Video Blogging Essentials: Choosing the Best Cameras and Lenses

A Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

YouTube’s Economic Model: Month-to-Month Income?

Any YouTuber can earn passive income monthly if they’ve reached the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP) requirement? Yes, the YouTube Partner Program gives creators access to start generating revenue with their channel once they reach a minimum of 1,000 YouTube subscribers and 4,000 watch ours in the last twelve months.

For anyone looking to start earning passive income via YouTube, but have the question, “Does YouTube pay monthly?” The answer is YES YouTube pays monthly. However, there are other things you must know if you want to start making money from YouTube. So, in this article, we will discuss all you need to know about how often YouTube pays and other YouTube monetization tips.

1. Affiliate Marketing
2. Brand Sponsorship
3. Selling Own Products or Services

• More FAQs About How Much YouTubers Make

Part 1: How Often Does YouTube Pay

As mentioned earlier, YouTube pays monthly. It’s usually within the first 10-14 days of a new month (10th day or 14th day of a new month). However, to be able to receive your funds, you must reach the minimum threshold of your local currency as required by YouTube. For example, $100 for content creators within the United States.

Also, you must comply with the YouTube monetization policies and not be suspended by YouTube in the past month.

Part 2: How Does YouTube Pay – Typical Methods Used

Research shows that YouTube’s average pay rate is within the range of $0.01 to $0.03 per ad view. This means for every 1,000 ad views, a YouTuber could earn $18, while for every 1,000 video views, you could earn $3 to $5. You might ask “Does YouTube pay creators per view?’ Well, the answer is NO, YouTube doesn’t pay creators per view. They pay per monetized view.

However, to get started making money per monetized views, you need to join the YouTube Partnership Program. As mentioned earlier, YouTube Partner Program (YPP) gives creators access to start generating revenue with their channel once they reach a minimum of 1,000 YouTube subscribers and 4,000 watch ours in the last twelve months. It gives creators access to different monetization features like advertising, merchandise sales, fan funding, and lots more.

● Earn Money Through Ad Views

Advertisers pay for YouTube ads based on clicks and impressions, and YouTube monetizes creators’ videos by displaying these ads in different advertising formats like pre-roll, display, etc. So, once these ads display in your video and your subscribers click on them, you get paid.

As mentioned earlier, YouTube’s average pay rate is within the range of $0.01 to $0.03 per ad view, while for every 1,000 video views, you could earn $3 to $5. But, out of the money earned, YouTube pays creators 55% and keeps the remaining 45%.

With Ads, you can earn money based on every 1,000 views get from your video and the number of clicks you get on ads placed on your video. However, for ads to be displayed on your videos, you must adhere to YouTube’s creator guidelines, as videos that contain foul language, violence, adult content, and other unwanted subjects won’t have ads displayed on them.

The image below displays the requirement to start displaying ads on your YouTube videos;

Part 3: More Opportunities To Earn More Money From YouTube

Besides ads, there are other ways to monetize your YouTube channel. You could also earn through a corporate sponsorship from brands, selling your products, etc. Keep reading to find out more ways to earn money from YouTube.

1. Affiliate Marketing

You might have come across YouTube videos where the creators talk about their favorite brands and add links to the platform for the brand. Well, that’s a form of affiliate marketing.

YouTube Affiliate marketing involves a creator reviewing a product like makeup, digital cameras, mobile phone, and lots more including services in their video. Plus, the links to the recommended product or services are usually added to the description of the video. So, once a viewer clicks on the link and purchases the product or service, the YouTuber gets a certain percentage of the money.

If you get an affiliate link to a product on a platform, you can create a video relating to that product, then in your video description, you’ll add the affiliate link there. So, when anyone purchases the product using your affiliate link, you’ll get your percentage off the price they paid. On average, companies will be willing to pay within 5% to 50% of the purchase price.

2. Brand Sponsorship

The fact YouTube is the most used video-playing platform makes it a great spot for businesses and organizations to promote their product or services. So, once you grow your YouTube subscribers to a certain level, you’ll receive emails from companies and brands to partner with you to sponsor their products or service. Honestly, there are lots of brands who will be happy to pay you to promote their products/services,

Research shows that sponsorship deals are usually within the range of $200 to over $10k. It all depends on how the brand/organization is willing to cooperate. It could be pre-roll, post-roll, etc.

Also, your YouTube channel data statistics such as total subscribers, average video impressions in the past months, likes, comments, and more are other factors that will determine how much brands will offer you to seal a sponsorship deal.

3. Selling Own Products or Services

Selling your products or services is another great way to monetize your YouTube channel. You could sell your merch, gaming tools, and other things related to the theme of the content you create for your loyal fans to purchase.

If you don’t have a product, you could charge your viewers for exclusive content, sell online courses for dropshipping, sell cryptocurrency trading e-books, etc. The only thing is you need to have a large following to earn well from this YouTube monetization option.

Part 4: More FAQs About How Much YouTubers Make

At this point, you should already have a brief idea of how YouTube monetization works. However, if you still want to discover more information, keep reading to check out more FAQs on how much YouTubers make.

1. Who is The Richest YouTuber?

The richest YouTuber as of 2021 is Mr. Beast. He has made up to $54 million in revenue from his YouTube channel.

2. Do YouTubers Get Paid Well?

The rate at which YouTubers get paid depends on certain factors like the audience they aim for, how frequently they publish the nature of their material, and lots more. As we mentioned in the article, the average pay rate on YouTube is within the range of $0.01 to $0.03 per ad view, while for every 1,000 video views, you could earn $3 to $5. Also, research shows that the highest-paying YouTube category is the “Make Money Online” category with an average CPM of $13.52.

3. How much does a YouTuber make a year?

Honestly, there’s no specific answer to how much a YouTuber makes a year. However, research shows that an average YouTuber makes up to $60,000 annually.

Final Words

As you can see, there are different ways you could monetize your YouTube channel. Be it via affiliate marketing, ads, selling products, or more. Regardless of how you want to monetize your YouTube channel, the article has covered the basics you must know to make the process easier.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Part 1: How Often Does YouTube Pay

As mentioned earlier, YouTube pays monthly. It’s usually within the first 10-14 days of a new month (10th day or 14th day of a new month). However, to be able to receive your funds, you must reach the minimum threshold of your local currency as required by YouTube. For example, $100 for content creators within the United States.

Also, you must comply with the YouTube monetization policies and not be suspended by YouTube in the past month.

Part 2: How Does YouTube Pay – Typical Methods Used

Research shows that YouTube’s average pay rate is within the range of $0.01 to $0.03 per ad view. This means for every 1,000 ad views, a YouTuber could earn $18, while for every 1,000 video views, you could earn $3 to $5. You might ask “Does YouTube pay creators per view?’ Well, the answer is NO, YouTube doesn’t pay creators per view. They pay per monetized view.

However, to get started making money per monetized views, you need to join the YouTube Partnership Program. As mentioned earlier, YouTube Partner Program (YPP) gives creators access to start generating revenue with their channel once they reach a minimum of 1,000 YouTube subscribers and 4,000 watch ours in the last twelve months. It gives creators access to different monetization features like advertising, merchandise sales, fan funding, and lots more.

● Earn Money Through Ad Views

Advertisers pay for YouTube ads based on clicks and impressions, and YouTube monetizes creators’ videos by displaying these ads in different advertising formats like pre-roll, display, etc. So, once these ads display in your video and your subscribers click on them, you get paid.

As mentioned earlier, YouTube’s average pay rate is within the range of $0.01 to $0.03 per ad view, while for every 1,000 video views, you could earn $3 to $5. But, out of the money earned, YouTube pays creators 55% and keeps the remaining 45%.

With Ads, you can earn money based on every 1,000 views get from your video and the number of clicks you get on ads placed on your video. However, for ads to be displayed on your videos, you must adhere to YouTube’s creator guidelines, as videos that contain foul language, violence, adult content, and other unwanted subjects won’t have ads displayed on them.

The image below displays the requirement to start displaying ads on your YouTube videos;

Part 3: More Opportunities To Earn More Money From YouTube

Besides ads, there are other ways to monetize your YouTube channel. You could also earn through a corporate sponsorship from brands, selling your products, etc. Keep reading to find out more ways to earn money from YouTube.

1. Affiliate Marketing

You might have come across YouTube videos where the creators talk about their favorite brands and add links to the platform for the brand. Well, that’s a form of affiliate marketing.

YouTube Affiliate marketing involves a creator reviewing a product like makeup, digital cameras, mobile phone, and lots more including services in their video. Plus, the links to the recommended product or services are usually added to the description of the video. So, once a viewer clicks on the link and purchases the product or service, the YouTuber gets a certain percentage of the money.

If you get an affiliate link to a product on a platform, you can create a video relating to that product, then in your video description, you’ll add the affiliate link there. So, when anyone purchases the product using your affiliate link, you’ll get your percentage off the price they paid. On average, companies will be willing to pay within 5% to 50% of the purchase price.

2. Brand Sponsorship

The fact YouTube is the most used video-playing platform makes it a great spot for businesses and organizations to promote their product or services. So, once you grow your YouTube subscribers to a certain level, you’ll receive emails from companies and brands to partner with you to sponsor their products or service. Honestly, there are lots of brands who will be happy to pay you to promote their products/services,

Research shows that sponsorship deals are usually within the range of $200 to over $10k. It all depends on how the brand/organization is willing to cooperate. It could be pre-roll, post-roll, etc.

Also, your YouTube channel data statistics such as total subscribers, average video impressions in the past months, likes, comments, and more are other factors that will determine how much brands will offer you to seal a sponsorship deal.

3. Selling Own Products or Services

Selling your products or services is another great way to monetize your YouTube channel. You could sell your merch, gaming tools, and other things related to the theme of the content you create for your loyal fans to purchase.

If you don’t have a product, you could charge your viewers for exclusive content, sell online courses for dropshipping, sell cryptocurrency trading e-books, etc. The only thing is you need to have a large following to earn well from this YouTube monetization option.

Part 4: More FAQs About How Much YouTubers Make

At this point, you should already have a brief idea of how YouTube monetization works. However, if you still want to discover more information, keep reading to check out more FAQs on how much YouTubers make.

1. Who is The Richest YouTuber?

The richest YouTuber as of 2021 is Mr. Beast. He has made up to $54 million in revenue from his YouTube channel.

2. Do YouTubers Get Paid Well?

The rate at which YouTubers get paid depends on certain factors like the audience they aim for, how frequently they publish the nature of their material, and lots more. As we mentioned in the article, the average pay rate on YouTube is within the range of $0.01 to $0.03 per ad view, while for every 1,000 video views, you could earn $3 to $5. Also, research shows that the highest-paying YouTube category is the “Make Money Online” category with an average CPM of $13.52.

3. How much does a YouTuber make a year?

Honestly, there’s no specific answer to how much a YouTuber makes a year. However, research shows that an average YouTuber makes up to $60,000 annually.

Final Words

As you can see, there are different ways you could monetize your YouTube channel. Be it via affiliate marketing, ads, selling products, or more. Regardless of how you want to monetize your YouTube channel, the article has covered the basics you must know to make the process easier.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later