Here’s a more thorough run-down of my VR180 vlogging load-out. Starting off with my mandos:

Essentials:

1. Vuze XR Camera (discontinued, but can find on ebay)

I’m not gonna lie to you, this camera kinda sucks. BUT, it’s more affordable than most other VR180 camera options, if you can find it (read: discontinued). And even if you’re able to find it, Vuze stopped supporting the product so getting the Vuze XR studio software might be a pain to track down. This camera is awful at low light, so you need as much light as possible to get a decent capture. Also, the Vuze xr can only do 60fps at 4k, but does go up to 5k 30fps which you can up-sample to 60fps if you have the software.

If you’re able to get your hands on the Vuze studio app, it’s actually pretty good for what it is. As is the mobile app… when it connects. The mobile app is finicky AF when it comes to connecting, and even when it does connect, enjoy it while it lasts!

There’s so many things to hate and few things to love about this camera… but with the industry so lacking in decent and affordable consumer-grade vr180 cameras, you gotta make do with what you can find till the industry catches up. But honestly, ANY VR180 CAMERA YOU CAN FIND WILL DO if you’re just trying to learn composition and editing. It can be as bad or even worse than mine and you can still make some decent content once you learn VR180 videography. So go ahead and pull the trigger on a cheap and shitty vr180 camera, cause you might as well go cheap while you’re still learning.

2. Ulanzi mini tripod

I bought this (and stuck with it) for a few reasons:

• It’s compact
• Has a quick-release plate
• Can extend… a little bit

Honestly if there’s something else out there that can extend more and is as-compact as this, go ahead and just buy that instead. This one has serviced me well though and is one of my mando pieces of gear when I go shooting.

3. Ulanzi Super Clamp

Yeah the Amazon algorithm really got me subscribed to Ulanzi products. This lil clamp is pretty great for sticking your camera to poles, tables, edges, anything really. The clamp itself is sturdy and can open pretty wide. I keep an Ulanzi hummingbird quickplate attached to it (which you need to buy separately) so that I can hot swap between the super clamp and the mini tripod quickly. Speaking of…

4. Ulanzi Hummingbird quickplate

Thank GOODNESS they sell the exact same quickplate as what comes on the mini-tripod. I got like, 3 or 4 of these things for various mounting options.

5. Bubble levelers

You’ll notice on the base of my Vuze (which is the wide quickplate base that the Ulanzi tripod comes with) I superglued a lil bubble leveler. You wanna keep your camera as level as possible at all times while shooting, so this is VITAL. I got various other levelers depending on the tripod i’m using, or whatever mounting solution I’m using at the time.

The rest of these are additional gear that I’ll sometimes bring, depending on the location and what I’m tryna go for.

Swappable extras:

6. Moman pocket LED panel + Phone holder

If you can afford it, don’t buy this. I got this a while ago before pocket COLORED led lights were as affordable as they are now. But that being said…

If you’re on a budget and don’t care about colored lighting, this thing is actually pretty great. This lil beast is BRIGHT bright. It has bi-color LEDs, so you can choose between cool or warm light temperatures. It has tripod mounts on it, decent battery, and is even magnetic! I also got a tripod-phone adapter that has an Ulanzi hummingbird quickplate on it so I can fast swap the light or the vuze camera into place. I don’t always use this exact phone-holder depicted in the photo; I actually got a bunch of these. They just keep throwing them in with other gear that I be buying and now I got 3 of these floating around.

7. Anker power bank + 12ft charge cables

The Vuze XR’s battery only lasts like, 3 hours or so (if that). If you know you’ll be shooting all day, then remember to ABC: Always Be Charging. But just remember that recording while charging can overheat the Vuze XR, leading to a shut down. So be strategic about when you keep the camera connected.

Also, 12 foot (3.6m) charge cables are life-changing. Throw away all your 6ft joints.

8. A bigger monopod

So obviously that mini tripod won’t get you very far if you don’t have tables and high platforms to set it on. When I know I’m gonna be out and about where there may not be high surfaces like that, then I’ll bring out my bigger joint. The main reason why I don’t bring it everywhere with me is simply cause of how cumbersome it can be to carry one, even if it’s collapsable. I mainly like to carry everything in a small side-bag if possible, thus my monopod gets deprioritized.

Also, I’m not linking or showing my actual monopod because I don’t actually like it all that much. It’s useful and necessary, but if I could do it over again, I’d get one with a better ball head. The wide tripod base is nice though.

9. Bongo ties

These come like, 20 in a bag, but honestly you only need about 2 or 3. They’re good for just attaching stuff to poles or whatever and when you don’t have tape. It’s just a good thing to have. I always keep one in every sidebag I got.

10. An extra phone (this is a OnePlus)

This is honestly overkill. But hey, we’re going for the nice-to-haves. I got this phone off my cousin for free and I use it as a dedicated monitor for my Vuze xr. The Vuze smartphone app allows you to not only change the camera’s settings, and allow for remote controlling, but it also allows you to monitor your live feed (albeit delayed by a second or two). This is also the reason why I bring a phone holder (#6) in case I wanna mount my “monitor” to something. Sure, it doesn’t beat live-viewing in an actual VR headset, but it can get you pretty close because…

11. Macom VR viewer

The Vuze XR app features a phone-in-the-box style of viewing on the smartphone. So if you got an old Google Cardboard, you can actualy bring it out of retirement! I threw all of mine away so I got this one cause it’s foldable. Is it worth it? I’d say… meh. It really doesn’t compare to an actual VR headset and you really don’t get a good sense of what the real FOV is like with phone-in-box VR… but it’s at least something.