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The Best Live Stream Camera Settings for Ecamm Live

Sep 02, 2022

Best Live Stream Settings for Ecamm Live Using the Sony ZV-E10

The secret to good-looking video content is the right camera setting. 

Are you curious to know the camera setting I used with Ecamm Live? 

Ecamm Live is my go-to tool for livestreaming and creating my content, not just for YouTube videos, but also for my social media content. 

If you haven't tried it yet, I highly encourage you to try it and experience its amazing features.

Click here for a 2-Month free trial of Ecamm Live! Use the code Diana2MOS as you register. 

In this post, I am going to show and guide you on some of the best camera settings that you need for video if you'll be doing live shows using a Zoom app or Google meet, or even just recording a regular video. 

I used the Sony ZV-E10 in this tutorial, but you can follow along with whatever camera that you have. 

Let’s dive in. 

 

 

Video Recording Setup

Go to the second tab of your camera setting’s first page. 

 

 

Go to Record Setting tab.

Choose your frame rate and file format.

In this tutorial, I used the 30fps for my frame rate and 1080p for the file format but if you’re using a 4k capture card, feel free to select the 4K option.

Gently press the shutter button to go back to your main home screen.

 

 

How to Set up the Shutter Speed

The Shutter Speed is the fraction-looking number you see on your camera screen. It can be 1/30, 1/40, 1/50, or higher. 

If you turn the back dial button on your camera, you’ll notice that the shutter speed will begin to change. 

 

 

How to calculate your Shutter Speed?

The shutter speed is connected to your frame rate

You need to pick your frame rate first, then multiply it by 2 to get the shutter speed that is best for your video. 

Since we chose the 30 frames per second, we will set the shutter speed to 1/60. 

 

 

Do you want to know more about Shutter Speed?

If you heard about Shutter Speed for the first time, I have an in-depth tutorial for you to understand more about the use of Shutter speed, how to set it up, and why it is important for video.

Click here to learn more. 

 

How to Set up the Aperture

The Aperture is the number that you see on your camera screen with the letter “F”.

It can be a whole or a decimal number. Examples are f1.8, f12, or f16.

The top dial button on your camera is used to set the Aperture

 

 

The Aperture will dictate if you’ll be going to have a blurry background.

The lower the Aperture, the blurrier the background is.

Your Aperture will depend on the lens that you use and not on your camera. 

In this tutorial, I used the Sigma 16 mm lens.

With this lens, you can choose a high or low Aperture. I used the f1.4 Aperture. 

Do you want to get a blurry background on your video? 

I also did an in-depth tutorial that will walk you through how to set up the Aperture.

If you want to learn more about Aperture and what lens you need to use to achieve a blurry background, click here. 

 

How to Set up the ISO

The next thing that you need to set on your camera is your ISO

ISO deals with the light sensitivity of your video.

To set the ISO, press the right directional button on your camera. 

 

 

Scroll through the numbers until you find the best ISO setting for your skin tone. 

A great way to figure out the right ISO setting for your video is to use your palm.

Hold your palm up facing your camera while scrolling through your ISO options.

When you've selected the right ISO, you should be able to see clearly the defined details of your palm. It should not be too dark and not too bright.

By doing this, you can also avoid having hot spots, especially on your face.

Hot spots are too bright areas in your video. 

 

 

Another thing that can help you set the right ISO for your video is the Multi-metering Setting

Multi-metering is the number at the bottom of your screen that comes with the letter “MM”.

It will also help you determine whether your video is too bright or too dark. 

The higher the multi-metering is, the brighter your video will be. 

If we set the ISO to 640, the multi-metering will be set to +1.7.

This means that your setting is too bright. 

 

 

If we set the ISO to 200, you’ll get a multi-metering of +0.7. 

If you set the ISO to 160, you’ll get a multi-metering of +0.3. 

Multi-metering +0.3 or +0.7 is just right for your video. It will not be too bright or too dark.

 

Are the Shutter Speed, the ISO, and the Aperture Connected? 

Yes! The Shutter Speed, the Aperture, and the ISO are the three factors that made up the Exposure Triangle. 

The Exposure Triangle will help you achieve a good-looking video. 

This information can be overwhelming if you are new to creating videos. 

I highly encourage you to take some time to learn and understand how you can leverage these settings to create good-looking videos consistently. 

If you want to learn more about the Exposure Triangle, I did a tutorial that will walk you through how to set the Exposure Triangle using the Shutter Speed, the ISO, and the Aperture

You can watch the full tutorial here

 

How to Set Up The White Balance

Another setting that you need to pay attention to when it comes to video is the White Balance

The White Balance setting helps your camera to provide accurate colors based on the temperature of the lighting in your recording environment. 

It will help you set the overall look of your image in a normal and natural way. 

 

Priority Set in AWB Setting

AWB stands for Automatic White Balance

This setting allows your camera to choose the color temperature that will work best for your video.

But sometimes, AWB won't work the way it should.

Take a look at this image. 

 

 

This image looks different.

The colors don’t look accurate and natural because the white balance is impacting the coloration. 

Let's take a look at the other options available to make your image look better. 

There are a lot of options that you can choose to change the overall look of your video. 

Let's go over the Custom Temperature. 

 

Custom Temperature Setting

In this tutorial, the Custom Temperature is set to 4500 Kelvins. 

 

The higher the Custom Temperature is, the warmer the image becomes.

The lower the Custom Temperature is, the cooler the image becomes. 

The right setting for your Custom Temperature will depend on your lighting setup. 

 

What Lighting Setup You Need to Invest With

Lighting is very important for video. 

There are a lot of lighting options available in the market that you can use for your video, but I encourage you to invest in a lighting kit that is reliable and that has diffusion. 

Diffusion helps soften harsh light spots to make your video look normal and not too bright. 

Our goal is to always make sure that our video looks natural.

Some creators use the Elgato Key Lights, but I personally use the Viltrox Lighting Kit

 

 

 

Do you want to know how I light my home office?  

Let me walk you through the step-by-step process for lighting my home office and give you some inspiration if you're planning to set up your home office too.

Click here to watch the video. 

You can always set your camera into Automatic White Balance, but if you're wanting to learn more about how to set your Custom White Balance on your camera you need to invest in a gray card

 

What is a Gray Card? 

A Gray card is used to help adjust the exposure and White Balance setting of your camera. 

 

This is a collapsible gear that you can bring anywhere with you. 

How to use a gray card? 

You only need to hold it up in front of your camera, take a picture of it, then the camera will read all the information for you. 

It will tell you what's the best environment setting that you need so that your video will look normal. 

 

 

This may sound a little advance for you, but it is just literally taking a picture of your gray card and the camera will do the work for you.  

I also did a tutorial that will show and guide you on how you can set your Custom White Balance with or without a Gray card

If you don't trust the Automatic White Balance of your camera, and you want to learn more about how to make your videos look great consistently, watch my tutorial here.

It will be very beneficial for you.

Do you want to add animated graphics to your show within Ecamm? 

 

 

UP Next: How to Create Animated Graphics Inside Ecamm Live