How to 'go overboard' with your home office AV equipment

A few month ago I was on a zoom call and noticed the person I was talking to had a blurry background. I thought it looked great and started to research how they did it.

Turns out software doesn't do it well and you need the right hardware. Oddly there were not many great how-to video's that I found useful. Probably more vexing was trying to sift through the link-farm mess of recommendation for everything from microphones to webcams.

Through lots of trial and error, rummaging through old equipment and, in rare cases, ordering new equipment I've found a setup that produces great audio and video output for your day of meetings. You'll also be ready for your closeup as soon as you get call called for that interview on CNBC.

For your face:

I tried a couple different cameras and finalized on the Nikon. It's less money than the mirrorless Sony and has a clean HDMI output (the Canon's we had at our house didn't do that): Nikon D7500

And this lens is not fancy but it's got a solid F rating and the 50mm give me a pretty decent straight shot: Yongnuo 50mm lens

You have to trick the camera to stay on all day and to that you need a dc battery plug: Camera battery adaptor

You'll also need a mini to normal HDMI converter: HDMI to Mini HDMI

And the Transcoder: Elgato Camlink 4K

Lighting:

A 'decent' light is helpful and I've found this one to be pretty flexible as it has color temperature control via an iPhone app: Lighting Kit

And finally a simple but sturdy tripod: Tripod

For your ears:

Best mic for the money: Sure SM7B

Pop screen: Pop Screen

Stand for the mic: Mic Stand

XLR pin cable: Cable

The interface for your mic to your laptop: Focusrite 2i2

Decent Headset: Sony Headset

And! If you are going to podcast:

Rodecaster Pro

Special thanks to Sean White for his camera know how. I wouldn't have landed on the D7500 without him.