Originally posted How to film walking videos for Youtube in 2023

I've been creating walking videos on Youtube since February 2022. My equipment has been updated and revised many times since then. This post will walk you through the equipment I use in 2025. This setup has been inspired by the great walking channels before me and I couldn't do it without their mentorship.

I film different types of walking videos including city walks, beach walks, restaurant tours, club tours, and airport tours. Most of them use the same gear but for specific venues I cannot bring all the equipment and am limited to my phone only.

📺 My Youtube channel People Watching.🚀

Equipment

Camera

I record with an iPhone attached to a DJI Osmo Mobile gimbal. This creates exceptional picture quality, especially in low light situations. Many other channels use the DJI Osmo Pocket 3 which is a great choice, but if you already have a phone from 2020+, the quality is more than enough to film 60fps 4K footage.

Microphone

For audio, I use the DJI Mic 2 setup in a stereo formation to get immersive audio. I've created a video explaining how you can mount these onto the DJI Osmo Mobile gimbal.

Preproduction

Film what gets watched

This understanding to only "film what gets watched" has been a major revolution for me in the last year. Previously, I filmed whatever I could and hoped for viewers. This was great for searchable content, but hurt the recommendation algorithm. The audience and algorithm didn't know if previous viewers would like my next video.

Now I only film if the content is engaging enough to get new viewers from recommendations (Beach walks, Christmas in LA walks, etc.) or if the content is so searchable that it will always get views (hotel reviews, airport tours, etc.). If the video doesn't fall into one of those categories, it will not only fail to find an audience, it will hinder future videos from being recommended to your subscribers.

Production

Equipment

For my setup, I hold the camera at shoulder height in front of me. It's important to maintain a level hand for the best quality video.

For the DJI Osmo Mobile 6 I use Tilt Lock mode

It's vital to be quiet and avoid making noise. Viewers tend to enjoy footsteps, but jackets, keys, and coughing need to be limited.

Route

During the recording, I modify the route based on what I'm seeing and what looks exciting. This is partly to capture better content, but also for my own enjoyment.

Post Production

Storage

The content is filmed on my iPhone, so it's stored in iCloud. From my computer, I'm able to export it into a folder on my computer. I add any additional content to this folder, including screenshots and audio, so it's always connected.

After the video is published, this folder is stored on an external hard drive for safekeeping for future edits.

Editing

Videos are edited with DaVinci Resolve. It's powerful, free, and has the best color editing tools.

Thumbnail

To create the Youtube thumbnail, I capture one frame from the video and upload it to Canva. I have some saved templates that I can modify to create an engaging image.

Uploading to Youtube

The video files are large. For 1 hour of 4K, the raw footage is ~50 GB and the compressed video is ~20 GB. This takes some time to upload and then even longer for YouTube to process to 4K.

My Channel

If you made it this far 🙏 thank you. I hope you learned something and are encouraged to go out and create your own channel. Let me know how your process is different and improved.

Watch Tossa De Mar 🇪🇸 Beach Spain 2023 which is my most viewed video so far!🖤

If you found this helpful, you may enjoy Nomadic Ambience Camera Equipment or How I monetized my channel