WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.040 thank you for joining me 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:10.719 that didn't quite go as smoothly as i thought but yep 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:16.080 that's me 10 years ago videos like this were filmed on a sony handycam that 00:00:13.360 --> 00:00:19.279 actually belonged to my boss at ncix's sun 00:00:16.880 --> 00:00:24.480 so we're using the camera's on-board audio and entry-level photography light 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:29.599 that we borrowed and instead of taking screen capture we just 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:33.760 we zoomed in on the screen and yes that is that is actually electrical tape 00:00:31.840 --> 00:00:39.920 stuck to the front of the screen nowadays we put a lot more technology 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:44.000 talent and time into our videos and i like to think that it really shows so 00:00:41.760 --> 00:00:47.039 thanks to b h photo for sponsoring this video where we'll be doing a 10 year 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:51.280 challenge not with facebook profile pics but 00:00:49.360 --> 00:00:55.520 rather with the production quality in our videos that continues to change as 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:00.160 our channel ages and i have got to admit i actually got 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:04.640 really nostalgic going through all this stuff and i'm not the only one 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:10.360 brandon can i get a challah super nostalgic 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:10.360 that's not a holla 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:24.000 b h photo is the largest non-chain electronics retailer in the us serving 00:01:22.320 --> 00:01:28.560 amateur and professional photographers and videographers since 1973. 00:01:26.720 --> 00:01:33.040 with fair pricing and a fantastic shopping experience both online and in 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.960 store b h has been our go-to gear store for over six years now check them out at 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:41.360 the link in the video description or learn more about our experiences with b 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:46.720 h at the end of the video the early days were pretty rough like this one where we 00:01:44.240 --> 00:01:50.240 accidentally filmed an entire video without audio 00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:55.040 and then instead of reshooting it because i didn't have time i just dubbed 00:01:52.399 --> 00:01:59.280 a voice over at my desk wow what is that that's the transmitter the infrared 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:05.280 transmitter um then there's this video that has audio but with unbearable 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:10.000 background noise because the camera and its onboard microphone was so close to 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:12.879 the computer hardware we were trying to film so there's a few buttons down at 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:18.319 the bottom of the board you've got your oc genie it's so funny for me to hear 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:22.400 people hearken back to the good old days when Linus tech tips was better back 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:26.959 when he was at ncix i mean can you guys even imagine if i uploaded 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:31.840 this video today why does Yvonne get abruptly cut off at the end of the clip 00:02:30.239 --> 00:02:36.800 i feel bad for the that's the actual end of the video like 00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:42.000 we didn't edit that just now and sadly the quality of Linus tech tips basically 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:44.959 didn't change for a solid year LTT's 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:51.360 first real hardware purchase was a canon powershot sx1is which was decidedly 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:56.959 consumer grade but definitely an upgrade over the original sony camera because 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:58.800 that one recorded to tape so to ingest 00:02:56.959 --> 00:03:03.760 our footage we actually had to connect the camera to a pc over firewire or 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:08.400 actually a mac to be more specific and then capture the footage off of it so 00:03:06.239 --> 00:03:13.040 yes my friends that thing was from the era when faster than real-time footage 00:03:10.959 --> 00:03:18.319 capture was a feature what a pain in the butt the sx1is 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:23.200 actually recorded 1080p 30fps video fully digitally to sd cards and had a 00:03:21.040 --> 00:03:25.920 pretty wicked optical zoom but there were actually some ways that it was 00:03:25.040 --> 00:03:30.560 worse it didn't support any form of external 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:35.200 audio so we couldn't even use that stupid gray twinkie microphone mind you 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:38.400 at that point the goal was not great production values online as tech tips 00:03:36.959 --> 00:03:42.959 which was supposed to be our vlog channel anyway because remember when i 00:03:40.640 --> 00:03:49.120 worked at ncix we were actually working on two video series concurrently 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:51.599 ncix tech tips was believe it or not the 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:56.159 higher production value one with editing some graphics and 00:03:54.159 --> 00:04:00.000 a little bit of preparation on my part the problem was that we couldn't make 00:03:57.920 --> 00:04:04.959 those videos fast enough to meet the demand from all of our partners so as a 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:08.560 compromise and it was actually my boss's idea even though it ended up biting him 00:04:06.959 --> 00:04:14.480 in the butt when i ended up splitting later we created Linus tech tips which was 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:19.759 still owned by ncix at that time and the videos still went on the ncix 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:24.479 website but the company name was no longer in the title of the channel so 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:28.400 the idea was to give me a bit more leeway to be edgier and not worry as 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:33.360 much about quality which quickly turned into what i called 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:37.759 the one take policy where we would just keep recording through stumbles with the 00:04:35.440 --> 00:04:43.040 goal of shooting as many as six to eight videos in a single session that would 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:46.400 last just one to two hours today we'll be unboxing the sans digital 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:49.919 tower raid you know what i like i like things that 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:53.040 are called special edition you can see there's some more black stickers these 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:58.720 are to prevent people from taking it apart never take apart a hard drive thank you for checking out my blog on 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:05.440 the wd black and that was really how things were for a long while that is 00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:07.680 until we upgraded to a well okay looking 00:05:05.440 --> 00:05:12.960 back it's kind of cute to me that i was so excited about this but to a canon 00:05:10.479 --> 00:05:17.440 xa10 that i pre-ordered thanks to our increased ncix tech tips budget back in 00:05:15.520 --> 00:05:22.560 2011. actually you know what no in fairness this was a big upgrade because 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:28.639 even though it was a fixed lens camera so barely even above a consumer camcorder 00:05:26.479 --> 00:05:32.880 unlike the old sony one which used a proprietary interface for external audio 00:05:30.960 --> 00:05:38.560 sources really limiting our upgrade options the xa10 had xlr which meant 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:44.000 that we could finally use professional external mics like the sennheiser 00:05:41.080 --> 00:05:50.080 ew110g3 later that year we would make our first hire luke who by the way 00:05:47.280 --> 00:05:56.479 grossly misrepresented his experience in both camera operation and video editing 00:05:53.600 --> 00:06:00.880 yeah you heard me luke and let's start with 00:05:58.320 --> 00:06:04.560 a warm welcome for our guest camera operator who's also interviewing for the 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:09.199 tech tips assistant job and we also reached a hundred thousand subscribers 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:13.360 this was after three years of videos that quite honestly like i can't even 00:06:11.039 --> 00:06:18.000 bear to go back and watch now like those of you who have been with us since then 00:06:15.840 --> 00:06:22.800 you guys are hardcore like just amazing that stuff sucked a year after that in 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:29.360 october 2012 we finally got our first piece of real professional caliber gear 00:06:26.400 --> 00:06:35.039 at eight thousand dollars the sony fs 700 would be our companies which hadn't 00:06:32.400 --> 00:06:39.840 officially started yet most expensive equipment purchase for years to come by 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:45.600 the end of 2012 we had moved into the era of Linus media group being a thing 00:06:42.400 --> 00:06:47.919 and Linus using his garage as a studio 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:52.240 which actually worked great because we could open the garage door to give us 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:56.880 some natural light because we still didn't have enough lights and we reno'd 00:06:54.639 --> 00:07:02.000 the whole thing into a state that i mean we thought looked kind of cool and techy 00:06:59.919 --> 00:07:07.280 including the original tech wiki set which believe it or not was not an 00:07:04.479 --> 00:07:11.919 actual green screen but rather real white walls that were supposed to look 00:07:09.599 --> 00:07:15.919 kind of like i was inside one of those infinite white apple commercials 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:20.400 but actually looked more like i was standing in front of an ugly piece of 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:25.919 drywall overall though even in spite of some stumbles this was 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:28.400 when our videos began to look like not 00:07:25.919 --> 00:07:32.720 complete scorched garbage for the first time we had two kino-flo diva lights 00:07:31.039 --> 00:07:36.479 plus whatever cheapies we could borrow from ncix when we weren't back there 00:07:34.400 --> 00:07:42.000 doing contract work we had a lav mic of our own and we had our fs700 still 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:46.479 shooting at 1080p equipped with a new shoulder stock and a counterweight that 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:51.520 seemed like a great idea for balancing the rig but in reality was just brutally 00:07:49.280 --> 00:07:56.720 heavy to carry around anytime we'd actually need it like our first year at 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:59.360 ces where we made over 50 videos with 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:04.639 just three full-time employees speaking of employees this is actually the first 00:08:01.919 --> 00:08:07.520 video that our fourth employee brandon ever shot 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:11.199 look at that it's like the guy was destined for greatness isn't it you got 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:15.360 some nice bokeh in the background there and everything i mean not that we paid 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:20.319 for the privilege even though we had a decent camera by this point it would be 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:24.479 over a year before we bought any extra lenses for it i actually never told ed 00:08:22.960 --> 00:08:28.960 or brandon to bring their personal lenses to work but like 00:08:26.400 --> 00:08:32.959 they refused to use the kit one and i refused to buy any more so everyone's a 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:38.719 winner right anyway when we finally bought a couple of sigma lenses we didn't really get a 00:08:36.640 --> 00:08:43.039 quality boost because they were the same ones that we had already been borrowing 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.279 for some time now around the time that brandon showed 00:08:44.560 --> 00:08:52.800 up coincidence we also released our first video with 00:08:49.680 --> 00:08:55.360 dedicated b-roll footage and it's 00:08:52.800 --> 00:09:00.399 actually frankly kind of amazing that we continued with the concept considering 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:03.760 how bad these shots are in hindsight i mean 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:08.560 i thought at that time that it was just a waste of time i was like well 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:11.360 come on you already have the host there you've already got the camera there 00:09:09.760 --> 00:09:14.959 you've already got the product if you want to see it closer just move your 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:18.320 butt over closer to the thing and then just like step back when i'm ready to 00:09:16.880 --> 00:09:23.600 address the camera like what do you need to come back later for 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:29.519 but we did and it was around this time that we also made our first pc build 00:09:26.160 --> 00:09:31.680 guide ever on Linus tech tips this was 00:09:29.519 --> 00:09:36.080 actually supposed to be a statement piece for us it was the first time that 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:41.120 we were going to try to meet or even exceed the production values of the ncix 00:09:39.040 --> 00:09:46.160 tech tips that we had left behind with my old employer and we spent a lot of 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:48.720 time on the intro the graphics the 00:09:46.160 --> 00:09:52.720 lighting setup and we even tried to get like as much depth to the shot as 00:09:50.640 --> 00:09:57.120 possible by pulling the table out from the shelves behind me and then 00:09:54.560 --> 00:10:00.480 positioning brandon literally cheeks to the wall at the other end of 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:07.040 the garage one of the most amazing things about this video to me which ended up doing 50 00:10:04.640 --> 00:10:11.760 000 views in the first day which was like a huge deal for us at that time is 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:17.920 that i was still doing all of these videos unscripted with at most bullet 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:22.480 point notes open on a nearby laptop or scrawled on a nearby piece of paper 00:10:20.560 --> 00:10:27.760 that changed when we switched sets yet again to the infamous langley house and 00:10:25.040 --> 00:10:31.440 brandon won another battle with me this is where the teleprompter makes its 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:35.440 first appearance allowing me to read my notes while looking directly into the 00:10:33.680 --> 00:10:40.480 lens that is at least once we started shooting our a-roll on a tripod because 00:10:38.079 --> 00:10:45.279 brandon refused to try to hold the camera with the teleprompter hanging off 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:49.760 the front of it what a lightweight oddly enough the kitchen set that we moved 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:54.480 over to shortly after that became so beloved by our fans that even though we 00:10:52.079 --> 00:10:59.839 were only actually in the langley house for just over a year here we are today 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:04.320 years into our current studio and we still have people kind of hearkening 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:08.880 back to the good old days in the kitchen anyway by this point our budget started 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:12.560 to increase so we invested more in lighting we bought a cheap piece of 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:15.920 green screen cloth that was so thin we had to fold it three times over to 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:21.360 prevent light leakage from the window behind even with the blinds closed and 00:11:19.040 --> 00:11:24.880 we got our first slider that we used to get shots like this one 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:28.640 this is also around the time that we made our first purpose-made thumbnail 00:11:26.800 --> 00:11:33.680 image instead of just using a still from the video and also when we made a pretty 00:11:30.880 --> 00:11:39.600 significant shift into actually writing full scripts word for word or nearly 00:11:36.959 --> 00:11:43.440 instead of just doing vlogs so you guys see that eye contact i'm making with the 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:47.839 camera there that's because the video is scripted 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:51.200 ultimately we made this move as part of 00:11:47.839 --> 00:11:54.240 a change in direction towards reviews 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:56.480 rather than unboxings and as a way to 00:11:54.240 --> 00:12:01.040 both improve the information density of our videos and to leverage our larger 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:05.120 production team without causing inefficiencies 00:12:02.640 --> 00:12:09.279 so it was more work for me up front to create the scripts but it made the 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:13.440 shoots much easier and less time consuming because retakes were simple 00:12:11.760 --> 00:12:18.480 and editing was also faster because there was just less garbage footage for 00:12:16.079 --> 00:12:23.600 at that time taryn to sift through in september of 2014 we celebrated one 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:27.920 million subscribers with our 7 member production team and over the following 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:31.279 year we built out our kit with fancier things like diffusers which are 00:12:29.680 --> 00:12:35.839 especially important when you're using a jib which was another new toy that we 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:41.519 use for top down shots like these in 2015 we moved finally to the studio that 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:45.839 we're in now in retrospect that seems like so few people to occupy this big of 00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:49.120 a space we continued to build out our kit with all sorts of random stuff 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:54.480 closing out the year with our purchase of two sony a7s2s which became our 00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:58.240 b-roll and run-n-gun show coverage cameras pushing our poor canon xa 00:12:56.560 --> 00:13:04.399 cameras to purely Channel Super Fun duty rip in 00:13:00.880 --> 00:13:07.120 2016 we bought our first big kid lights 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:11.920 our two re sky panels which are super bright not to mention RGB something our 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:16.720 channel was definitely severely lacking and then we kicked off 2017 by getting a 00:13:15.040 --> 00:13:22.320 bunch of new gear to make our lives easier at shows like ces including our 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:26.880 much more reliable electrosonics wireless mic packs a variety of 00:13:25.040 --> 00:13:31.440 pods of various sorts and a couple of knock-off easy rigs 00:13:29.040 --> 00:13:36.639 which we only just replaced like last week with the real deal because they're 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:38.560 like 5 000 each honestly though worth 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:43.839 every penny because these things have changed our lives and they allowed us to 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:48.399 finally achieve my goal of hand-held filming with a teleprompter anyway 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:53.680 shortly after we got back from ces our new cameras arrived from red which 00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:57.199 while painful for the bank account and actually for our workflows at the time 00:13:55.360 --> 00:14:01.360 because like 8k footage there was definitely a workstation upgrade in 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:06.000 there somewhere they also gave us kind of a sense of relief because at that 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:09.360 point we had reached the top there was nowhere else to go with our gear i mean 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:14.079 people shoot hollywood movies on these things and yeah 00:14:11.839 --> 00:14:19.040 who did i think i was kidding brandon always wants more stuff so last year 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:21.600 after we changed over our set from something more seti to something that i 00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:28.399 think feels quite a bit more natural we picked up a dji ronin 2 gimbal which allows us 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:34.160 to take smooth walking shots like this one and then right before ces 2019 we 00:14:32.079 --> 00:14:38.639 bought a handful of canon c200s to replace our 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:41.360 poor a7s2s that are both in various 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:45.120 states of disrepair and all of these things aside from the fact that we're 00:14:43.199 --> 00:14:50.320 just geeks and we love new toys to play with are essentially being purchased for 00:14:47.839 --> 00:14:55.040 the sole purpose of you guys being able to see and hear me in greater and 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:58.560 greater definition something that over the past 10 years 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:02.959 has surely become less appealing which i guess brings us 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:06.000 perfectly into how b h figures into all of this 00:15:03.839 --> 00:15:11.360 the vast majority of those purchases have actually been through b h going all 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:13.440 the way back to our original fs700 and 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:17.839 even though i've only been to their new york store once on a day that happened 00:15:15.839 --> 00:15:22.000 to be closed doy they've been very good to us over the 00:15:19.760 --> 00:15:25.600 years with fair pricing great customer service we've actually had to return a 00:15:23.680 --> 00:15:30.079 fair few things for an assortment of reasons excellent delivery times especially 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:35.199 after their canadian shipping got more competitive a few years back and 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:37.360 generally great selection so it is no bs 00:15:35.199 --> 00:15:41.760 for me to say that it was pretty cool to have them reach out to sponsor this 00:15:38.800 --> 00:15:45.600 video because to me that's yet another indication of just how far we've come 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:50.720 going from just even six years ago not being able 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:55.360 to get an appointment at a trade show to be shown around someone's booth to being 00:15:52.959 --> 00:15:59.920 taken seriously by the real players in the production space so 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:04.079 thanks to b h for sponsoring this video and thanks to you guys for watching 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:07.680 if you disliked it well you know what to do but if you liked it hit like get 00:16:06.160 --> 00:16:11.040 subscribed or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff we featured 00:16:09.199 --> 00:16:14.720 at the link in the video description probably the newer stuff not the older 00:16:12.800 --> 00:16:18.079 stuff so much also link down there is our merch tour which has cool shirts 00:16:16.079 --> 00:16:21.199 like this one and our community forum which you should totally join