Vlogging is all about storytelling, and being able to create content on the go optimizes those storytelling opportunities. Time spent driving to locations is a great chance to record, but it can be a challenge to secure your camera while driving, and doing it safely. In this video, Sony Artisan and YouTuber Miguel Quiles provides a solution to recording vlogs while in a vehicle. Watch to learn how you can rig a camera like the Sony FX3 or a smartphone like the Sony Xperia 1 IV to create mobile content.

Learn how you can rig a camera like the Sony FX3 or a smartphone like the Sony Xperia 1 IV in your vehicle to create mobile content.

Quiles explains that when he travels to Vegas he often likes to skip out on the tourist attractions and head out to Red Rock Canyon to sit, think and take in everything around him. While driving around the area he explains how he’s recording steady video with his mobile vlogging rig. He has the Sony FX3 along with the Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II lens. “It’s a really good lens to be able to do this travel vlog style of video,” he says.

The mount he’s using inside the car to keep the Sony FX3 steady is made by a company called RigWheels. “It uses rare earth magnets to be able to mount to the top of your camera and also on the bottom, using your ¼-20 threads on the bottom and a magic arm. And then also on the top you’ve got a cold shoe adaptor that’s basically holding the camera steady on top. So you’ve got two points of contact, they keep the camera really nice and steady while you’re driving.”

Quiles explains that what is also nice about this setup is that if you have a Sony Xperia smartphone that’s compatible with the vlogging monitor kit, like the Xperia 1 IV or Xperia PRO-I, you’re able to connect the exact same rig onto the smartphone. Then you can use the vlogging monitor in the front to ensure you’re framed up properly.

Attached to the Sony FX3 and Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 G Master II, Quiles also likes to include a variable ND filter. “As I’m driving around I’m really trying to be aware and cognizant of the lighting and what it looks like,” he explains. “I make sure that if I’m changing my orientation of how I’m driving and a lot of sunlight is coming into the car. Like right now my hands are probably overexposed, so you might want to bring your ND filter and just kind of rotate it until you end up getting something that looks a little bit better. So that variable ND filter is really, really important when you’re vlogging on the go as well.”

Everyone knows that the audio quality of your vlog is also extremely important. If you have bad audio, you have a bad vlog. Quiles uses the Sony UWP-D27 Wireless Audio Package. “Let’s say you have two people that you’re driving in the car with and you want to get audio from both people at the same time, you can easily use that mic pack and it works really well.” If you have a camera cag with an additional mount, you might be able to use a shotgun microphone but Quiles recommends a lavalier microphone as the easiest way.

See more videos like this one on the Alpha Universe YouTube Channel.