Suddenly everybody is working from home and on video calls all the time. This has been my life for years (when I’m not on the road, that is), and because I’m also a video hobbyist, it might not come as a total surprise that I have slightly overdone my home office video seutp. I get questions about it from time to time, so I figured I’d finally put together the video I’ve been threatening to do for years.
And hey, how timely! We’re all working from home in the past month, with no clear idea for how much longer that will last. And because people at work often ask me about my setup, I figured I’d put together some tips for how to do video calls from home. It’s all in the video, but I suggest three phases of home office video setup development:
- Just use your laptop webcam, but face a window
- Get a ring light or a softbox
- Go completely insane
In the video, I promised a link to actual things you could order (as of the time of this writing), which I’ve given below. You might notice the jump between the cost of phase two and phase three is a lot of money, and, well, you’re right. There are varioius reasons why the middle ground is sparse here, and I may address them in a subsequent video. Just know that I’m not purposely overlooking a sensible middle ground. Video is funny this way.
PHASE ONE
- No purchase necessary—if you have windows and can work near them
PHASE TWO
- Ring light
- Low-cost softbox kit
- A better webcam? Honestly probably not.
PHASE THREE (do not attempt)
- Low-cost softbox kit (if you didn’t buy it in phase two)
- LED Panel for backlight and color splash
- Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K
- Voigtlander MFT 17.5mm f/0.95
- Magewell USB Capture HDMI for getting HDMI camera output into your computer
- Gel kit for backlight and background color
- Wall plate with 1 1/8” receiver for mounting the softbox to the ceiling
- Pipe clamp for mounting softbox to pipe
- Baby drop-down pin for positioning softbox on mount
- Baby pin wall plate for mounting LED panel to ceiling