Recommendation for Vlogging Camera under $500

[Dionysus18]

I am looking for a good budget vlogging camera. I have done extensive googling. I found these :

#1.Sony DSCHX80/B
#2.Sony a5100 Mirrorless
#3.Canon EOS M10
#4.Canon PowerShot G9 X Mark II
#5.Canon PowerShot SX730

I am having a tough time choosing according to my preferences. Main priorities :
Autofocus, Stabilization. My channel will be focussed on video essays on science topics but I'll do some outdoor shooting as well. It'll be really helpful if someone recommends a good budget camera. I am completely new to this, so I am having trouble choosing. As far as video quality is concerned, I'm okay with not shooting in 4K.

 

[Dacaur]

I'm curious how exactly you came up with that list.... Anyway, I'm bored so I looked them all up, and in order here is my opinion on which would be best... Really it comes down to 1 or 2 vs 3 or 4, mirrorless DSLR vs bridge.

m100 (updated m10) $400
A5100 $550
Sx740 (just a few $$more than sx730) $400
Dschx80 $368
G9 x mk2 (wouldn't even consider this one) $468

1 and 2. The cannon and Sony mirrorless DSLR's have pretty close to the same specs, but the Canon is $150 cheaper and has digital video stabilization

2 and 3. Again,p close for a few bucks more than the sx730, you can get the sx740, which does do 4k video, making it the only one that can do that.

Now, the upside of the bridge cameras is their huge zoom, nearly 1000mm for the Canon, and 720mm for the Sony, and optical image stabilization. The downside is the mirrorless dslr's image sensors are 10x bigger, which means better looking pictures and better low light performance...

In the end, any of them will be great for vlogging, so you really need to decide how far into photography you might want to get... You will get better pictures with the mirrorless dslr's, but you would need to spend more money to get close to the same zoom. I upgraded from a bridge camera to a DSLR a bit over a year ago. I have an 18-55 and 55-200 lense, plus a 50mm lense. I could neve get pictures as good from my old camera, even with extra zoom, as I get now with my DSLR, but that's only because I have been striving to learn to take better pictures.

 

[Dave442]

All I can say is: Camera Conspiracies, re: "All I want is the perfect 'vlogging' camera".

 

[VidThreeNorth]

I am probably posting this too late, but I just found the question:

The Sony a5100 is a far superior camera to any of the Canons you listed. I think it is probably better than the other Sony, but I don't know that camera. It has the sensor of the a6000 which means it has Hybrid-Autofocus. If you buy the stabilized lenses, then you have that as well. It also has a particularly good display compared to other cameras near its price.

But the biggest advantage is the XAVC-S codec. This is a 50 mbps version of MPEG-4. To put this in perspective, low end UHD (often called 4K) is around 60 mbps. You can chose lower quality levels too, but you will find the higher quality quite nice. Moreover, it has sufficient controls to support your abilities if you take the time to learn video. In particular, it has controls for contrast, sharpening and saturation, which some lower end cameras do not have.

Also, one thing that I have not checked on is that it might even have 4:2:2 chroma sub-sampling through HDMI. The a6000 had this, but I never did check whether the a5100 did as well.

 

[ZiyueXiao]

I am probably posting this too late, but I just found the question:

The Sony a5100 is a far superior camera to any of the Canons you listed. I think it is probably better than the other Sony, but I don't know that camera. It has the sensor of the a6000 which means it has Hybrid-Autofocus. If you buy the stabilized lenses, then you have that as well. It also has a particularly good display compared to other cameras near its price.

But the biggest advantage is the XAVC-S codec. This is a 50 mbps version of MPEG-4. To put this in perspective, low end UHD (often called 4K) is around 60 mbps. You can chose lower quality levels too, but you will find the higher quality quite nice. Moreover, it has sufficient controls to support your abilities if you take the time to learn video. In particular, it has controls for contrast, sharpening and saturation, which some lower end cameras do not have.

Also, one thing that I have not checked on is that it might even have 4:2:2 chroma sub-sampling through HDMI. The a6000 had this, but I never did check whether the a5100 did as well.

Thanks for your evaluations. I think I'm getting one!

 

[ZiyueXiao]

Also I‘ve found the AKASO action camera perfect for outdoor vlogging on Indiegogo. Its size is small as a keychain and can be attached anywhere. It supports 4K/30fs video shooting. Does anyone have ideas about its quality? I want to back this campaign but is hesitant about if it is reliable.