How to completely over-engineer your home video setup

Who knew a global pandemic would force change?

(See: “2 years of Digital Transformation in 2 years - Microsoft”)

I work a decent number of hours from home (even prior to COVID-19). My team is mostly in San Francisco and my stakeholders are spread across 20 countries from India to New Zealand, so I also spend a lot of time on video calls. 

At the same time I run a small soft-skills consulting and training business, and it too has been forced into 100% digital delivery. 

With those dynamics at play, last month I finally put some effort into upgrading my home video and audio setup for live video, virtual meetings and recorded content.

There’s a good chance you’ve probably had your fair share of video calls in the last couple of months, too. It goes without saying, nobody enjoys listening to crackling audio, trying to make out who that silhouette is against a comically bright window, or looking up a nostril as someone’s overly close face towers through the screen. 

While the setup I’m about to describe is no doubt excessive for most, I’ve been asked by several people to share and figured I would post it publicly for those interested. 

Before we get into it, I want to make a couple of points absolutely clear: 

1. No amount of veneer can hide a lack of value. Content remains king, so you can’t host a bad meeting or remain unengaged and hope nice lighting, a sharp image and clear audio will magically fix everything. 
2. The fundamentals are more important than the exact gear. You can get 80% of the way with a few smart changes that don’t require significant investment. I’ll share some of those throughout. 
3. Some of my choices are more expensive, but are driven out of convenience. A key part of this setup is reducing all of the friction necessary to turn on and record/stream. 

With all of that out of the way, my current setup looks like this: 

This has allowed me to stop appearing like this: 

And instead, appear like this:

As you can see, it’s a significant upgrade. Not only does it look more professional, the background no longer distracts.

I share the space with my wife (illustrator & artist: see her work here) and this is about as good (read: clean ??) as it gets, so a nice blurred background is certainly welcome, too. 

There’s also an equal (if not more important) upgrade to audio quality with the addition of the external microphone options. I’m running a shotgun mic directly to the camera, but for longer sessions or recorded audio and screen-recordings I’ll switch to the mic on the arm that you can see in the first picture. 

With all of that said, if you’re looking to do something similar, let’s start with a generic gear list: 

1. Mirrorless camera/SLR with clean HDMI out
2. External Mic
3. External lights
4. Capture card
5. External power source and/or dummy battery
6. Micro-HDMI to HDMI cable
7. USB-C to USB-C cable
8. Mount and/or tripod

The summary

The camera outputs a video feed (inc. audio) via HDMI into a capture card. The capture card sends that feed (via USB) to the computer by tricking into thinking it's a webcam. In your meeting software of choice (Teams, Zoom, Webex etc) your camera then shows in a list of available camera sources. The lights are externally managed. 

In detail

The Camera

I use a Sony A7III mirrorless camera with a Sony 28mm f/2 lens (for a nice wide-angle and shallow depth of field). I would not buy this camera just to act as a webcam — its primary purpose is as a camera for photography/videography as well as capturing photos and videos of my kids. 

When looking for a camera the most important thing is to make sure that it has a ‘clean HDMI out’, which means it can be set to pass only the camera image rather the image plus all of the other text and icons on the screen at the back. Maybe you already have a suitable camera at home — if it works, that’s definitely the first choice! 

Given the choice between investing in a camera or lens, I'd pick a great lens with a shallow depth of field over a better camera, every day of the week.

Common options include the Sony A5100/A6300/6400. You could also consider a GoPro.

Capturing the video feed

The real bit of magic in all of this is the capture card. The most popular product on the market is the Elgato Cam Link (shown below) or the Elgato HD60 (popular with game streamers). I happen to use a J5Create JVA04. 

It’s not particularly important what option you choose, but make sure your choice is “UVC” compatible—this is the feature that makes it appear just like a webcam on your PC or Mac. 

Most cameras have a Micro-HDMI port, so the cable between your camera to capture card will likely be Micro-HDMI to HDMI.

You’ll then need a USB cable from the Capture Card to your computer—choose the appropriate ports depending on what's on your computer. 

Note: At the time of writing capture cards are a hot commodity and sold out in many places. Those that are in stock are charging obscene amounts. If you’re not in a rush, I’d wait. 

Stepping up the audio

For the most part I use a Rode VideoMic Pro that sits on my camera. It plugs directly into the microphone port on the camera and that audio signal is passed on along with the video, in sync. 

You don’t need to use a shotgun mic and you certainly don’t need spend a lot of money here. Plenty of options will be a significant upgrade to the internal mic on your computer (unless you have the current 16” MacBook Pro, in which case those microphones are impressive, all things considered). Update: I now have this computer and use the internal mic most often in internal meetings.

In many cases just switching to the mic on your headphones or an external headset is all you need to do. 

I find upgrading the audio to be a major improvement to how you show up and deliver virtually. The presence and warmth of a dedicated mic gives the respect to your content that it deserves. 

Powering your camera

As you can imagine, streaming video from the camera for long periods will drain the internal battery quickly. You can get a ‘dummy battery’ that provides continuous mains power, however, some cameras can be powered directly with USB, which is how I have mine configured. 

Positioning your camera 

The simplest solution here is a tripod, so if you have one at home, I would start there. I’ve setup my camera using articulating mounts, a small ballhead, and a clamp that attaches to my monitor arm. Whatever works for you. 

The ideal position is eye height or slightly above, so elevation is key! 

Configuring your software

When I first researched this setup I was under the impression it would require some sort of software trickery and complex settings—it doesn’t. 

All you need to do is open your conferencing software of choice and in the settings choose the right audio/video sources. In most cases, your camera will appear as the name of your capture card. 

You can see my settings below in Microsoft Teams. 

Lighting

I chose to go with Elgato Keylight products. They mount to my desk and have controllable colour temperature settings from 2900k (warm/orange) to 7000k (cool/blue). Natural daylight sits around the 5500k mark, so often I start there and adjust it until it feels right. 

The other reason I like these lights is that they can be adjusted directly from the computer or my phone. 

A common alternative used by YouTuber's and streamers are LED ring lights. There are a lot of options and I don’t have any experience with them, so I won’t mention any by name. 

Before you run out and order lights though, oftentimes natural light is all you need. The difference between terrible lighting and fantastic lighting might just 90o of rotation. 

In general, you want a primary (“key”) light hitting from slight above and somewhat off-centre. If that light can be diffused with something such as a sheer curtain, great! 

You might supplement with a lamp on the desk sitting off to the side, this will help minimise any strong shadows from being cast across half of your face. 

In conclusion

I’m well aware this is not for everyone and requires some expenditure. For someone who makes a living showing up on screen, this was a worthwhile investment (related: thank you instant asset write-off!).

That said, you can still take some of the fundamentals: camera position, consideration for light angles and a non in-computer mic and make a huge upgrade to your video conferences and videos. 

Hopefully, this will help those that are interested in improving their virtual meetings game. If you have questions or want feedback on potential hardware, leave a comment and let me know. 

If you’ve done something similar I’d also love to see your setup!