Ask HN: Which low-budget camera would you recommend for recording podcasts? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Which low-budget camera would you recommend for recording podcasts?

45 pointsmmathias44 comments

Please mention what you like/dislike about particular models, tell us why you would recommend it and if you want - also share your podcasts! :)

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Sound is much more important - even if you consider your podcast video first (in which case it’s not a podcast but that’s another topic) sound is more important. Take whatever smart phone you have and use that for the video and then spend any money you have for the camera and spend it on a decent mic.

People will watch lower quality video with good sound for far longer than they will watch good video with bad sound.

Source: listening to podcasts now for 15 years and grew my own to 5k listens a month across 100 episodes.

> People will watch lower quality video with good sound for far longer than they will watch good video with bad sound.

Very true. I can stand bad/pixelated videos but crackling/distorted/unnormalized audio drives me crazy. Still many twitch channels seems not to know, or bother...

I would even say that room treatment is a lot more valuable to a starting podcast. Sure don’t have the cheapest, shittiest mic but especially starting our room treatment grants a lot more value.

Of course, you could record in your closet ;)

Second the room treatment. It should likely be prioritized over everything. Specifically you should look into getting bass traps and a gobo or three. There’s budget stuff out there but sound is fickle. Control those reflections. Expensive mics still sound bad if a room sounds bad.

Even easier: get a hypercardoid shotgun mic and speak directly into the front of it. I’ve had amazing success with the Azden SGM-250H in very poor recording environments (bare walls, tile floors, etc).

No affiliation, and I suspect numerous other similar mics would do well.

A hypercardioid and any manner of soft surface behind the speaker - even pillows or curtains - will get you >90% of the way there for most podcast purposes.

Really, after just fitting out a (very shoestring budget) recording studio, the first thing is reducing flutter echo by covering most hard flat parallel surfaces. That alone is like, worth double digit percent of the solution.

I wonder why there's still no AI tool that would take okay-ish voice recording and make it sound stellar, just like there are many tools for visual stuff?

AI tools can't make okay-ish video recordings suddenly look great.

Exactly this. In terms of recording quality, my approach would look something like this:

1. Use a decent microphone.

2. Make sure you know how to handle the microphone.

3. Use closed-back headphones.

4. Record in a suitable environment/studio.

5. Consider adding a video track as well.

You may have better luck if you specify what low budget means to you. The latest iPhone Pro is better than some of the entry level cameras, especially if you weren't planning to splurge for a nice prime lens.

I think the cheapest you should go is the Sony EV-10 plus Sigma 16mm 1.4 lens. If those are more than you want to spend, stick with your phone camera because you won't see enough improvement to make it worthwhile.

In either case, watch some YouTube videos about podcast lighting because that will matter more than your camera.

Slightly cheaper but also very similar to the EV-10 would be a second hand Sony a6000/a6300.

When I google the EV-10, I get results for the ZV-E10. I assume they are the same camera, why do people call it the EV-10?

The ZV-E10 can live stream up to 720p over USB-C (1), is that sufficient?

(1) https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-zv-e10-review

Does it need live stream or would recording to the camera be sufficient? Can it do both at the same time?

If you need full hd streaming, get a cheap hdmi-to-usb adapter and you could use even older cameras (sony started supporting webcam only around a6300), with simultaneous recording and streaming.

Sorry,I'm confused. Aren't podcasts audio by definition?

Unless your audience is going to be mainly on a video platform (and even then, the following advice will apply) you should focus your budget on audio equipment, and possibly build a recording booth.

They're calling them "vodcasts", it's the hot new format.

Joe Rogan for example is a “podcast” but also films all their episodes so you can watch the host and guests reactions and body language during the segment. “Podcast” doesn’t just mean audio anymore, the definition has evolved.

What I've seen is that it might be easier to promote a podcast if it has video because the web is a visual space and audio-only can be hard to make visual, unless one creates audiograms with text subtitles, but still not as compelling visually.

Plus, YouTube and other visual platforms seem to have better discoverability.

But I'm open to being proved wrong, as I'd love to record audio only lol.

Exactly. You can much easier make TikToks and such if you already have the video

There are a lot of podcasts out there and no good discoverability outside of large platforms. YouTube has some of the best discoverability out there, but YouTube viewers expect video. If you want to run a successful podcast in 2024, recording video and uploading it to YouTube is a must

In fact Google Podcasts is shutting down; the podcasts will be served via Youtube Music.

I've spent a few years fiddling with setups during COVID / remote work. Honestly, in my experience, gear comes secondary to your ENVIRONMENT.

Julie Schiro's videos are a great place to start: https://www.youtube.com/@JulieSchiro

Here are my tiers!

Tier 1: Audio > Video first!

- Get very basic sound treatment done, even just a few panels in front and behind you. ~$100 or cheaper with DIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3nS2-HvJMs

- Get a reliable microphone. Samson Q2U is a solid one here if you did step 1.

Tier 2: Improve video

- Improve your lighting. Face a window if you can or get some lamps to balance out lighting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiUpK0dhWTE

- Use smartphone with app or cable as your virtual webcam. Or if you have $200 get the Logitech Brio

Tier 3: $$$

- Audio: 3x your sound panelling & sound treatment. Put stuff on the ceilings too. If you still have too much money, get Shure MV7 (usb-c which is nice). SM7B honestly isn't needed unless you have a true studio environment with professional sound treatment done.

- Video: Get a Sony a6000 (this is what I use) or a6400 / 6600 and a lens with f1.4 on it. This is what I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077BWD2BB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...

- Add-ons: Get a dummy battery that plugs into your wall and can run your camera in 'forever power' mode. Get a camera signal -> USB converter like Magewell or Elgato Camlink (what I use): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1453840-REG/elgato_sy...

I have the Shure MV7, and I've been extremely impressed with it over USB. Highly recommend it as an entry point to (semi-)professional audio equipment.

Just to give a bit perspective and with total respect - entry level. Most have little idea of the cost involved in semi-pro and pro products. But its a decent option and recommendation.

If you have a mid- to upper- range phone made in the last 4 years, that's probably the best low-budget option by far. Save your money and get led panel lights instead.

And a good audio recorder will do wonders. Zoom h1n is a quite good budget option. Try searching YouTube for "h1n vs" - there are tons of great options.

Use your phone and spend your money on lighting and audio (mic and interface). You can make your video look very professional with good lighting. Bad lighting + expensive camera == amateur looking video. No matter how good the image is, with poor audio no one will watch it.

Your last sentence is super true, but the audio interface is relatively unimportant. Even onboard headphone jack audio interfaces are 10x more than adequate. Main things to focus on (no pun intended) are mic placement and mic quality.

A used Sony a6000 + kit lens + cheap HDMI to USB dongle.

The nice thing about this sort of setup is that you can upgrade the lens as needed without having to redo the whole system.

As for lighting, DIY some diffusers for and stick them on some lamps.

On the HDMI-to-USB front, beware of dongles that oversell themselves.

A blue USB connector just means a blue USB connector, it doesn't necessarily mean it's USB 3.0 (they might use weasel words like "USB 3.0 compatible").

Most have an integrated scaler, e.g. will accept 4K input even if they only capture at 1080p - the listing will likely emphasize the former rather than the later.

The MS2109 chip will do 1080p at 30fps, over USB 2.0 (mjpeg).

The MS2130 chip will do 4K at 30fps (mjpeg), or 1080p at 60fps (yuv), over USB 3.0.

Some Sony cameras support acting as webcams natively over USB now too, so you can skip the HDMI step. Not sure about which specific models though

The list is here: https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/webcam/en/download/ It weirdly includes a5100 and not a6000, which are internally almost identical.

Also at least for older cameras it’s 720p only, no fullhd, so you’re still better with hdmi adapter.

This is my exact setup and it's great. Several pros:

- Relatively cheap since the a6000 is an older camera

- The a6000 doesn't have the 30 minute hdmi limit that some other cameras have (this can be fixed with gphoto, but you have to redo it every time you connect)

- When you're ready you can buy more lights, and then eventually a nicer lens if you want

Any camera except a webcam will work. Focus on lighting and microphones, ones you have a reason to upgrade your setup, you might consider dslr cameras that are used for serious video productions

If your budget is tight, use your phone for video, and sort out the audio equipment first. Folks will watch mediocre video with excellent audio. They will not watch the reverse.

Halfway decent phone and then some lighting and you should be good to go. It won’t look amazing but it also shouldn’t hold your content back

A recent iPhone Pro or high end Android phone.

I wouldn’t recommend getting into more complicated setups until you’ve tried a recent phone. They’re really quite extraordinary.

Everyone is saying focus on the mic, but nobody is saying what mic is recommended to use with a smartphone.

I'm giving a talk in a bar next week, and for some reason the organizers are doing audio only recordings, so I'm thinking of setting up a phone to record, but I'll want a 2nd mic as I don't want to have to sync the audio recording from the organizers to my video.

Though I'm not sure if there is a good bluetooth lapel mic. I don't seem to be finding much. I'm wondering if I'll just end up using one of my earbuds, though the audio will probably end up being crap.

Any recommendations?

Like others have said, get a used Sony a6000 (or higher model, try to get one where the screen can be swiveled to point forward). If you expect to be sitting close to the camera, you can't go wrong with a Sigma 16mm 1.4 lens. If you have the space to place the camera further away, you should probably get a slightly longer lens.

Any phone within the last few years is probably the best. Now, connecting it to your laptop is probably harder but possible.

The most important though is... LIGHTING. I can't stress that enough. Buy a cheap $15 circlear light thingys. That'll improve your image so much!

Your smartphone with external wireless mic

Why wireless? There are a lot of good wired USB mics that are generally better sounding since the tradeoffs aren’t so severe as in wireless and less hassle.

if you want to be tethered 1 feet away from your camera then go for wired lol

What is your podcast going to be about?

Ive used my phone (Redmi Note 10S) to record decent video. Post work with KDenlive.

Mind your settings.

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