The Buyers guide to...Best cameras for vlogging and streaming

Panasonic’s GH series of mirrorless cameras, like the Lumix GH5, have a good reputation amongst videographers and filmmakers. The G100 is designed as an entry-level video camera that’s also a capable stills-shooter.

Although it has a 3.5mm mic port, one of the key selling features of the G100 is the Ozo Audio technology that’s built in. This can be set to operate in different directions and in Tracking mode it works with the face detection system to follow the subject in the frame and keep the audio consistent. It works very well.

There’s also a good quality electronic viewfinder built-in along with a 3-inch vari-angle touchscreen.

Read our Panasonic Lumix G100 Review

The Sony ZV-1 is specifically designed with vlogging in mind. In a first for Sony, it has a vari-angle touchscreen that can be seen from in-front of the camera. There’s also an excellent mic built-in which can be covered by a bespoke windshield that comes in the box and can be slipped in to the camera’s hotshoe. There’s also a 3.5mm mic port if you want to use an external mic and with the right adapter, you can even connect an XLR mic via the hotshoe.

Its autofocus system is also excellent and the Eye AF and Product Showcase are especially useful for vlogging. Plus, Background Defocus and the Face Exposure Priority system help inexperienced videographers get the results they want.

Experienced vloggers will love the compact size of the ZV-1 as well as its high level of control along with the ability to shoot in S-Log3.

Read our Sony ZV-1 Review

The Nikon Z50 is a great little 20.88Mp APS-C format camera with a solid build and good feature set. Its control arrangement is also very good, combining buttons and dials with touch-control very well.

On the back of the Nikon Z50 there’s a 3.2–inch 1,040,000-dot touchscreen that can be tilted down to be visible from in front of the camera. It’s fine to have the screen under the camera if you’re hand-holding it, but if you’ve got the camera on a tripod or support, the screen is obscured. The solution is to buy the SmallRig Vlogging Mounting Plate for Nikon Z50 Camera LCN2525 which fits on the bottom of the camera and enables a tripod to be mounted off to the side. This neat unit is supplied as part of the Nikon Z50 Vlogger kit.

Read our Nikon Z50 Review: updated for Vlogging

Canon’s PowerShot G7 X Mark II was a big hit with vloggers but the Mark III has even more to offer. For instance, the PowerShot G7 X Mark III is capable of shooting 4K (3840 x 2160) video at 29.97 / 25fps without cropping. There’s also a 3.5mm mic jack and the HDMI mini port can supply a clean feed to external devices.

Further good news is that Canon has enabled live-streaming to YouTube when the camera is connected to a Wi-Fi network.

It’s also the first camera from Canon to feature a stacked sensor design. Paired with the Digic 8 processing engine, this enables a maximum shooting rate of 30fps.

Like the Mark II, the PowerShot G7 X Mark III has a 24-100mm f/1.8-2.8 lens and a flip-up screen that can be viewed from the front. This makes it an ideal camera for handheld vlogging.

Read our Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III Review

To get the bad news out of the way first, although the EOS M50 is 4K-enabled there’s an additional 1.6x crop factor applied to the framing in 4K mode and that’s not ideal for close-quarters filming. Also, the AF system reverts to contrast detection rather than the excellent phase detection system that operates in Full HD video mode.

Now to move on to the good news, the Canon M50 is an excellent camera for vloggers as its APS-C format sensor delivers high-quality video footage, the screen flips out to the side to give a clear view when you’re filming yourself and the AF system does a great job of keeping the focus on the subject. If you’re speaking to camera, you’ll see a reassuring square around your face to let you know you’re in focus.

With the 15-45mm kit lens mounted the M50 sits nicely in your hand and is easy to hold at arm’s length for fairly long periods. It’s also easy to use yet has advanced exposure options if you want to use them. Crucially, there’s also an audio-in port for connecting an external mic.

Read our Canon EOS M50 Review

Say what, a 360 camera on a list of the best cameras for vlogging? Trust us on this one. We’ve been filming with the GoPro Max since its launch in winter 2019, and we’ve been slowly falling in love with it.

For starters, the Max can shoot 360 video in 5.6K resolution at 30fps. This is actually 6K footage, but it renders at 5.6K after it is stitched in-camera. There’s an excellent Reframe feature, however, that allows you to pick any vantage point within your 360 footage and follow that as a standard-format movie.

You can also swap from 360 to Hero mode where the Max functions as an action camera using just one of its dual lenses – resolution here is limited to 1440p at 60fps or 1080p at 60fps, but the image quality is still superb.

The Max also supports HEVC video format, which produces smaller files while prioritising image quality.

For vloggers, the Max also lets you swap between lenses when filming in Hero mode. This means you can speak to the lens facing you, then swap to the other to show something off-screen. The Max also features six microphones built into its body to capture spherical audio, and you can prioritise audio from one side of the camera. This is very handy when delivering a monologue to the camera.

What’s more, the GoPro Max can livestream Full HD video just like the GoPro Hero8 Black.

Read our GoPro Max Review

GoPro’s latest action camera is the best on the market and makes a great all-rounder that gives you the option to record all of your most exciting adventures – whether that’s a simple walk in the park, kayaking down rapids, or carving through the Alps.

There’s a huge range of mounts and accessories, so whatever type of video you want to create, you can do it with it the Hero9 Black. It records in a variety of frame rates, including 5K at 30fps, 4K at 60fps, 2.7K at 120fps and Full-HD at 240fps. There’s also the superb HyperSmooth 3.0 stabilisation system that enables you to capture steady footage in extreme situations – even when mounted on a bike.

Further good news is that the GoPro Hero9 is waterproof without an extra housing, so you can pop it in your bag ready to record your next adventure, whatever that may be.

We found the battery can last for more than a couple of hours, but it’s worth having a spare or two for a full day of adventure.

The GoPro Hero9 produces great footage that you can edit on your computer or you phone, but it can also live-stream if you want to tell everyone what you’re up to straight away.

Read our GoPro Hero9 Black Review

DJI Osmo Pocket, the smallest, lightest and most impressive Osmo to date. It weighs just 116g and measures 121.9 x 36.9 x 28.6mm.

The 12Mp 1/2.3-inch CMOS camera is mounted on a 3-axis mechanical image stabilisation gimbal and it’s capable of capturing 4K video at 60fps. There’s also a series of intelligent shooting modes.

It’s a compact and robust device, and it comes with a Lightning and USB-C adaptor to connect a smartphone. This enables you to view images on a much larger screen than the one built-in to the Pocket. DJI’s free Mimo app also makes editing your video easy.

Movies are captured in MP4/Mov and stills are saved as JPEG, DNG or both. Files are stored on a MicroSD card of up to 256GB capacity.

The audio is decent when the noise reduction is turned off but there’s also a mic adaptor that takes things up a notch.

Read our DJI Osmo Pocket review

The world’s lightest DSLR with a fully articulating screen, the Canon EOS 250D (known as the Rebel SL3 in the US) is a good entry into the DSLR market. Videographers will enjoy the articulating screen, while buying into the Canon EOS system means compatibility with a huge range of accessories, including a vast swathe of different lenses.

Although the 250D / SL3 can shoot 4K video, the crop factor increases by an extra 1.5x so the widest point of the 18-55mm kit lens is effectively around 43mm. That’s a bit wide for vlogging at arm’s length, so you may need to add a wide-angle lens to your kit. The focusing also switches from the impressive phase detection system facilitated by the Dual Pixel CMOS AF sensor, to contrast detection which is a little slower. That may mean you want to stick to Full-HD video, but the camera produces great results at both resolutions.

There’s also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity which means you can connect the 250D to your smartphone to control it remotely and share your videos online.

Read our Canon EOS Rebel SL3 / EOS 250D Review

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III sits below the OM-D E-M1 Mark III in Olympus’s interchangeable lens camera lineup. It has a smaller body, which makes it a great choice for travel. It also produces nice images and the stabilisation system is incredible, enabling you to hand-hold the camera and get sharp images with exposures measured in whole seconds. In addition, it does a good job with video; although if you’re really serious about shooting moving images you might want to look at the Panasonic Lumix G90 which has a true Log mode.

Olympus has given the E-M5 Mark III the same 20.4Mp Live MOS sensor as the OM-D E-M1 Mark II. The processor is also listed as the same TruePic VIII engine, but Olympus tells us it’s been updated for a bit more oomph.

Like the OM-D E-M1 II, the OM-D E-M5 III has a 121-point (all cross-type) phase-detection autofocus (AF) system. There are also clever shooting options such as Live Composite, Live Time, Live Bulb, Focus Bracketing, Focus Stacking and a 50Mp High Res Shot mode.

As with its predecessor, the OM-D E-M5 II, the High-Res Shot mode is a tripod-only option. When this mode is activated, the E-M5 III shifts the imaging sensor by 0.5-pixel movements between 8 shots. These are then merged into one image that’s equivalent to 50Mp.

Olympus has upgraded the video capability of the OM-D E-M5 Mark III in comparison with the Mark II model. The new camera is capable of shooting C4K 24p video at up to 237Mbps or 4K 30p, 25p, 24p video at 30p 102Mbps.

What’s more, Full-HD video can be shot at up to 120p for slow-motion playback.

Read our buyer’s guide to the best Olympus cameras

Read our Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III Review

Panasonic decided to address some of the criticisms of its S1-series of full-frame mirrorless cameras with the S5 and made it significantly smaller and more affordable. In fact, the Panasonic S5 is smaller than the Micro Four Thirds Panasonic GH5.

Panasonic also completely reworked the S5’s autofocus algorithm to make it more responsive. That work paid off, making the S5 a good choice for general photography and videography, but it’s not quite as snappy as the phase-detection AF systems in cameras like the Canon EOS R6 and Sony A7 III.

The S5 is aimed at people who have started out as photographers and content creators and who want to create more video. Its headline video specification is that it can shoot 4K (3840×2160) footage in 4:2:2 and 10-bit LongGOP H.264 at 29.97/23.98p/25p. That’s when recording internally to an SD-type card.

It can shoot at that quality and resolution for up to 30 minutes, but if you drop to 4:2:0 8-bit 4K footage, it can record indefinitely until the memory cards are full.

In summary, the Panasonic Lumix S5 is a very nice all-rounder that captures attractive stills and video.

Read our Panasonic Lumix S5 Review

The Fujifilm X-S10 is the first in a new line of X-series cameras from Fujifilm. It’s aimed at experienced DSLR users who are looking to switch to a mirrorless camera but who don’t fancy the traditional exposure controls of models like the Fujifilm X-T4 and X-T3.

Consequently, the X-S10 has an exposure mode dial on its top-plate and although it’s compatible with Fujifilm lenses with an aperture ring, it has dual control dials to adjust exposure via the camera.

Inside the X-S10 there’s the same 26.1Mp APS-C format X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor as X-Processor 4 as is in the Fujifilm X-T4, which means it can capture the same quality images. It also means that the X-S10 has 425 individually selectable AF points available for use with its hybrid autofocus system – and it’s a snappy performer.

The X-S10 has in-body image stabilisation (IBIS) on board and it can deliver up to 6EV shutter speed compensation.

Naturally, Fujifilm’s Film Simulations modes are available for use, in fact, there are 18 on the X-S10, so you should always find an image style to suit your mood and the subject.

Further good news about the X-S10 is that its touchscreen is mounted on a vari-angle hinge, which makes it ideal for vlogging and shooting selfies. It can also shoot good-quality uncropped DCI 4K video (4096 x 2160) at 29.97/25/24/23.98fps. Internal recording maxes out at 8-bit 4:2:,0 but if there’s an external storage unit connected via HDMI it’s possible to record in 4:2:2 10-bit. A 3.5mm microphone port is built in and a USB-C adapter is included in the box to connect headphones.

You can find the Fujifilm X-S10 on Amazon UK and Amazon USA

Read our Fujifilm X-S10 Review