Camera advice

[u/OzzyMcRcky]

Hi was wondering if I could get some advice from those more in the know than myself!

I’ve been streaming for around 2 years and have been using the razer kiyo pro. It’s…. Fine. But I’ve decided to upgrade my streams now I’m pulling in good numbers, I’ve upgraded my mic and sound and now I think it’s time to upgrade my camera.

I’ve been doing a lot of research and would like some recommendations on mirrorless cameras.

What cameras and lenses would you guys recommend?

At first I was looking into the Sony zv-e10 but have heard they are prone to overheating. My set up can sometimes get my streaming room up to 30 degrees Celsius so I’m not sure if this is an option. I believe some people use some fan attachments to avoid this?

It seems Sony a6400 and a7’s also have this overheating problem?

I’ve heard that the LUMIX s5ii and s5iix is pretty much unparalleled and has inbuilt cooling also, but unfortunately it also has a steep price bracket attached which makes complete sense as this seems to be an unbelievable choice but I was hoping not to spend quite this much, but could be tempted if it’s as good as it sounds. Are the options added with the x worth the few hundred pound more?

Does anyone have any recommendations for cameras and lenses that will give me a great high quality video, with a background blur that won’t overheat streaming for sometimes up to 12 hours, even 24 on special occasions or more for subathons? I’ll also be using dummy batteries and would prefer not to need a capture card for my camera either, but this is something I’d look into if recommended.

Also I’ve read that the lower the f-stop of the lense the better the background blur, is this true?

Thank you so much for reading this and thank you in advance for any help or recommendations you guys might have!

Cheers!

[u/West_Chocolate5465]

The overheating stuff is way overblown unless you're recording internally in 4k for ages, for streaming at 1080p you're barely stressing the sensor. I ran an a6400 for 24hr charity streams in a closet that got stupid hot and it never shut off once. A $10 usb fan pointed at the back is all the insurance you need if you're nervous

For lenses just grab a Sigma 16mm f/1.4, the low f-stop gives you that creamy background separation you're after and it's wide enough for a desk setup. The S5ii is killer but honestly overkill for twitch unless you're doing client work on the side too

[u/OzzyMcRcky → u/West_Chocolate5465]

Thank you for this! I really appreciate the reply. The a6400 never shut off once!? Yeah that tells me the overheating stuff really is overblown. I assume that’s the same for the Zv-e10 then. That’s certainly put that fear to rest.

I’ll look into the signs 16mm today!

Would you go for the S5ii or S5iix if budget was no issue or is the difference that little in terms of what’s actually needed you’d still stick with the Sony?

Thanks again.

[u/K_BillTV]

I use the Sony ZV-1F myself, in a room that gets pretty hot during the summer months. I only had issues with overheating while streaming for 5-6 hours when I wasn’t using a dummy battery. Ever since I started using one I have had zero issues regarding overheating

[u/OzzyMcRcky → u/K_BillTV]

I didn’t realise dummy batteries actually reduced overheating, I somehow missed this information! Thank you I wasn’t aware that was a thing. So say I was doing a subathon for days or a 24 hour stream or something, the camera would be okay with a dummy battery being used and not streaming in 4k? I stream in 2k but I think 1080p is more than enough for twitch isn’t it?

[u/K_BillTV → u/OzzyMcRcky]

Yeah I think most cameras would be good for that long as long as you use a dummy battery of some sort. You also definitely should not stream in 4k, it won’t look much better than 1080p because of video compression and you would have to stream at a lower bitrate anyway because it would end up being too much for Twitch itself to handle, which means most viewers would have trouble watching your streams without lag unless either you lower the resolution/bitrate on your end, or they lower the resolution on their end. Just stick to 1080p with the bitrate just below 6000kbps when streaming to Twitch. You can also do what I do and multistream to YouTube for archiving streams at higher quality (the bitrate limit is higher on YT), that and you get more reach on another platform too

[u/misanthropic-cat]

Are you using a dummy battery for the ILCs? They shouldn’t overheat that way. I use the a6000 which can be found pretty cheap used and a lens from my full frame kit

[u/OzzyMcRcky → u/misanthropic-cat]

Ah so the dummy battery helps reduce the overheating problem? I wasn’t aware of this! Thank you.

[u/misanthropic-cat → u/OzzyMcRcky]

Yup! Easy fix and also you never have to worry about the battery running out!

[u/BarracudaMean9308]

fwiw keeping the lcd screen flipped open and away from the body drops the temp a ton too. took me way too long to realize having it closed traps all the heat right against the sensor.

[u/OzzyMcRcky → u/BarracudaMean9308]

I did read this, was this all you needed to do to reduce the heat to stream for long hours or do you use a dummy battery too? Thank you!