If you’re looking to post videos online, either to promote your brand or for some other purpose, you need the right equipment. Without it, you run the risk of your videos looking amateurish, which is something that could reflect badly on you.

Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. In this post, we take a look at the equipment you need for small video production. Don’t worry: almost anyone can get started.

Camera

Number one on your list of equipment is your camera. Without it, you won’t be shooting videos anytime soon.

You don’t have to spend a fortune. $700 should be sufficient budget for the camera and lens. The camera you buy doesn’t have to look like a traditional recording camera either: most DSLRs are sufficient for taking high-quality videos. Make sure you can record in HD (2k) or UHD (4k), at a frame rate of 24fps or 30fps.

Tripod

While you can get someone to hold the camera while you record videos, there will often be situations where the camera doesn’t need to move. In these cases, you’ll need a decent tripod.

You can get shorter tripods that sit on tables, but if you’re doing this for business, you’ll want one that is tall enough so that it can hold the camera while it shoots a video of your face standing up.

Gimbal

If you’re on the move, you’ll also want a gimbal. These are essential if you plan on taking videos while walking or moving in any way. Most modern gimbal systems are multi-axis, which means that they improve camera stability no matter what your directions of travel.

Lighting

In some situations, particularly indoors, you’ll need quality lighting. It helps your videos look more vibrant on-screen, and show all the necessary detail.

If budget is an issue, you don’t need to buy traditional studio lights. Instead, you can buy lightweight entry-level reflectors that help to maximize ambient light for your productions. These come in white, gold, black and silver surfaces, depending on the type of lighting conditions you want to create.

External Microphone

Some video cameras come with decent in-built microphones, but if you’re a distance from the device, your voice and other noises in the recording may sound tinny.

To prevent this, use an external microphone. Pin it to your shirt so that it can easily pick up your voice.

If you’re recording sounds in the environment, you’ll want an external microphone on a stick, or a static product specifically designed to pick up ambient sounds.

Editing And Production Software

Lastly, you’ll need to consider whether you need editing and video production software. In almost all situations, you will.

These products are helpful for things like color correction, eliminating unwanted background noise, and editing out when you cough or sneeze.

There are many vendors on the market. These include:

iMovie: a Mac-based piece of free software that’s ideal for beginners
Final Cut Pro: a more advanced solution that costs several hundred dollars, but comes with a lot of support and easy ways to fix problems with your videos
DaVinci Resolve: a quality video production solution for editing, rendering and organizing videos