So I think a lot of people might be
turned away from making videos because they feel that they don't have good
enough gear to make high quality videos. People always ask me what camera I used to film but they don't seem to realize that they probably have a great camera
right in their pockets with their smartphones, and even if they don't,
believe it or not there are some decent options out there available for less
than $100. So in this video, I will compare my camera which, with the lens
and adapter, cost about $1,700 to four other cameras, going all the way down to
just $8. Okay, so here we have the first competitor. The cheapest camera
we have is the Kodak Zi6 pocket camera that came out in 2008.
Yes, that means
this camera is over ten years old, and I recently picked this up on ebay for just
$8. Now I have a sweet spot in my heart for this camera because it was
the first video camera I ever owned and I actually filmed my first YouTube
videos on my old channel with this camera.
Hey YouTube today I'm gonna be showing you my top ten favorite Android games…
Don't ask me how this got over 200,000 views. The Zi6 shoots video in 720p at up
to 60 frames per second, pretty outdated by today's standards, but hey, you're
getting HD videos for less than $10.
You'll see one switch on the left side
that enables macro mode which is surprisingly really impressive, but other
than that, you don't have any settings to adjust, but you do have one of the
coolest features that I really think should make a comeback to all modern
cameras. Next up, the Canon ELPH 300 HS. This was a very
popular pocket camera when it came out in 2011 and you can pick one up used on
eBay for about $50. I'm a huge fan of this camera. It's small, it's well built,
all aluminum, and the video quality out of it is very impressive. The wide-angle
lens, along with its pretty solid auto focus,
makes it great for any vloggers looking for a cheap camera. It shoots in 1080p at
30 frames per second, it has a 5x optical zoom, and you even get a little
bit of manual settings to work with. This is probably
the best bang for your buck as far as budget cameras go.
And then we have the
camera that I think most people already have: the smartphone camera. I know I'm a
tech reviewer and all but I'm still rocking the iPhone 7 that came out three
years ago. I tried the iPhone 10 when it came out, I didn't like it, and went back
to the 7 but that's besides the point. The point is that most recent
smartphones that came out in the last 3 to 5 years have pretty decent video
cameras packed in. You can buy a used iPhone 7 from Swappa for less than $200,
heck, even an iPhone 6s for around a hundred bucks, and both of those will get
you 4K video quality. Not to mention that this is probably the best slow motion
camera, period, you'll find for this price, shooting 1080p at 120 frames per second
and 720p at 240 frames per second. I'm not a huge fan of the colors, it tends to
be a little contrasty and slightly oversaturated, and you can't really
adjust the settings too well, I almost actually prefer the ELPH 300 HS, but it's
the camera most people already have, and it's not even predominantly meant to be
a camera in the first place, so I'm not complaining.
Coming in at about $500, we
have the Canon G7X Mark II, one of the most popular vlogging cameras of all
time. I kinda consider this thing a DSLR packed into a pocket camera body,
it's really that good. It shoots 1080p at up to 60 frames per second, it has a 4.2x optical zoom and a flip-up display, I mean what more can you
really ask for. It basically has the same menu as what you would get with Canon's
full-size DSLRs, something like the Canon 80D, so you get full manual controls and
are really able to get your shots just how you want them. Honestly if it was
my choice between this and the Canon 80D, I'd probably go with this because
it's about 95 percent as good quality, but you get that pocket-sized form
factor, too. And then we have the Sony a6400, and in this test, I'm using
it with my Sigma MC-11 adapter and my Sigma 18- 35 F1.8 lens. I consider this to be one of the best mid-range 4K cameras out there.
It
has incredible autofocus, a nice small form-factor, and tons of settings and
controls to mess with, perfect for more professional filmmakers. It does have its
downsides, the non flip out display is really annoying, the battery life isn't
all that great, and the menu system can be a little wacky and confusing, but
actual video quality wise, it would be hard to find a better camera body for
$900. So which one do you think is the best
value on this list? Personally, the one that impresses me the most is the 8-year
old ELPH 300 HS.
I mean, for $50, this is one awesome camera, but I think it's also
important not to overlook the power of the smartphone camera. Hopefully this
video allowed you to see that there are plenty of solid options no matter what
your budget is and you don't need to spend nearly $2000 or even
$200 to get high quality video. Hope you all enjoyed, all these cameras I talked
about will have links in the description below, so make sure to check
those out if you're interested. If you like this video make sure to leave a
thumbs up down below, I'd really appreciate it, and I'll catch you guys in
my next video..