Can anyone recommend a video camera for my business. I don’t know anything about the subject. Can a video camera also take decent photos or are they designed as one or the other?
I need to shoot product videos and photos. Most of them are rather close up.
I also want to produce educational instruction videos. Most of the videos need to be close and it’s a detail oriented subject we are teaching in the beauty industry. Think of things like nails or eye brows. We need to be able to capture small details up close.
Interestingly, my business was supposed to be mostly product sales. But my inventories are not going very fast due to the lockdown in uk and people not able to provide service. And other major brands in my industry are all doing large sales to clear inventory so it’s been hard to penetrate the market even with sales.
But turns out happening is people seem to be interested in the educational aspect. Our book has been selling quite well as people use this time to improve without being about to provide services. Now I think adding some video educational materials will be a big seller. So I’ll have to adapt with the market right now.
You almost certainly want a hybrid DSLR or mirrorless camera along with one or maybe two lenses. These sort of cameras look like stills cameras, but with the flick of a switch, you can shoot video. Some random examples are the Sony A6100 or Canon 90D or Fuji XT-30. There are literally dozens of models from several different companies that you can choose from, ranging in price from US$400 used up to $5000 new.
The wildcard is getting some real close-up video of eyebrows and nails. The kit lens might be fine for that, but if it isn’t, you’ll probably want a second lens. Many mounts have a very cheap 50mm f/1.8 lens that will be pretty sharp and give you that professional-looking shallow depth of field, where your subject is razor-sharp but everything else is super blurry. The problem is that I don’t know if one of those primes will zoom in close enough. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to get some sort of macro lens.
That being said, you’ll get way more bang for the buck if you get a pretty cheap camera but decent lighting, audio, and tripod rather than just a more expensive camera.
I shoot with Fuji. The Fuji XT 4 is widely regarded as a great video tool. But you’d have to get used to using interchangeable lens. Or else just buy it with the kit lens and leave it on. It’s a great kit lens.
To shoot up really close you’d just need to add a very cheap extension tube. Which isn’t really a tube, just a wee ring you put between the lens and the camera that basically converts your lens to a macro lens.
I just want to produce high quality educational videos as courses to sell. The things I’m trying to capture are tiny detail oriented so it needs to be clear.
A mirrorless camera is good because you can use those Canon film era lenses that are real cheap, since the focal distance isn’t such a big problem like with regular mirrored camera. I mean the Canon FD lenses.
It’s an online course for estheticians and such. Like nails, brows, eye lashes, etc. So for example, you need to be able to see individual eye lashes clearly to learn. So you can understand the importance of a camera being able to capture small details like that clearly.
I’m trying to make online courses. The skills needed requires students to be able to see tiny details like individual lashes for example.
We’ve written a educational book and it is selling pretty well. Over 2k usd in sales in the last two months directly from our site so we keep all the profits. Products are selling much less as the uk and other places in lockdown. Other brands also are doing deep discounts trying to get rid of inventory so it’s hard to penetrate the market at the moment with products.
What has happened is that we realize many people want to use this time to get better at their job. So we want to sell more educational stuff. Video courses for example.
And we are a new brand trying to take some market share. So selling educational materials also help us sell products from people who bought courses or books from us. Just trying to create more cash flow as we have a lot of inventory thats not selling with the lockdown right now. Writing books and making video courses is a easy way as there’s no cost besides time spent.
@Taiwan_Luthiers you could consider making a series of short courses on guitar repairs: beginner, intermediate and advanced. And sell them for a modest price.
How we’ve been doing this is we have an IG page that shares daily educational content. We did this for about 2-3 months before introducing products and training. We have over 5k followers now and growing.
Honestly, I think this is at the very least a good side business. I wouldn’t mind making an extra 1-2k a month on the side. But I’m hoping it can be something I do full time. Being self employed is something I enjoy and feel that I’m a natural at.
