French YouTube star Jigmé has been serving up 4K content for his cooking channel thanks to a mixed package of camera hardware, including the Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Plus and Pocket Cinema Camera 4K.
Chez Jigmé also employs the ATEM Mini Extreme ISO to produce live and prerecorded content.
Launched in 2017, Chez Jigmé has had more than 65 million views, making it one of the most popular online culinary channels.
The channel’s early success on YouTube came in the form of topical humour. “While I saw success, I wasn’t necessarily building a loyal fanbase. Cooking is where I saw real potential,” Jigmé explains. “It is far more appealing in production terms and gives the feeling of creating something more meaningful, of bringing something useful to my viewers.”
With more and more people enjoying live streamed content, Twitch was a natural next step, as was the decision to build the channel’s web broadcasting workflow around the ATEM Mini Extreme ISO.
“When it came to cameras, my mind was quickly made up, settling on the Pocket Cinema Camera series. I love the image quality. It lends a cinematic quality to my videos. They’re also compact, helping me maximise how I use the space. For example, I have several rigged in the ceiling, providing top down shots of the kitchen counter and cooker,” Jigmé explains.
While the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro uses a cine zoom, the Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and Studio Camera 4K Plus rely on micro four thirds lenses. “The latter are relatively inexpensive but still allow me to control the zoom electronically whether it’s on the kitchen counter or while cooking food.”
Each camera also includes a capacitor microphone with interchangeable capsules to capture ambient sounds from the kitchen, which adds to the atmosphere, according to Jigmé. “Ensuring my content can benefit from those ambient sounds contributes to the audience immersion and ensures a wow effect when someone arrives on the channel.
The camera sources feed into the ATEM Mini Extreme ISO via HDMI, where the entire audio stream is mixed in the ATEM Software Control using a preset created by Jigmé.
He recently added the Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Plus to the setup, which is rigged as a teleprompter, allowing Jigmé to see fan messages sent using Twitch’s chat function quickly and more easily.
“I can now respond to comments and questions directly into the camera lens, giving my audience a more personalised experience. It’s details like this which hopefully make viewers want to stay on the stream and discover new recipes.”
“On top of that, I was amazed by the quality and size of the screen. However, the killer feature for me is the ability to adjust brightness, contrast and peaking using the dials,” he adds.
“Whether you’re streaming or doing more traditional video production work, it’s an incredibly well designed and versatile camera,” concludes Jigmé.
