Support from FASE's Education Technology Office / Hardware Recommendations / Selecting your hardware

Select your camera

Updated on Jan 22, 2024

This guide covers the hardware that you will need (some required and some optional) to create high quality videos by yourself! It includes video camera options at various price points and some gear that will help improve your video quality. While this guide does make recommendations, you should test out any hardware you have first - you do not necessarily need to purchase new items for good video quality.

This guide contains information and recommendations about non-vetted tools. These tools are not part of the academic toolbox and are not supported. If you are implementing a non-vetted tool in your course, we encourage you to review our guide to safely implementing un-vetted tools in your course. It helps to ensure that you are implementing these tools according to U of T's guidelines for third party tools. We want you to use great tools in your course - but safely, securely, and thoughtfully.

Grabbing a dedicated video camera separate from your webcam to record course content is a great option for upping your video quality. It allows you to record from multiple angles if you have more than one camera and generally achieve greater visual clarity and detail. In many cases, you can even use the video camera to replace your webcam.

After you've selected your camera, you will also want to think about your microphone and your other recording accessories.

Phone Cameras vs Compact Cameras vs Interchangeable-lens Cameras

	Phone Cameras	Compact Cameras	Interchangeable-lens Cameras
Cost	Free	$600-$1,000	$1,000+
Easy of use	Easiest	Beginner	Intermediate+
Video quality	High (for phones above $700, released in the last 5 years)	High	Best
Filming in low light	Grainy footage	Grainy footage	Clean footage
Background blur	Least	Some	Most

Phone Camera

Phone cameras have come a long way. Depending on which phone you have, your phone's camera might rival with professional cameras at the same price point, or more. If you have a phone that was released within the last 5 years, and it retailed for $700 or more, your phone can likely record high-quality videos.

Depending on your comfort level, you can either just point the camera and hit record, or, to get the best quality out of the camera, use a 3rd party camera app that allows you to manual control exposure, focus, and recording format.

The "Point & Hit Record" Way

Pros	Cons
Requires minimal knowledge of operating cameras Readily available Extremely easy to use Free (if you own one!)	Limited customizability for exposure settings White balance might change throughout the recording, resulting in inconsistent skin tones

Using 3rd Party Camera App

Pros	Cons
Ability to manually expose your shot Consistent white balance/skin tone Ability to customize recording format for better video quality	Not suitable for beginners Depending on your phone's OS, quality apps are often paid The better recording formats often results in larger file sizes

Notable 3rd Party Camera Apps

These 3rd party camera apps will allow you to fully customize your phone's camera settings. Some of these settings include:

Exposure
Video codec
Focus
Guides

Android	iOS
Filmic Pro (paid, subscription) Protake (paid, subscription)	BlackMagic Camera (free) Filmic Pro (paid, subscription) Protake (paid, subscription)

Avoid using your phone's built-in microphone to record the audio, as it often picks up lots of room reverberation and ambient noises. Use wireless earbuds with a mic or lavalier mics to capture better audio quality if you can.

Compact Cameras (Point & Shoot)

1. Sony ZV-1F

The Sony ZV-1F ($649.99) is a great, entry level compact camera that is designed for self-capturing. It offers up to 4K recording resolution with many convenient features for self-capturing.

Pros	Cons
Simple & compact set up Up to 4K resolution Ability to see yourself with the flip-out screen Charge & record simultaneously External mic input	Short battery life Might overheat after shooting for 30 minutes Lack of interchangeable lenses means less easily accessible manual customization Not much background blur Grainy footage in low light situations

2. Sony ZV-1

Aimed at content creators, Sony ZV-1 ($999.99) is a pocketable camera that is great for recording video with its shallower depth of field, and snappy autofocus.

The Pros (Upsides)	The Cons (Downsides)
Simple and compact setup Up to 4K resolution Included mic with windscreen Eye-autofocus AI face-tracking autofocus Natural-looking skin tones straight-out-of-camera Built-in mic designed to block out ambient noises One button for some background blur Ability to see yourself with the flip-out screen	Short battery life Lack of interchangeable lenses means less easily accessible manual customization Might overheat after shooting for 30 minutes Grainy footage in low light situations

3. GoPro Hero 12

While the GoPro Hero 12 ($479.99) is aimed for action, it packs impressive hardware that can produce high quality videos.

Pros	Cons
Up to 5.3K recording Affordable Extremely compact Highly rugged construction	Very wide field-of-view causing people's faces looking less flattering Minimal background blur Grainy footage in low light situations

1. Interchangeable-lens Cameras (ILC)

These are for people who already have intermediate knowledge of camera equipment or who are interested in becoming knowledgeable in videography. These cameras typically offer the most customization and video quality compared to phone cameras and compact cameras. That said, ILCs are often an expensive investment because you will need to research and buy the lens separately.

This guide won't be able to cover enough information to help you decide on which camera and lens to buy, but it will provide an example of an ILC.

1.1. Panasonic Lumix GH6

The Lumix GH6 ($2,899.99) is a mirrorless ILC with advanced features tailored to video creators. Key features include:

Up to 5.7K recording
RAW, 12-bit video recording
Internal ProRes recording
Direct recording to SSD
7.5-stop image stabilization

During COVID-19, many items are being sold for much more than their original price (especially by resellers). Please use your due diligence to investigate the seller before purchase - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is (see How-To-Geek's article on How to avoid fake and scammy Amazon sellers).

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