How to film your online yoga class

You want to record your yoga class online? Here you will find a setup that is good & affordable and still gives professional results.

The picture

Smartphone as camera

Instead of buying a DSLR or film camera I recommend to use a smartphone camera. The cameras in smartphones are already so good and often equal in the result for the use we need. The only thing a yoga class needs is a stable, vivid picture without depth of field (means: everything is sharp). All the new smartphones offer this. I use the iPhone 11 Pro. Make sure you have enough memory.

I use the App Filmic Pro to record. There are numerous settings to optimize the quality. But the normal phone camera app is usually sufficient. Additionally you need a tripod to fix the phone on a good height and keep it stable. A cheap "travel" tripod for mobile phones is sufficient.

The sound

Wireless GO from RODE

A good sound makes up 50% of the experience! I use and recommend the Wireless GO from Rode. With an adapter you can feed it directly into your smartphone and the sound has already an excellent quality. Additionally I got the Lavalier Micro SmartLav+ to have a better sound quality but most of all to hear the voice close to the mic, that makes a big difference and makes you feel closer to your students and the mic is smaller and easier to hide. However, to get the sound from the SmartLav+ into the Rode GO transmitter, an adapter cable is required. Similarly, another adapter plus adapter cable is needed to get the sound from the Rode GO receiver to the Smartphone. Since I don't want to get too deep into the subject matter and bore you with technical jargon, I have simply put together a list of equipment that works great together. The Rode GO has an internal battery and is charged via USB-C.

This equipment you need for my setup

• (iPhone 11 Pro)
• Wireless GO wireless audio system (transmitter and receiver) • €199
• SmartLav+ The Mic • €55
• SC4 Smartphone Adapter • €11
• SC6-L Cable from SmartLav+ Mic to GO transmitter • €75
• SC7 cable from the GO receiver to the smartphone adapter • €11
• A smartphone tripod from Amazon • €26

results and costs

You can expect this quality

The costs for the audio setup and tripod (without smartphone) are about €377. Aditionally the setup is super handy, light and easy to operate – perfect for travelling. And this is how the result of my set up can look like: My Yoga Flow from Bali :)

For comparison, this video was recorded with a high quality camera, the A7S, same sound setup: Yin Yoga Masterclass with TJ from New York

Now only the post editing is missing. Here I use Adobe Premiere Pro. This is a professional tool that I can highly recommend, but on Mac and Windows there are also pre-installed editing programs with which you can edit the footage easily.

Do you have any questions? Feel free to write me here. Have fun filming!