My Virtual Training Setup - Video
Part 2 in a series
This is part 2 in my series of articles about how I’ve restructured my life and business to adapt to a world in which I no longer have to leave my basement office to make a living. In part 1, I talked about the audio equipment I use for my virtual live training and video tutorial recording. In this part, I’ll talk about my video setup.
Disclaimer
Because I’m talking about the equipment I use, there will be product mentions in these newsletters. If you click the links and buy any of these things, I may get some money. No one has asked me or paid me to endorse anything, and I personally bought everything I talk about here.
How I Learned this Stuff
My video setup at this point is better than it’s ever been, but it’s not perfect. As with my audio setup, my current choice of video equipment is the result of years of trial and error and several great recommendations from colleagues.
Choosing a Camera
I’ve been through a lot of different cameras over the years, including my phone camera, an iPad camera, the camera built into my laptop, a cheap digital SLR, and several webcams. Getting the right combination of simplicity and quality, plus the flexibility to mount it at a flattering angle, has been challenging. Until last year, I somehow always managed to look either purple or red on camera while I was teaching, depending on the time of day and, oddly enough, whether I had restarted my computer recently.
Today, I use an OBSBOT Tiny 2 Webcam 4k. It’s mounted on an adjustable camera stand that lets me position the camera a couple inches above the top of my monitor at eye level. This camera can track my movement, do auto-focus, and many other cool things. I don’t use any of the fancy features of it except the feature of the software that comes with it that allows me to set presets so it frames me correctly whether I’m sitting or standing.
My Virtual Camera
The video from my camera is routed into OBS Studio (Open Broadcaster Software), which is free software that handles all the jobs required to combine audio and video signals, add effects, and transition between different effects and sources. I use OBS Studio to do color correction, transitions, and backgrounds.
The combined output from OBS Studio creates a virtual camera that I set as my camera in Zoom or whatever video recording software I’m using at the time.
Behind me, I have a large green screen that pulls down from the ceiling. In front of me, I have a panel of buttons on a Stream Deck that controls different camera presets, and starts on-screen timers (for breaks).
Lighting
For lighting, I have light stands positioned at 10:00 and 2:00. The one on the right has a couple high wattage photography bulbs. The one on the right has a bright LED lamp. Both are daylight bulbs (5500K). The room has a couple other lights in it, but these are way overpowered by my photography lights and don’t affect my video.
How Does it Look?
Here’s a video of me (right now). Sorry about my disheveled appearance: I’m in writing mode today.
What’s it Cost?
Here’s how the cost of my current video equipment breaks down:
OBSBOT Tiny 2 Webcam 4k: $329 (currently $299)
Elgato Stream Deck MK.2: $129.99 (currently $129.99)
Green Screen: $95.90 (currently $101.90)
Camera Desk Mount Stand: $79.95 (currently $79.95)
Lights: $199 (currently $199)
My price: $753.89
What you’ll pay today: $809.94
Next week, I’ll talk about some other important tools and equipment I use for my online training.