There’s nothing quite like being in worship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, receiving God’s gifts and giving Him our praise. The beauty of Christian worship goes far beyond our human comprehension. Livestreaming is now commonplace, but it is possible to enhance the livestream experience by using multiple cameras.
Enhancing Your Church’s Video Streams with Multiple Cameras
Though recording or streaming a service with one camera is great, if you want to take your worship videography to the next level and really treat your home-bound worshipers, adding an extra camera or two into the mix can really up the production value you send across the web. In the next few sections, I hope to pass along some helpful tips and ideas to assist you in doing just that.
Things to Consider as You Begin
If your congregation is just looking into recording or streaming worship services with multiple cameras, one of the first steps to the process is discussing with your leadership why you want to do this. As with any decision we make, there are good reasons and some not-so-good reasons to make this decision. If your goal is to be the most hip congregation around, you may want to take a step back and evaluate your calling as a congregation. However, if your goal is to care for your sick and home-bound members in a deeper way, you might be on the right track. Being unable to attend weekly worship can be incredibly sad and frustrating. Being able to view the service with a single camera shot can mean the world to our members, but having multiple camera angles can really help them feel like they’re right in the middle of the action.
Once you determine that your motives are pure or at least on the right track, the next step is to take a hard look at your budget. Videography equipment can get pricey real quick. As you evaluate your resources, you may decide that in order to be frugal with what God has given you, it makes more sense for you to stick with your current setup. However, if it’s in your budget and you’re ready to move forward with recording your services with multiple cameras, there are ways to do so on every budget.
The two ways I suggest below are by no means the only way to go; there are virtually limitless options when it comes to selecting the right camera(s), software, and other videography hardware. The suggestions I make are simply ways I have seen churches do it. If you decide to shop around for different pieces to this puzzle, be sure to do your research and make sure that the things you select will play well together.
Getting Started on a Smaller Budget
If you’re at a smaller congregation and funding is a little more limited, it can sometimes feel like a high level of video production is beyond your grasp. However, there are lots of options out there that won’t necessarily break the bank. Assuming you already have a computer to use with the right system requirements, you can expect to spend somewhere between $2,500 and $3,000 for a three-camera setup. There are definitely even cheaper solutions out there, but for a high quality and stable solution, here are some suggestions.
