Expert Tips on Camera Lens Selection For Professional Vloggers

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

Vids for Cash: A Compreomed Analysis of Monetization Plays

Online video creators are always searching for ways to make their passion profitable. YouTube and Dailymotion are two of the largest video platforms. Millions of users use these platforms, and they have updated features. How do you choose the right video platform?

This article compares Dailymotion monetization to YouTube on privacy, audience, and analytics. To ease this exploration, Filmora is assisting us. This software edits videos to increase platforms’ income-generating potential. Read this article to monetize your videos in a better way, and join us on this journey.

Video Monetization Editor Create engaging and valuable videos with Wondershare Filmora for YouTube and Dailymotion Monetization!

Free Download Free Download Learn More

Part 1. Exploring YouTube and Dailymotion: Platforms for Creators

YouTube : What is it?

A three-person team, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, founded YouTube in 2005. Their goal is to create YouTube as a global platform for sharing videos. A huge $1.65 billion was paid by Google for buying YouTube. YouTube then became a more popular website with over two billion users every month.

Lots of creators, like makeup artists and gamers, make money on YouTube. With the platform, you can livestream, make money from your videos, and watch tons of user-made videos.

Dailymotion : What is it?

A French entrepreneur and an English entrepreneur founded Dailymotion in 2005. Dailymotion became one of the most popular video platforms in France and then Europe in just 1 year. You can upload and share videos on Dailymotion like on YouTube. There is a slight difference in their focus. Dailymotion’s content tends to be professional, while YouTube’s is user-made.

Dailymotion has over 300 million users every month. It’s accessible in 35 different languages. Also, for pro content, it offers features like “Motionmaker” to users and live streaming to creators.

The popularity and user base of YouTube and Dailymotion

YouTube’s user interface is very easy and simple to use. You can filter the results with date and popularity at the top bar of the website. You can watch YouTube without ads and gain access to YouTube analytics.

It’s cool to create your own channel on YouTube. It allows you to upload videos, customize your banner, and create a community.

It is easy to stream videos or share them with friends by creating playlists. YouTube and Dailymotion both have easy-to-use interfaces. You can customize your own channel, and it has categories and channels. YouTube has advanced playlist features, but Dailymotion does not.

It’s not all fun and games - YouTube has fewer ads than Dailymotion. A premium subscription to Dailymotion removes the ads and gives you access to other features.

Both Platforms have Different Content and Audiences

YouTube Content and Audience

Video content on YouTube ranges from cooking tips to music videos. It even offers live streaming concerts and mind-blowing documentaries. Gamer, beauty, sports, and learning enthusiasts will enjoy this channel.

YouTube allows you to upload 12-hour-long videos to increase your watch time. You can also share all types of experiences in the long video. Every day, 2.51 billion active users watch over one billion hours of content. Creators can showcase their work in high definition, up to 8K, on the platform, which is a major advantage. Mobile devices and smartphones also allow offline viewing of videos.

Dailymotion Content and Audience

There’s something special about Dailymotion. The site provides YouTube videos, animated shorts, music, documentaries, and TV shows. Although Dailymotion has upload limits, its videos are still of high quality, up to 1080p. There is a vibrant community of creators looking to connect with their audiences as well. There were 545.3 million visits to Dailymotion in April 2023, making it a strong competitor. Depending on your taste and the content you’re looking for, you can choose either.

Part 2. YouTube vs. Dailymotion Monetization: Unraveling the Key Differences

YouTube and Dailymotion monetization features and opportunities

It’s crucial for content creators to know which monetization options each platform offers. Let’s have a look at the monetization options available on YouTube and Dailymotion. It is possible to earn money from your content on both Dailymotion and YouTube. Dailymotion is easier to monetize, despite its broader and more sophisticated offering.

Programs and options for monetizing YouTube

There are many ways for YouTube creators to make money from their content. You can display video ads for sponsorships, AdSense payments, and merchandise sales. YouTube offers more monetization options and is more advanced than Dailymotion. The YouTube monetization rules can be tricky to meet for eligible accounts.

Programs and options for monetizaton Dailymotion

Creators can also monetize their content on Dailymotion. Dailymotion has fewer monetization options than YouTube. Unlike YouTube, Dailymotion allows creators to earn money through ads.

The Dailymotion Partner Program has made several French video creators extremely wealthy. The CPM is always low for video creators around the world, for whatever reason. Dailymotion Partners from France earn 3000 - 4000 euros per month. Global Partners withdraw the monthly least of $100.

Monetization Requirements and Earning Potential

YouTube’s YPP monetizes accounts with 1,000 subscribers and earns revenue through advertising. You’ll get 55% of the revenue generated by the ads shown during, before, and after your videos. It is also possible to charge channel memberships. For every 1,000 views, the average YouTuber makes about $18.

The Dailymotion Partner Program monetizes your videos. The least number of views you need to monetize your content is 1,000 (combined). One hour of watch time on the platform generates $57 in income, making it a great way to make money!

Choosing Between YouTube and Dailymotion Channel Monetization

Now that you’ve seen a YouTube vs. Dailymotion comparison, you are leaning toward one. Let’s dive into some key questions if you’re still not sure ( you can use both platforms ):

• Do you have a specific group in mind? It’s important to think about who your audience is.
• Are Your Videos Targeted? Do your videos match specific search queries?
• Video Length and Size: How long and big are your videos?
• Monetization: Want to make money? Consider your subscriber count.
• Privacy Control: How much control do you need over your content’s privacy?
• Analytics: Do you want detailed data on your video performance?

YouTube is your best bet if you want organic search traffic, a wide audience, and hefty videos. If you want privacy control, or if you want to monetize, Dailymotion shines.

Whatever you pick, remember to add captions to your videos. Transcription tools can help with that, making your content more accessible and engaging.

Part 3. Enhance Your Monetization Journey with Wondershare Filmora: A Video Editing Solution

Let’s take a look at a powerful tool to enhance your gaming experience. It’s Wondershare Filmora. Creating engaging and valuable videos is easy with Wondershare Filmora. An attractive user interface, a media library, and many useful features make it a great choice. A video tool that turns content creators’ vision into professional content. Filmora is perfect for YouTubers, filmmakers, and vloggers of all skill levels.

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

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Filmora Features for Monetization Magic

1.Creative Templates

Filmora’s video templates make it easy to create nice videos. With these templates, you can easily make a captivating intro or an engaging end screen. You make more money when you keep your audience interested.

2. Advanced Audio Editing

To create engaging content, you must have great audio. With Filmora’s audio tools, you can stretch, denoise, and duck audio to improve your videos. Having engaged viewers means you’re more likely to generate income from ads and sales.

3. Enhancing Your Videos with Video Effects

Using Wondershare Filmora, you can transform your ordinary videos into something extraordinary. There are a variety of effects available, such as overlays, filters, and transitions. Filters allow you to change your videos’ feel and appearance. With overlays, like glitch overlays, you can enhance your videos.

4. Color Correction

Wondershare Filmora’s color correction tool can make your videos much better. You can change the colors and mood of your videos with Filmora’s color options. To make your videos look more professional, you can adjust their brightness or darkness. Using vibrant colors can help you earn more and draw in more customers.

Conclusion

When it comes to making money from your passion, picking the right platform is crucial. This guide has shown the main differences between YouTube and Dailymotion monetization. With Wondershare Filmora, you can make the most money from both places.

YouTube is great for long videos, a big audience, and finding people naturally. Monetization Dailymotion is good for making money without needing as many subscribers.

If you put captions on your videos, more people will watch. Think of Filmora as a friend who helps you make money with fun, good videos. It’s like having a partner in making money from your videos.

Free Download Free Download Learn More

Part 1. Exploring YouTube and Dailymotion: Platforms for Creators

YouTube : What is it?

A three-person team, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, founded YouTube in 2005. Their goal is to create YouTube as a global platform for sharing videos. A huge $1.65 billion was paid by Google for buying YouTube. YouTube then became a more popular website with over two billion users every month.

Lots of creators, like makeup artists and gamers, make money on YouTube. With the platform, you can livestream, make money from your videos, and watch tons of user-made videos.

Dailymotion : What is it?

A French entrepreneur and an English entrepreneur founded Dailymotion in 2005. Dailymotion became one of the most popular video platforms in France and then Europe in just 1 year. You can upload and share videos on Dailymotion like on YouTube. There is a slight difference in their focus. Dailymotion’s content tends to be professional, while YouTube’s is user-made.

Dailymotion has over 300 million users every month. It’s accessible in 35 different languages. Also, for pro content, it offers features like “Motionmaker” to users and live streaming to creators.

The popularity and user base of YouTube and Dailymotion

YouTube’s user interface is very easy and simple to use. You can filter the results with date and popularity at the top bar of the website. You can watch YouTube without ads and gain access to YouTube analytics.

It’s cool to create your own channel on YouTube. It allows you to upload videos, customize your banner, and create a community.

It is easy to stream videos or share them with friends by creating playlists. YouTube and Dailymotion both have easy-to-use interfaces. You can customize your own channel, and it has categories and channels. YouTube has advanced playlist features, but Dailymotion does not.

It’s not all fun and games - YouTube has fewer ads than Dailymotion. A premium subscription to Dailymotion removes the ads and gives you access to other features.

Both Platforms have Different Content and Audiences

YouTube Content and Audience

Video content on YouTube ranges from cooking tips to music videos. It even offers live streaming concerts and mind-blowing documentaries. Gamer, beauty, sports, and learning enthusiasts will enjoy this channel.

YouTube allows you to upload 12-hour-long videos to increase your watch time. You can also share all types of experiences in the long video. Every day, 2.51 billion active users watch over one billion hours of content. Creators can showcase their work in high definition, up to 8K, on the platform, which is a major advantage. Mobile devices and smartphones also allow offline viewing of videos.

Dailymotion Content and Audience

There’s something special about Dailymotion. The site provides YouTube videos, animated shorts, music, documentaries, and TV shows. Although Dailymotion has upload limits, its videos are still of high quality, up to 1080p. There is a vibrant community of creators looking to connect with their audiences as well. There were 545.3 million visits to Dailymotion in April 2023, making it a strong competitor. Depending on your taste and the content you’re looking for, you can choose either.

Part 2. YouTube vs. Dailymotion Monetization: Unraveling the Key Differences

YouTube and Dailymotion monetization features and opportunities

It’s crucial for content creators to know which monetization options each platform offers. Let’s have a look at the monetization options available on YouTube and Dailymotion. It is possible to earn money from your content on both Dailymotion and YouTube. Dailymotion is easier to monetize, despite its broader and more sophisticated offering.

Programs and options for monetizing YouTube

There are many ways for YouTube creators to make money from their content. You can display video ads for sponsorships, AdSense payments, and merchandise sales. YouTube offers more monetization options and is more advanced than Dailymotion. The YouTube monetization rules can be tricky to meet for eligible accounts.

Programs and options for monetizaton Dailymotion

Creators can also monetize their content on Dailymotion. Dailymotion has fewer monetization options than YouTube. Unlike YouTube, Dailymotion allows creators to earn money through ads.

The Dailymotion Partner Program has made several French video creators extremely wealthy. The CPM is always low for video creators around the world, for whatever reason. Dailymotion Partners from France earn 3000 - 4000 euros per month. Global Partners withdraw the monthly least of $100.

Monetization Requirements and Earning Potential

YouTube’s YPP monetizes accounts with 1,000 subscribers and earns revenue through advertising. You’ll get 55% of the revenue generated by the ads shown during, before, and after your videos. It is also possible to charge channel memberships. For every 1,000 views, the average YouTuber makes about $18.

The Dailymotion Partner Program monetizes your videos. The least number of views you need to monetize your content is 1,000 (combined). One hour of watch time on the platform generates $57 in income, making it a great way to make money!

Choosing Between YouTube and Dailymotion Channel Monetization

Now that you’ve seen a YouTube vs. Dailymotion comparison, you are leaning toward one. Let’s dive into some key questions if you’re still not sure ( you can use both platforms ):

• Do you have a specific group in mind? It’s important to think about who your audience is.
• Are Your Videos Targeted? Do your videos match specific search queries?
• Video Length and Size: How long and big are your videos?
• Monetization: Want to make money? Consider your subscriber count.
• Privacy Control: How much control do you need over your content’s privacy?
• Analytics: Do you want detailed data on your video performance?

YouTube is your best bet if you want organic search traffic, a wide audience, and hefty videos. If you want privacy control, or if you want to monetize, Dailymotion shines.

Whatever you pick, remember to add captions to your videos. Transcription tools can help with that, making your content more accessible and engaging.

Part 3. Enhance Your Monetization Journey with Wondershare Filmora: A Video Editing Solution

Let’s take a look at a powerful tool to enhance your gaming experience. It’s Wondershare Filmora. Creating engaging and valuable videos is easy with Wondershare Filmora. An attractive user interface, a media library, and many useful features make it a great choice. A video tool that turns content creators’ vision into professional content. Filmora is perfect for YouTubers, filmmakers, and vloggers of all skill levels.

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

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Filmora Features for Monetization Magic

1.Creative Templates

Filmora’s video templates make it easy to create nice videos. With these templates, you can easily make a captivating intro or an engaging end screen. You make more money when you keep your audience interested.

2. Advanced Audio Editing

To create engaging content, you must have great audio. With Filmora’s audio tools, you can stretch, denoise, and duck audio to improve your videos. Having engaged viewers means you’re more likely to generate income from ads and sales.

3. Enhancing Your Videos with Video Effects

Using Wondershare Filmora, you can transform your ordinary videos into something extraordinary. There are a variety of effects available, such as overlays, filters, and transitions. Filters allow you to change your videos’ feel and appearance. With overlays, like glitch overlays, you can enhance your videos.

4. Color Correction

Wondershare Filmora’s color correction tool can make your videos much better. You can change the colors and mood of your videos with Filmora’s color options. To make your videos look more professional, you can adjust their brightness or darkness. Using vibrant colors can help you earn more and draw in more customers.

Conclusion

When it comes to making money from your passion, picking the right platform is crucial. This guide has shown the main differences between YouTube and Dailymotion monetization. With Wondershare Filmora, you can make the most money from both places.

YouTube is great for long videos, a big audience, and finding people naturally. Monetization Dailymotion is good for making money without needing as many subscribers.

If you put captions on your videos, more people will watch. Think of Filmora as a friend who helps you make money with fun, good videos. It’s like having a partner in making money from your videos.

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