Dear Camera Review Bros, STOP Vlogging From the Forest 🌲
For the love of god, STOP doing the "vlog test" from the forest.
Stop going into the forest for the "vlog test" after you spend 80% of your review video talking about the camera or mic you're reviewing into your $5000 Sony A7S setup with some big expensive lens and $1000 mic
Also, just stop going into the forest.
Who the fuck vlogs from a forest? NO ONE.
People who vlog do stuff. As such, we want to see how a potential vlog camera performs in real-life situations:
How does it sound with ambient noise around? You know, like other human beings. Cars, wind noise etc.
Is the audio good natively on the camera?
Is the camera lightweight, reliable, durable and easy to use?
Does it have a wide angle as people who vlog don't care about having a "cinematic" blurry background.
We're vlogging, not making a movie. We need a wide lens to make interesting and engaging videos.
Is the color science good right out of the camera? What does the 4k look like?
How about battery life?
Is the stabilization acceptable? No we're not going to mount a vlog camera on some complicated gimbal or oversized tripod. That defeats the point of having a small light camera.
It's just so annoying to have camera review bros who don't vlog, give vlogging advice. It would be like having me, a guy who vlogs with a Sony X3000 review the Sony A7S.
Matti Haapoja
Matti has gotten better at reviewing, but he still has this annoying tendency to talk too much about the camera he is reviewing into his expensive full frame setup instead of actually using what the camera he is reviewing.
When he does show the camera, it's always a short clip of him skateboarding or something stupid while doing a voice over.
For once, can he make the whole entire video using the camera he's talking about?
Put down the A7S Matti and step away slowly...
If you're reviewing the GoPro Matti, actually use the GoPro to make the video.
Air Photography
Another forest vlogger.
I appreciate him using the camera he's talking about and he does an excellent job at showing what the camera is like, but still, he's in a forest.
No one vlogs from a forest.
Not you.
Not me.
His channel is excellent and quite helpful. Just come out of the forest and join society.
Everyday Dad
Again, the forest. 🤦
Come out of the forest and go to a place that has people.
The Everyday Dad is one of my favorite review channels, particularly for laptops, but for vlogging cameras, Gary absolutely does not get it.
His vlog camera review videos are always him reading offs of a bunch of specs and then wandering around the woods alone for a hot minute for the "vlog test."
51 Drones
More like "finally stupid and overly complicated."
🚨 Forest vlogger alert 🚨
A drone channel making a review of a vlogging camera.
The point of a vlogging camera is to use something that is small, light, and easy to get the shot. No one who vlogs wants to use a complicated, bulky setup unless you're using using a professional camera and are making a high level video.
Attaching the Osmo Pocket to an iPhone and then using a wireless mic to top it all off makes no sense.
The iPhone is a great camera all by itself, so it the Osmo Pocket.
Pick one of these cameras and yes, get a wireless mic for those situations where it's going to be noisy.
Not this stupid, jumbled mess. Can you imagine walking around with this goofy setup as a vlogger?
I can't, unless I was in the forest.
Justin Reves
Yet another forest vlogger.
Great, next time I'm wandering around an empty park in Canada by myself in the middle of winter, I know what camera to get.
Justin says the SL2 (Canon 200D) is an excellent vlogging camera.
Except for one thing, the SL2 has NO stabilization.
As someone who had the SL2 and used it to try and make vlogs with, I can say it was one of the worst choices for vlogging.
Justin would know that if he actually created YouTube vlogs
But since he doesn't, he just assumes a big camera with a large fluffy microphone, flip out screen and a tripod is the ideal choice for on-the-go vloggers.
Below is my original comment from a few hears ago. Props to Justin for not deleting it.
I'm pretty opinionated on vlogging because as a then newbie I wasted a lot of money buying gear that I ultimately found unhelpful for creating vlog content:
I'm harsh and I don't care. This is bad advice for anyone looking to vlog because that's who the SL2 appeals to, total beginners.
Not film makers and people who already know what they are doing.
The 50mm on a crop sensor lens is equivalent to an 80mm on a full frame. I still stand by this comment, total waste of money.
Vlogging with an 80mm lens? That's just so dumb.
Vloggers want wide Justin. Not an 80mm lens to show their big head while in a park in Canada.
80mm is great if I'm trying to take a picture of a bird, a plane or superman in the sky, not really helpful if I'm trying to record myself though.
50mm on a full frame by the way is great for pictures, but were not taking pictures, nor are we using a full frame camera.
We are vlogging.
80mm lens equivalent for capturing b-roll is just dumb.
Stop going into the forest for the vlog test
In short, please stop doing "vlogging tests" from the forest.
A little bit of forest action is fine if that's where you live.
But vloggers, actual vloggers who do stuff; want an easy to use camera with a wide lens, high frame rate, great audio, and can get the shot quickly, all in an easy to use form factor.
That's why the Osmo Action, Pocket, GoPro, and Sony X3000 are such popular choices.
So when making a vlogging test for a camera, do it somewhere other than alone in the woods please.
Edge of David