Another year, another review video

On January 17th, Facebook reminded me that the previous 2 years I had uploaded a recap of sorts video talking about either new equipment or just what the year was like in for me and the channel. I wasn’t planning to upload a recap this year, as I’d rather spend that time working on more meaningful videos, but then I thought it might be fun to be able to look back every year at all of the reviews on the same day so I sat down to try to release one for 2019 in one day.

It should be noteworthy that, although I started at 11 a.m., I ended up missing my deadline and there for the whole endeavor is kind of worthless in terms of January 17th being release day. I probably could have got it released if I hadn’t had plans for 4 hours at night, but still. Despite my claim at the start of the video that it would be lightly edited, I ended up spending more time than i expected.

Regarding the year though. This was a very busy one. The list of noteworthy events that happened are:

• I trained to climb a mountain and lost 25 pounds

• I went to Las Vegas

• I went visited the Oregon Trail

• I climbed a 14,000 foot peak

• I climbed a 13,000 foot peak

• I got married

• I went to the Dominican Republic for 10 days

• I put on 25 pounds being lazy after all of that happened

You read that last one right. Yeah, after nearly 8 months of hard work, I undid all of my efforts and am almost right back to where I was before beginning training. Let it be a lesson that healthy is a life style choice, not an event. Taking time off because “It’s the holidays” is a bad idea.

I’m happy with the videos I put out this year. I ventured into uncharted territory with the camping and hiking videos. I have a lot of plans to talk more about that. I just felt like I needed to get the documentary out to give me enough “trail-cred” before anyone would take me serious. It’s hard to talk about things you used while camping when people haven’t even seen the camping videos yet.

I’m most proud of the 2 travel vlog/adventure videos that I released. The first was “A Modern Adventure on the Oregon Trail” where I went camping out in western Nebraska and visited some of the iconic stops along the way while getting swept up in my own adventure along the way.

The second was the “Las Vegas Travel Vlog”. I’ve learned some shots that I know I need to produce good Travel vlogs, lots of B-Roll, and I recorded so I had a lot of footage to work with. I was editing it, everything just fell into place. From the music to the flow of the story, it was the best Travel video I’ve made in my opinion since the Seattle Trip.

Tutorials and product reviews are always good earners. People want to know how to do something or how it something works. I buy quite a few products, but I tend to only do reviews when I had trouble finding information about a product and want to make it easier for someone else.

As far as the tutorials are concerned. I just let my curiosity guide me. If I find something interesting, I share it with the world.

The new gear I bought this year is as follows:

• Fujifilm X-T3: https://amzn.to/2RiQeLB

• Fujinon XF16mmF2.8: https://amzn.to/375M6nf

• Zoom F6: https://amzn.to/3aq4qJM

• Google Pixel 4: https://amzn.to/2NCgiyA

• Atomos Ninja V: https://amzn.to/2DMSrHe

• GoPro Hero8 Black: https://amzn.to/2R6FK1G

• GoPro Max: https://amzn.to/3ajQkcZ

• Sennheiser e935 Microphone: https://amzn.to/2X26dOZ

• Aokeo Professional Studio Recording Shield: https://amzn.to/2Q6k1qy

• Rode Wireless Go Microphones: https://amzn.to/2XrQPyd
  

I’m really pleased with my decision to go with the Fuji X-T3. I did run into an issue with it and my Ronin-SC gimbal. Companies always invest in the most popular ecosystems in this case Sony and Panasonic for mirrorless cameras, so the interface between the Ronin and the X-T3 isn’t as fully developed as the other 2, but it still works. I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what it is capable of. I hope to update my 4 year old monitor to a 4k HDR capable one this year so that I can start experimenting with LUTs and other color grading options.

I haven’t used my GoPro Hero8 Black enough to know if it is much better than the Hero7. I know they’ve added more manual options and having the GoPro mount built into the housing is nice (thought you have to replace the whole camera if one of the prongs breaks). I’ll probably do a full review when the 3 accessories, the microphone, light and flip screen, comes out.

I can say for sure that the GoPro Max is much nicer than the GoPro Fusion. The max only requires 1 SD card instead of 2 and the footage doesn’t need to be processed by a high powered machine before you can work with it. It does use a proprietary file format for the videos like the Insta360 One X, but the conversion to H.265 is much less intensive and it’s easier to store a single file than the complex file system of the Fusion. Having the built in touch screen is also great. It lets you see yourself if you want to use it like a vlogging camera, not as a 360 camera, giving you twice the functionality, which is always a bonus.

In 2020, I plan to continue to roll with the ground work I laid in 2019. I can see a lot of opportunities for the channel to grow while still keeping the topics interesting to me. I never want to feel forced to do a certain type of video just to get views. I want to make things interesting to me. I can definitely tell in the final result when I was excited by a video. This year we’ll continue to look at Video Editing and Video Equipment, Tutorials, Hiking/Adventure videos, Travel Vlogs, the occasional product review and we’ll add some small bicycle talk into the mix as I prepare for and go on my 190 mile bike ride across northern Nebraska.

The channel did well in terms of growth. I expect it will continue to grow at a slow, but exponential rate; the more people that subscribe, the more videos will be shared with others. Eventually I know I’ll hit a saturation point of people who are interested in what I do, but I hope to possibly be doing this full time long before that happens.

As far as the numbers go, here’s 2019 vs 2018:

• New Subscribers

  • 2018: +71

  • 2019: +223

• Total Views and watch time in hours

  • 2018: 30.7k views. 1.4k hours

  • 2019: 78.5k views. 3.9k hours

2019 Audience

• Top Countries

  • United States 35.4%

  • India 4.8%

  • United Kingdom 3%

  • Canada 1.6%

• Gender

  • Male 87.5%

  • Female 12.5%

Overall, I’m pretty happy with 2019. I “lost” time due to some life events, but I learned a lot about myself and what I want in life. It should help me focus in and do even more for 2020. This year I’m doing what I love. Get out there and do what you love.