Casey Neistat is a YouTuber, producer, director and entrepreneur mostly know for his popular vlog series. Casey Neistat first gained international exposure in 2003 with his short film iPod’s Dirty Secret in which he criticized Apple’s lack of a battery replacement program for the iPod. The film was viewed over six million times in the first month of its release online, 3 years before Youtube launched.
On March 24, 2015 Casey Neistat started posting daily vlogs to his YouTube channel and uploaded his first vlog. At the time of uploading his first vlog Casey already had 520k subscribers on his youtube channel from his short films.
After starting to upload daily vlogs to youtube his channel quickly started growing and he reached 1 million subscribers on August 22, 2015. Doubling his subscriber base within 5 months of uploading his first vlog.
His vlogs quickly became popular on youtube reaching 3 million subscribers in just 10 months later.
Storytelling Above Camera Gear
As Casey Neistat explained in his guide to filmmaking, you really don’t have to own expensive camera equipment to make good videos.
Some of his most popular videos have been shot on budget cameras. His Bike Lanes video, that has been viewed over 17 million times, was shot on a Canon PowerShot 300 HS which you can buy for around 100 dollars.
Casey Neistat’s Camera Equipment
This is a list of all the equipment Casey Neistat currently uses to produce his videos and daily vlogs.
DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras
These cameras are mostly used for recording short movies or when he is recording in his studio, not so much for vlogging.
You can still use them for vlogging and Casey does every now and then but the size and weight make it more difficult.
Panasonic GH5
The main camera that Casey uses for his vlogs is the Panasonic GH5.
This camera is often used by popular youtubers because of its image quality, image stabilization and swivelling screen.
The GH5 also has incredibly fast and accurate autofocus and is able to record video in 4K Ultra HD in 60 frames per second
Sony a7S II
The Sony a7S II is the camera that is used for most of the studio shots (mail time, product reviews, build videos).
This camera is expensive but offers some of the best consumer-level video quality that money can buy at the moment. It is a full-frame camera with 5-axis image stabilization and incredibly fast Hybrid AutoFocus.
The a7S II is also the world’s first camera to offer internal 4K movie recording in the full-frame format with full pixel readout and no line skipping or pixel binning.
Canon EOS 70D
The Canon EOS 70D used to be Casey’s favorite camera and the camera he mainly used for his vlogs.
Casey has tried to use the newer Canon EOS 80D but soon went back to use the 70D as his main vlog camera.
Neistat had engineered his own vlog ‘contraption’ consisting of this camera, a Shure VP83 Lenshopper Microphone and Joby Gorillapod which we will go into more in their respective categories.
Point-and-Shoot Cameras
Casey uses three different ‘small’ point-and-shoot cameras. These cameras are significantly smaller than DSLR cameras with interchangeable lenses which makes them more portable.
These small point-and-shoot cameras are mostly used by Casey for daily vlogging.
Sony CyberShot RX100 V – New Camera
The Sony CyberShot RX100 V is Casey’s newest camera.
Although the camera is very small it’s incredibly powerful which is probably why Casey uses it as his main vlogging camera. The camera has world’s fastest hybrid AutoFocus system (0.05 sec) and shoots beautiful 4K video footage.
The screen can be flipped 180 degrees to the front so you can see yourself while recording.
Sony a6500 – Old Camera
Before switching over to the RX100 Mark V listed above, Casey used this Sony a6500. The video quality of these two cameras are pretty similar so most YouTube viewers won’t notice the difference between these two.
The a6500 is slightly more expensive but has some advantages over the RX100 V. It is a mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses and the microphones are on the front of the body. This improves the sound quality and picks up less background noise. The camera screen can not be flipped to the front which is a huge downside for any vlogger.
Canon G7 X Mark II – Small Camera
The third small camera that Casey uses is the Canon G7 X Mark II.
Although the camera has gotten less use recently as it’s mostly been replaced by the two Sony cameras listed above it’s still a great portable camera for (beginning) vloggers.
The camera shoots in Full HD 1080p at 60 frames per second, has a flip screen and is also a lot cheaper than the other cameras used by Casey.
Camera Lenses
To use with his cameras Casey has a couple of different lenses for different types of situations and lighting. Casey, like most vloggers, mainly uses wide-angle lenses.
Using a wide-angle lens in your vlogs can help capture more of the environment behind you which adds an extra dimension to your vlogs.
Sony 10-18mm Wide-Angle Zoom Lens
The first he lens uses is the Sony 10-18mm wide-angle zoom lens. This is a wide-angle zoom lens and has a maximum aperture of F4.
The minimum focal length is 10mm and the minimum focus distance is 0.82 ft (0.25 m) with a maximum magnification ratio of 0.1x. The lens also has built-in Optical SteadyShot image stabilization.
The low minimum focus distance and built-in optical image stabilization make this a great lens for vloggers with an interchangeable lens camera.
Canon EF-S 10-18mm IS STM Lens
The second lens that Casey uses is the Canon EF-S 10-18mm Lens.
This ultra-wide zoom lens has a 10-18mm focal length and a maximum aperture of 1:45-5.6.
The closest focusing distance is 0.72 ft. / 0.22 m. which is great for vlogging. The stepping motor helps with noise-free video shooting and the lens also has optical image stabilization built-in.
This is a great lens for vloggers with a Canon DSLR camera.
Canon EF-S 10-22MM Lens
The third camera lens that Casey uses is the Canon EF-S 10-22mm Lens.
This wide-angle zoom lens has a maximum aperture of f/3.5-4.5 for EOS DSLR cameras.
The lens has great AutoFocus performance and speed with full-time manual focus with the turn of a ring.
The closest focusing distance is 9.5 inches (24 cm) which is great for vloggers.
Panasonic 7-14mm Lens
Last but not least is this Panasonic 7-14mm lens that Casey uses with his Panasonic GH5.
This lens has a focal length of 7-14mm or 14-28mm equivalent on micro four thirds camera.
Image stabilization is available via the camera body and the lens has a minimum focus distance of 25cm/9.84-inch which makes this a great lens for vlogging.
Microphones
Shure VP83 LensHopper Microphone
To capture the best possible audio and better filter out unwanted background noise Casey uses this Shure VP83 microphone.
This microphone is highly directional so it only picks up sound from the intended sound source while it rejects unwanted noise coming from other sound sources.
It is also immune from unwanted audio artefacts from cell phones and has an integrated shock mounting system to prevent vibration and mechanical noise from disrupting your videos.
Rode VideoMic Pro
The second microphone that Casey uses is the VideoMic Pro by Rode.
Rode is a popular microphone brand among YouTubers and Vloggers because it’s easy to use and captures great audio.
The VideoMic Pro is very compact (150mm/6″ length) and ultra light (85g/3oz) which makes it the perfect microphone for a portable vlogging setup.
Tripod
Casey also uses some tripods in the production of his videos. Casey was one of the first vloggers to use the GorillaPod tripod in his vlogging rig and many vloggers quickly followed suit.
Joby GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead X bundle
To complete his ‘vlog contraption’ Casey uses this Joby GorillaPod to mount his camera on.
The Joby GorillaPod is used mostly as a kind of selfie stick since it’s easier to hold than the camera and also places the camera further away from his face while vlogging which makes the shots more dynamic.
The GorillaPod can also be bent which makes it a versatile tripod that can hold onto fences or railings.
Joby Ballhead
If you want to be able to adjust the angle of the camera on the Joby GorillaPod you will also need the ballhead mount so you cant tilt and pan the camera in almost every direction.
The BallHead also has a locking adjustment knob if you want to lock the ballhead into place and a built-in bubble level for more precision.
This ballhead is not just limited to the gorillapod. It can also be used with any tripod with the 1/4″ screw and 3/8″ adapter.
Drone
Casey incorporates a lot of drone shots into his videos. Which drone he uses for those shots depends on the situation.
If he needs a drone that can easily be carried around he usually opts for a foldable drone. In other situations where video quality matters more he picks a bigger drone such as the Phantom 4.
DJI Phantom 4
Casey Neistat uses a lot of drone footage in his vlogs showing cool scenery and overview shots. The drone Casey mainly uses to record these shots is the DJI Phantom 4.
The DJI phantom 4 is a camera drone that is able to capture in 4K Ultra HD at 30 frames per second and has Gimbal Stabilization Technology to capture steady and smooth video footage.
Before picking up the Phantom 4 he used the Phantom 3. The price of the Phantom 3 has dropped significantly since which makes it one of the best drones for beginners.
DJI Mavic Pro
When Casey is on-the-go and needs a drone that’s more portable and easily fits in his backpack, he uses the DJI Mavic Pro or the GoPro Karma (listed below).
The Mavic Pro folds down to the size of a water bottle and has 4.3 miles (7km) of transmission range. The drone has a top speed of 40mph (64kph) and the battery lasts up to 27-minutes. It also has features like ActiveTrack and TapFly to create stabilized 4K/Ultra HD footage effortlessly.
GoPro Karma
The second portable drone Casey uses is the GoPro Karma. The Karma has a harness for your GoPro Hero5 camera so you can use your GoPro Hero 5 as your drone camera.
The stabilizer of this drone is also modular and slides out of the drone for use as a normal GoPro gimbal.
Overall the DJI Mavic Pro and GoPro Karma are very similar. The Mavic Pro has a bit more ‘flying power’ but the Karma’s modularity is also very convenient.
Action Cameras
GoPro Hero 6
For more action oriented shots where the DSLR is too bulky to carry, likely to break or difficult to mount Casey uses a GoPro Hero 6 Black.
This GoPro records in up to 4K resolution but can also do cool slow motion shots at a lower resolution.
You can also use this camera for time lapses since the GoPro has a wide lens which can record wide shots of the area.
GoPole Scenelapse 360-Degree Time-Lapse
Casey also regularly incorporates time lapses into his videos.
To make the time lapses even more interesting Casey uses a GoPole Scenelapse.
This small device spins 360 degrees in 60 minutes with your (GoPro) camera mounted to the device.
This results in a dynamic time-lapse with lots of movement that is very interesting to watch.
Of course, if you want to record time lapses in a fixed position you won’t need this device and you only need a GoPro camera.
360 Cameras
Every so often, Casey produces a 360 degree video. To create these kind of videos you need to have a special 360 degree video camera.
Samsung Gear 360
Casey Neistat teamed up with Samsung to visit the Oscars which he filmed completely in 360 degrees.
To shoot this video Casey used a prototype of the Samsung Gear 360 Camera which he highly recommends and has used in more videos.
The Gear 360 is a lightweight, compact 360 degree video camera that is both dust and water-resistant. The lenses are made of tempered glass to prevent lens scratches.
Overall this is a great 360 camera that can be used in almost any situation.
Rico Theta S
The second camera that Casey uses for 360 videos is the Rico Theta S.
However, after partnering up with Samsung this camera took a back seat and Casey mainly used the Gear 360 (listed above).
The Rico Theta S is capable of recording 360 videos up to 25 minutes in length and has a live view function on your mobile device.
The video format is also directly supported by YouTube and videos can easily be transferred to your mobile device without needing a computer.
Laptop and editing software
Apple Macbook Pro 15″
For editing the vlogs Neistat uses a 2018 15-inch Macbook Pro.
He used to use his Mac Pro for editing but that computer wasn’t fast enough anymore after years without updates.
The editing software Casey uses is Final Cut Pro.
If you are not familiar with Final Cut Pro X you can download a free trial version of Apple’s website and try it out for your own videos.
Transportation
Boosted Board
Casey lives and works in New York city where it’s very difficult to get around by car or to find a parking space.
To get around this problem Casey uses an electric skateboard called a boosted board.
This electric skateboard has a 7 mile range, weighs only 13.5 pounds and has a top speed of up to 22 mph.
Vlog Music
If you regularly watch Casey Neistat’s vlogs you know that he often uses music in his vlogs and a lot of subscribers wonder how he finds the music he uses in his videos.
The answer is it usually gets sent to him from unknown music producers who want to use Casey’s videos to generate more exposure for their work.
Chances are your youtube channel is not nearly as big as Casey’s so you don’t get e-mails from music producers asking you to use their music in your videos.
If you want to use similar music in your vlogs as Casey you can head to Soundcloud and search for music in the ‘headbob’ sub-genre. This is a subgenre that has a certain vibe to it that fits vlogs very well. Once you find a song you like you can contact the uploader and ask permission to use the music in your vlog.
We have also written an article with other ways to easily find vlog music to make this process easier.
Follow Casey Neistat
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/caseyneistat
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/caseyneistat
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caseyneistat/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cneistat
Last update on 2024-11-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API. Our editors may earn a small commission if products are purchased via our external partner links.
