In this video, Caleb Pike from DSLR Video Shooter looks at how you can make a simple relatively inexpensive youtube self-shooting setup that is very easy and versatile to use.
So if you are making any type of tutorial videos where you need to shoot yourself next to your computer on a regular basis, this type of fixed setup is great (you can do something more portable with a rolling stand and a few different parts as well).
The basic idea here is to use a VESA arm (typically used for holding computer monitors or TVs, connect it to your desk and instead of that monitor attach the different camera, sound, and lights onto it in a way which will be easy to put and remove as well as to control).
If you already have a camera – you can, of course, use it – Pike suggests the A6400 with its tilt-up display and good AF tracking or the Canon M50. As for a lens – you can go with the great Sigma 16mm lens (or the Canon EF-M version) which we have tested and love for some nice wide shots.
Next, we look at the main component – the arm. Pike picked the “WALI Extra Tall Single LCD Monitor Fully Adjustable Desk Mount” which is relatively affordable. You will need two other Wali arms that go with it – the WALI Single Fully Adjustable Arm for audio and the WALI Universal Single Fully Adjustable 3 Tier Arm for lighting.
You will need to do a little bit of DIY with this one so you will need 1/4″ 20 and 3/8″ 16 screws (Pike explains in the video exactly what you need to do). As well as a Tripod Mount Monopod Extension Rod,  And of course, a ballhead unless you have one.
For the mic you might need an arm – like this cheap one for example (there are much better ones of course) and the mic itself – the tiny Rode VideoMicro (if you can afford a better one – go for it) and don’t forget a 3.5mm cable and ballhead for the mic.
Finally, you have lighting. Here you can do all sorts of things – there are some interesting flexible mat lights as well as relatively small soft lights here that you can use – it really depends on the space and budget that you have.
Bonus – if you are doing long recordings you might want to have a camera dummy battery so you can power your camera for much longer (Pike used this inexpensive 3’rd party one – the original Sony version that we use is great but it is very expensive).
Bonus II – if you want to capture everything the camera sees on your computer you can get a capture card like this one and use free software like OBS to record.
You can check out more of the videos from our photography gear guides section here on LensVid.
Iddo Genuth 
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