Camera recommendation

[limber hill]

I’m wanting to start a reaction channel, my only issue is I’m not sure what camera to get. Either the Sony a6400 or the M50 mark II. The only issue with the cannon Mark 50 is the 30 minute recording limit which the Sony camera doesn’t have. I was talking with a friend and he recommended to record within in my pc using the cannon M50 software and then to record the video with my obs software. Then I can put them together. Now for the question does the a6400 have the same perk? If not then the choice is obvious, but will the canon still have the 30 minute limit if I record within the software in my pc? (If it’s even possible) he wasn’t sure if it could do thought I’d get more opinions.

[graceful widget]

I wanna make this clear, I don't know much about cameras, especially video cameras. However, I can say I would recommend using a webcam instead with decent lighting, I use an elgato facecam, it records in 1080p60 which is all you really need for YouTube. It's only $170 and has enough settings to where even in a dark environment, the camera looks great. From there you'll just want (maybe not need) some studio lights to help brighten your face. I used to do some stuff for a photo shoot studio and know basics about lighting. I currently only use one umbrella and one splash light, but I have 2 of each for when I need it. Elgato also makes lights that you can control the color and brightness of if you want, but it's not needed. Otherwise I can't entirely help with cameras themselves. I was gonna go with a camera for videos, but the convenience of a webcam is honestly just so much better since I don't have to charge batteries, worry about data space, run times, or try and sync up the screen, audio, and webcam. I use OBS for everything and just parse it out during recording. There's ways to record your facecam and screen at the same time on OBS without having it overlay.

[limber hill]

Wait really!? That's insane I actually like that idea better! I didn't even know you can record the camera and the video without the overlay. What lights do you have?

[graceful widget]

I have no idea, I bought a set of 4 lights, green screen, white screen, and black screen from walmart for like $70 or something. I think the brand is Kehios or Kenios. As for the recording of a facecam, you basically record all of your videos as a 3840x1080 so then you can fit two 1920x1080 videos side by side. In the editor you then crop, layer, and position as you like. There's tutorials on youtube if you need to see exact details

[glass loom]

You live in a European country right? Do you intent on using the camera for multiple purposes?

[lone ridge]

The Sony is definitely the better option, no doubt. I would advise against recording with OBS as the quality will be much better with the internal recording options. While it doesn't have a recording limit, you might run into overheating issues tho.

Webcams are terrible and there is no amount of lighting that will make them look even comparable to a decent camera. It's like using a shopping cart in a formula 1 race. Sure they both technically roll on wheels but that's about it. Not saying that lighting isn't important, quite the opposite but you can have good lighting for cheap while you can't have good camera for it

[graceful widget]

No offense but you’re 100% wrong about Webcams. You should try using actual good Webcams before judging them all. We used to use Webcams for online school in our videos (hot garbage, what a shock) and we’re debating getting real cameras. We opted for the elgato Webcam and it’s amazing. It has tons of toning settings, and looks pretty good even without proper lighting. My friend used to use minimal lighting and it still looks pretty good, where I use studio lights and it looks like an actual camera. Webcams have come much further than you think. However I definitely wouldn’t recommend a webcam if you’re doing video where you show primarily your face, rather than like reaction/gaming videos

[lone ridge]

Yeah, no... You should try some actually good real cameras before claiming something like that. Every time a new "dslr killer" webcam comes out, I check it out (some I even try out personally) and I always come to the same conclusion. Nothing you do will ever beat physics. A smaller sensor is simply unable to keep up with bigger ones that can capture more data/detail. After your praising recommendation of the elgato facecam, I took another look at it and no, it's nowhere near the quality of a real camera. It looks like decent 1080p footage from phones from 5 years ago in decent lighting imo. Super lacking in details, the colors look awful and the dynamic range is mediocre while the image is pretty over sharpened. Phones have this camera easily beat. And since even the best smartphones have worse quality than some real cameras from 15 years ago, it's not really a competition between modern cameras and webcams. Also, are we gonna ignore the fact that real cameras have aperture control, either removable lens or a variable focal lengths built in one and most importantly they are not fixed focus?!... Sure the facecam is better than a gopro for streaming but it's not better than any mirrorless.

[graceful widget]

I didn’t call it a dslr killer, but you’re taking actual proof and saying “nah never.” The elgato uses the same settings as a real camera, and while yes a real camera would look better, you’re doing YouTube. If you’re not raking in the money from YouTube to justify an $800-$1600 purchase on a camera, it’s a waste of money. An elgato is like $160-$180 or whatever it is now and works perfect. You’re clearly stuck in the past when it comes to webcams, because not everything looks like a Logitech school laptop camera. You can watch my videos, the color balancing is good, it’s not white washed, and it looks 1000 times better than when I had my old $50 Logitech webcam. Streamers use the elgato all the time, and it’s becoming increasingly rare to see youtubers use actual cameras anymore for videos dealing with gaming/reactions. I’ve used good cameras, webcams, and Camcorders, I’ve tried them all. My webcam is easier to use, don’t have to worry about data limits, batteries dying, file transfers, syncing, or anything else. All I have to complain about with my elgato is that when I record and the game takes the power of god to try and run, my webcam lags in obs, but that’s a hardware issue caused by the game needing Zeus to run the game smoothly when trying to load, not the webcam. You should watch actual tech videos on the elgato, it’s a good webcam to go with, idk if it’s the best on the market or anything, but if you’re trying to start YouTube and you’re not doing vlogs, cooking, or face dedicated videos, it’s way better to start with because your cost is lower and is easier to use with good quality. I was gonna buy a new dlsr for YouTube, but after watching tons of videos, reading tons of blogs, and doing my own research for months I found the webcam to be better, especially for the price point and not spending a ton of money on a channel that mag or may not succeed

[lone ridge]

I didn't claim that you called it a dslr killer, but it's often the way these webcams are being marketed. What actual proof do you want? You want me to go out of my way and buy one, get a budget mirrorless camera too, spend several hours to shoot a dynamic range and detail test with both just to prove something that's clearly visible if you look at it? The elgato simply doesn't use the same settings as a real camera either as you have pointed out later saying it's much easier to use in your opinion than a real camera. It doesn't have aperture control, focus control, zoom, standardized color profiles or log mod, physical shutter, any kind of input (microphone for example), video codecs, etc.
I'm not stuck in the past about webcam, and I never said that a new webcam isn't better than one from 5 years ago. Sure they are getting better (and bigger... because again physics is hard to beat) but they are not getting better than or in the same class as a real camera. I cannot think of a youtuber or streamer that I watch (big or small) who uses a webcam. It's not impossible to prove they are more popular tho with statistics just like it's very likely that more people take photos with their phones now than they did 10 years ago. It's a matter of accessibility. If something is cheap and easier to get into, more people will use it. More popular doesn't mean better. It's just cheaper so more people can have it. And there is nothing wrong with that but that's not a proof of quality.
I would be curious to know your extent of experience with cameras you have used and claim are good given that you started this tread saying you don't know much about cameras.
BTW, camcorders are trash, they have been dead for the last decade so no-one is saying they are a worthy upgrade from a webcam.

Again, claiming it's easier to use (in your opinion) isn't a measure of quality, it's a lack of experience with more complicated cameras. I for example find webcams to be much more tedious to use than real cameras. Because with them, once you know what you are doing, everything is super easy to set up and change. Physical buttons go a long way when you have to adjust settings that fit different shots. For most of the work I do, as far as camera settings are concerned, it's as little as turning two rings and hitting a record button.
All the things you "have to worry about" with cameras can be eliminated. Data limits - Plug it into a computer like you would with a webcam (btw your computer also has a data limit...), batteries dying - plug it into an outlet, file transfers - same as with data limits, syncing - plug the mic into the camera or spend the 5 seconds it takes for the auto sync in most video editors to do it's job.
The reason why cameras cost more than webcams is mostly because of what you pointed out about their faults. They don't have on board processing so you are at the mercy of your computer while cameras can process the video (and save it) internally.

I watched actual tech videos on the elgato but if you have anyone specific in mind, I'd be happy to check them out.
I never said that it was a bad webcam but it's just that. A webcam. And I agree, it's passable if all you want to use it for is a small facecam window over your gameplay footage. But as soon as you want something more than that, it falls apart and doesn't have the same flexibility that cameras offer. You can't take it outside, you can't record with it without a pc, you can't shoot b-roll with it, you can't run it off battery, you can't plug a mic into it, you can't even change the focus on it. For a singular purpose device it works. But when you take into account how much more you can do with a camera and how much better it does them, the reason for the price difference becomes obvious.
OP was asking for camera recommendations, clearly being okay with spending some money on it. They wanted to know what is better out of two cameras yet you recommended a clear downgrade from that. And sure, if it's just a hobby than it's a harder to justify purchase but that's always up to the individual to decide. Claiming to just simply buy a webcam in the given price range shows clear lack of experience and camera knowledge which you admitted in the first line of your comment saying this : "I wanna make this clear, I don't know much about cameras, especially video cameras." And they made no indication as to what type of content they are trying to make with said camera so a webcam is just not a flexible recommendation.

[graceful widget]

Dude you're points are all invalid about the camera. Who needs audio input to a FACECAM when you're using OBS to record? You're using your pc mic. You're ignoring the fact that I said several times that you should only use a facecam for GAMING and REACTION channels. IF you are doing VLOGS and stuff like that, use an actual camera. When I did a vlog I wasn't walking around with an elgato, laptop, and condenser mic. Why would I (or others) spend more than $160 to only gets further downsides with not enough upsides. While the elgato doesn't have the exact same settings as a real camera, it has the ones that matter. I has ISO, shutter speed, temprature, noise reduction, anti-flicker, contrast, saturation, zoom, sharpness, and whatever metering is. You act like YouTube is the same as movie/tv production and that you need everything possible to be good. My friend started with a $20 webcam and his light source was a monitor with a white image on it. Like that is almost as budget as you can get, yet we still got decent success for starting a channel with that low budget stuff. And I know that the guy was asking for camera recommendations, but clearly they seemed shocked with the new wave of facecam recording happening, then you proceeded to just say its terrible and that you need to spend $800 for a camera just to start a channel. Like I said, I've used DLSR and I do like those cameras. My favorite pass time is taking nature pictures, and I use my DLSR over anything else, but I also understand a time and place to use such equipment. My personal camera is meant for pictures so I would need a new one for recording, but then I need battery packs, I need to charge them, and for some reason a mic? On top of that OP even said they liked the idea better, so why try and tell them to get an even more expensive piece of equipment? A webcam is a fraction of the price for like 3/4th the quality. It's not trying to replace cameras, it makes it easier for people to use with good quality

[lone ridge]

Okay, this is my last reply on this thread as it seems you are reading someone else's comments given all the things you claim I have said but didn't, while ignoring the majority of what I say and picking out sentence fragments to respond to.
I brought up audio inputs as a way of avoiding syncing which you were so worried about when using a camera yet it doesn't bother you for some reason when it comes to OBS. (even though you can use a real camera with OBS...) Also, I can think of other scenarios when an audio input becomes useful like when you are starting out and you can only buy a mic without a sound mixer/sound card. Like when you want to plug in an xlr mic into a computer (you know the mic input that's been around for decades and super easy to come by and has a huge used market of cheap mics) and you can just use a camera's input instead of a dedicated device?!
I'm not ignoring the fact that you said they should be only used for gaming and reactions, quite the contrary, I believe we obviously agree on that. But since OP made no mention of their use case for the camera which can mean anything else too, and you said about the elgato it's "all you really need for YouTube" I thought it was important to clarify it might not be all you need for youtube unlike you originally stated without knowing their use case.

I disagree that for more money you "only gets further downsides with not enough upsides" but that's a matter of opinion. If it doesn't give you value, that's okay don't buy one. But you weren't the one asking for recommendations.
"While the elgato doesn't have the exact same settings as a real camera, it has the ones that matter. " - Strongly disagree, it doesn't have the ones that truly matter but I have already mentioned those. ISO is basically just a fake number based on how much voltage you give the sensor (all cameras have a base ISO, everything else is just boosting a signal which results in more noise), the shutter in it is electronic (which is fine btw, just saying), temperature is good to have but should really have tint control too, noise reduction is just software, contrast-saturation mean nothing for the camera as they can be changed in post and isn't something specific to the facecam, there isn't zoom in the camera it's just a digital crop, sharpness again is just an image profile value and has nothing to do with the camera (you can literally change it in OBS too). Most of these "features" are so basic I can't even begin to describe it.

I never said that youtube is the same as movie production nor did I say you need everything to be good. I never claimed that you need to spend $800 to start a channel either. I said that compared to cameras, webcams are a terrible option especially considering you don't know what they want to use it for and just told them it doesn't matter as a webcam is just as good as a camera. If they had said it was specifically for gaming videos then I wouldn't have said that but I didn't make an assumption and comparatively they are still a worse option it just happens to be good enough for that specific purpose for most people. (still not for everyone)
DSLRs are pretty much dead outside of some professional photo shoots as they are a worse option than mirrorless cameras for most things. I love DSLRs for their reliability and rugged construction but they are outdated in most other aspects. So if that's what you are basing your quality measurements on, I'm not very surprised that you think webcams and cameras are close in image quality. I don't know why you'd need a new one for recording along with a battery pack but whatever, I'm not even questioning that at this point.

[graceful widget]

"I’m wanting to start a reaction channel" In OP's first sentance. They said it's used for reaction videos. Maybe read the question fully before making a claim they didn't say what it was used for.

"...avoiding syncing...yet it doesn't bother you for some reason when it comes to OBS...." Use OBS. You clearly haven't before because there is zero syncing required when using OBS. Don't know where you got that idea from, but I've never once had to sync audio with video.

"...only buy a mic without a sound mixer/sound card..." I started out with a headset mic. Sniping Soup (1 Million subs +) uses a headset mic for his channel. I personally use an interface system with an XLR mic because I do a lot of music and I like the quality of it, even though headset mics are pretty banger nowadays.

As for the settings, I wasn't saying its god tier, but that's all that matters for some gaming/reaction videos. How important is it that my shirt is the true shade of blue and not slightly too bright. Makeup videos depend on that a bit more since ya know, it's makeup, but the worst thing that happens is I'm slightly less white or my shirt is slightly more red than in real life.

"It looks like decent 1080p footage from phones from 5 years ago" You said that elgato looks like a phone camera from 5 years ago. I previously brought that up and you took at as you never said it before, so I just wanted to remind you of this.

And for the last time, I have repeatedly said that this is for gaming/reaction channels. You keep bringing up that the cameras are better for other aspects and even said "...want me to go out of my way and buy one, get a budget mirrorless camera too, spend several hours to shoot a dynamic range and detail test with both..." when you don't need to do several hours of shoots of your face for a gaming video. You're in the wrong genre to being climbing up this hill. I already agreed that actual cameras are better for literally anything else.

[fervent fjord]

listen to this guy @limber hill