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I launched my YouTube channel in 2012 on a whim that I thought it might be nice to share full yoga classes or short snippets of a practice for people who didn’t have access to a studio. Now, nine years and 300,000 subscribers later, I am finally upgrading my equipment. Upgrading my equipment was one of my New Year’s Resolutions, as part of a bigger goal of improving the overall quality of my work.
Now that I am designing ongoing programs, including our Back Strength and Stability Program and our Intention Factor™ Fitness Program, I thought it was appropriate to finally order the equipment and start making some moves. (PS: Sign up if you’d like to be notified when registration opens up again for our Back Strength and Stability Program and the Intention Factor™ Fitness Program).
While I’ve been wanting to upgrade my equipment for a while, the biggest reason that I did it is because I started to loathe filming. It was such a process. My DSLR didn’t record continuously for longer than 29 minutes (more about that in a sec), so I’d have to pause in the middle of my teaching, walk over to the camera, hit stop, hit record again, walk back over, and get back into it. Then, inevitably, a battery would die in either my camera or my mic or the mic’s receiver, or the card would fill up and die, and it was honestly just the most annoying process. Dan has a theory that you should spend money on the things you do most frequently so that they are the least stressful parts of your day. He was like, ‘I really think if you had a beautiful set up where you could just walk right in, hit one button, and do your thing, you would be more apt to wanting to film. Right now you have to go in, set everything up, break it all down again once it’s done, and nothing is really that reliable. The lighting is a mess, the camera is annoying, we just need to make things more simple and streamlined so you do it with ease.’ That really rang true for me, so I decided to pull the trigger.
I got a number of DMs asking about the equipment I purchased, so I thought I’d share here.
First up, a new microphone, the AirLine 88x. I used to wear this Sennheiser lapel mic, but I found it to be bulky and frustrating because it wouldn’t stay in place when I was super active for working out or yoga. Also, it needed four batteries between the lapel and the receiver and inevitably one would die and I’d continue filming without knowing it, and then I’d realize at the end, and have to re-shoot the whole thing. I like that the AirLine 88x is wireless and it holds an 8 hour charge. It may take some time to get used to the headset, but it was easy enough to set up, and the sound quality is superb. It’s lightweight and I’ve jumped around wearing it and haven’t had an issue yet!
For lighting, I purchased a three pack of these GVM LED Lights. I like that you can do color correcting with them, so if your light is too warm in the room, you can make the LED lights cooler, and vice versa. I also like that the connect with one another so you can have one as the main light, and when you adjust that switch, the other two will change to match that main light’s setting. It’s super convenient.
I used to use my Canon DSLR 6D to shoot but it became beyond frustrating because it’ll only shoot continuously for 29 minutes before shutting off. This is to avoid being categorized as a camcorder and face higher import taxes. I’ve been told these taxes no longer apply, but that none of Canon’s newer DSLRs are designed to shoot continuously for too long because they’ll overheat, and they’re more of a camera, rather than a camcorder.
I ended up going with Canon’s XF400 UHD for the sheer sense of ease in recording. You can leave it plugged in while it records so there’s no chance of a battery dying (although I did get an extra battery pack in case I do want to take it out and about). It also holds not one but two memory cards so the chance of the card filling up and dying as I record is slim to none, hallelujah! The quality of the recording is unbelievable, and honestly, I thought the DSLR quality was great, but with ultra HD capabilities and 4k shooting, the shot is crystal clear. It also comes with a remote so if you’re solo, which I am about 99% of the time, it makes for super easy recording. It also autofocuses, so no more accidentally shooting out of focus. Further, it has a screen so you can see yourself without having to hook an HDMI cord up to a monitor. I couldn’t be happier!
I also got a heavy duty tripod stand. After literal years of my DSLR stand being sort of broken (it would click to lock in and one side of the stand would always droop down), I am thrilled to have purchased the Magnus VT4000 Tripod System. This thing is heavy duty, and no joke. I absolutely love it.
I’m really looking forward to filming more regularly now!