lot like this.
There's this one, the Super 55,which has an MSRP of $249.
And then there's the 55SH,which has an MSRP of $199.
And that's probably the morecommon one, because it's

(02:38):
basically like a silvermicrophone with a black you know
windscreen.
The Super 55, believe it or not, is my favorite and it has a
blue windscreen, which I knowthat makes me biased right off
the bat.
But the difference in the Super55 versus the other one is that
it is a super cardioid pickuppattern.
That's why it's called theSuper 55.

(02:59):
And basically what that meansis it's a more directional
microphone.
The regular 55SH has a cardioidpickup pattern so it kind of
picks up things over here,whereas the super cardioid is a
bit more directional, so as soonas I get away from the
microphone it drops off.
You know more like it.
Just it is a more directionalmicrophone, so that can make it
better for you know less thanideally sound treated spaces.

(03:21):
But it can also make it betterfor live performance situations,
obviously.
Obviously, microphones thatlook like this are great in live
event situations, and I totallylost my train of thought there.
This microphone is great inlive event situations, not that
it only has to be used there,because you can totally use it
at home.
So that super cardioid pickuppattern is great.

(03:42):
I also think that this is abetter sounding microphone.
I do have videos that comparethe 55SH and this, and even I
have another video that comparessome lower end like retro style
microphones, because this issuch an iconic or my iconic
microphone that it looks thatlots of companies copy it.
You know some with success,like Monoprice makes some pretty

(04:03):
sweet.
I think it was called theMemphis.
It doesn't look exactly likethis but it's, it could be a
cousin to this microphone and itsounds awesome and it's like
under 100 bucks.
So there's some cool options.
And then there's, you know youcan go on Amazon and find like
retro microphone and it's, youknow you'll find something for

(04:30):
15 or $20 that kind of lookslike this.
And then you get it and yourealize it's very lightweight,
it's very plasticky, this isbuilt like a tank, it's all
metal.
You know it's a Shuremicrophone which you can usually
be sure will last you probablylonger than you'll be alive.
So yeah, so that's kind of acool thing.
A weird thing with thismicrophone and maybe a reason
that I don't always use it asmuch as I want.
If I uncrop my shot here alittle bit, you kind of see I
have it mounted on the how's itsay GoXLR.

(04:51):
I definitely don't have itmounted on that, on the WaveArm
Pro, the Elgato WaveArm Pro.
A tricky thing with thismicrophone you can kind of see
in the image on the keynotepresentation is at the bottom of
it the 5.8 mic mount and theXLR port are right next to each
other because it's reallydesigned to be on a traditional
mic stand, like a mic stand.

(05:11):
That's just a tall stick andthen the stick can go into the
mount for the microphone andthen the XLR cable can just run
right down along it and be, likeyou know, clipped.
It's very neat and organizedfor cable management.
If you try to take thismicrophone, you put it on a boom
arm or something or, you know,use it in home studio podcasting
, setup kind of stuff, like lotsof us do.

(05:33):
Now it gets a little trickiersometimes to mount and so what I
do actually have on here is alittle mic extension tube.
These are super affordable.
I use them all the time.
You can get like four packs for$10, $15 on Amazon and they're
basically just like three inchextensions that make your boom
arm or whatever, just give you alittle more room and that way

(05:54):
it's easier to run the cable.
If I just tried to mount this onthe arm itself, it would.
It'd be a little tricky andprior to having low profile arms
and strong low profile armslike this, elgato right here
something I did a lot when I wasusing this microphone in the
past is it would kind of bemounted sideways because I'd
have it on like a Rode PSA1.

(06:15):
It was always a little bittricky to mount and I haven't.
I haven't tried exploring itmore since, you know, getting
more updated boom arms andthings, and it really has made a
difference.
I'm trying to position it rightin the middle of the frame
because now I can actually haveit standing up the way it's
intended Right in front it's.
It's cool.
I haven't been able to positionthis microphone this way before
and I really like it.

(06:35):
So anyway, I love thismicrophone, love the pickup
pattern, love the way that itsounds, love the design of it.
It's a cool one that I've kindof rediscovered my love for, you
know, in the past week as we'redoing this.
So that's this week'smicrophone and then we've got
three more after that.
I'm trying to figure out.
I'm trying to use microphonesthat are actually available.
I have a couple of microphonesthat like are out of production,

(06:59):
but I don't really want to usethose because ideally I would
like people to be able like ifthey like the microphone, they
could also get it.
I don't want to be like, hey,the best sounding microphone,
the one that won the poll andthe vote for this season of
podcast.
Things is something that youcan't get.
Like my friend, doc Rock didsend me the Neat King B original
version, which I have sittingover in a box, and that's

(07:20):
awesome and I'm very excited forthat, but it's out of
production.
So there's like I don't know,it's a wonderful microphone and
I'm excited for it, but it'slike there is a part of me
that's like well, if I make avideo on it, it's just me sort
of going like look at this coolthing you can't buy.
I guess you go on eBay.
It's like an old camcorder Iguess you could go on eBay or
something and buy it.
But and that's what we areusing right here.

(07:42):
Moving on to today's main topic,which is a relevant one, I
think, based on a lot of onlinediscourse that I've seen Is
camera YouTube dead?
Sounds like a clickbait titleand thumbnail, but it is not.
So camera YouTube the thingthat brought me into YouTube

(08:05):
many years ago, a thing that hasbeen around since, you know,
around 2008.
Obviously, people have alwaysbeen talking about cameras on
YouTube, but when I'm talkingabout camera YouTube
specifically, the thing that I'mreally talking about is.
It kind of starts with therelease of the Canon 5D Mark II
back in 2008, because there werealways.
You know, obviously you neededa camera to do YouTube at all

(08:27):
right, like to make a video.
In 2005, when YouTube started,you needed some kind of camera.
2008, when the Canon 5D Mark IIincorporated video into it,
that was that first time thatpeople were able to basically
use interchangeable lenses ongiant sensors on.
You know, the 5D Mark II is nota cheap camera in the $3,000,

(08:50):
$3,500-ish price range, maybecloser to $4,000, kind of
depending and that is, you know,back in 2008.
So, I don't know, withinflation that's like $48,000
now or something.
It was very unusual to seepeople, just normal people, be
able to create footage thatlooked like that and so that
kind of sparked the DSLRrevolution.
I don't know 100% how true thestory is because I can't find

(09:12):
the source, but ages ago I feellike, I read an article in one
of the photography magazines orblogs or something where it was
talking about the development ofthe Canon 5D Mark II, which was
a full frame photo camera,because there had already been
the 5D Mark, the Canon 5D MarkII, which was a full frame photo
camera because there alreadybeen the 5D Mark I.
5d Mark II is coming out.
A lot of the use for it was forphotojournalism and they it

(09:35):
wasn't the first DSLR that shotvideo.
I believe there was a Nikonthat shot video first, but it
was like I don't say it wasunusable, but kind of it was
like the concept of video butversus like something that's
usable video.
And the story I heard, thestory I read, was that it was
kind of it's almost likemultiplayer mode in golden eye
for Nintendo 64, where they theybuilt out the game and like

(09:59):
literally like before like veryclose to release, like one
developer was like oh, we coulddo this really cool multiplayer
mode, like let's just throw thatin there.
Whatever, it's like anafterthought.
It became like the most popularthing that the game is known
for.
So the 5D Mark II is kind oflike I think we could do some
video functionality in here,like and you can sort of tell
it's an afterthought because thecamera like doesn't have any

(10:19):
dedicated video controls.
It has a mic input.
So that's really the thingwhere it's like okay, it seems
like they wanted you to recordvideo, but the record button is
just like the center button onthe dial, like there is no
dedicated switch to go fromphoto to video mode.
It's even getting into thevideo mode, is?
It's not like an advertisedfeature?
It really does seem likesomething that in a big way was

(10:41):
just added in, you know, at theat the end of the camera's
development phase, and thereasoning was, if a lot of
photojournalists are using this,it would be really helpful for
them to also be able to likegrab interviews and b roll
footage.
So you don't you don't justhave to take photos, but if
you're trying to put a videoclip online or grab something
even for, like, your local newsor whatever, you can just use
the same camera, grab that andit's cool.

(11:06):
But prior to that, if you wantedsomething that was really good
in low light, that had shallowdepth of field, that just sort
of had that crisp crispness andthat cinematic filmic quality,
it really wasn't attainable.
Like camcorders kind of hadsome modes that would sort of
replicate 24 frames per second.
You could sort of like tinkeraround with you know, like sort
of lenses that could mount tothings, but it really it was

(11:28):
like you needed to get.
You know, red was really big atthe time and that was pretty
revolutionary.
Red-volutionary because priorto that it was what?
Like a Panavision camera.
You'd like rent a Panavisioncamera that wasn't even
available for individuals to ownif you wanted, like a movie
camera and that is not in thebudget of most people.
And then you're also shootingon film.

(11:49):
And then RED came out with, youknow, like 4K cinema cameras
that could use interchangeablelenses and could look pretty
much every bit as good in a lotof ways as traditional movie
cameras, and they were down inlike the five figure range and
which is still very expensive,but at least, like a small
company could afford one or two.

(12:10):
Someone could take out a smallbusiness loan and get one or so.
It was less unattainable.
And then the 5d Mark two comesout.
It's, you know, whatever $3,500will say and can shoot footage
that looks almost exactly thesame as the red.
I know, I know it's not exactlythe same, but, like in 2008, it

(12:33):
was, it felt pretty much thesame and that was where it was
like, oh my god, like suddenlyeverything changed.
It really was, it really reallywas a revolution.
And I feel like now we're beingso used to the fact that our
phones have cinematic modes wekind of forget what a huge deal
that was and you know Canon kindof kept with that.
So the 5D Mark II in 2008,.
And then there was the 7D in2009, which was like basically

(12:57):
the crop sensor version, andthat was the one.
The 5D Mark II always felt wayout of my like.
That was the one I wanted, butit was like not ever going to be
possible.
The 7D I think it was like$1,800, $1,900 MSRP around then
still felt like impossible.
I never got one because it wasat the time I was like a poor
college student.
I couldn't get this but Ireally wanted it and that was

(13:18):
the one.
I was like I remember watchinglots of YouTube videos where it
was just someone would put youknow, 45 seconds of footage from
a 7D and just out of focusshots of their neighborhood or
whatever, and I'm like this isamazing.
And then there was the T2i in2010.
I know Canon did have the T1i,which is like their Rebel series
, their more entry level camera.
The T1i did have some sort ofvideo thing.

(13:39):
I think it was limited to 720.
Again, it was kind of like notsuper usable.
The T2i was an under $1,000camera that had, in a lot of
ways more video functionalitythan the 5D Mark II did, and
same with the 7D, because the 7Dwas where it was like.
There's actually like a switchthat will let you switch between

(13:59):
photo and video mode.
There's actually a dedicatedrecord button for video mode,
like a lot of the 5D you knowpeople would install they'd
still do it with later camerastoo but they would install magic
lantern, which was like, um,not like bootleg firmware, but
it's like third party firmwarethat would give you more, more
video centric features that thecamera just didn't have, because

(14:20):
and now it's a lot of thosefeatures are things that you
would just expect to be in anycamera you buy that shoots video
.
But at the time it was like itwas so limited.
Sometimes people would do thatto sort of unlock more
functionality, and you know it'slike no camera was shooting log
or anything, I don't think atthe time but you could sort of
like you could sort of almostput LUTs on your footage to make

(14:40):
it look like log footage so youcould then try to grade it and
it was, you know, but it wasreally cool, like that was a
very fun experimental time andthat really really was like a
huge deal and it was very coolthat it got scaled down.
So the T2i was a camera that Iended up getting and at the same
time, too, as Canon's doingthis, you know.

(15:00):
That kind of made them thedefault, which is why, when I
switched to Sony cameras severalyears ago, like I was so
frustrated with Canon because Iwas like you had it and you just
you dropped the ball, whichthey did, and I feel like
they've recovered in terms ofwhat they offer.
They've recovered pretty wellnow, like the R series cameras
are awesome, but it's like theygot so comfortable and

(15:22):
complacent where they were.
They were kind of the go-toonly option for such a long time
and but as that was happening,other companies were paying
attention to stuff right Likemicro.
Four thirds cameras were comingout which are mirrorless cameras
bigger mirrorless crop sensor,full frame mirrorless cameras,
if you remember, like the earlySonys, you know, in like 2014, I

(15:43):
think maybe the first A7 cameout somewhere around then and it
was like this camera hasterrible battery life, overheats
like crazy, but the footagelooks amazing.
Also, there's no autofocus, Idon't think, or no good
autofocus, but the footage doeslook amazing and the low light
performance is unlike anythingwe've ever seen in a camera
before and it's like is thiswhat mirrorless cameras are

(16:09):
going to be like?
And then micro four thirdscameras came out, which was
basically like now we can do 4kstuff, we can do all kinds of
cool stabilization.
The whole point of a micro fourthirds sensor was basically now
, you know, you can get a fullframe mirrorless camera that
doesn't overheat, that has goodstabilization, that has great
autofocus, all these things.
10 years ago it just wasn'tpossible to do that.
It's the same way like I kindof rant sometimes about why

(16:29):
video switchers don't have 4Kmodes because it's just
currently technologically notreally possible.
But you know, in five, 10 yearsit'll probably be pretty common
.
We're just not there yet.
Going back to micro four thirds,it was sort of the same thing
If you wanted a camera thatcould have good battery life,

(16:50):
have all those features, notoverheat, you needed a smaller
sensor.
And so companies, you know likeLumix, came, panasonic and
Lumix came out really big withmicro four thirds, which opened
up a lot of options for people.
Sony was obviously then likegoing really hard down the
mirrorless road, and that wasbig, like there were big things
happening all the time road andthat was big, like there were
big things happening all thetime, right, like every new

(17:13):
camera release was a big deal,progress was being made, like
there were huge changes, aspeople were also jumping in and
discovering like I couldactually make this stuff and
prices were coming down.
It was, you know, it really wasa crazy, a really awesome time
and I think we kind of forgetsort of how big that was a lot
of the time.
And then, as time goes on,things kind of plateau.
Like now, you know, you get amirrorless camera from any of
the main companies, get a Sony,a Canon, a Lumix, an Olympus, a

(17:37):
Nikon.
They're all pretty awesome.
You know there's nothing reallyto complain about.
Some might be more suited toothers, or you might like the
lens system of one camera orover the other or whatever, but
it's like you're not going toget a bad camera, you're not
going to, you're not going tohave the extreme limitations
that kind of did exist in thepast.

(17:57):
Like you know, if you want 4k,you're only going to be able to
shoot for minutes at a time,like literally four minutes at a
time.
Maybe you want good autofocus?
Okay, well you're.
You know it's going to limityou to this kind of thing like
that doesn't really existanymore.
And so actually I kind of I wasthinking about my own personal
like camera timeline becauseagain, this that was a crazy you

(18:22):
know decade plus of cameradevelopment.
And so I I was thinking of youknow for me what it kind of
started with.
I mentioned that I got the T2i,but that was not my first DSLR,
so I don't, I don't want to gothrough every camera I've ever
had.
So I'm not going to talk about,like GoPros and action cameras
or webcams or point and shootcameras or anything.
We're just going to talk aboutmy journey through DSLR and
mirrorless cameras and I'mcurious if this matches up maybe

(18:43):
with yours and maybe also cangive you some perspective about
where I'm coming from.
So the I always kind of had.
You know I've always hadcamcorders since I was a kid.
I've talked about that many,many times, whether they're
hand-me-downs or something Isaved up for Getting into like
later.
Well, actually I had little.
I don't know if you remember,but Canon had like these, they
were called ELPH, e-l-p-hcameras and they were film

(19:05):
cameras, but they the filmwasn't like a thing you had to
roll, it was like it was justlike a little film thing.
You popped it in the camera,like roll the film.
It was very easy.
It's like easy film camera.
You couldn't like preview yourimage or anything.
So I kind of always hadsomething like that.
From like middle school, highschool, I think it was like mid

(19:27):
high school I got my firstdigital camera which, like was
this like Polaroid thing?
That was very I don't know164th of a megapixel or
something like.
The image quality was not great, but it was still like hey, I
can put images on a computer.
That's amazing.
What can we do?
Like that's cool.
And so I kind of always hadlike a and then always had like

(19:47):
a point and shoot camera.
I just remember, like you know,some kind of Canon elf.
They went to their like or wasit?
No, yeah, I just liked that, Idon't know.
I just always had like a,whatever Canon's little like
point and shoot camera was.
I think some of them actuallycould do video as well, but it
was like I don't know what youwould do with the video.
It was like 360p, standarddefinition, four by three

(20:09):
resolution.
Like there's nothing you canreally do with the video,
especially for YouTube.
Where are you even going toupload that?
I don't know, but it was funGoing into DSLRs.
I remember, like as someonewho's kind of always flipped
back and forth between likesometimes I really get into
doing video specific stuff andsometimes I get really into
doing photo specific stuff.
I really, you know, video onDSLR wasn't a thing at this time

(20:34):
and I really wanted, I reallywanted, like a real camera, a
camera with the lens.
So I saved up a bunch of money.
I remember order.
I remember sitting in my littlelike college apartment and then
like pacing back and forth withthe order confirmation page on
B&H, photo of like do I orderthis camera or not?
I think I ordered the Canon XTIin 2007.

(20:54):
That's not when the camera cameout, that's just when I ordered
it in 2007.
It came with the 18 to 55millimeter lens.
I think I remember the totalbeing $845 for the kit, which is
pretty good.
But that was like yeah, I don'tknow barring like rent or like

(21:16):
some like life necessity kind ofthing.
I don't know that I'd everreally spent that much money on
it.
Maybe a computer, I think?
Yeah, in 2006, I bought myfirst Mac and I had saved up for
like a year and that was $2,000to get the iMac that I got.
Otherwise, this was like themost expensive thing I ever
bought and the iMac at least wasjustifiable.
Like I need a computer, like Iam in college, I need a computer
.
I also want to be able to likeedit video, and photo Makes

(21:38):
sense.
This was like not a necessityand I was just so nervous, but
anyway, I got the camera.
I love that camera.
It was awesome Ended up gettinga couple lenses for it, Because
, again, that was the thing thatwas.
I remember buying that camerawas when I was like who would
ever spend as much or more moneyon a lens than they would?
The camera, the camera is theway cool part.

(21:59):
Who cares about the lens?
And I had the thought of, likewhy do I need a 50 millimeter
lens?
I have an 18 to 55 millimeterlens on the camera.
Why would I like I can just putthat at 50 and it's the same
thing?
Well, it turns out it's not thesame thing, because when I got
that camera, what am I going todo?
I'm going to go to YouTube andI'm going to go hey, canon XTi,

(22:19):
I'm going to see people readingor see reviews on that camera.
This is also still more in theblog age, so you could find a
lot of blog reviews of thecamera and stuff.
So I went and and looked at allthose things and saw what
people are using, and obviouslythe thing that popped up same
thing with message boardsphotography on the NET like
Canon message board.
I went to Tons of people likeget the nifty 50, get the 51.8,

(22:42):
which at the time was under $100.
I think now they're 200 or 200plus dollars.
At the time they would be under$100.
You can get this 50 millimeterlens.
So a couple couple months afterI got that camera, I got the
51.8.
And that was when it was likeoh, this does things that the
kit lens doesn't do.
But that's why kit lenses aregreat, though is because they

(23:03):
let you do a little bit ofeverything, so I can see you
know what I like, what I don'tlike.
Do I want to be wider?
Do I want to be tighter?
Do I want more background, likemore low light performance?
Whatever it might be and youknow 51.8 was is still a good
way to kind of dive into thatwithout feeling too much
pressure, and so that was Iremember you know, of course I'm
doing the thing.
You're just I'm just in myapartment like artsy pictures of

(23:26):
the remote control and thingsor whatever, and then you know.
I then got really big into lightpainting where it's you know.
Know you do like long exposuresand do light stuff and I'll try
to do like multiple ones andsmash them together into like a
gif or something to makeanimated, like lines moving
around, super, like very fun,very creative.
I did eventually get this ismaybe that was kind of crazy.

(23:48):
This may be like eight or ninemonths after getting the camera,
I did get the canon 55 to 250zoom lens, which is like such a
good lens for the price I thinkit's like a $200 lens, $250 lens
, such a good zoom lens.
And then those were kind oflike my three.
You know it was fun becausethen then the next lens I got

(24:08):
was in 2009.
I was going on my first trip toNew York City and I was like I
don't have a lens that's wideenough.
I want a wide angle lens totake like wide angle city shots,
street shots, skyscrapers, allthat stuff.
So I got the Sigma 10 to 20.
And that was like I felt socool.
I was like this is like a veryspecialized.

(24:29):
Like I know I needed this lensfor a specific.
I was just very, very cool.
Like I know, I needed this lensfor a specific.
I was just very, very cool.
So those were the lenses Ipretty much just had.
And then my the next camera Igot.
So the X-Ti does not shootvideo, it's a crop sensor camera
.
Forget the megapixel counteight or nine megapixels,
something like that and it isjust a photo camera.

(24:50):
Then, in 2010, I got the T2ibecause it came out and shot
video.
I think it might have come outin 2010.
I feel like I got that prettyclose to the time it was
released and it was also like800 bucks and I was like, oh, my
goodness, like it's the sameprice as my current camera,
except it can do so much morebecause it can do video and I

(25:12):
can still use all my existinglenses with it.
So I don't need to buy the kitlens, I can just buy the or the
kit with the lens.
I can just buy the body only,which is very cool.
And that's when I startedrealizing, oh, the value of
being invested in the lensecosystem.
It's kind of cool.
As time goes on, the T2i wasjust like such a fantastic
camera, and that was where itwas like I want to do so much
with this camera.
What do I do?
So it's a lot of random footageof I don't know nothing but

(25:36):
editing things together, or justyou know lots of montages about
nothing, but it's just likebeing able to film video in that
way was crazy In 2010,.
If you go to camera, youtubeand you're looking at you know
Dave Dugdale or Caleb Pike,who's still making videos and
has his channel going, or you'relooking at like the film right

(25:57):
channel also still around, somuch stuff.
That was like helping you learnhow to use these things and
everybody was sort ofdiscovering like different ways
to do lighting, different waysto do camera, movements, focus,
audio, like everything was justcoming together and the T2i was
such a was my cool window intothat, and so I had that camera

(26:20):
for a couple of years.
And then I the next camera Igot in 2013 was the 6DD.
The reason being is I I wantedthat flip screen, like the T2i
and the XTi didn't have flipscreens, and when you're doing
video, like it was funny,because I actually have a very
clear memory of it.

(26:40):
I was teaching digital media atthe time.
So in 2012 is when I became adigital media teacher like full
time.
I started doing yearbook in2011.
So that had like photo thingsand a little bit of video
elements, but when I was doingdigital media full time it was
sort of different.
That was a nice excuse to likeI gotta invest in myself, right

(27:02):
for all these things here.
And I had my T2i.
You know like we had thecameras for the program, which
was very small at the time.
So we had like some Canoncameras there, like some 50Ds
that didn't even shoot video.
We had two 5D Mark IIs and thenI got a bunch of 60Ds and stuff
.
But I remember being at anevent and I had my T2i and I was
just filming stuff like behindthe scenes stuff and I saw one

(27:23):
of my students had his owncamera and it was a T3i that had
a flip out screen and he wasgetting.
We were both trying to get likethis low angle and I was like
literally smashing my face likeinto the ground to try to like
get this to see what washappening on the on the screen,
and he just like had his flipscreen out and I was like I
really need to flip screen Noneof these cameras that autofocus

(27:45):
in video or anything either.
And then the 60D was just likeyou know, it's a little bit
bigger, a little bit beefier,flip screen, amazing camera.
Really love the 60D.
And then, though, my thing goingall the way back to 2008,.
I did always want a full framecamera.
It fell out of reach by 2015,.
I was in my teaching career asa full time digital media

(28:06):
teacher, so it made sense tomake the investment in a full
frame camera and Canon releasedthe 6D the original one.
So I got that, which I lost myflip screen and I went back to
just a regular flat screen.
But then I had full frame video.
This is the camera that Ifilmed my very first YouTube
video with my drone, like how toget your Part 107 license, and

(28:27):
that the 6D like not having aflip screen, not having video
autofocus still amazing.
That first YouTube video I hadto set up.
I was trying to set up to film.
You know like kind of backbehind where I'm sitting right
now, and I remember like tryingto get the focus was so hard.
So I got like my bass guitarand set it up like in a stand

(28:49):
and then I was using the head ofthe bass.
I was trying to put the head ofthe bass where my head was
going to be and then I could gobehind the camera and like focus
in so that was clear and sitthere and then do a test clip.
It was like so hard.
I didn't have a flip screen andI didn't have a monitor and I
didn't have autofocus, so it'slike it took forever just to set
up like the simplest talkingheadshot, but the 6D is great In

(29:13):
the end of 2017.
So at this point I'm like fullinto you know, wanting to build
this YouTube channel.
I think that was actually themonth I hit 100 subscribers on
my YouTube channel and I got theCanon 6D Mark II, which, oh,
actually I still have it.
I have it right here.
That's right.
I have don't worry, I haveprops if you're watching the
video version my 6D 2, which wasHeather's camera for a long

(29:35):
time.
She used this for a number ofyears after I upgraded from it.
This camera is amazing becauseit's a full frame.
You know, get your big,beautiful full frame sensor in
there, takes great photos, butalso then full frame video.
You've got your dedicated photovideo switch, but you got a
flip screen.
This was canon's first fullframe camera with a flip screen,

(29:58):
which people flipped out aboutbecause it's like pro cameras
shouldn't have flip screens.
That was a huge deal to me also.
This was one of their first.
I don't think it was theirfirst, I think they had some
maybe like t6s or something, butthis was like the first camera
that had good video autofocuswhere, like you could just I

(30:19):
don't know the 70D had goodvideo autofocus as well.
I think that came out first.
I had a bunch of those with myschool program, didn't realize
it had video autofocus becauseno DSLRs did, until I watched a
bunch of Casey Neistat videos,realized he was using the 70D
and I was like, wait a minute.
I remember going into like theequipment room being like, oh,
using the 70D, and I was like,wait a minute.
I remember going into like theequipment room being like, oh,
my god, we.
I didn't mind that I taught mystudents manual focus because I
feel like it gave them a betterappreciation for the skill and

(30:41):
the craft, but it turns out theycould have been using autofocus
and then it was a cool way oflike how do you, how and when do
you use this like you know allthat kind of stuff, but anyway,
6d Mark II full frame camera,great video quality, flip out
screen with autofocus.
That was my next camera in 2017.
Used this as my main camera ona lot of YouTube videos up until

(31:02):
2019, when I got Still.
Well, I mean, I love all thesecameras.
That's why I can't get rid ofthem.
The EOS R, my first mirrorlesscamera, full frame, no shutter,
because it's a mirrorless camera.
You've got flip out LCD.
Of course, you've also got eyeautofocus.

(31:24):
So the 6D Mark II had facerecognition, but sometimes it
would kind of it could be alittle hit or miss at times or
it could be a little bit slow.
The EOS R had eye autofocus soit'd go right on your eye and
lock on a little bit better.
Sometimes it would stillrandomly decide that the
background is more important orsomething, but for the most part
it was pretty solid and it alsoshot at a higher bitrate than

(31:47):
the 6D Mark II, which I didn'tsee.
This is me learning YouTube.
I didn't know anything aboutthis stuff.
I was like full frameframecamera 1080.
Full-frame camera 1080.
They're the same, but what Inoticed, especially if I didn't
shave for a while and I had alittle bit more shagginess on my
face and I was filming atalking head part of a video is
my stubble or my beard would getkind of grainy and pixely

(32:09):
looking sometimes with the 6DMark II and it was sort of
strange.
I was like I'm doing this in1080.
Everything's clear, I'm usinggood lenses, but it's just it's
like too much, I don't know,information to be packed into
the footage.
And then the EOS R it looked.
It's like the best looking 1080you're going to get Like.
It's so crisp and so clear andthe autofocus was improved and

(32:35):
all of like my chin wasn't likegoing into like a blocky mess of
like pixelation sometimes.
It was very crisp and clearbecause it could do higher bit
rates at a 10-bit color depth,which doesn't it have to.
Yeah, it has 10-bit.
Am I a crazy person or was thea7s3 my first 10-bit camera?
I can't remember a little bit.
It had better colors.
I'm not sure it had 10-bit, not, I think it could, but you had

(32:58):
some limitations.
Speaking of things that hadwith limitations, though, the
EOS R also had 4k.
So that was my first nottechnically my first 4k camera,
because I had a little Sonypoint and shoot that did 4k
limited and this did 4k.
It wouldn't overheat but it hada huge crop in 4K and so that
was really fun though, becauseit let me experiment with 4K in

(33:20):
a time you know, going back2019,.
I was like it's hard to upload4K videos.
I don't even have a computerthat can really edit them.
Most people can't watch them,most platforms can't deliver 4K,
so like it was not thenecessity that we probably think
of it as being today, so likeit was not the necessity that we
probably think of it as beingtoday, but it was really fun to
experiment with 4K on thiscamera.

(33:40):
I found it being very useful forB-roll footage when I was
trying to do talking head stuff.
Even with my widest lens, thecrop was too great.
It would be like really croppedin and kind of uncomfortable.
But when I was doing B-rollfootage I could put it in 4K and
the crop would then, you know,almost make my lenses look like
macro lenses and I do a lot ofB-roll footage of products that

(34:01):
have small little buttons andfeatures and components, and
like I found that actually to bereally helpful, especially
because I was doing 1080 videos.
So then it's like I could putthat 4K cropped in footage on a
1080 timeline, crop it evenfurther, and now it looks like I
almost have a macro lens whenI'm not using one.
And then I kind of startedputting 1080 footage on a 4K

(34:22):
timeline and letting Final CutPro upscale it because the EOS
R's 1080 is so good.
It actually still looked quitegood, and then when I had those
4K clips in there, they lookedreally stunning because it's
actual native 4K.
I did try playing around with,like the Metabones speed booster
, which basically means it's anadapter.

(34:44):
It's kind of expensive.
It's an adapter you can put onthe camera to help reduce the 4K
crop, and then I did actuallyuse it.
I was actually able to filmseveral videos.
The autofocus kind of takes ahit in performance with the
Metabones, but it still works,and I was able to kind of like
start playing around with likewhat's the difference between

(35:07):
1080 and 4K?
Is it worth it?
The EOS RS 4K is reallyinefficient, though, and the
file sizes just get absolutelymassive, but that was kind of it
was a it was it ultimately ledto me in 2020.
Feeling like I really do want afull frame 4k camera, and that's
when Canon was releasing the R5, which I put in a pre order for

(35:28):
, and then saw all theoverheating drama and all the
things or whatever, and then Icanceled my pre order and I was
like I'm just gonna stick withthe EOS R.
And then, uh, what?
Maybe seven months after the,like the, the R5 was announced,
then I just bought the uh, theA7S3 from Sony.
So that's when I switched toSony and we've talked about you

(35:49):
know there's a whole podcastseries about that, you know
trying to figure out why to gofrom Canon to Sony and
ultimately the a7S III wasreleased in 2020.
And it was just like the Jesuscamera that everybody loved and
it was.
I got mine in 2021.
It really, really didn't want toswitch.
I've talked about this before,but it was at the end of the day

(36:09):
.
At that time, when I looked atthe things that I wanted full
frame, 4k, really good autofocus, flip out screen, no
overheating I can't remember acouple other things at the time
there was only like, literally,this was the only camera that
had those things available atthe time, and so it was like,
okay, got to go with it.
So I got my Sony a7S III, whichI got right here.

(36:30):
So, again, you got.
Now I've got a full framecamera with the flip out screen
and amazing like the bestautofocus I'd ever used at the
time and dual memory card slotsand 120 FPS in 4K and no
overheating.
Yeah, I mean, there's a reasonwhy I bought this camera in May

(36:50):
of 2021, loved it and then inDecember of 2021 or maybe
November of 2021, I got my FX3.
I was like, okay, I'm going fullin on Sony here, which the FX3,
is my main camera to this day.
This is the one that I filmmost of my videos with.
Obviously, I'm holding thecamera, so it's not the one I'm

(37:11):
filming this podcast with rightnow, but I, you know the FX3,
the internals are the same asthe a7S III.
The body is different, and thenSony has released over the
years, since these are nowalmost five year old cameras,
they have released firmwareupdates that differentiate them
a little bit more and theircapabilities and things, which
is it's sort of goofy.
But yeah, I really love the FX3because of the form factor,

(37:34):
because you get the audio handle.
It does have the built-in fan,so you, you, I've never had my
A7S3 overheat, but the FX3, samewith the FX30, like can't
overheat, so it's, it's justbeen like the coolest camera.
Ow, I hit my head with thecamera, I said nice things about
it and it hit me.
So those, those were prettygreat and I'm really glad that

(37:58):
happened.
I know some of you probablyknow this, but I got the a7S III
.
At one point I did have two EOSR's because I was like I needed
a second camera.
Heather was using my 6D Mark IIso I was like, okay, I'll get
another EOS R and it was reallynice having two of the exact
same camera for workflow because, like everything just matches.
You know, you can, you don'teven have to look at the back,
they can just reach around theback of the camera, know what

(38:20):
the buttons are, everything'sgood.
So I sold one of my EOS Rs tohelp fund the, you know, the
Sony purchase sold, like theMetabones adapter and even some
lenses and things, which is why,like, yeah, going back to my
cameras, I gave my XTi and my 6Dto my mom, so she has those.
I gave my T2i to a student who,I mean, I don't know if he

(38:41):
still has it.
That was a long, long time ago.
I sold the 6DD to fund thepurchase of the 6D.
The 6D Mark II is still hereand it was Heather's camera for
a while.
The EOS R, the original one thatI got.
I still have it and Heatherdidn't really use this.
This has been was like my thirdcamera still is like my fourth
camera.
Sometimes I use it.
I actually use it a lot.

(39:01):
I use it a lot for when I domic'd up videos for hockey and
stuff.
I use this because I why did I?
Oh, I probably don't need touse it.
It was the only lens.
It was the only camera that hada good zoom lens with autofocus
, but now I have some Sony zooms.
Yeah, I just even filmvertically with this and it's a
great camera.
This is also the camera likefilmed Heather and I's wedding,

(39:22):
so I just can't get rid of it.
It's such a good camera, evenif I don't use it as much as I
want.
And then, obviously, I stillhave my three Sony cameras, even
though I've only talked aboutthem right now, because I got
this one, I remembered how niceit was to have two of the same
camera.
I wanted to get another one andat that point, I was ready to
invest in.
Like you know, this was myfull-time job in 2021.
It was just crazy.

(39:43):
This was a huge purchase to makeafter becoming self-employed
and it did as great as thiscamera was it, honestly, for the
first six months it kind ofshowed me how great the EOS R
was, because I was like thefootage doesn't look that much
better Like things.
It honestly took me about sixmonths to not only get to

(40:05):
understand how to use the SonyA7S III in a really good way,
but to really start to then beable to work with it in a way
where it felt like the EOS Rwasn't able to keep up.
I know there's the thing oflike I'm still trying to match
Canon and Sony colors, which canbe a little bit tricky, but I

(40:26):
felt like the EOS R was holdingup a lot.
So initially the A7S III Ididn't regret it.
I was like I'm glad I have thiscamera.
It's wonderful, it lets me dothings I couldn't do before.
But it also showed me like, wow, the EOS R was pretty amazing
and holds up really well.
After about six months, when Iwas getting more proficient with
the a7S III, that was when itwas like okay, now I'm not
wanting to cut to footage fromthe R as much because I'm
noticing the difference in color.
I guess the R is only eightbits, then the 10 bit.

(40:48):
I was like who cares?
Two more bits Turns out that'sa lot of extra colors and a lot
of extra color information andthe autofocus was just a lot
more reliable and it just Idon't know.
I just decided that I wanted asecond A7S III, but if you
remember in 2020, the shortageon everything, it was impossible
to get one, like they justweren't available.
You just couldn't buy one, andthe only thing that was

(41:11):
available that I could find atthe time, at the end of 2021,
was an FX3.
There was like one brand newretail FX3 available online in
the United States that I couldfind, maybe even on the internet
, but I ordered this from FullCompass.
It's like not one of my normalplaces like B&H, adorama, all

(41:32):
those places, no options.
So I ordered the FX3 becauseit's the only thing that was.
It's literally was the only one.
They had one in stock and it'sthe only store that could find
that at any full frame Sony likethe FX3 or the A7S III in stock
, and I'm so glad I got it.
I was a little bummed at firstbecause I wanted that ease of
like two of the exact same body.

(41:53):
But then I very quicklyrealized like there's a lot
about the FX3, even just thingslike the tally lamps and having
multiple record buttons, sowherever you're at, it's kind of
easy to hit a record button.
You know, the audio handlebecame huge right away for me
and that I felt bad, but itbecame my main camera, like
right away.
And then the a7S III became mysecondary camera and, yeah, and

(42:15):
then I was using my EOS R aslike a hybrid camera when I
needed photos as well.
But that became a little bitannoying because it was like, if
I'm going somewhere where Iwanna do photos and videos,
these cameras with their 12megapixel sensors not the best
for photos.
They'd be okay, but not thebest, especially if you wanna
print things out kind of biggeror crop in and edit them in a
certain way.
The EOS R is great for photos,but then for video I was like,

(42:39):
well, now, if I now I can onlyget, you know, basically 1080
video and I don't have like thecool stabilization, I can't do
120 frames per second.
So January of 2022, I got the a7IV, which is the camera that
I'm recording this podcast with.
So I can't hold that up rightnow and I got that specifically.
Even though it's an expensivecamera $2,400,.
I got that specifically to bemy like hybrid take everywhere

(43:00):
camera.
So if I want to do somethingthat's photos, it's that camera.
If I want to do photo video,it's that camera.
If I'm going on trips andthings, that's usually the
camera that I take, because eventhough it's still crazy
expensive, it's less expensivethan the other two.
So that's kind of my like doeverything everywhere camera.
So when I pop here forstreaming so even though I'm
bumping it down to only 1080right now there's the a7 IV.

(43:21):
I haven't had any overheatingissues with it either.
And then the other fun tidbit isHeather was able to get the.
It's actually a friend gave usthe Sony ZV-E1 for her, so she
has.
So that's what she's using now.
She made the Sony switch,switched to 4K last summer.

(43:41):
She's using the E1, which isbasically like the sensor of the
FX3, if I'm not mistaken, butin a smaller, compact body, and
that's been absolutely amazingbecause she was using the 6D
Mark II, which the thing aboutthis, when you're using it for
streaming and stuff, is it ithas video autofocus, but it
doesn't have clean HDMI out Ifyou have autofocus turned on

(44:02):
while HDMI is running out on the6D Mark II, it keeps the box
over your face so you can getrid of all the display
information, but it will keepthe focus box over your face.
So the only way to get rid ofthat is to flip it into manual
focus.
So for all of those years,heather was using manual focus,
which she didn't mind, becausethen the focus wasn't hunting or
anything, but it was, like youknow, she couldn't hold

(44:23):
something up to the camera andhave it focus on it.
She couldn't move too farforward or backward.
So, um, when she decided shedid want to go to 4k and we were
going to get the zbe 10 that'swhy, like, I borrowed one from
sony, or I borrowed one fromsony of the mark 2 and then the
original from bnh, so that Icould like try out those cameras
, because we're going to get onefor heather's studio so she

(44:44):
could have 4k and she could haveautofocus.
And then we just ended up beinggiven gifted a, an e1, which
was just amazing it's nice tohave nice friends um, and then
it was, like you know, you gotfull frame 4k with autofocus and
it's such a phenomenal camera.
There we go.
So that is my camera journey,the thing that the reason I want

(45:07):
to share that is because it'sfun for me to go down memory
lane.
You might have skipped theplayback, that whole thing, I
don't know, but I did want tolook at the dates and this is
what was sort of interesting,because you kind of notice, you
know, I get my first camera 2007, then the T2i in 2010.
So that's three years.
I have that camera for threeyears, I have that 60D for two

(45:27):
years, I have the 6D for twoyears, the Mark II for two years
, the EOS R for two years andnow we're going on four years
with the Sonys.
Like you know that I got themthroughout the course of like an
eight month period from May of2021 to January of 2022 is when

(45:49):
I like, assembled them and madethat full shift over to Sony.
But in my mind it's kind oflike they're all older than the
time I got them.
So you know, I think the a7 IVcame out in 2021.
And the S3 and FX3 came out in2020.
So these are five year old, fourfive year old camera models
that I've had for four years,coming up on four years, and

(46:11):
that's the longest I've gonewithout getting new cameras or
needing new cameras, and I havezero interest in getting a new
camera, other than like thecuriosity sake, like cameras are
fun and I want to play with newcameras, but like in terms of
feeling those limitations right,like, whatever it is, I need
autofocus, I need to flip outscreen, I need 4K, I need better
autofocus, I need better bitdepth, whatever.

(46:33):
Those limitations aren't there,there's, there's, I feel, held
back in no way by any of mycameras.
So, other than just like,because I want to or something,
there would be no reason to geta new camera and I think that
kind of makes the point.
Going all the way back tobelieve it or not, the topic
that is related to this camera,youtube, going back from a time

(46:54):
where things are changing allthe time and it's very exciting
to like, literally, you know, Iknow, whenever Sony releases
like an FX3 Mark II or an A7 Vor whatever, they're going to be
better than the cameras I have,and I'm sure when I see how
they're better, I'm like, oh,that makes sense, that's pretty
cool, there's probably gonna besomething I want about that, but
there's, there's not going tobe anything where it's like oh

(47:19):
my god, finally, I can't, Ihonestly can't imagine there
being that.
Just because of where we're atwith technology and so
everything, there's kind of thatplateau and everything has
matured a little bit.
You see, with everything.
See with iPhones, right Like.
See with iPods, remember, likethe first iPod was this little
green LCD screen.
It's like you can put athousand songs in your pocket
and then every year it's likenow you can have more songs, now
it's got a touch wheel, nowit's got a color display, now it

(47:41):
can play videos, now it has acamera, now it's basically a
smartphone Also.
Smartphones exist and you seethose iterate.
But now you know phones for thepast, you know, six, seven
years have basically been theexact same same glass rectangles
, you know, with slightlydifferent camera specs.
Things mature and then there'syou can't keep innovating at
that pace forever, which is fine, there's nothing wrong with

(48:02):
that, you know.
In a way that's a good thing.
But it kind of makes the pointto me about, like we're talking
about camera, youtube and we goback to, you know, like those
new periods of like, oh my gosh,this technology is becoming
more accessible, there's newversions of it coming out,
everybody's kind of graspingonto it to like it's been, it's
sort of been around for a whileand, yeah, like what does that

(48:24):
mean?
It makes me go back to thinkabout, like wait, why did I even
start watching camera YouTubein the first place?
I personally because I can onlyspeak for myself did not start
watching camera YouTube to keepup with, like, new releases.
If a new camera came out, yeahfor sure, I would like to check
out and see if someone got oneand what they think about it.

(48:45):
But that was like such a smallpart of why I started watching
it.
I started watching it to learn.
I started watching it to betterunderstand how to use these
things, how to film with them.
You know, and especially if youremember those early
experimental things, there was alot of like you know, here's
how you make a homemade shoulderrig out of PVC pipe.
Here's how you could use acamera slider.
Here's how to connect amicrophone to your camera and a

(49:08):
lot of that.
What I kind of liken it to islike maybe learning an
instrument, right, like you wantto learn to play the guitar.
So you get a guitar and you goon YouTube and you search up
like how to play one of yourfavorite songs.
There's a very good chance thatthe person you watch is going
to have a different guitar thanyou have.
And if you're a beginner player, maybe you just got like the
cheapest low-end thing that thestore had.

(49:30):
And if they've been playing along time and they're teaching
guitar and stuff online, theymight have many guitars and they
might have custom guitars andsuper high-end things.
So they're not using the exactsame thing you're using, but it
doesn't really matter, becausethe way that they're teaching
you how to play the song is thesame.
A lot of the technique stuffthat they're sharing is the same
.
So it doesn't matter thatthey're running through amazing

(49:51):
amps and pedals and all thisstuff and you're running through
like the whatever the cheapestamp that came with your guitar
is like.
When they say, like, make sureyou know to keep your thumb
position on the back of the neckand try to avoid having it roll
over if you can't like.
That applies to what it's somuch more about, about the craft
rather than the specifics.
You could dig into thespecifics if you want.

(50:11):
If you wanted to know, like,hey, how do I, you know, set up
this specific guitar, you couldmaybe dive into figuring out
your specific guitar.
If you wanted to learn moreabout pickups, maybe you wanted
to change them out and youwanted to get real specific
about different types of pickupsto put in your guitar.
You go down those things, butit was like it was.
There was this really nicebalance of gear versus craft and

(50:33):
you know, you would see, likethis is how to do something,
this is what you can do with it,and then sort of more specific,
more specific things, and Ithink that I think that was a
really cool thing.
Like gear versus craft, youmight want the higher end thing,
like I would watch film rightand want the 5d Mark two that
they were using in a lot ofvideos, but I knew I could do a
lot of what I was seeing with myT2i and it would be totally

(50:55):
fine.
And it's funny because onYouTube there's a thing where
people always say like, oh yes,it's not about the gear, it's
about what you do with it.
I think that's kind of dumb.
Like I understand the sentimentbehind it, but I like I have a
whole episode which and I'vetalked about this a couple times

(51:16):
of gear doesn't not matter.
There is a certain point like,yes, if you're talking about if
you have the a7s3 and someoneelse has the fx3.
There are differences betweenthose cameras.
You're not going to be heldback one way or the other like,
you're going to be fine if youhave either one of those cameras
, and so that's where then wecould talk more about like the

(51:36):
technique and the craft.
But even that can still be like.
And there's a thing on YouTubewhere people go like I don't
want to see what you use, I wantto see what you make with it,
and it's like no, you don't.
Anybody who has posted like letme just post my short film, let
me post my experimental thing,let me do whatever, versus like

(51:58):
a review.
You can very easily see whatpeople want to see and don't
want to see.
People say they want to see Iwant to see what you do with the
gear, not the gear itself.
Absolutely, you do not.
People don't want to see that.
I think there's a good balance,though I don't think it has to
be one or the other, I thinkthen you flip to the other side,
which is a lot of where, likecamera YouTube has gone, and

(52:20):
especially in the case of thisplace we're in now, which is
like this tech plateau trying tocover every release, like when
someone's videos are just thenew releases of a thing.
Like there's this new model andthis new camera and this new
camera and that one and this oneand this lens and this.
It's like sometimes that's funbecause the stuff is relevant
and interesting and the person'sreally excited about it.

(52:41):
But a lot of people, it's likethey sort of get into a rhythm
where it feels like, oh, I justhave to cover the next new thing
, and when there's not a lot ofdifferentiation between older
things and newer things, that'sa lot less interesting.
And so that's where I feel likewhat's interesting is what can
you do with those things?
Not necessarily in terms of like, I just want to watch a bunch

(53:04):
of bad short films.
I was a digital media teacherfor over a decade.
I have seen enough bad shortfilms to last a lifetime.
I've made enough bad shortfilms to last a lifetime.
But but seeing different waysof using these things, how to
incorporate them like maybe howdifferent tools work with them,
how to like there's a lot youcan still learn.

(53:26):
That's gear related.
That doesn't just have to belike focus on a new piece or the
newest piece of gear and Ithink that I think you can find
that really good balance of gear, of gear versus craft, and
that's that's maybe where we'relike tech YouTube or not.
Tech YouTube, camera YouTube issort of stuck and so if we look
at the creator side of things,there is this thing with that

(53:47):
I've noticed on YouTube as it'sgrown, because this wasn't even
possible until the platform beenaround for a while.
But there are.
We are seeing like differentgenerations of creators, and I
don't just mean age, but I meanlike there is a difference
between someone who is startinga channel today versus someone
who's had a channel for fiveyears, versus someone who's been
on the chat chat form platformfor 10 years versus someone who

(54:09):
started, grew, did a thing andleft.
You know that's.
Creators start, they grow, theyevolve and they sometimes move
on.
And you can, you can sort ofsee, you can see people.
You can see lots of people who,in the era that I'm talking
about, where it's like, oh mygosh, just trying to get a DSLR
to get, you know, put my primelens on there and get some, you

(54:30):
know, blurry footage ofChristmas lights in the
background all the way up to,you know, if you go to like a
lot of the camera, youtube, likeheavy hitting channels, the
main names that you think of inthat space, a lot of them now
it's like you're using what seemto be full on cinema rigs.
You're doing huge like it's.
It's a very different level,not just in terms of what you're

(54:51):
able to do, what you know howto do because they built their
skills and their knowledge upover the years, but also of
accessibility.
You know that you're using alot of gear, that a lot of
people, the fact that, like Ihave seen in the past couple
years, six to $9,000 cameras bereleased, you know, like big
cinema cameras and peopleseriously considering like the

(55:11):
number of people are like Ishould probably get that camera.
Now, there's nothing wrong Ifyou've got the budget for it and
you want it.
I say absolutely go for it.
But to me it's like I'm at thepoint where when a $6,000 camera
comes out, I go that's a coolcamera, like maybe I'll see it
in a showroom one day that Icould try it.
It doesn't even cross my mindthat there's a thing to buy and

(55:33):
that's.
You know, like obviouslyeverybody's financial situations
and things are different, butit's like there's nothing that
that's gonna bring other thanmaybe just fun of like, this is
a cool camera.
There's nothing that's going tobring to my capabilities that I
don't already have.
And I think you know you see alot of people who are like, okay

(55:56):
, the way that I make my videosis I have a $40,000 camera rig,
when all is said and done, withthe camera and the lenses and
the attachments and the monitorsand the this is and the that's
and it's like okay, and the onlyway we can do what you're doing
is to have what you have.
It's not, it's like okay, andthe only way we can do what
you're doing is to have what youhave.
It's not, it's like you know,here I'm going to teach you how
to like play guitar.
I've got this super custom shop, you know, $7,000 guitar.

(56:17):
For some reason you can onlymake this sound.
You can only play this song onthis guitar.
So if you just got your Squirefrom Guitar Center, click away
from this video.
You can't play this song.
So if you just got your Squierfrom Guitar Center, click away
from this video.
You can't play the song.
It's like that's kind of how itfeels and I feel like that
there's some pushback there.
I really really feel like a lotof camera YouTube has just lost
the plot.
Like, why are you doing this?

(56:38):
I see so many people talk aboutlike fatigue, of like trying to
meet embargo deadlines andrelease days and cover new stuff
and it's like do you want to dothat, like?
Do you do you want to do that?
I remember you know somethinglike I don't know.
I mean, there are differentproducts.
I was thinking camerasspecifically but you know there

(56:59):
are certain things that whenthey come out, it just makes
sense to be excited with.
Like when the Rodecaster Pro 2came out, it made sense.
If you know me and you know thevideos I make, it makes sense
that that's something I was veryexcited about.
So I did want to like get it assoon as possible.
I wanted to make videos aboutit as soon as possible.
It totally makes sense.
I don't have that with likeevery other podcast mixer that

(57:22):
comes out or that has come outsince then.
It's not like, oh, this othercompany made another podcast
mixer.
Let me like go out of my way toinstantly try to like cover it,
and I think that we went wetalked about this a while back
like covering things versus justsharing things.
A lot of, a lot of people haveshifted into the space of like
needing to cover things and Ifeel like that does lose the

(57:46):
plot a little bit.
You know there was a lot ofdrama recently.
That's kind of what sparked mythought of thinking of this
episode.
I've been following a bit ofstuff YouTube videos, you know,
threads online and posts andthings of whatever the newest
Lumix camera is.
I don't know the bottle numbers, but it's one of their more
flagship cameras came outrecently and there's been like
lots of sort of arguments anddiscussions about very niche

(58:08):
features and performancecapabilities of that camera that
probably don't really matter inthe long run.
And there's also been I've seencreators, you know, because
Lumix.
Lumix has this wonderful thingwhere they pay for very
extravagant trips for creators.
They provide cameras and lensesfor creators, whether they're
given to them or they're justlong-term loans, and then for

(58:32):
some reason, everyone wants todrive home the video's not
sponsored.
And I know I will, as someonewho walks that line of like just
because someone providessomething free does not mean the
video is sponsored.
When you were on trip numbertwo or three of going to a, you
know, a luxury trip to a luxurylocation multiple times in a row
, and then you're you'recranking out content that needs

(58:57):
to be released at a specifictime.
Maybe it's not sponsored, butit is heavily influenced by the
company that provides that.
There's just, it just is.
And I've seen people feel likealmost angry about that.
And then I've seen people angrythat their videos on this new
camera aren't doing well andit's like well, you went to the

(59:17):
same place with the same peopleand made the same video and
released it at the same timeabout the same thing, and you're
surprised that a bunch ofpeople aren't watching that.
Would you wanna watch that?
Would you wanna watch the thingthat you're surprised that a
bunch of people aren't watchingthat?
Would you want to watch that?
Would you want to watch thething that you made?
Probably not Like, and that'syou know, like.
I obviously have all kinds ofthoughts about situations like
that.
Not that they're inherently bad.

(59:38):
I think those kinds of events,those kinds of trips, those
kinds of experiences can begreat.
It depends on how they'rehandled, it depends on how
they're shared.
But it's like can be great.
It depends on how they'rehandled, depends on how they're
shared, but it's like we havegone from people being like look
, how awesome it is to make thisPVC shoulder mount.
You know, go to Home Depot, youget some glue and you get some
PVC pipe and now you can putyour camera on a shoulder mount,

(01:00:00):
get some weights on the back.
We've gone from that to likelike people being upset that the
trip they went on for a newcamera release didn't lead to as
viral of a video as they wanted.
And now other people like aniche feature of this great new
camera is like slightly lessgreat in some circumstances.

(01:00:21):
And it's like what are we?
That's what I mean when I saywe have lost the plot.
What are we doing?
Like?
What are we talking about?
And that so much of it goesfrom covering to sharing.
Like what is the differencewhen you feel the need to cover
something versus just sharingwhat you're interested in?
You know, like, and I feel likethat's where a lot of people get

(01:00:46):
mixed up and a lot of peoplealmost don't realize their own
evolution, personally andprofessionally as YouTube
creators.
You know if you've been doingthis for a number of years and
your skill sets and your accessto equipment and things this
applies to myself as well.
If those things change, yourperspective might change a
little bit from what it was whenyou started, but if you're not

(01:01:06):
willing to accept and adapt tothat change, it's going to be
kind of tricky there, and so Iguess, to bring all that back,
is camera YouTube dead, in myopinion?
This is all just my opinion.
I think what we knew isprobably dead.
The thing that if you were likeme and you were just kind of
addicted to camera YouTube backin, you know, anywhere from 2010

(01:01:27):
to say 2020, that whole decadeit's probably dead.
Things have changed.
Tech has changed.
Accessibility to that haschanged.
You know it used to be.
If you wanted footage thatlooked like that, you had to get
a DSLR.
You had to learn how to use aprime lens, you had to figure
that stuff out.
Now you can pop your phone intocinematic mode and be like 85%
there and everybody has that intheir pocket.

(01:01:47):
So, like things have changed, Ido think it's still possible to
bridge this, like this gap,though, between like covering
and sharing this plateau gearversus craft.
In a way, I almost think thisplateau, like this tech plateau,
where things aren't as excitingand crazy as they used to be,

(01:02:08):
could even be beneficial,because for people who feel the
pressure to cover things, itdoes open up more of that
dialogue for the skill and thecraft.
And for people like me and maybeyou who are interested in gear,
like you just like it, I likethe gear, I like the toys, I
like tinkering.
That stuff is half the fun forme.
You can still scratch that itcheven if, like a new

(01:02:30):
revolutionary thing isn't comingout every year or every couple
of months.
Like you can still find coolnew ways to put stuff together.
I do think I think Caleb Pikeat DSLR Video Shooter does a
great job with this.
Like he builds, like thesecrazy custom rigs.

(01:02:53):
He does like 3D printingprojects to make cameras more
expandable, more accessible,more unique and customizable.
You know there's stuff likethat that I think can be a ton
of fun and have a ton of benefitto people and be a great way to
grow and build your skill setas well.
But that's very different thanI mean it's different and it's
not like is that really anydifferent than building a PVC
shoulder mount from stuff athome depot?
Maybe it's like kind of goingback to why were you interested
in this stuff in the beginning.
What were you getting out of it?

(01:03:14):
And there's still like there'salways going to be new people
who want to know more about thisstuff.
There's always going to be newtools that come out.
There's always going to be newways to use it, different, like
and that's what's kind of coolis seeing how different people
use different things differently.
And then you can you can kindof piece that together versus

(01:03:34):
everybody, just like new thingcomes out, let's do the spec
sheet thing and let's just allread the spec sheets and make
the same video about it, likethat's yeah, no one wants to see
that anymore.
But if you go back to the rootsof what made it special and fun
in the beginning, I think thereare still parts of that and I
still think that's there.
And I don't necessarily thinkthat that means it's what we

(01:03:56):
knew is dead.
But what we liked about itpersists.
And I will persist to the nextsection, channel check-in.
We're talking about this, we'retalking about YouTube, we're
talking about creating let'stalk about channel check-in
stuff here Some fun things toshare.
So what I've been working onthe next video coming out.

(01:04:16):
I mentioned this last weekbecause I had just sort of
finished working on it.
But the next video that I willbe publishing is my review of
the MV7i.
Kind of a good example.
This is a microphone that cameout that I that I was like
interested in because I thoughtit was cool but had no plans to
make a video on.
It wasn't like I need to getthat pre-release and have that
release day video made orwhatever, but kind of interested

(01:04:42):
in it.
So when the opportunity came upfor me to for them to send one
out for me to check out, I waslike, yeah, sure, I will check
that out, sure, and I thendecided like this is pretty cool
.
Knowing who watches my channel,knowing what I'm interested in,
knowing what workflows are like, feels like a cool thing to
make a video about.
If you didn't listen to lastweek, you're unfamiliar with the
, with what the MV7i is.
It's basically a Shure MV7.
So it's a USB microphone.
It does have an XLR connectoron the back, but it's an XLR

(01:05:06):
input, not an output, so it'sbasically a microphone that's
also an interface, or aninterface that's also a
microphone, however you want tolook at it.
So you connect the MV7i to yourcomputer with USB and then you
can plug another microphone intothe back of your microphone and
now you have two mic.
It's a dual microphoneinterface.
It's pretty cool and you can gointo the Shure Motive Mix

(01:05:27):
application it has, I think ithas 65 decibels of gain.
It can run an SM7B with nobooster, but it also has phantom
power so you can run condensermics from your mic.
You can run boosters from yourmic if you need to.
It's pretty cool.
So the video kind of covers allof that.
I also put together, finishedediting a video this week called
audio is half a video, which Ithink is really fun, and I got

(01:05:52):
to incorporate some footage frommy Canon GL two into that and
that was pretty because I wantedto emphasize the point of
people will tend to stick withsomething that looks bad and
sounds good longer than theywill something that looks good
and sounds bad.
So the video starts with likefootage from the GL two, which
does not look great, but I'm onthe SM7B through the Rodecaster
so it sounds fantastic and it'slike it's fine.

(01:06:12):
And then I switched to the FX3,which looks amazing, but I'm
using the built-in microphone,which sounds terrible and it's
like the footage looks wrongbecause the sound is wrong.
So it's I wanted to go throughand, kind of like, really
exemplify my audio is half avideo thesis that I've always
had, and then and then I alsowanted to give some practical
tips, especially for people juststarting out who wanted to you

(01:06:32):
know, know ways to level up theaudio in their videos, because I
feel like the best way toinstantly improve the quality of
your videos is to improve thequality of your audio.
I talked about the YoloBoxUltra review.
Right before I made this podcast, I checked my email and there
was an email in there that saidYoloBox Ultra in 2025.
Hear what a top AV YouTubersays.

(01:06:53):
The entire newsletter was justabout my video, which is so
crazy, and I thought this wasreally cool.
Like one, I just think thatthis is neat, like this is one
of those, like I should sendthis to my mom and she'll be
proud of me, kind of things.
Finally, and I thought this waskind of a cool example, though,

(01:07:14):
of like a win-win-win brandpartnership, and when I say
win-win-win, it's I'm not justlike trying to sound like an
office reference, but a win forme, a win for the company and a
win for the viewer right, or theaudience, like those three
parties, if you can align those.
I think that's a really coolthing to do.
So the YoloBox Ultra like Imentioned, I've had the thing

(01:07:35):
for well over a year.
That was originally sent outunder the ethics statement
process.
So there's no there's obviouslyno obligation to make a video
because it had been a very longtime and I talked about on here.
I've used it, I like it.
I just didn't know how to likeframe it into a video.
I literally tried making othervideos about like simpler mixers
, almost as practice to figureout how to approach the YoloBox.

(01:07:57):
And then I did and it was greatand the video has been awesome
and it's been fun to see.
There was no pressure.
That was a video I wanted tomake about a thing that I
thought was cool.
And they saw the video and theywere like, hey, this is awesome
.
And they asked can we sharethis in a newsletter?
And they said we're not goingto download the video or
re-upload or anything.
We just want to share the linkto your channel, to your video,

(01:08:17):
which that's one of the thingsthat's in the ethics statement
as well is like I don't want myvideos put my channel and they
they're like, yeah, can we dothat?
I was like sure, I thought theywould do a newsletter where
it's like hey, also check out areview here.
I didn't think it would just bean email blast.
There's even a part that, likethey go, they highlight in the
email thumbnails from everychapter of the YouTube video.

(01:08:38):
It's cool.
But I feel like this is such agood example of that win, win
win that can happen when a branddoesn't try to control
everything Because they sent outthe thing like okay, we'll send
you the thing, share somefeedback on it, which I've done
even before making a video.
Like I'm always happy to sharefeedback on products, even if I
don't make videos on them, and alot of companies like that's

(01:09:00):
all they want because they thinkthat's helpful.
So they sent it out zeropressure.
So I'm not under any pressure,I just get to use this thing.
The more I use it, the more Idiscover it's almost like the
A7S III, where it's like, yeah,it's pretty good.
And then the more I use it, I'mlike, wow, now it's.
Now I kind of get it.
It's kind of the same thing,like, yeah, these features are
cool, it works neat.
But the more I use it, evenbetter.
And so by the time I made avideo on it, I felt a lot more

(01:09:26):
equipped to talk about it, andthe whole reason I even made the
video was because I wanted to,so I was not under any pressure.
I got to make the video Iwanted to make.
Nobody provided input on thevideo other than me.
So there we go I get to make acool video about a cool thing
that I'm excited about.
That's a win for me, for thecompany they get you know
there's no doubt that they'resending this out on an email

(01:09:47):
blast because it is a marketingbit of material, right, like
they feel that this can helpmarket it.
They didn't edit or cut out thevideo, so any of like my you
know, criticisms or whatever arestill in there.
It's still my regular video,but it's a win for them,
obviously, because they thinkthis is going to help promote
their product.
I guess all it cost them was afree product a year ago and I

(01:10:11):
think it's a win for theaudience because they're not
getting, you know, just an ad.
They're not getting amanufactured thing that I'm
under pressure to make, but it'salso now it's real specific.
The person who's already on theYoloBox mailing list is
probably gonna be a lot moreinterested in this than just a
random person, right?
So, like it's a useful video tothe audience, the audience gets
a useful video.

(01:10:32):
I get to make the video I want,the company gets to gets a cool
piece of marketing info and,like, everybody wins, that's.
I just think that's a goodexample of how brand and
creative partnerships can workto benefit everyone.
And, yeah, that's what I'mworking on.
Last segment of the day is thegear spotlight.
I was trying to figure out,like, what are some cool
underrated things that I almosttalked about a ladder that I

(01:10:55):
bought last week, but I might.
I might actually try to do.
That's not audio video related,but I'm just excited about this
ladder.
It's a gorilla ladder, so ifyou know, you know.
But this week my gear of theweek.
I really do want to share myexcitement for the Rode XLR
cables.
I love these things.
I've been using them I thinkRode's been making their own

(01:11:17):
cables, I don't know two, almosttwo years now.
I could be wrong about that.
These are great, like I had, Ilike them.
Obviously, the thing thatinitially caught my eye is they
come in bright colors.
They come in seven differentcolors, I think.
So obviously instantly.
I'm like cool Cause I was goingand you know getting six $7,
whatever no name brand blue XLRcables I could find on Amazon

(01:11:39):
and they were okay, except thatthey totally did like break from
time to time and they stoppedworking and it was just like I
couldn't trust them.
They'd be prone to interference.
So I got these.
I've had no problem with these.
I've used them a lot.
I you know I'm using one rightnow that's permanently wired
into this microphone here.
It's running through a ton ofelectronic equipment zero

(01:11:59):
interference there.
I've never had one of thesefail so far and I use them a lot
Like I wrap them up, move them,set them up, different setups,
like there's a reason I have alot of them.
So far I've never had one fail,which is very cool.
I think they're a good price.
You know they're not the $7cable that I got before, but I
knew that was crummy.
The MSRP is $35 for a threemeter cable and $46 for a six

(01:12:22):
meter cable.
So it's funny because you'relike it's so much less of four,
it's so much, it's not much moremoney for twice the cable.
Why won't you just always getthat?
If you're trying to wiresomething up, though, and you
end up with twice as much cableas you need.
It ends up kind of being ahassle like just for cable
management.
So I have a mix of both.
I have some of the $35 ones andsome of the $46 ones.

(01:12:45):
Rode has sent some.
I've bought a bunch Like I yeah, I love these cables, they're
great.
Now I do have now XLR cablesare interesting, and these ones
specifically.
They have Neutrik connectors,which is a good that's like kind
of the best kind of connectorsyou can get on an XLR cable, and
they are canary cables, so thecables themselves are high
quality and they are canarycables, so the cables themselves

(01:13:05):
are high quality, theconnectors themselves are high
quality.
But I do actually have a video.
If you are a channel member oreven if you're still on the
Patreon, I have a video withAlan from SoundSpeeds that I
uploaded several months ago,where he actually visited.
He was we're in this roomtogether in person and I was
asking about these cables, andhe takes one of these apart and

(01:13:26):
basically points out all thethings that are wrong with it
and the things he doesn't likeabout it.
Alan is a professional I meanhe's a professional sound guy
but his main job.
His main position is he's likea on-camera, like boom mic
operator, is probably notencompassing enough for
everything that he does, butchances are he's been doing that
since, like, I think, the 90s,at least, or no, I think, the

(01:13:53):
90s, if not the early 2000s.
Chances are, though.
If you've watched movies or TVshows, or any you've heard,
you've seen and heard somethingthat was boomed by Alan, I can
almost guarantee it over theyears.
So he's done like Marvel stuffand Netflix things and like big.
Yeah, he's pro, he knows whathe's talking about.
He even makes his own XLR cables, and he sent me one a while
back and I was like he makesthem by hand.

(01:14:14):
He gets a lot of these samecomponents, but higher end
versions of them, and when hesent me the cable he said I
thought this was just a hugeflex.
He was like don't use thiscable on mic reviews because
it's going to make the mic soundtoo good.
It's like I thought it was ajoke, but no, the cable is so
clear and it's like impossibleto the way.

(01:14:35):
He puts like a ferrite core inthere, like it cannot.
It cannot be messed with withinterference.
So basically, what it means islike you're going to hear, the
microphone sounds so clean thatthe average person, when they
get their microphone and theyplug it into a cable, it might
not actually sound especially ifthey're listening in like a
really nice pair of headphones.
And that's what your reviewsounds like and they get it.

(01:14:57):
They're going to have a hardtime making it sound the same
way.
So he's like, only use this onstuff that you just you're using
for the sound, not for reviewsand comparisons.
And it's true I've comparedthat cable and like things sound
better through it.
Um, but he makes those by handevery once in a while, so it's
like I can't recommend go getone from alan.
So I feel like these, which youcan get from anywhere bnh,

(01:15:19):
amazon road, directly, whatever,um, they're pretty good,
they're they're they'reaffordable and they're in cool
colors.
They do come in black.
You don't have to only get thebright colors.
If you want classic black cable, you can still do that.
Um.
There is another brand, though,called world's best cables,
which I think are actually someof the best cables.
I haven't used them, but I'vehad friends that use them or

(01:15:41):
that have tried them out, all ofwhom have been very impressed
with them, and they are roughlythe same price as the Rhodes.
I say roughly because, like youcan get for $30 or $35, you can
get a world's best XLR cable,but the length is different.
So, like the price per foot,price per meter of the cables,

(01:16:02):
the world's best are a littlemore expensive than the Rhodes,
but they're not totally off.
There's some, you know you canfind other boutique XLR cables
that can be over a hundreddollars or whatever, and you
know there's reasons andpurposes that someone would want
something like that and needsomething like that.
If you have that video, if youhave access to channel
membership stuff and you want tosee the video with Alan, it is
interesting how he explains.

(01:16:22):
You know what he doesdifferently and what he would do
differently if he's makingthese cables.
But I do like to look at thingsfrom a practical, everyday point
of view and as someone who'sbeen using these practically
every day for almost two yearsat this point I never had one
fail and I've only.
The only thing I've done isbought more of them because I
want more colors and more sizes.
And you know I love thesecables.

(01:16:43):
I replaced everything inHeather's office with them.
They are my favorite XLR cablesby far.
I think they're the perfect.
That's what Rode does reallywell Quality, price, reliability
.
The Venn diagram, like overlapsreally really well, even though
there are things out there thatare a little bit cheaper, maybe
not as good, things out therethat are higher quality but
maybe more expensive.
Maybe you don't, maybe youdon't really need need that as

(01:17:06):
much.
You know.
It all just kind of.
It all just kind of works.
So I love these cables.
That's going to be my gear ofthe week and that actually does
wrap it up this week.
We don't have much else to gothrough.
I really liked my cameratimeline, sorry.
I had a lot of fun putting thatslide together, so hopefully
you enjoyed that as well.
If you have any thoughts oranything you'd like to share,
you can email tom atenthusiasmprojectcom.

(01:17:28):
You can click the fan mail linkin the show notes if you're
listening to the audio version,or you could always leave a
voicemail by going to hi, myname is tomcom and leaving a
message for the podcast.
Or if you're watching this onYouTube, you can just leave a
comment as you do on YouTube.
My first YouTube comment everled to me meeting my wife, so
you never know what will happenwith the YouTube comment.

(01:17:49):
With all that in mind, I hopeyou have a safe, happy, healthy
rest of your week and I'll seeyou next time.

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