Top cameras for vlogger 2021 | Articles | Photo, video, optics

The best vlog­ging cams are designed with new con­tent cre­ation trends in mind. They are designed for cre­ative peo­ple who need to quick­ly and eas­i­ly cap­ture a vari­ety of sub­jects in a vari­ety of con­di­tions. How­ev­er, vlog­gers range from thrill-seek­ers to trav­el­ers to more tra­di­tion­al film­mak­ers.

For most, a vlog­ging cam­era is a portable mir­ror­less cam­era with good video record­ing specs, but the range of video con­tent peo­ple want to cre­ate is expand­ing at break­neck speed, so this list includes a wide vari­ety of cam­era types.

What to look for when choosing a camera for vlogging?

1) Micro­phone port
The abil­i­ty to con­nect a micro­phone to your cam­era will great­ly improve the sound qual­i­ty of your con­tent. Sound is one way of being per­ceived, so good sound is anoth­er way to make your videos more suc­cess­ful.

2) Mov­able screen
Such a screen can be deployed so that you can see your­self dur­ing the shoot­ing process and track the focus and image. For pho­tog­ra­phers, this may seem unim­por­tant, but for vlog­gers it is very use­ful.

3) Track­ing aut­o­fo­cus sys­tem
This is a huge advan­tage if you are film­ing your­self in motion. Pay atten­tion to the Face and Eye AF fea­ture as the con­trast AF tends to get off at times.

4) 4K video
Is 4K impor­tant? You can live with­out it, many vlog­gers record video in 1080p (Full­HD), but in the future 4K will become the norm.

5) Excel­lent pho­to qual­i­ty
Most vlog­gers will want to shoot all types of con­tent – ​​not just videos. And who wants to car­ry two cam­eras with them when you can com­bine two func­tions in one? After all, you need a decent cam­era to at least take pre­views.

MIRRORLESS CAMERAS

If you want to get seri­ous about vlog­ging, a mir­ror­less cam­era is the way to go: more pow­er­ful video fea­tures and the ver­sa­til­i­ty of inter­change­able lens­es give you the abil­i­ty to change focal length, as well as full con­trol over cre­ative aspects such as depth of field.

We don’t for­get DSLRs like the Canon EOS Rebel SL3 or Canon EOS 250D, but at the moment mir­ror­less cam­eras are def­i­nite­ly in the lead when it comes to vlog­ging.

1 Fujifilm X‑S10

The best in every respect — both in video and pho­tog­ra­phy.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type of: mir­ror­less
Sen­sor: APS‑C
Matrix res­o­lu­tion, Mpix: 26.1
Lens mount: Fuji­film X
Screen: 3‑inch, touch, swiv­el
Viewfind­er: elec­tron­ic
Max. video frame rate, frames per sec­ond: thir­ty
Max. video res­o­lu­tion: 4K
User lev­el: average/expert

The Fuji­film X‑S10 does­n’t have the exter­nal expo­sure con­trols of the high­er-end X‑series cam­eras, but it’s clear this isn’t a hob­by­ist cam­era: the build qual­i­ty and con­trols are imme­di­ate­ly notice­able. Switch­ing to a con­ven­tion­al mode dial might be a dis­ap­point­ment to Fuji­film fans, but the design, build qual­i­ty and han­dling, and IBIS (in-body sta­bi­liza­tion) built into the body make this a very attrac­tive cam­era, espe­cial­ly at this price point.

So it’s a great com­bi­na­tion of per­for­mance, qual­i­ty and val­ue in the APS‑C mir­ror­less mar­ket today. In addi­tion, the vari-angle screen with in-body sta­bi­liza­tion and 4K video makes this cam­era a great cam­era for vlog­ging.

BENEFITS
+ Small size and excel­lent build qual­i­ty
+ Vari-angle touch screen
+ Image sta­bi­liza­tion

MINUSES
- Not the cheap­est

PRICE: 80 990 rubles.

2. Sony A6400

Great option for vlog­gers.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type of: mir­ror­less
Sen­sor: APS-CM
Matrix res­o­lu­tion, Mpix: 24.2
Lens mount: Sony E
Screen: 3‑inch, touch, swiv­el
Viewfind­er: elec­tron­ic
Max. video frame rate, frames per sec­ond: 120
Max. video res­o­lu­tion: 4K

The rise of blogs, vlogs and Insta­gram has brought video shoot­ing to the fore, and the A6400’s front screen is ide­al for those who shoot video with one hand and speak direct­ly into the cam­era. Bonus — the cam­era takes great pho­tos.

We could have opt­ed for the A6100 or the new­er A6600, but the A6400 still hits the sweet spot between con­ve­nience, val­ue and qual­i­ty. As well as 4K video, a state-of-the-art aut­o­fo­cus sys­tem, and espe­cial­ly Eye-AF per­for­mance, that’s why we rec­om­mend this option for vlog­ging.

BENEFITS
+ Image qual­i­ty and res­o­lu­tion
+ 4K video per­for­mance
+ Smart aut­o­fo­cus

MINUSES
- Design seems dat­ed
- The screen is not vari-angle

PRICE: 86 190 rubles.

3. Sony A7C

The A7C has an excel­lent aut­o­fo­cus sys­tem.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type of: mir­ror­less
Sen­sor: full frame
Matrix res­o­lu­tion, Mpix: 24.2
Lens: Sony e‑mount
Screen: 3‑inch, touch, mov­able
Viewfind­er: elec­tron­ic
Max. video frame rate, frames per sec­ond: thir­ty
Max. video res­o­lu­tion: 4K
User lev­el: enthu­si­ast

The Sony A7C may not have out­stand­ing spec­i­fi­ca­tions. But in prac­tice, shoot­ing video with this cam­era is con­ve­nient. The A7C is equipped with a mov­able flip screen and an excel­lent aut­o­fo­cus sys­tem.

With the new 28–60mm lens, the cam­era has become more com­pact. It’s very well-suit­ed for vlog­ging, and Sony’s time-hon­ored aut­o­fo­cus con­tin­ues to lead the way, espe­cial­ly when shoot­ing video on the move.

BENEFITS
+ small body
+ Retractable lens
+ Flip-down mov­able screen

MINUSES
- Video spec­i­fi­ca­tions
- Design
- Price

PRICE: 147 990 rubles.

4. Olympus OM‑D E‑M5 Mark III

4K video, flip screen and excel­lent sta­bi­liza­tion — per­fect for vlog­ging.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type of: mir­ror­less
Sen­sor: Micro Four Thirds
Matrix res­o­lu­tion, Mpix: 20.4
Lens mount: Micro Four Thirds
Screen type: 3‑inch, touch, tilt
Max. video frame rate, frames per sec­ond: 60
Max. video res­o­lu­tion: 4K
User lev­el: enthu­si­ast

The cam­era does­n’t have the abil­i­ty to record 4K 60p video, but 4K 30p is enough for most vlog­gers. In addi­tion, Olym­pus wins in aut­o­fo­cus, which works with phase detec­tion on the sen­sor. And also the cam­era offers high qual­i­ty pho­tog­ra­phy.

The E‑M5 Mark III deliv­ers crisp, high-qual­i­ty 4K video with sol­id image sta­bi­liza­tion and aut­o­fo­cus that won’t let you down.

BENEFITS
+ Robust in-body image sta­bi­liza­tion
+ Excel­lent phase detec­tion aut­o­fo­cus

MINUSES
- No head­phone jack
- No 4K 60p option

PRICE: 74 990 rubles.

5. Canon EOS M50 Mark II

Light­weight and ver­sa­tile.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type of: com­pact CSCs
Sen­sor: APS‑C
Matrix res­o­lu­tion, Mpix: 24.1
Screen: 3.0‑inch, touch, mov­able
Viewfind­er: OLED viewfind­er
Lens: Canon EF‑M
Max. video frame rate, frames per sec­ond: 120
Max. video res­o­lu­tion: 4K
User lev­el: elementary/intermediate

The Canon EOS M50 Mark II is an excel­lent hybrid mir­ror­less cam­era that excels in both stills and video.

An impor­tant fea­ture is excel­lent dual pix­el aut­o­fo­cus at 1080p res­o­lu­tion.

Shoot­ing in 4K is heav­i­ly cropped, so we can’t rec­om­mend this cam­era if you’re going to shoot 4K video.

The M50 Mark II fea­ture is an ide­al val­ue for mon­ey. It’s an afford­able, pow­er­ful, com­pact and easy-to-use cam­era that’s ide­al for trav­el and every­day pho­tog­ra­phy, as well as all kinds of con­tent cre­ation.

BENEFITS
+ Ful­ly rotat­able touch­screen
+ Light­weight and portable
+ Superb 1080p Dual Pix­el AF

MINUSES
- No Dual Pix­el AF = ques­tion­able focus in 4K
- Sig­nif­i­cant crop­ping in 4K

PRICE: 52 890 rubles.

COMPACT AND ACTION CAMERAS

We rec­om­mend get­ting a mir­ror­less cam­era if you plan on vlog­ging. But there are a cou­ple of com­pact cam­eras that you might like because of their size, front cam­era, and video capa­bil­i­ties. On top of that, there are some amaz­ing action cams that will help take your vlog­ging in a whole new direc­tion.

1. Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III

The flip-out screen, decent 1‑inch sen­sor, and com­pact body make it ide­al for vlog­gers.

SPECIFICATIONS
Type of: com­pact
Sen­sor: 1 inch
Lens: 24–100mm, f/1.8–2.8
Screen: 3‑inch, tilt, touch
Max. video frame rate, frames per sec­ond: 120
Max. video res­o­lu­tion: 4K
Micro­phone port: Yes
User lev­el: ele­men­tary

When the Canon Pow­er­Shot G7 X Mark II became pop­u­lar among vlog­gers, Canon decid­ed to intro­duce the Mark III, a com­pact ver­sion.

It has the abil­i­ty to record 4K video with­out crop­ping, a port for an exter­nal micro­phone, and the abil­i­ty to live stream to YouTube.

It’s also pos­si­ble to extract high-qual­i­ty footage from 4K footage (use­ful for thumb­nails), and the excel­lent aut­o­fo­cus sys­tem works well with a 24–100mm, f/2.8–1.8 lens and a 1″ CMOS sen­sor mount­ed to pro­duce great qual­i­ty video. .

The cam­era even allows you to shoot ver­ti­cal video, which is very con­ve­nient for edit­ing on your phone and work­ing on Insta­gram.

BENEFITS
+ 4K video with­out crop­ping
+ Broad­cast on YouTube
+ Ver­ti­cal shoot­ing

PRICE: 53 990 rubles.

2. DJI Pocket 2

Both the cam­era and the sta­bi­liz­er are two in one! And fits in your pock­et.

SPECIFICATIONS
Sen­sor: 1/1.7″ CMOS
Lens: 20mm f/1.8
ISO range: 100‑6400
Video: 4K UHD up to 60fps
Sta­bi­liza­tion: 3‑axis
Stor­age: microSD
Dimen­sions: 124.7×38.1×30mm
The weight: 117 g

If you’re look­ing for a best-in-class instru­ment when it comes to the com­bi­na­tion of sharp images and com­pact size, noth­ing beats the DJI Pock­et 2.

Good exter­nal sound and ultra-wide-angle lens. Noise can­cel­la­tion is the Pock­et 2’s weak­est point, but the con­ve­nience, ver­sa­til­i­ty, and sta­bi­liza­tion it offers can’t be over­stat­ed.

BENEFITS
+ Best-in-class sta­bi­liza­tion
+ Ide­al for vlog­gers
+ Clear video

MINUSES
- Heats up when shoot­ing 4K

PRICE: 32 900 rubles.

3. Insta360 One X2

A smart and end­less­ly cre­ative cam­era.

SPECIFICATIONS
The weight: 149 g
Dimen­sions: 462 x 113 x 29.8mm
Water­proof: 10 m
Frame res­o­lu­tion: 18.5 MP
Video res­o­lu­tion: 5.7K
Mem­o­ry: microSD
Fas­ten­ing: tri­pod sock­et
Bat­tery oper­a­tion: 80 min­utes

Using 360-degree cam­eras is real­ly tricky. It takes some effort, but the One X2 is an impres­sive action cam­era that uses 360-degree lens­es.

One X2 con­sis­tent­ly deliv­ers great videos and pho­tos. You def­i­nite­ly need to try this cam­era if you want some­thing new!

BENEFITS
+ Cre­ates cool dynam­ic clips
+ Infi­nite cre­ativ­i­ty, easy AI edit­ing
+ Excel­lent col­or repro­duc­tion and detail
+ Steady­Cam and Mul­ti­View modes

MINUSES
- Lat­est phones required
- Edit­ing takes time

PRICE: 43 900 rubles

4. GoPro Hero9

The best action cam­era — now at the best price.

SPECIFICATIONS
The weight: 158 g
Water­proof: 10 m
Video 5K: up to 30 fps
Video 4K: up to 60 fps
1080: up to 240 fps
720: up to 240 fps
Still image res­o­lu­tion: 20 MP
Bat­tery oper­a­tion: approx­i­mate­ly 1–3 hours

Even if you don’t like 5K video, this cam­er­a’s new sen­sor allows you to shoot video at 14.7MP and take stills at 20MP. This go-pro also fea­tures a larg­er 2.27-inch dis­play than the GoPro Hero8 Black, ultra-smooth Hyper­smooth 3.0 video sta­bi­liza­tion, Time­Warp 3.0 for hand­held time-laps­es, a trav­el case, and a Max Lens Mod lens with 155º ultra-wide mode.

BENEFITS
+ Front cam­era
+ Pho­to 20MP
+ Price

MINUSES
- Larg­er than oth­er GoPros
- 5K video takes up a lot of mem­o­ry

PRICE: 36 490 rubles.

4 more things that will come in handy for a vlogger

1. Sta­bi­liz­er — for shoot­ing on the move.

2. Tri­pod. You can go a long way with a reg­u­lar cam­era tri­pod, but it’s much bet­ter to get the right video tri­pod with a smooth move­ment head.

3. Micro­phone / but­ton­hole. The micro­phones built into the cam­era have three main lim­i­ta­tions: the sound qual­i­ty is good, but not great; they are strong­ly affect­ed by wind noise and street noise; and they pick up sound from every­where but your sub­ject.

four. Exter­nal recorder. Most of the time the cam­er­a’s inter­nal stor­age is fine, but some­times a device like the Ato­m­os Nin­ja V video recorder is a real asset. It’s a larg­er exter­nal mon­i­tor, more stor­age space, and on some cam­eras the abil­i­ty to record high­er qual­i­ty video.