Cameras & Creator Gear

Phone, action camera or mirrorless

A recent phone handles a lot of everyday content: short videos, vlogs in good light and social posts. It struggles with shallow depth of field, real optical zoom across the range, and low light with moving subjects.

An action camera suits sport, travel and motorbike or cycling footage. It is small, waterproof (often without a housing) and has strong electronic stabilisation, but its wide, small-sensor image is not built for portraits or dim interiors.

A mirrorless camera gives a larger sensor, interchangeable lenses and better control of background blur and low-light noise. For video, check the recording limits, whether it has a microphone input and headphone jack, and whether the screen flips to the front if you film yourself.

Lenses, sound and light

With mirrorless, you buy into a lens mount (Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z, Fujifilm X and others), so check the lenses available for that mount before choosing a body. A fast prime lens (wide aperture such as f/1.8) is an affordable way to improve low-light shots and background blur over a kit zoom.

Viewers forgive soft video more than poor audio. A clip-on lavalier or a wireless mic kit for talking to camera, or a shotgun mic on the camera, makes a larger difference than a new body. For indoor shoots, one soft key light placed to the side of your face improves results more than raising the ISO.

Memory cards and selling old gear

Buy the card type your camera's manual lists, and check its video speed class: V30 suits most 4K recording, while high-bitrate modes may need V60, V90 or CFexpress. Using a slower card can stop recording mid-clip. Keep a spare card and copy footage off regularly.

A working camera body, lens or action camera you no longer use can be traded in for Swap Credits or exchanged towards new gear at SwapMyTech, with doorstep verification in Bengaluru. Include the battery and charger, and format the card before you hand it over.