The YouTube gaming channel experiment

Recently I’ve been running some experiments with a second channel. The goal is to test out some YouTube theories and try to make some useful conclusions.

I’m not able to put out content for my main YouTube channel as much as I’d like right now. So I figured perhaps a gaming channel would be a good way to create some kind of regular content for testing.

The other main reason was because I couldn’t believe a gaming channel was as difficult to grow as people seem to make it sound.

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A brief guide to YouTube’s creator levels and the perks gained with each

Note: This post needs updating since YouTube introduced the whole 1K subscriber & 4,000 hours watch time thing. I will do it at some point. 🙂

I regularly see people asking in various YouTube related Facebook groups about the advantages available to creators with a certain amount of subscribers.

Many people seem unaware that YouTube even offers anything to creators outside of the various Play Buttons for the superstars of its platform. So, I decided to put together a list.

YouTube can feel like a cold soulless creature at times, especially when your channel is quite small. But, there are benefits for users who have subscription levels in various brackets. And these brackets start all the way from 1 subscriber.

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I finally started making my move to Godox with the AD360II (Pixapro Hybrid360)

Switching over to Godox flashes has been in my thoughts for quite a while now. I got rid of most of my Nikon, Yongnuo, Bowens and other flash gear last year.

I did keep my Bowens Ringflash, and have no desire to get rid of it. I’ve also still got a couple of SB-900s left over. Those will be up for sale soon, if anybody’s interested.

Now that the weather’s warming up, the sun’s coming back and I’m getting out to shoot more, the time has come to start rebuilding.

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The Photography Show 2017

The Photography Show 2017 was something of a different experience for me than last year. Last year I was part of a team working the show, and this year it was essentially just me.

I got to hang out with many wonderful friends and colleagues, some of whom I haven’t seen since Photokina. But, as far as DIYP was concerned, I was flying solo.

I arrived on Friday evening and came back home after the show ended on Tuesday, and it was non-stop the whole time. We stayed in the worst hotel in Birmingham, but it was still the best show to date for me.

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A mad weekend of street photography, caves, and talking to an audience

Last weekend was hectic. Super hectic. Most of it was planned at the last minute, too. Saturday was night time street photography in Manchester, Sunday was a trip to the Lake District.

The scheduled part of this was Monday evening. For several months, I’ve known I was to give a practical demonstration on flash portraits to Lancaster Photographic Society. The plan was for two of us to do it. But the other guy stepped out at the last minute, so I had to do the whole thing solo.

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I’ve always wanted a flying camera

For the last decade or so, I’ve wanted to build a multirotor. Those are what people collectively call “drones” these days. Multirotors are any rotary wing aircraft (like helicopters) with more than two propellers.

So, tricopters, quadcopters, hexacopters and octacopters all fall under the umbrella of “multirotor”. When I first started looking into drones, DJI didn’t exist. Yuneec didn’t exist. Nor did the three million YouTube channels dedicated to drones.

Finding information was difficult. Finding and understanding the components was even more difficult. Especially for somebody who’s never really done any kind of RC (and certainly not flying RC) before.

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Let the vlogging begin!

Against my better judgement, I’ve been convinced to start vlogging.

I originally decided to pick up the Yi cameras and the Gimbal for documenting Photokina. I’m shooting video on “real cameras” for DIYPhotography, but I wanted to get some behind the scenes. So, I got all this stuff.

Then, several friends, independently of each other, convinced me I should put it all to good use, and start vlogging.

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So, I got five more action cameras (and a gimbal)

This whole action camera thing is turning out to be an interesting journey.

Since my previous post about picking up a Yi HD Action Camera, things seem to have taken a turn for the extravagant.

After I started playing with it, I realised what one could do to it through script hacking. Then, I got curious. While I saw a big difference in the footage, I wanted to do a direct comparison. So, I acquired a second camera. Next came a dual GoPro mount and a GoPro monopod (I refuse to call it a “selfie stick”, sorry).

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So, I got an action camera

I’ve been toying with the idea of an action camera for a while.  I wouldn’t really use one often enough to justify the cost of a GoPro, though, so it was never really an urgent need but always in the back of my mind.

I’m heading to Cologne in September to cover Photokina for DIYPhotography.  I’ve never been to Photokina before.  I’ve never been to Germany before, either, so I wanted to be able to document as much of the trip as possible.

Call me a big kid if you want, but I’m excited.

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I finally saw my first wild slow worm in the UK

Ever since I first learned of the existence of adders and other wild reptiles in the UK, I’ve wanted to find one and see it in person

I’ve made a number of trips to various locations around the country where they’re supposed to be regularly spotted, and they’ve all turned out fruitless.

I still haven’t found my elusive adders, but I did accidentally stumble across a slow worm while out location scouting a couple of days ago (almost literally), marking my first discovery of a wild reptile in the UK.

When I’m out location scouting with no expectation of getting any images other than to simply document the location, I tend to leave my camera gear in the car or at home.

Normally I just use my iPhone to get shots of the location, all nicely geotagged allowing me to be able to easily find the place again in the future.

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