Should You Buy Gear, Hire an Agency, or Do It Yourself?
Mar 21, 2025
It depends which constraint actually binds. Buying your own gear is the cheapest and the slowest to learn. An agency is the most professional and the least repeatable. A ready-built desk studio is the only one that makes frequent video realistic, and the only one that cannot leave your desk.
Chris declares his hand at the top of this episode, which is the right way to read the rest of it:
"I'm so biased. I'll be straight with you and say this is the most biased I think I've ever been in my life." - Chris Schwager
What is wrong with buying your own equipment?
Nothing, until you count what comes with it. The purchase is cheap and the ownership is not, because you inherit every variable that a system would have settled for you.
"You're going to have to understand what you got to buy, where you got to buy it, whether it's going to work. You got to test and measure." - Chris Schwager
It is genuinely the cheapest option up front, and Chris says so. The risk is that the return never arrives because the gear does not get used, which is the failure this line describes exactly:
"The only skill I see people building is the skill to know that they don't want to be doing it anymore." - Chris Schwager
That is the same ending as gear that stays in the box, arrived at from the purchase side rather than the confidence side.
When is a production agency the right answer?
More often than you would expect from a Ridge post, and Chris says why:
"I have nothing against full-service video production companies. We are one." - Chris Schwager
What you buy is professionalism and the absence of a learning curve. They handle scheduling, often the script, the shoot and the edit, and the job gets done. What you pay for it is a day rate and a queue.
"For pros, you're talking about $1,000 to $2,000 a day. It's expensive. Look, I find it expensive, but they are good." - Chris Schwager
The structural cost is repeatability rather than money. Because a shoot is an event, people stack them, recording three or six months of content in one exhausting day so the agency has enough to edit.
"It doesn't keep them current. It doesn't keep them up to date." - Chris Schwager
Which is the part that decides whether any of it earns anything back. What video actually costs is worth reading against what it returns rather than in isolation, and the ROI question has its own answer.
What does a desk studio actually change?
Frequency. Everything is already lit, already set up, already has the teleprompter loaded, so recording is switching it on. Chris's claim for volume is not modest and he qualifies it honestly: unlimited in principle, and the most he has personally done is about fifty in a day.
The less obvious part is that it is a programme rather than a box of equipment. Coaching comes with it, and so does a service where a director anywhere in the world records you through your own studio, sends the teleprompter text, plays takes back and directs the session, so you do not have to run any of it yourself.
What can a desk studio not do?
Move. This is Chris arguing against his own product, and it is the most useful thirty seconds in the episode:
"The desktop video studio is not mobile. You can't pick it up and move it into the next room or go out on location." - Chris Schwager
So the honest decision rule is about where your video has to happen. If it is you, talking, often, from one place, a desk studio wins on every axis that matters. If it is an event, a site, a factory floor or anything where the camera has to travel to the subject, hire the crew. Most businesses eventually need both, and knowing which job is which is the whole skill.
Frequently asked questions
What does a professional video crew cost?
Chris puts the market rate for professionals at $1,000 to $2,000 a day, and is clear that they are worth it for what they do. Cheaper exists, and it usually means a lower skill set. The cost that matters is not the day rate, it is that every future video costs the same again.
Why is buying your own equipment described as a trap?
Because the purchase is the easy part. You then own every variable: what to buy, whether it works together, the settings, the testing, the setting up and the packing down. Chris's observation is that the only skill most people build this way is the realisation that they do not want to be doing it.
Is an agency ever the right answer?
Often, and Ridge is one, which is why the comparison is worth reading with that in mind. An agency wins when the work needs to move: an event, a location shoot, a factory floor, anything where the camera has to go to the subject. It also removes the learning curve entirely, because somebody else runs the process.
What can a desk studio not do?
Move. Chris names this himself as the point where an agency is the better answer: a desktop studio is not mobile, cannot be picked up and carried into the next room, and cannot go on location. If most of your video needs to happen somewhere other than your desk, it is the wrong tool.
Transcript
Read the full transcript
Welcome to the DIY Video for Professionals Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Schwager, and today we're going to go through video production comparison, meaning we're going to break down buying and setting up your own equipment versus full production video service agency that you could hire versus hiring a professional, buying a professional video outfit so that you can do it yourself professionally. If you go to the Ridge Films website down below there somewhere, there's a table. It's called Video Production Comparison. You can follow it on at home in your own time when you're listening to this on your podcast. Otherwise, if you're on our YouTube channel, welcome.
Thank you so much for joining us. You'll also find this video in the resources area of the Ridge Films website. So let's break it down by buy and set your own equipment. What do we need to really consider when we are buying and setting up our own equipment? This is the trap. It's a trap most people, most individuals get into and they often don't get out of until they see us, of course. Now, why is buying and setting up your own equipment a trap?
Well, because you've got to create unlimited high quality videos, then how do you do that when you're setting up your own equipment and trying to figure it out? You want to reduce risk and hassle? This is not a great solution because you're constantly responsible for the endless amounts of variables that it takes to set up your own gear and pack down your own gear. If you don't have a controlled environment, it is never ending. Now, one upside, it is cost effective. It is cost effective, okay? However, you may end up buying equipment that you don't use.
Therefore, your ROI on buying that equipment may not be that effective. Quick video turnaround, of course, but so is pulling out your iPhone. Probably the quickest turnaround of video. Is it flexible and speedy? It's about a medium. It's not the fastest solution, but it's not the slowest solution either. If you want to live stream to Zoom or Teams, it's not that great. If you're kind of patching together a DSLR camera and a lapel microphone, and, you know, you've got a good recording set up, but you may actually not be able to use that for Zoom or Teams as well.
Now, that's a pretty quick fix, all right? But it's an extra piece of equipment you got to invest in. Now, minimal learning curve, yes. I mean, no. No, there isn't a minimal learning curve. You're going to have to learn all that shit. You're going to have to understand what you got to buy, where you got to buy it, whether it's going to work. You got to test and measure. You got to figure out all the settings. It's not a minimal learning curve by any means. I don't know why I got that wrong. And skill growth, skill growth, it's low. These aren't skills you're developing.
It's trial and error, let's face it. You know, maybe you could go do a course on YouTube, learn some stuff, but otherwise you're not really building a lot of skill. The only skill I see people building is the skill to know that they don't want to be doing it anymore. That it takes them too long. It's too painful. There's too many variables. There's too many things that they don't know. That's the skill that they're building. What not to do, right? We want people that are very clear on what they want. They want ease. They want speed. They want scale.
They want to look more professional, right? Now the other alternative is that you hire a full-service video production company or agency to do this stuff for you. Now let's break this down. Can you create unlimited high-quality videos with a full-service video production agency? Now, just so you know, I have nothing against full-service video production companies. We are one, okay? But I'm trying to get it into your head that this is the consideration you need to make before you hire a company or before you buy your own equipment. So will they allow you to create unlimited high-quality videos? No, it's not unlimited. It's going to cost.
It's going to cost you by time. It's going to cost you on your own resourcing. So it's either you or your staff are going to do it. And it's going to cost you in dollars. You can't do it straight away. You've got to wait for them. Wait for their schedule. Now, does this reduce the risk and hassle? No, it's still high risk. If you want to get a quick market update out to your market, then this is not going to be a great solution. Lots of people that hire full-service video production companies will stack their videos. So they'll get them out for a day.
They'll record three or six months' worth of content. They'll put themselves under a whole bunch of stress. But then the video production company has something to do. Eddled all those videos together. And that allows, say, three to six months of content for the business owner so that they can just syndicate that out the way they go. But it doesn't keep them current. It doesn't keep them up to date. And it certainly doesn't guarantee that the video that they're producing is going to be right and get published. Is it a cost-effective solution? No, it's not.
And, you know, I'll put a big strike across that and say, it's not because you're not getting ROI. You're employing a whole bunch of people to help you do it. That makes sense, right? Like even if you hire a videographer, that's going to cost you. Now, in Australia, in Sydney, freelance technicians or freelance companies, even if you went with someone, you know, is going to still cost you money. Now, look, I'm not going to say you're not going to get it for 300 bucks. All right. Because maybe Timmy, he's 21, just bought a DSLR camera and happy to do it for that amount.
May do it. You might even edit it for you. But maybe he's also coming at a lower skill set. Okay. For pros, you're talking about $1,000 to $2,000 a day. It's expensive. Look, I find it expensive, but they are good, right? They are good. They bring professionalism. They know what they're doing. The job gets done. That's the main thing. The job gets done. And they're doing everything in their power to make it as easy as possible for you. Is it a video? Quick video turnaround? No. They've got to edit it. They've got to take it away.
They've got to fit it into their schedules to make sure that you get the video. So some of the horror stories I've heard is videos taking months. Now, that's a pretty poor effort as far as I'm concerned. But it does depend on the type of video that's been produced. But if your little corporate video is taking months, that's not acceptable. You should find another person to do that for you. Another company. Is it flexible and speedy? No, it's not. It's low on flexibility and speed. And it's low on live streaming to Zoom and Teams. It's not something you're going to...
You're not going to employ a professional video company to do just a simple little Zoom or Teams. You might employ them to do an event where they can patch in with a proper streaming service and provide that for you. But again, that's an exceptional experience where they'd be doing that. Minimal learning curve. Now, this, I give it a tick. It is a minimal learning curve, meaning they'll do all of your scheduling. They'll make it all work for you. If they're good, they'll make sure that they are clear on what it is that you should be getting as a volunteer marketing objectives. That's all good.
They might help you with your script or even write the script for you. They'll shoot the video if you don't have to participate in the filming. Hey, you can get the whole thing finished right through to edit and delivery without you necessarily needing to do anything. That's a minimal learning curve. But in our experience, most of the time when we're providing professional videos for our clients, they're getting involved in schedules. They're getting involved in the script. They're getting involved in on camera training and filming for their presentation to camera. And then also the location filming, they have to participate in some way.
Otherwise, we're just storming in with our gear and having free reign of the whole place. That's not really going to happen. They would want to have some kind of control. And if you're in a risky environment, say, for instance, a factory or working at heights, anything like that, they've got to be there and they've got to be responsible for you. So yeah, those are the things. Skill growth, very low as well. You're not going to learn a lot of skills.
You're going to learn a lot of skills about the process of hiring a professional video company, but you're not going to learn any of those skills to repeat within your own business to make things more cost effective for the future. Really. Right. Unless you have a good relationship with your video production company and you really get to figure out ways that you can shoot once and distribute many, shoot once, edit lots of different social clips. I mean, that's a strategy. That's a process. But for every one of those social clips, they're edits. They're scripts.
They're time strategizing and making sure that they're right for your business. Now, the third and final point I want to make here is about getting a DIY video solution. Now I'm so biased. I'll be straight with you and say this is the most biased I think I've ever been in my life. And when I put this table together, I tested it and I realized that it's absolutely 100% true. Everything I'm about to give you. And I will try and be unbiased. I'll try and be unbiased. All right. Here we go. The DIY video program, Ridge Films DIY.
So this is about having your own equipment, either at your desk or in a communal office where everybody can access it. It's super clean. One button switch, you turn it on, you start shooting, right? Go and have a look at the Ridge Films website. You'll see what I'm talking about. This is all about minimizing any creative variables, getting you to quickly record a video to then publish that video with as little steps as possible without anybody's involvement. You can literally do this yourself morning, noon or night. You don't have to have anyone else involved. So can you create unlimited high quality videos? A hundred percent.
You can stop and start on any video at any time of the day and do a hundred videos a day if you really wanted to. That would be ambitious. I've never done it. I think the most I've probably done is 50 in a day. Maybe a bit more than that. It's a lot. Okay. So yes, it's unlimited. You have access to do a hundred videos a day for the rest of your life, if that's what you want to do. Reduce risk and hassle? Yes.
Because for the same reason, we've created a system that is already lit, already set up, already got the teleprompter ready, and you don't really have to do anything apart from switching on and record a video. Is it cost effective? Yes. The initial investment is the cost of a small car. But over two years, three years, even over a year, compare it to the 20 grand that you might throw at a video, full service video production company. Anyway, I love you guys. Don't get me wrong. I do love you, right? But you're just not going to leverage ROI on this thing.
And look, you know, let's just go back and compare against these guys too. They're mobile. The desktop video studio is not mobile. It doesn't, you can't pick it up and move it into the next room or go out in location. Okay. So, that's me being unbiased. That's where a full service video production company will be the better solution for you. Quick video turnaround. Hell yeah. It is going to be quick, man. You can do videos within minutes. And I actually have a video on this for video and email, replying to an inquiry within a minute and 20 seconds.
That's the type of speed we're talking about. That is insane. So, this video that I'm recording for you right now, it's a podcast. It's a video. It's going to end up, I'm going to end up sending it to a client. It's, we're talking fast. If I want to do this video because I see the validity in it, I'm going to record it once and I'm going to distribute it to as many places as I possibly can. And I'm going to make sure that it ends up in our resources area and on our YouTube channel so that everybody can see.
And I don't have to worry about recording it again. Flexibility and speed is high. It's flexible and speedy because I can get on and just flick a switch and away I go. It's flexible because it's at my desk. Live streaming to Zoom calls and teams. Well, that's how it's able to record. It's always streaming. So, it's streaming to your recorder on your hard drive of your computer or it's streaming out to the world by Zoom teams or however else you want to stream your content. Now, minimal learning curve, yes. And I'll say yes because you don't need to set up or pack down any equipment.
Now, you still have to take on the skills. Some people already have these presenter skills. They already know their message. They already know that they can build their own course content. They can do all those wonderful things. There are others, however, the oldies, I love you, that want to spend a little bit more time one-on-one making sure that they get the basics right. Perhaps they use the wrong mic. Perhaps they're still trying to figure out that they need to plug in the solution into their computer. But hey, they're an exception, right?
But overall, out of the hundreds of clients that were served, it is a minimal learning curve. And anyone that can operate their computer, it's as easy as that. And it's just then about them understanding how they can utilize it best. Skill growth, high, high, high, high. Why? Because it's part of a program. It's not just equipment. It's part of the coaching that you get. And also a great feature of the DIY video program is that you also get an assisted directed recordings, meaning you can get yourself recorded from your own desktop video studio without knowing anything about it.
You can sit in front of it and a director at the other end, no matter where they are in the world, can record you in full HD quality, full quality, right? It's not Zoom. It's better than Zoom. They can send you the teleprompter text. So you don't need to worry about remembering lines. You can read the text straight from the teleprompter. They can play back the video take so that you can see that you've done a great job and they can direct you all the way through the session. How powerful is that?
The fact that you don't actually even need to worry about recording or running the teleprompter yourself, you can have someone do that for you. That is the bomb. That is such a big selling point. We love the DIY video program, but you choose. What will you do? Buy and set up your own equipment. Use a full production service agency or the DIY kick-ass video program. I'll let you decide. Thanks for listening. It's been great having you on the show just to break down those three stages.
Hopefully it's giving you some good information on how you should choose and you're educated on how you should do this. Go to the resources area of our site. Go to the Ridge Films site. Listen to some of the testimonials and case studies of others who have gone through the drama of buying their own gear or having to hire other production companies and listen to how happy they are. I'll see you next time on the DIY Video for Professionals Podcast.
Which of these sounds like you?
"Setting up takes so long I end up not recording." That is what the Desktop Studio removes. Installed for you, one click to record.
"I record, but I don't like how I come across." That is what Video Coaching is for: messaging, performance, tech and implementation, worked live every week.
"Honestly, both." Book a call and we will work out where to start.
