7 best action and portable cameras

They have to be good not just for filming yourself, but other “B-roll” footage that helps tell your story.

Nikon Z fc

If you want to look great while vlogging, It’s largely identical to the Z50, with features like a 20.9-megapixel APS-C sensor, 4K at 30 fps and a reliable phase-detect autofocus system with face detection.

Photo: Nikon

However, the Z fc brings a vari-angle touchscreen to the party and has a beautiful vintage body covered with convenient manual controls.

It doesn’t have built-in optical stabilization, but you can get that via a lens. The best feature, though, is the price – you can get one for $1,100 with a 16-50mm lens.

Fujifilm X-T4

a great all-around mirrorless camera for vlogging. It has everything you need, including a fully-articulating display, continuous eye- and face autofocus, 10-bit 4K log recording at up to 60 fps...

Photo: Steve Dent/Engadget

Image quality, especially in the skin tones, is lifelike and the sensor has minimal rolling shutter. It also offers good battery life and comes with dual UHS-II card slots.

Finally, it’s fairly light considering all the features, and Fujifilm has a good selection of small lenses ideal for vlogging.

Canon EOS R6

If you’ve got the budget for it, Canon’s EOS R6 offers nearly every feature you need in a vlogging camera. You can shoot 10-bit 4K video at up to 60 fps, and the Dual Pixel autofocus with eye and face tracking is incredibly reliable.

Photo: Steve Dent / Engadget

It also offers 5-axis optical stabilization, a flip-out display and a relatively compact size.

As you may have heard, overheating can be an issue, but firmware updates have improved that issue and it only applies to the more demanding video settings.

Canon EOS M50 Mark II

Another good buy if you’re on a budget, particularly if you’re okay with 1080p video only.

Photo: Canon

While not a huge upgrade over the original M50, Canon has made it more compelling for vloggers with a fully-articulating display, continuous eye-tracking in video and live streaming to YouTube.

It does support 4K, but with a heavy 1.5 times crop and contrast-detect autofocus only.

Panasonic G100

is purpose built for vlogging like the ZV-1, but also allows you to change lenses. It has a fully-articulating flip-out screen, 5-axis hybrid stabilization, 4K V-Log-L video and more

Photo: Panasonic

The coolest feature is the Nokia OZO system that can isolate audio to a specific person via face-detection tracking — something that can theoretically improve audio quality.

Panasonic GH6 and GH5

An incredibly popular vlogging camera for a very long time.

Photo: Steve Dent / Engadget

It also comes with the best in-body stabilization on any camera and great handling.

Sony ZV-E10

While using many of the same aging parts as the A6100, including the 24.2-megapixel sensor, it has a number of useful features for self-shooters.

Photo: Sony

High on the list is Sony’s excellent autofocus, which includes the same background defocus and Product Showcase features found on the ZV-1 compact.

It also offers electronic SteadyShot, a fully articulating display and more.

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