I thought I would make a post detailing all the equipment and stuff I have and use to make videos and content for the website as well for the socials. I will try keep it updated as I go and if you have any questions feel free to ask! By the way, most of these are affiliate links, which means if you purchase using these links, I’ll get a small commission. Thank you for supporting my content!

The home studio

Camera & Lens

Nikon z30 Mirrorless Camera

Stock lens Z mount (Nikon NIKKOR Z DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 VR Lens ) Lens

Nikon Zoom lens F mount (50-200mm f/4.5-6.3 VR Lens)

Nikon Prime lens F mount (35mm f/1.8)

FNZ II Mount adapter

microphones

Boya Microphone (Wireless)

Boya Microphone (Lav)

lighting

 Ring Light

The travel kit

Xiaomi phones

Mi8 

Redmi Note 10s

Action 360 camera

Insta 360 one X2 and selfie stick

Gimbal and tripods

Tripod

Small spider tripod

11 inch articulating magic arm

Slider skater camera stabilizer rail dolly car

Dji Osmo Mobile 3 Gimbal

Software I use for editing:

Da Vinci Resolve

Desk setup accessories

Keyboard:

Logitech K780 Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard

Mice & Trackpad

Left handed trackball mouse (wireless): 

Red Dragon Impact Mouse with shortcut keys

Trackpad (wireless)

Laptop

Surface Pro 8

Surface Pro Keyboard/Trackpad

Monitor & mount

27 inch Dell Monitor

Volkano monitor desk mount

Earphones

Xiaomi mi buds 4 pro

Behind The Scenes, My (Pretty) Basic Youtube Filming Setup (Beginner)

The is my old setup with old equipment, I have changed quite a few things since then. Updated video coming soon…

Nikon 35mm F1.8 Quick look & Distance Setup

My not so fancy or Youtube worthy WFH DESK SETUP

The is also my old setup with old desk equipment and accessories, I have changed quite a few things since then. Updated video coming soon…

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The post My Youtube Video Gear appeared first on FitNish.com.

Some individuals deal with the difficulties alone, while others require assistance. The good news is that you can help others believe in themselves and influence their lives positively. How? By producing engaging motivational videos.

Turn your words into visual material and dynamically motivate your audience. There are many ways to create a fantastic motivating video but you still need to follow a set of guidelines if you want to ensure that your video creates a massive impact.

So with that said, we bring to you 4 basic guidelines that can help you in crafting an appealing motivational videos using an online video editor or free and open source video editors that can be downloaded online.

5 Guidelines to Create Motivational Videos

1. Create a Concept

You probably know the answer, whether it is generating enthusiasm, promoting brands or opportunities, setting the tone for a major announcement, producing a credible marketing presentation that will enable you to buy in, belief in a new service or strategy, launching a new series or creating a vision for the organization, a motivational video goes a long way.

The vision is what can motivate the creative person. You need to create a concept that touches your viewers deeply and helps them connect with the intended message at a deeper level. Once you get the concept right, the video creation journey becomes a whole lot easier and more enjoyable, and you are able to provide a lot more direction to the filming and editing process.

2. Create a Script or storyboard

This is one of the most essential parts of production. If you will be doing a lot of the filming and voice overs, a script is ideal to give you a place to start from. Also, a small storyboard or at least a basic plan of the sequencing of the clips and voice overs is essential to keep the process as smooth and as efficient as possible.

By having everything planned out before anything’s created, helps save time and shooting effort. The script visualization or story board is essential to an effective production for an impactful film!

3. Incorporate Music

Music and sound is just as important as the video. It can establish the tone of the whole video, so be sure to keep this in mind. With that said, understand what sort of tone you want to convey and what emotions you want to convey at different parts of the video. Once this is established, music and sound can be identified and incorporated to highlight the emotions and tones at specific parts of the video.

Try to tie up your video transitions with the music and sounds to really make them have much more of an effect!

4. Shooting the Footage 

Shooting the video footage is a whole topic in itself and a whole article (or multiple articles) would be needed to address the filming aspect. Remember to have a storyboard first as it will greatly enhance your filming efficiency. Camera angles, steadiness, varying types of shots all come into play and should be thought of beforehand to know exactly what you are trying to convey.

The other option is to use clips from Youtube and piece them together with your chosen music. This way you can avoid having to actually film anything.

5. Editing your Motivational Video

When it comes to editing your video, there are many ways to go. From paid video editors to finding and using free and open source video editors. Adobe premier pro is always a good editor to start off with, but it does require a paid subscription. There are a number of free and open source editors available online, some easy to use and others not so easy. You can also use an online video editor, where you can even get some stock images and videos to use in your projects.

In the video below I decided to explain a bit about video editing, my experience and what sort of editing I have done up until now. I also switched from Adobe Premiere Pro and tried out 3 FREE and Open Source Video Editors to see how they compared. The 3 being Shotcut, Kdenlive and Olive video editor.

There are many online video editors around nowadays, which are great in the sense that no software has to be installed to your specific computer. You also get access to a wide range of templates to choose from and a whole lot of stock footage that can be amazingly helpful in producing engaging motivational videos!

Conclusion

There you have it, a few basic tips and techniques to help get you started on creating more meaningful and motivational videos. Hopefully they can help you. If you need any more tips be sure to check out some of the other videos we have created or do drop us a comment or message!

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Creating cinematic visuals doesn’t require an expensive camera setup anymore—your smartphone can be a powerful tool in your pocket. With the right framing, lighting, and intentional camera movements, you can capture sequences that feel polished and professional. Techniques like using natural light during golden hour, stabilizing your shots by bracing your phone or using a gimbal, and experimenting with slow-motion or wide-angle features all add depth and drama to everyday moments.

The key is planning your sequence with a story in mind—think about what you want your audience to feel and guide each shot toward that emotion.

Once you’ve captured your footage, the editing process ties it all together. This is where apps like a collage maker come in handy, not just for photos but also for creating engaging visuals that complement your cinematic sequence. You can stitch stills from your video into mood boards, behind-the-scenes collages, or even highlight reels that help your audience experience the creative process. Combining video storytelling with these visual aids makes your smartphone-shot sequence feel more intentional, engaging, and shareable.

Peter Lindgren shows just that in this behind the scene video of how he films a quick, cool upbeat fitness video with just his smartphone!

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Starting my YouTube channel was one of the most rewarding things I've done in the last couple of years. The feedback, support, and being so appreciated for doing something I think is fun is just awesomeness. I'm so glad that the community we're building is skyrocketing right now, over 6k subscribers which is more than I could even have thought of! Thank you! Also, this is a self portrait. #youtube #youtuber #vlogger #grassfields #photooftheday #sweden #goldenhour #sunset_pics #sunsetlover #sunset_hunter #sunset #sunrise_shotz #sonya7riii #sonyalphagang #sonya7iii #sonycamera #sony #shotzdelight #sonyshooters #sonymirrorless

A post shared by Peter (@peterlindgren1) on Jul 11, 2019 at 12:11pm PDT

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Never go landscape on Instagram they say… #nature #naturephotography #smartphonephotography #sweden #sweden #forest #forestlife #sonya7riii #sonyalphagang #sonya7iii #sonycamera #sony #shotzdelight #sonyshooters #sonymirrorless

A post shared by Peter (@peterlindgren1) on May 29, 2019 at 1:00pm PDT

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Melissa Kannigan is a vegan athlete who has competed in multiple ifbb competitions. She and I managed to put together a short video of some of her training that she did on the Umhlanga promenade in Durban.

For me, it was just really fun recording the video and putting it all together (I hope her having to train in the wind was just as fun :p ). We only managed to get a few small clips, as the wind on the day was quite strong and because of that we did not spend as much time as we would have wanted to, and get other shots that we had planned to. 

Check out the video below, oh and there may be a bit too much slo-motion in it, but I think it’s cool :p 

The video was shot entirely on the Xiaomi Mi8 smartphone #shoybymi 

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Throwback to braving the wind and breaking a sweat with @fitnish @fitnishmedia

A post shared by Melissa Kannigan 🅥 (@beyond_the_bikini) on Sep 5, 2019 at 5:48am PDT

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A little behind the scenes with @beyond_the_bikini captured by @marcellekannigan_ . . . #bts #xiaomi #mi8 #girlsthattrain #nevergiveup #work #motivation #BEMOTIVATED #gymmotivation #fitgirls #success #fitness #bestrong #fitnish #girlswholift #fitnessgirls #model #fitnessmotivationdaily #fitfluential

A post shared by FitNish.com Media (@fitnishmedia) on Sep 6, 2019 at 8:51am PDT

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@beyond_the_bikini Looking beyond… . . #photo #Durbanvibes #nikon #nikond3200 #d3200 #photography #Durban #umhlanga #ocean #beach #girlsthattrain #nevergiveup #work #motivation #BEMOTIVATED #gymmotivation #fitgirls #success #fitness #bestrong #fitnish #girlswholift #fitnessgirls #model #fitnessmotivationdaily #fitfluential

A post shared by FitNish.com Media (@fitnishmedia) on Sep 10, 2019 at 8:49am PDT

We also took a few cool shots on the beach just near the iconic pier in Umhlanga, Durban. Check out the FitNish Unsplash account for all the pictures!

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A touch of lighthouse with a glimpse of the stadium in the back . . #landscape #photo #Durbanvibes #nikon #nikond3200 #d3200 #photography #Durban #umhlanga #hotel #southafrica #lighthouse #beach #sand

A post shared by FitNish.com Media (@fitnishmedia) on Sep 13, 2019 at 10:48am PDT

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Aperture, Shutter speed and ISO.

The fundamental big 3 you NEED to know!

Photo credits:

• Photo by Isaac Benhesed on Unsplash
• Photo by Wahyu Setiawan on Unsplash
• Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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This gave me the impression that in order to make decent quality videos you need so many high tech cameras, which cost thousands of dollars, never mind rands! What I eventually came to realise, is that it really doesn’t matter what camera you use.

The only thing that you really need is one that records in decent quality such as HD 720p, but anything equal to or above that and you should be good. The great thing about this, is that most digital cameras and most phones (even the less expensive ones) can do that.

Once you have a bit of experience with creating videos then you can start getting into other settings like frames per seconds, ISO settings, different lenses and so on and so on. So if you have a digital camera or mobile phone that you can shoot HD 720p video with, an idea for a video and want to create videos, then you have more than enough tools to get going.

There are also many apps that can be downloaded to edit and put videos together; in ‘this post‘ I go into more detail on how I started with video editing and what software I use.

One of the first videos I made, I used a standard digital camera that I had at the time (nothing fancy), one of those ones similar to a Nikon coolpix (I can’t remember the name or model but I know it was a Samsung), and a Go pro that I borrowed from a friend. The go pro quality was really cool and it recorded in full HD at 1080p.

I also managed to borrow a basic camcorder from a friend to shoot videos like this one at competitions:

Then, eventually after some time of going back and forth I decided to get a ‘decent’ camera that I could start using. At this stage I knew a bit about DSLRs but I didn’t know much about how they worked or about the different lenses and functions. Most DSLRs were not in my budget anyway. So I had a look around and found one within my budget of +-R2000, the Sony h200. It looked pretty amazing and I was pretty excited to get going.

The Sony H200 is a basic digital camera with a fixed lens, that records up to 720p and had quite an impressive optical zoom. It recorded decent footage but the only problem was that it kept auto focusing when moving while recording. This was really not ideal for what I wanted.

I used the Sony to record this video:

So due to the constant auto focusing I decided to start using my phone, a Samsung S4 to record videos. I still use it at the moment to record a few videos. The video quality is still quite impressive and does the job, recording in full HD up to 1080p. It also records in slow motion and does time lapses.

I have done quite a few videos using it such as:

Then finally I got my hands on a DSLR, a Nikon D3200 with 2 lenses. It is an entry level DSLR but still a pretty good one to get started with. I currently use this in conjunction with the S4 when I make videos. The great thing about the DSLR is that you can manually set it up for every shot that you want, for example you can choose what to focus on and switch focus at the right time. You can also use different lenses depending on what you want to do, and it has a whole lot of settings that you can customize.

A cool video I did with just the DSLR was ‘Be awakened‘ with Francois:

So whatever you have at the moment, just give it a shot. Even if the video doesn’t come out as you want, it’s still a great learning experience for you. I hopefully will get a cool action camera next and maybe even a drone to try

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If you would like to see some of the videos I have made, check out this channel for Motivational Videos (which has over 2 million views woop woop), or this channel for reviews, tech stuff, lifestyle videos and training videos.

So a few years ago when I started this website and Youtube was getting popular, I saw many ‘bodybuilding motivational videos‘ and really wanted to make my own. So I decided, what the heck, let me see how I can do this. I googled a bit and found a free video editor, Videopad. It wasn’t the best editor and constantly froze on my laptop (probably an old laptop too) so that made it more difficult when trying to edit the finer details of the videos like lining them up with music and so on. I just started playing around in Videopad putting clips together with some music and that’s basically how I learnt.

I threw in every video effect and transition into the videos in the hopes of making it cooler! One of the first videos I put together like this was this one:

or this one, and I really cringe when I watch it as I see so many places that can be improved, but it’s all good, it helped me learn. Nowadays there are many video editors available, even free and open source ones as well as many really good online video editors that can be used without ever downloading or installing anything on your computer.

Many ‘motivation videos’ are put together with like a cookie cutter format. Random clips are basically just thrown together, some hardcore music is put in the background, and then a few common (Eric Thomas) quotes and speeches are thrown in the background and there you go. They’re either like that or they’re full of cleavage and booty and are called female motivation videos. So my motivation was to NOT do this.

No doubt some of the elements will always be in them, but I hoped to do them in a more tasteful and more powerful way. So for example, I try to use the dramatic effects of the music with the videos, so when the music hits a beat, the video changes to convey that beat even more, kind of like in a movie trailer. I also tried to find different people and quotes and also to include as many South African athletes/videos in them as I could.

So anyway, after using Videopad, I then managed to get a new editor called Cyberlink Powerdirector.
Initially I couldn’t afford it so I used the free trial. I downloaded it and used it for the 2 weeks trial (I think it was), did what I could and finished a video, and then repeated again when I needed to do the next video. Cyberlink is a really cool video editor and is quite simple to use, with a very friendly interface. I was still using an old laptop so I still had to deal with all the freezing and lagging while editing which was not the funnest but I made it through ?

With each video I did, I got better and better and the process became less time consuming as I knew my way around the software and I knew what I wanted to do and what was available to me so I was obviously much more efficient.

I then finally was able to get my hands on Adobe Premier Pro, which I had been eyeing for ages I still use that currently and also tried to do a few things in after effects, though that can become quite complicated but is very powerful. Premier pro took a bit of getting use to, and figuring what other features and components were available also took some time, but the lesson to be learnt is that everything takes time, and practice makes perfect. There really is no other way.

If I just look at the progression of the videos that I made, there is a huuuge difference between the first ones and the latest ones, and these span over a few years! I mean look at that first one from above, and then look at this video for example:

So if there’s something you want to do or try, just give it a go and start. Start small and practice, practice, practice. And most importantly enjoy it! ?

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