8 things you need to start vlogging on your smartphone

Vlogging is a great hobby that you can turn into a side gig. But if you want to start making high quality videos, you’ll need to invest in your own gear.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a professional camera. Instead, you can get or upgrade to other accessories that will help you create professional-level videos straight from your smartphone.

So, which devices, software and services should you prefer for smartphone vlogging? Here are some items to consider.

1. Portable Lights

Whether you’re recording video indoors, outdoors, or in a studio, it’s a good idea to have at least one or two portable lights. That’s because you can use them to make sure your audience sees you clearly, especially in challenging lighting conditions.

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There are many affordable options such as portable LED video lights and LED ring lights. And, if you plan to shoot primarily indoors or in a home studio, you can even get softbox or umbrella lights for softer highlights and shadows.

Of course, once you have your tools, you should also know how to use them. Depending on the effect you want to achieve, you can use several lighting techniques when vlogging, such as three-point lighting, butterfly-lighting, or low-key lighting.

2. External Microphone

While smartphones have improved the quality of their built-in microphones, there is still no substitute for a proper standalone microphone. After all, while your audience may be faced with poor-quality video recordings, poor quality audio is very difficult to listen to. If your audience can’t hear you or understand what you’re saying, they won’t see you.

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If your smartphone still has a 3.5mm audio jack, you can use any equipped mic with it. You can also use a 2.5 to 3.5 mm adapter to convert the traditional microphone used by professionals to something that you can attach to your phone.

However, if you are using a flagship device without a jack, there are many USB-C microphones available in the market today. And if you’re using a Lightning-equipped iPhone, you can use a USB-C to Lightning adapter to use a professional-level microphone for your vlogs.

3. Tripod

Wherever you plan to record, you must have a tripod to hold your smartphone while recording. Hand held shaky videos are not good to watch. They give an amateurish look, and if you’re walking around, it can even cause dizziness and nausea in your audience.

A tripod will give you a perfectly stable video, and as long as you have a camera operator, you can use them for even simple movements like panning and tracking. Some smartphone tripods even double as selfie sticks, perfect for walk-arounds and travel vlogs.

4. Smartphone Gimbal

If you are planning to shoot b-roll footage then you should consider getting a smartphone gimbal. The stability and smooth motion that this device offers allows you to make professional-quality recordings of the scenes and objects that you are capturing.

In addition, some models also allow for automatic subject tracking, giving you the freedom to move around in a scene without the camera operator needing to keep you in the frame.

5. Teleprompter

The teleprompter is an important tool to keep yourself engaged with your audience. After all, eye contact is important in public speaking. Even when you’re not talking directly to people when you’re creating a vlog, you still need to keep your eyes on the camera so that your audience feels like you’re talking directly to them.

Also, it’s not unreasonable to have a copy of your script, especially when you’re recording a talking-head video. If you didn’t remember what you wanted to say in your vlog and looked at a copy of your script, you might be looking off-camera, thus losing eye contact.

Teleprompters are economical, but if you don’t want to spend money on one, you can just use a smartphone or tablet. While a secondary smartphone or screen positioned near the camera lens may do the trick, keen-eyed observers will still notice that you are not looking at them directly.

6. Video Editing Apps

Unless you’re just doing live video, it’s imperative to have a video editing app on your smartphone. You need these apps to cut bloopers, improve color quality, and split clips to create a coherent, smoothly-flowing video.

You can also use these apps to create an intro and outro clip that you can use to remind your audience of who you are, or use effects and other ons to make your video more engaging. -Can add screen elements.

If you’re new to video editing, or if that’s not your specialty, you can check out our video editing tips to get started. Alternatively, you can hire a professional video editor to do the work for you.

7. External Storage

Video recording takes up a lot of space. This is especially true if you’re recording in 4K HDR quality. Even Full HD videos can rapidly use up your smartphone’s storage space.

If you think 512GB is enough space to hold your footage, you’re wrong. The 512GB can typically only hold four hours of 4K or 24 hours of 1080p Full HD video footage. It also doesn’t take into account the phone’s operating system, the apps you have installed, and other data on your phone.

Furthermore, 512GB of storage is usually only found in the top-end variants of the latest flagship model. If you’re using the lesser model, you’ll probably only have 64GB to 256GB of storage.

So, if your phone is capable, you should install the largest possible microSD card that it supports. Otherwise, it’s wise to invest in a Lightning or USB-C flash drive where you can record and save your videos after editing them.

8. A Good Smartphone

While most mid-range smartphones nowadays deliver good video quality, they usually struggle in challenging lighting conditions, such as high-contrast or low-light scenes. If you are looking to get a new smartphone and are planning to start vlogging, consider getting a flagship model.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max both received great reviews for recording video, so they are the models you should consider. While you can also get a vlogging camera instead of a smartphone, these tend to be bulky and more intrusive than a smartphone.

Plus, you can’t use them for anything other than taking photos or recording videos. You can’t even do extensive editing on them. So smartphone can be a better option.

Start Vlogging on Your Smartphone

You don’t have to invest in an expensive camera to start vlogging. But once you have your channel and you want to improve the quality of your content, these are the items you should prioritize. Not only will they allow you to have more engaging content, but they will also make you a better and more effective storyteller.

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