Whether you’re a well-established vlogger or just starting in the vlogging world, you’ll need a good camera. But it can be hard to know where to start, especially if you’ve never looked at the technicalities of different cameras. We’ve reviewed the best vlogging cameras that blur background.
It’s all very well searching online and in high street stores, but when you’re faced with hundreds of different video cameras, all with different features and specs, it can get pretty confusing.
One thing’s for sure, though: vlogging is much easier with a compact camera. Compacts are more portable, easily slip into your pocket, and are great for those who don’t want to fiddle with too many settings.
There are many compact cameras with advanced settings, so getting a little more involved with the setup is always possible.
Table of Contents
What Is Vlogging?
Vlogging is video blogging, usually through YouTube. People can upload vlogs about all sorts of things, from day-to-day videos to travel videos to monologues or discussions about a specific topic.
Vlogging is about grabbing a camera and showing the world what you see, whether that’s your thoughts and opinions or your everyday activities.
What Are Vlogging Cameras?
Any camera can be a vlogging camera as long as it can shoot video, but these days, you can find cameras made explicitly with vlogging in mind.
When you browse cameras in-store, be they DSLRs, compacts, or bridge cameras, you’ll notice that there seems to be a divide between cameras for photography and cameras for videoing. This is because even the most impressive camera for photography might not have the best filming abilities.
So vlogging cameras have excellent video and audio quality – good enough for you to produce a video that people will want to watch.
The 8 Best Compact Vlogging Cameras That Blur Background
Here you’ll find the ten best compact vlogging cameras on the market. If you want to learn more about what to look for in a vlogging camera, scroll down to the bottom of this post. But if you’re ready to see what’s out there, here are ten compact cameras perfect for vloggers and vlogging.
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Sony RX100 VI 20.1 MP Premium Compact Digital Camera
- It can film in 4K
- It has the best autofocus system you could hope for in a compact camera
- Great low-light visibility
- Image stabilization
- Tiltable LCD screen as well as a pop-up viewfinder
- It's expensive
- For people with big hands, it can be a bit fiddly
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Apple iPhone XS Max, US Version, 64GB (Renewed)
- 4K video at 60fps
- Great image stabilization
- Slow-motion shooting options
- Possibility for up to 512GB storage
- Wind-noise reduction
- Like the latest iPhone, it's pretty expensive
- You'll need to use your phone as your vlogging camera
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Sony Alpha a6000 Mirrorless Digital Camera
- Built-in Wi-Fi and NFC
- The tilting LCD screen makes different angles possible
- Only 1080p, rather than 4K
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Canon PowerShot Digital Camera
- Advanced 1-inch CMOS sensor
- Wi-Fi
- Tilting LCD screen
- Fast autofocus
- It doesn't shoot in 4K, only 1080p
- No way to attach an external viewfinder or flash
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Olympus PEN E-PL8 Black Body Only
- The in-camera app makes editing more comfortable than ever before (you can even add music)
- It looks great
- You can share vlogs on the go.
- Built-in Wi-Fi
- It's built for those who go out and about, so it has good image stabilization.
- It can only film in 1080p, not 4K.
- The lens is only 14-42mm. However, it can be changed.
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Canon PowerShot ELPH 180 Digital Camera
- It's an affordable vlogging camera
- It's small and lightweight
- It has a 12x optical zoom and image stabilization
- The quality is only average
- The audio isn't great
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Panasonic LUMIX 20.3 Megapixel, 4K Digital Camera
- Impressive 30x optical zoom (24-720mm)
- 4K Video capture
- Post-focus feature
- Built-in Wi-Fi
- It doesn't cope too well in the rain
- You can't attach an external flash
- It's pretty heavy compared to other models
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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX500 Digital Camera Bundle
- It has excellent image stabilization.
- Impressive zoom (60x)
- Good audio, even in noisy areas and intense wind
- The flip screen makes it easy to take self-facing videos and selfies.
- Built-in Wi-Fi and accompanying app
- No 4K filming capabilities
This Sony vlogging camera is one of the most advanced compact cameras that Sony has released. It has the world's fastest contrast and phase autofocus, making it a great point-and-shoot camera. You can manually focus your movies by tapping your subject on the LCD screen.
It has an impressive zoom lens (24-200mm), and wind-noise reduction means it's got good audio capabilities.
The fast AF system, combined with the impressive 1-inch sensor, makes it perfect for filming in any shooting environment. It can film in 4K at 24fps, and even if you're on the move, the AF will keep your subject in focus.
This might not be a compact camera, but this iPhone is perfect for vloggers. We all carry our phones everywhere we go, and with the iPhone XS Max having such a good camera, with this phone, you'll always have the perfect vlogging setup in your pocket.
You can shoot in 4K at 60fps or 1080p at 240fps. The improved sensor also means the image stabilization is even more impressive than the previous iPhones. In addition, the phone has two rear cameras to shoot wide-angle or telephoto.
Perhaps the most exciting improvement to this iPhone's camera, though, is the bokeh slider. The bokeh slider lets you change the depth of field so that you can adjust the f-stop number from f/1.4 to f/16. This is going to give you that perfect professional blurred background look.
This mirrorless vlogging camera has great autofocus and an impressive ISO range of 100-25600, so you can shoot in any condition and still get high-quality footage. It's perfect for those who want to point and shoot without any hassle.
This Sony Alpha also comes in different designs and colors to vlog in style. An electronic OLED viewfinder means you capture just what you view through the camera.
This vlogging camera has all the best features of compact cameras: a 1-inch CMOS sensor, fast autofocus, a tilting LCD screen, and Wi-Fi, so you know you're always going to get high-quality footage.
You can shoot in 1080p at 60fps and adjust the aperture priority from f/1.8 to f/2.8, giving you that professional blurred background. In addition, it has a background defocus setting you can take advantage of.
With the continuous shooting of up to 8fps (which is great for shooting sports or wildlife). It also has a 2x optical zoom lens.
This is one you've probably seen around quite a lot. It's got a retro design, and it's become known as THE vlogging camera. It's portable, lightweight, and built with social media and content creation in mind.
It can only film at 1080p, but its other features more than makeup for the lack of 4K. It's one of the most straightforward vlogging cameras to use. This is an excellent camera if you are starting to vlog.
If you're looking for a budget-friendly vlogging camera, this could be the one for you. However, because of the price, it's not the highest quality. Check out the online instructions for blurring the background at this point and shooting the camera.
It can film in 1080p, and then you can quickly transfer your footage to your phone using Wi-Fi or NFC. You can also make use of the 12x optical zoom and image stabilization.
If you want something that does it all, this is one of the best vlogging cameras. It can film in 4K and has an excellent ISO and zoom range. You can rely on the automatic settings or adjust the settings manually, but either way, you will get good results.
This camera is one of the best in terms of value for money. It has all the features you could want, and with the manual control ring, you can even adjust the aperture priority and blur out the background. You'll quickly learn how to blur the background with this digital camera.
A manual control ring gives you the aperture, shutter speed, zoom, and focus. It has a tilting LCD screen which is perfect for selfies. You can use the LCD screen or the eye viewfinder to set up your shots.
This Sony vlogging camera is an excellent option for the budget but still looking for good quality videos. The audit is excellent, even in noisy areas and intense wind.
It can film in 1080p and has some impressive image stabilization, so even if you're on the move, you'll get smooth footage.
You'll find this an affordable camera with an excellent range of features for the money.
What To Look For When Buying A Compact Vlogging Camera?
Each camera you come across will list different features and specs, but only a few specs you need to focus on. Here’s what to look for when buying a vlogging camera.
Aperture Priority
If you want that professional, blurred background look, you’ll want a vlogging camera that allows you to change the aperture priority.
While the blurred background effect is often associated with DSLRs, you can achieve this effect with a compact. Of course, it would help if you had a wide f-stop range.
A good f-stop range is from f/1.8 to f/22, and as a general rule of thumb, the lower the f-stop number, the more blurred the background.
You can achieve a blurred background with an f-stop of around f/5, but the subject/you must be close to the camera and far away from the background.
Zoom vs. no-zoom
You may or may not need a good optical zoom, depending on what type of vlogging you plan on doing.
If you’re going to be out and about vlogging things other than yourself, a Zoom could be helpful. For example, if you’re hoping to record some travel vlogs, you can zoom in on certain sights, giving your viewers a close-up of things like landmarks, natural sites like waterfalls, street performances, etc.
However, if you want a camera to film yourself talking or precisely what you can see, you don’t need a camera with zoom. So save yourself some money by going without this feature.
Sensor type
There are two main types of sensors: CCD (charged standard device) and CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor). So put, without any more technical jargon, you want to go for a CMOS sensor.
CCD sensors are more common in older models, and while they used to be the better sensor, CMOS manufacturers have upped their game.
Modern CMOS sensors offer similar quality to CCD sensors but for a much lower price. They also use much less power than CCD sensors, which means cameras with CMOS sensors can run off smaller, longer-lasting batteries.
This makes the camera more efficient and portable; portability is critical when choosing a vlogging camera.
Sensor size
The sensor is one of the essential parts of the camera. It decides how much light your camera can capture, so if you’ve got a smaller sensor, your videos may look dark even if you shoot with good lighting.
If you go for a camera with a small sensor, it’s not even worth trying to film a vlog in low lighting – all you’ll see is darkness.
When shooting with a smaller sensor, you’ll also find that what you record doesn’t look that much like what you see on the screen or through the viewfinder. So what you need is a larger sensor.
Steer clear of sensor sizes like 1/2.3 and go for 1-inch sensors or higher. This way, you can shoot videos with more accurate lighting, and shooting in low light won’t be an issue.
Stabilization
Unless you plan on merely sitting and talking to your camera, stabilization is super important for most vloggers.
Even if you’re strolling while filming, this will look jolty and amateur without stabilization. So go for a camera with stabilization if you want your videos to look professional.
Built-in Wi-Fi
We’re all busy people. And we don’t want to wait around for files to import – we want to import, edit and upload as quickly as possible. This is where Wi-Fi comes in.
With built-in Wi-Fi, you can instantly send your videos to your smartphone or laptop without wires. You wouldn’t believe how easier it is to transfer images and videos like this.
Audio Quality
Regardless of what type of vlogging you plan on doing, you will need a camera that can record good-quality audio. If you’re talking into the camera or trying to capture the sounds of a scene, the last thing you want is crackly audio or wind noise.
When looking for compact vlogging cameras, look for wind-noise reduction, or if you want to get serious about your audio, a microphone input.
If you are still considering other options, then the GoPro Hero7 is also worth a look.
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