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This is all of our equipment used to produce cooking shows and hands only short cooking videos. For our live streaming equipment, check out this post.
Kitchen Studio Set Up Artificial Light Photography Set Up
Camera Bodies and Lenses
PHOTOGRAPHY: Canon 5DS or Canon 5D MarkIV
This is a great camera for the serious photographer. It provides excellent quality photographs with a high amount of detail. It also has 4k video capabilities, though 1080 is still recommended for ease of editing. Auto focus is still limited for video, as with most DSLRs, but the image quality is excellent.
100mm Macro Lens
This lens is great for macro photography. It has a fixed focal point and does not zoom, but gives an incredible image quality for up-close photography where detail is required. This lens is great for up close videography, but another lens will be required for almost all videography situations.
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM Lens
This is a great versatile lens that is great for use with both video and photography.
MID-RANGE VIDEO: Sony Mirrorless A6300
This camera may have the most bang for your buck. It takes fairly good photos, but the video capabilities on this camera are incredible for the price. This camera has the ability to shoot in 4k, but 1080 is still recommended in most situations for ease of editing. It has the ability to shoot with manual settings, has excellent autofocus, and has built in capabilities to be able to cast to TVs, phones, computers, and tablets to use as external monitors.
E PZ 18-105mm f/4 G OSS Lens
This lens offers a great amount of versatility with a great picture. This is a great standard starter lens to get you going with your Sony mirrorless camera.
ADVANCED VIDEO: Blackmagic Ursa Mini
This camera is quite advanced and has a steep learning curve. It works with Canon lenses and provides an insanely crisp image. The thing that sets it apart from most other cameras is its dynamic range for whites. You are able to shoot powdered sugar, flour, and salt together in a bowl and be able to distinguish each one clearly. None of the other cameras listed here are able to do that with such detail. You will need a lot of accessories for this camera as well (batteries, special memory cards, and an incredible amount of storage space for uploading large file sizes for the footage).
Lighting Equipment
Studio Soft Boxes
This is a great starter package for lighting equipment. Be sure to use high wattage LED daylight bulbs in the boxes for the best quality. The light is well diffused, but you will require shooting at a higher ISO than you might desire. The price is so low that you might be willing to make the sacrifice in brightness.
LED Lighting
This is great lighting at a very reasonable price. The brightness is adjustable and you can even buy versions where the color is adjustable as well. The barn doors allow you to control the direction of the lighting. This lighting can be quite harsh and I highly recommend using several layers of diffuse material in order to soften the light.
“Dome Light” – continuous artificial lighting for photography and videography
Pair this Aputure Light Dome with the Aputure Light Storm for an incredibly soft, diffused lighting effect that comes very close to mimicking natural light. This is great for beauty face shots, as well as a natural light effect for macro videography. I call it my dome light. I use this light for both my photography and videography for “hero shots” as well as use it as the keylight for my cooking show videos.
Audio Recording
Entry Level Set Up
Pair a Sony ECMCS3 Clip style Omnidirectional Stereo Microphone with a Zoom H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder for a great, easy to use starter kit that will have fairly good audio. This set up only works for one source sound.
Mid Range Set Up
Zoom H6 can record up to 6 microphones at the same time.
Sennheiser SEEW112PG3A 112-p G3 Camera-Mount Wireless Microphone System with ME 2 Lavalier Mic.
Tripods
If you are looking for a versatile tripod the Alta 263AP offers an overhead arm extension which keeps tripod legs out of the way for easy overhead shooting. Or, the head tilts straight down so you can avoid the bounce of an arm extension and shoot straight down directly from the tripod head.
MONOSTAND
If you are looking for the most advanced luxury for filming video and have the capability to store this massive and heavy piece of equipment, you can order a Monopod through B&H. They are a custom order and you’ll need to order accessories based on the camera you plan on using with it. B&H customer assistance can help you determine this.
Cinematography
Slider
This motorized slider camera dolly track is a great entry level option into motorized sliders. It isn’t perfectly smooth, but for the price, it does a great job.
Stabilizer
This hand held stabilizer keeps your camera smooth while you move around.
OTHER EQUIPMENT
Acoustic Foam
Many kitchens have an echo. In order to minimize this echo we have acoustic foam glued to our ceiling and placed in strategic spots around the kitchen (like counters) to minimize the echo.
Ceiling Mount
We use a Manfrotto Skyrail system in our studio to mount our lights to the ceiling.