With us not having our worship services and weekly devotion in the traditional way, we would want to provide an alternative option that will compensate for the experience that we used to have. In the height of online services, excellent live stream quality is a must. Besides the production value of it, the quality of the video must be on point. This can be achieved by investing in a camera that will suit your needs.
If you’re looking for the best camera for your church’s stream, you’ve come to the right place! We’ve listed down the top webcams and cameras that are suitable for your church’s live stream.
Webcams
One of the best cameras for streaming is this powerful webcam. Right now, we think Logitech C922 is the fittest. For someone who gets into streaming for the first time, or wants to upgrade from the webcam they already have, this is a great option. It clips conveniently onto the top of your TV or PC panel, or if you want to be more daring with your angles and framing, it can be mounted to a tripod. The camera shoots and streams live in 1080p Full HD resolution at 30fps. You can also use a ‘hyperfast’ mode for streaming 720p at 60fps.
With full HD video recording, one of the best webcams comes with integrated lighting. Lighting is a crucial component of video creation, and when streaming, you will want to ensure that your face is brightly and uniformly lit. To help accomplish this, you can invest in standalone lighting, but with the Razer Kiyo, which has its optimized light ring made up of 12 LEDs, you will be better off if you’re on a tighter budget. The golden ring surrounds the camera and can be calibrated with its brightness; the lights give an intensity of up to 10 Lux at a distance of one meter, with a color temperature of 5600K. The light can also help prevent your face from mirroring background reflections like your phone, as well as brightening your complexion, allowing for a more professional look. As for the camera itself, the Razer Kiyo streams at 30 frames per second at 1080p Full HD resolution (the gold standard for streaming at this price range), and there is also a 60fps at 720p option available. The Kiyo still clips neatly to the top of your PC monitor, but just a little larger than some other streaming cameras.
The Microsoft HD-3000 is the best streaming camera if you are on a tight budget. Microsoft’s HD-3000 proves you can have a good quality stream without having to spend the big bucks. This webcam is limited to 30 fps at 720p HD resolution, but that’s still high definition, and when viewed on a handheld device like a smartphone, it will be entirely appropriate. The camera provides automatic face tracking and low-light adjustment has an integrated microphone, and can be attached to all types of monitors. Finally, there is a manual focus option to ensure that the picture remains precisely the way you want it. We prefer this because in certain lighting conditions, autofocus may have a habit of being out-of-focus.
DSLR and Mirrorless
This compact camera is well priced and perfect if you’re ready to take your streaming to a new stage. It’s time to take a look at mirrorless or DSLR cameras if you’re streaming and want to upgrade your output quality seriously. The Panasonic Lumix G7 with a 14-42 mm lens is an excellent place to start. Your video quality would take a significant leap forward by using a ‘proper’ camera, and you can play around with the settings to add a blurred backdrop. The articulated monitor, which pops out and flips around to see what the camera is shooting when it is focused on you, is a key feature here. When it comes to setting up your shot, this will save you a lot of time, because you’ll see right away whether the exposure is incorrect or you have fallen out of focus.
Sony’s RX100 III (also known as RX100 Mark III or M3) offers you a big image sensor and a bright lens for excellent video quality even when your lighting isn’t the best. More significant than your phone, but still fits right in your pocket. It has a flip-up LCD screen so that you can see yourself when you shoot alone. This compact video camera has a clean HDMI performance, too, so if you output to an external recorder, encoder, or monitor, you don’t have camera settings and other details in your video. The RX100 M3 records in full HD, the best camera amongst those that offer simple point-and-shoot video.
A DSLR is a solid live streaming choice. The Canon EOS 80D is a brilliant camera that comes with a great program that anticipates your next steps and delivers great resolution experience. The 80D has a polycarbonate exterior and a magnesium composite shell, including a shell fixed against residue and dampness, making the unit’s total weight neither bulkier nor lighter.
Conclusion
The value of live streaming video quality should not be underestimated. The choice of your streaming equipment, however, often depends on your priorities and not only based on the sole pursuit of quality. You have to choose what would suit your needs, and we hope that this list could help you with that.
