Gear is something you need to have to make video or audio content of some sort. Whether that would be a camera and/or a microphone, you’re going to eventually need it. However, gear should only be second to making content.
I used a USB mic and a terrible camera until I reached 2 million subs on YouTube.
Just make your content entertaining and deal with the production quality in the future when you're able to https://t.co/d6v6n3YkbA
— SmallAnt (@SmallAnt) January 31, 2023
The people that tell you to buy pricey gear have no idea what they’re talking about. Take for example microphones. Unless you’re a musician or voice talent, there is no need to spend that much on a microphone and/or audio interface. You don’t even need an audio interface if you’re just making YouTube videos or Twitch streaming. Your stuff is going through the internet’s compression anyways and the differences between inexpensive and expensive equipment become irrelevant. I used to just use my phone’s microphone to record audio for assignments. Was it professional quality? No, but it worked for what I needed. Acoustics matter more than the gear itself. If your acoustics are terrible such as sound bouncing off the wall, your microphone won’t matter. You just need to make sure your acoustics are dead enough for your mic to not pick up any reverb.
Even cameras don’t matter too much since internet compression is going to make add artifacts anyways. Sure, you need them to at least be passable, but you don’t need anything that costs a lot of money or does more than you really need. I know someone who uses an older smartphone as a webcam. Considering that you’re probably not going to watch the stream on a big TV, the camera doesn’t matter.
The gap between inexpensive and expensive gear used to be pretty big. You would be able to tell if something was shot on a smartphone pretty easily or if it was a USB mic rather than an XLR mic. Nowadays, you can get away with a smartphone camera and a USB mic.
Never listen to anyone that says you need expensive gear as a content creator. They probably spent a lot on gear without knowing how to make it work as intended, or can even tell the difference.