Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I thought I would take the time to put together a blog post on what I use to make my shaving videos on YouTube and how I use my smart phone to make these videos. So let's get started. Below is a shot of everything that I use to make a shave video in terms of equipment. I will give you all of the information on the equipment and where to get it and what it costs. I'm totally addicted to making shave videos:
First thing you will need is a mount and the one you see below you can get at Walmart for $20 U.S. Dollars. And it's been an exceptional mount with no issues:
It does come with adhesive backed metal plates that can be installed inside your phone's outer casing. I prefer just to go ahead to put the adhesive metal plate on the back up my phone since there's a 90% chance that they won't be reselling this phone when it comes time to upgrade. It did fall on me once and the only reason it did was because I did not take the time to wet the suction cup of the mount itself. Other than that one time while I was in the shower, it never falls:
The magnet is extremely strong and isn't going any where at all. In fact you have to use some strength to remove the phone from the magnet. You will definitely be able to tell and feel the power of the magnet. Trust me when I say that your phone isn't going any where unless the entire mount comes off:
Now for those who want to upload videos using memory cards, I have the perfect tool for you to use and it's extremely easy to do. Here's the link to this device but I do recommend spending the extra money for the better quality versions as mine isn't too good but it does still work: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PKZ0NZM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 :
You simply plug this device into your phone as shown below, select the "my files" option and then go down to the camera app that you used to record the video and select it. Then you highlight your video and hit the options button and hit copy. You will then be asked where you want to copy it to which is called "USB drive". That's where I copied the video to and I created a file name that uses the same name as my camera app to make it easier to find. You see when you plug this device into your phone with a micro SD card, all of your BASIC data is copied except for photos and videos. After you select which ones you want to copy, you can then simply remove the memory device and insert the memory device (memorycard, thumb drive etc.) into a computer or laptop and upload that way:
Now this device can use full size memory cards, micro SD cards, and USB thumb drives, but the model I have doesn't work to well at all with the full size memory cards and thumb drives but it does fine with micro SD cards. The thumb drive fits okay but I didn't get any results with it. And the full size memory card does NOT fit very well at all. Now there are adapters out there for those of you that use I Phones and I Pads plus there also some that are specifically made for those devices:
Audio is very important, but it can get expensive really quick as well and I have watched a ton of videos about this specific subject matter and have determined that more expensive is NOT always better. Rhode Microphones does make a smart phone microphone and they start at $60 U.S. Dollars for there lowest model. That is the best microphone you can get in terms build quality. However, the lapel microphone that you see below has beaten some of the best and most expensive microphones on the market today including Rhode Microphones themselves in terms of audio quality. You have seen and heard my videos both with and without this microphone and it does make a huge difference in the audio. Here's the link to this microphone: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074KJ1N3D/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 :
^ Not bad at all for $10 U.S. Dollars. The build quality isn't too good at all and the clip can break real easily but that's okay because I can always use a zip tie and if need be, I can always hot glue it to something if I need to clip it in place. Most of the time, I just plug it into my phone and let it hang down when I record:
Now that pretty much covers the equipment part of the equation. Now for the video recording and digital camera apps. Your smart phone does come with a very nice camera app but if you want a really good one that's extremely easy to use and does NOT contain a ton of ads, then I highly recommend the open camera app which can be seen below and here's the link to that app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera :
^ It's free and as I stated earlier, contains zero ads. And if you don't want to use a memory card to upload photos or videos, no problem. You can upload it to ANY social media app provided the videos aren't too long. Instagram has been the only social media app that I haven't been able to upload videos to because they are too long but I can go live and there would not be an issue except I have to use a different camera app which I don't like but photos and short videos are no problem. No issues so far on Twitter but I use strictly YouTube for the other platforms including face book. If you don't mind using video editing software and/or paying for a subscription to upload them in full HD, then this app is the best period and is extremely easy to use hands down: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyberlink.powerdirector.DRA140225_01 : It's alright and pretty simple to use, but it does have ads unless you get the full version and to be able to use the full HD option, you have to subscribe which I find to be ridiculous. Another thing that annoys me is the fact that you will see the app logo in the bottom right hand corner of all of your videos if you use this app to make them. It's plug and play and uses your phone's primary camera app. Uploading videos to YouTube is stupid slow and it's even slower to transfer it to a memory card using this app. That is one of the many reasons why I chose to get rid of it. But if you want to record 2 seperate videos and place them in one YouTube video, this app will definitely be a life saver for sure which I have used and done before. That's currently what I use to make YouTube videos with. I hope this helps answer some questions and makes things easier for you especially new guys whom are getting into the hobby. Take care and have a great night ladies and gentlemen.
