Do you want to start making porn? Have you been thinking about starting a career as a couple on PornHub? Or maybe you just want to make an amateur sex tape for fun with your significant other.
There are many different cameras to choose from when it comes to making porn.
In this article, we’ll look at the different camera options for all different price points to help you make porn that looks sexy!
Just recommend me a camera!
If you just want the quick answer about which camera is best for porn and money isn’t an issue, then I highly recommend the Sony A7SIII or Sony FX3. If you need to save money, then get the Sony FX30 (a crop-frame version of the FX3).
If you can’t quite afford the above options, then I recommend just buying an iPhone 15 Pro Max and using that to shoot all of your content.
Before You Buy a Camera For Porn…
Before you start shopping for the perfect camera, you should understand some basic ideas about filming porn and making videos in general.
Get your lighting sorted
The most important thing when shooting video is lighting. Even with the best Hollywood film camera, your video is going to look terrible if you’re shooting a scene in your bedroom at night with all the lights off.
Try to shoot with as much natural light as possible. Film in the daytime, near a window with the blinds open, if possible (try to not to turn the neighbors on too much!)
Many amateur couples on PornHub like LeoLulu tend to shoot with “golden hour lighting” meaning right after sunrise or right before sunset when the sunlight is softer and more of an orange color.
Minimal technical requirements
Next, you want to make sure your camera has fast autofocus and can shoot in HD (1080p) at least. Almost any modern smartphones will meet these requirements. In fact, most modern smartphones will perform better than older DSLRs, so you may not even need to invest in new gear to start making good quality porn!
Gear doesn’t matter
Yes, you can scale a porn channel and OnlyFans account by shooting all your content on any recent iPhone (LeoLulu did exactly this!) Gear really doesn’t matter as much as people think it does.
< $100
Your smartphone (the one you already have)
This is the easiest solution for shooting porn. You probably already have one of these (many of you are probably even reading this article on your smartphone right now!) and any smartphone made in the last 5 years or so will have good quality, “Full HD” video support. Recent smartphones like the iPhone 14 / 15 or Samsung Galaxy S23 / S24 even support 4k video at high framerates and come with a good quality wide-angle lens built-in.
If you don’t have much money to spend on gear, you should just start making content with the smartphone you already have. We even have a full guide on how to start filming good quality porn with your phone.
Even older phones can produce very high-quality looking video as long as you get the lighting right and know which angles to shoot.
The main problem with smartphones is that they won’t be great in low light (though, they are improving all the time). So, make sure to follow my advice from earlier and shoot in brighter, naturally lit environments. If you’re shooting at night or in a dark room, turn on the camera flash while filming. You can also buy some LED lighting solutions for when you want to shoot in the dark or at night time.
Logitech c920
This is the webcam used by professional adult cam stars all over the world. It supports Full HD 1080p video at 30fps, has decent low light performance and the design makes it easy to clip onto your computer or to screw onto a tripod.
< $500
GoPro Hero 12 (or older)
GoPros are excellent choices for shooting porn. Many big websites and studios use them regularly in their scenes due to the ability to give a great, immersive POV via a head mount view while also being lightweight and super portable.
The video modes on any newer GoPro from the past few years are incredible. They allow for 4k footage, often up to at least 60fps and even going as far as 4k and 120fps on new models like the Hero 10 or 11.
The Hero 12 black (currently the latest GoPro release) is $349 USD right now. You can buy older or used GoPros if you’re on a budget and don’t mind slightly older specs. Older GoPros are still great cameras!
An important thing to remember about using a GoPro for porn is that the low-light performance is not amazing. If you’re planning on shooting indoors without continous LED lights or similar external lighting, then your resulting footage may not be very good.
However, GoPros are made as sports cameras, intended to be used outside, so they’re perfect for shooting scenes outdoors in nature (for example).
Other action cameras
GoPros aren’t the only action cameras out there (though, they are probably the most well-known line of action cameras). Sony, DJI and Insta360 all make good quality GoPro competitors, so check those out as well!
Used DSLR or camcorder
Check eBay or other used marketplaces for older handycam camcorders or used DSLRs. As long as they shoot digitally, in Full HD, and have autofocus then they’ll be good enough for shooting porn.
< $1000
There aren’t that many options on the lower end of the $500 – $1000 USD range for video cameras. The choices below are likely to be more than $900 but still under $1000, so I’ll still discuss them here!
Sony FDR AX43
The Sony FDR-AX series of camcorders. Coming in at just under $1,000 USD, it’s a good prosumer camcorder. Shoots in 4k and has a good sensor for low-light shooting. There’s a built-in gimbal (Sony calls it BOSS – Balanced Optical Steady Shot) for stable footage.
The main issue with handycams like the ones in the FDR AX series is that you only get a fixed focal length (no interchangeable lenses) and you don’t get the same variety of framerates that you’d get on a DSLR, mirrorless, or cinema camera.
You can offset this problem by buying lens adapters which can alter the focal length through a screw-on attachment. While this isn’t as good as an interchangeable lens, it’s good enough for porn and has been a common solution for many producers over the past 25 years.
Fujifilm X-T30
The X-T30 is maybe the best mirrorless camera under $1,000 that can also shoot uncropped 4k video. It’s also very lightweight with a smaller body than other DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
iPhone 15 Pro Max
This is right on the edge of the $1,000 budget, since a fully unlocked iPhone 15 pro max retails at around $1,200 USD, but you can often buy them using a monthly payment plan or at a cheaper price if you get one carrier-locked.
iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max even support shooting 4k footage in Log format (which gives you more flexibility for color grading in post-production).
iPhones could even be called the Swiss Army Knife of porn tools because you can basically run your entire porn business with one. You can take beautiful photos and videos, edit them, do your social media marketing and manage your fan pages all from an iPhone.
High end smartphones are a great investment for content creators!
< $2000
This is the price range where you start to get a lot of really high-quality options to choose from. You can’t really go wrong with anything on this list. Generally, Sony cameras have the best low-light performance right now, so if you plan on shooting in darker environments, you will probably be better off with a Sony.
Sony FX30
Released in 2022, the Sony FX30 is a crop-frame mirrorless camera in Sony’s “cinema line” of cameras. At only $1,800 it is also the cheapest camera in Sony’s cinema line and that means it’s a great alternative to the full-frame Sony A7SIII or FX3. In fact, the FX30 is like a crop-frame version of the FX3.
The FX30 has amazing autofocus and Sony’s mirrorless cameras are well known for their amazing low light performance, making this a perfect camera for porn.
Sony RX100 Mark VII
The RX100 is an excellent point-and-shoot camera with a very high-quality lens. Arguably the best point-and-shoot on the market right now. It supports a variety of recording types including Full HD and 4k. Low light performance is excellent and slow-mo footage at 120fps looks very clean. You will probably want to pair this camera with a tripod, though, due to the lens not being ultra-wide. It’s not ideal for close-range POV shooting but will still get the job done.
Canon 6D Mark II
Great quality full-frame DSLR. Shoots Full HD 1080p video and 30 and 60 frames-per-second. Has a flip-out screen (some consider this a necessity when shooting porn). Excellent for stills as well. If you have the budget, pair it with a wide-angle Canon 16-35 f2.8 L lens for the best effect.
While the trend is to move towards mirrorless cameras, the 6D MKII is still a great DSLR for shooting porn on a budget.
Canon 90D
This is a crop-frame (APS-C) camera. Shoots Full HD 1080p video at 30, 60 and 120 frames-per-second. The variety of framerates helps if you’re planning to shoot slow motion footage. Also comes with a flip-out screen.
Sony A7 III
Great full-frame mirrorless camera from Sony. Shoots Full HD 1080p video up to 120 frames per second and 4k Ultra HD video up to 30 frames per second. As I mentioned earlier, Sony cameras are absolute beasts in low-light!
Canon XA11
Professional camcorder from Canon that shoots Full HD 1080p video.
< $5000
Sony A7S III
This is the gold standard of video right now. It shoots 4k at basically every framerate you could possibly want, has insane low-light performance and even has a flip-out screen (something vloggers in the Sony ecosystem have been wanting for years!)
Even porn legend Rocco Siffredi seems to have switched to an A7S III recently!
Sony FX3
The Sony FX3 is actually the exact same camera and internals as the A7SIII, but it’s in a different cage and has an in-body cooling fan meaning it will perform better and you can push it a little bit harder, but it’s basically the same camera.
If you want to buy one of these but are unsure, just go to a Sony store and test them both out. You might prefer the feeling of one vs the other.
Canon R6
This is Canon’s answer to Sony’s mirrorless A7 line of cameras. While the video specs aren’t quite as good as Sony, it’s still a great camera and will be fine for shooting porn. It can shoot 1080p Full HD video up to 120 frames per second and 4K UHD up to 60 frames per second.
< $10,000
Now we’re getting into truly cinematic territory! If you’re considering cameras in this category, then you’re probably already making a lot of money from porn or working for a big studio! Or maybe you’re just trying to shoot a great sex scene for a big-budget Hollywood film… Doesn’t matter, I’ve got you covered!
RED Komodo 6k
The RED Komodo is a digital cinema camera. It can shoot up to 60 frames per second in all resolutions (yes, including 6k!) and also supports RAW format video! It natively supports Canon RF lenses out-of-the-box. Porn site Blacked.com and the other sites in their network are famous for shooting their content on RED cameras!
Canon EOS C70
Amazing recent cinema camera from Canon. It can shoot 4k footage up to 120 frames per second and has native support for Canon RF lenses with EF lenses all supported through an official adapter. Probably good if you’ve been in the Canon ecosystem for a long time and want to continue using your glass with an upgraded cinema camera.
What Camera Lenses Should You Use For Porn?
Generally, you want a wide-angle lens for shooting porn. If you’re going to be shooting handheld, POV porn, you should be looking for an image-stabilized, ultra-wide-angle lens (focal length of <20mm) so you can fit everything into the hole… I mean frame.
If you want shallow depth-of-field (blurry background, subject isolation, bokeh) then you’ll want to buy a lens with a low f-number. For example, the Canon 16-35 lens has two different versions: one with f4 and one with f2.8. The f2.8 version will give you blurrier backgrounds and better subject isolation, so your videos will look more cinematic.
If you’re shooting with a camcorder, you might want to get a wide-angle converter to give you more space in the frame when shooting handheld.
If you’re using a GoPro or a recent smartphone with a wide-angle mode, then you don’t need to worry about the focal length as GoPro has a super-wide field of view. The same is true for current generation smartphones as well!
Do I Need a Microphone?
If you have a camera with a microphone input, you may want to invest in a shotgun mic. In-camera audio is fine most of the time but it will also include a lot of background noise, ambient sound, or wind noise (if you’re outside filming yourself having sex in nature!)
Shure and Rode both make very good quality shotgun mics in the $200 – $300 range.
The Rode video micro is a good choice for < $100 and Takstar makes a great, cheap shotgun mic at $40 if you’re on a budget.
24 replies to "Best Cameras for Making Porn – Complete Guide"
What about web design? Do you guys build the site yourself?
Is there a website software you can use thats user friendly and still create nice pages to compete with the todays sites?
How about hosting? How do you find host companies that allow porn?
I have a background in web design, so I often do website work by myself. If you don’t have any web design skills, then I’d recommend hiring someone to handle those tasks for you. WordPress is a great tool for building websites. If you use WordPress combined with a good theme, then you can do almost everything with visual editing tools.
In terms of hosting, many web hosts allow porn (as long as it’s all legal and compliant). Just be sure to read their terms to check. Hostgator is an example of a web host that allows adult content!
This is very helpful information thank you. I’ve been recording all of my porn scenes with my iPhones, the iPhone 13 promax the most recent paid for from funds from my Xvideos.com account.
It works ok, but a lot of my fans are requesting to watch me have sex live, so I’ll try the GoPro you recommend, assuming live, cordless streaming can be done with if?
Thanks,
Yes! You can live stream with a GoPro, but it likely wouldn’t be cordless. You may need some additional hardware to get started like an Elgato cam link (this can be used with any camera that has HDMI output) and then you can configure your livestream with an app like OBS on your PC. Given all the extra effort, GoPro may not be worth it. The webcam I typically recommend is the C920 webcam from Logitech. It gives good, clear 1080p video. Not sure if it would be a step up from an iPhone 13 pro max, though! That’s already a really solid camera out of the box.
I have multiple cellphones and gopros. Was thinking about capturing different abgles with it. What angles and postitions would you recommend?
I prefer to shoot with a single camera for POV and sometimes one secondary camera for a third-person angle. You generally don’t want to use too many different cameras for a single video. For angles and positions: check popular porn videos and try to copy what you see!
Hello. What size penis do I need to be able to film porn and sell it. Like you.
Size doesn’t really matter, honestly. It’s about how good the content is!
Would you recommend the Sony A7 IV?
Great informative article and guide!
Yes, the Sony A7 IV is a great camera. Just be sure to pair it with a good wide angle lens for shooting porn! Glad the article was useful for you 🙂
I use 3 gopros (two 9s and a 10). Keep two stationary on tripods or clips and hold one in hand POV style. Pretty sure my lighting is sufficient with surrounding ring lights, light mods, windows, etc. But I feel like I’m getting a bit too much grain sometimes in my POV shots. As someone who isn’t too knowledgeable on the details of settings, any just basic ideal settings to have the camera on in terms of ISO, bit-rate, sharpness, etc? I have them just preset to min 100, max 1600, standard bitrate, 4k 30 fps, etc and when ever I see the option of “auto” (like on shutter), I just stick with that. Should I tweak things to optimize the shot?
Light is the most important thing you can optimize for when shooting porn. GoPros are notoriously bad in low light (any action cam really), so if you’re still getting grain in your shots, then you can probably improve your lighting setup. The easiest trick is to shoot in daytime near a window (the bigger the better). I think your settings are fine, it’s probably just a matter of testing different light configurations to see what yields the best and lowest grain result. Upgrading from a GoPro to a more proper camera will definitely help in terms of low light performance as well.
When doing POV, how do you personally make sure the camera is steady during all that movement? I have thought of buying a gimbal perhaps
If you’re shooting handheld POV content, a gimbal is usually overkill and it’s going to be quite annoying to hold while having sex. I’d recommend buying a camera that has good in-body stabilization (for example: many Sony mirrorless cameras offer this, you can use the keyword IBIS to find them). Many lenses also have image stabilization built-in, so you can also look for that feature when shopping for lenses. Action cameras (like GoPros) and modern smartphones usually have very good stabilization as well.
I see most of your recommendation is for interchangeable lens DSLR, but I find them difficult to focus if you do gonzo, many models have recording time limit.
How do you think about Canon XA40 prosumer camcorders aside from your recommendation of Sony FDR AX?
Worth forking out for a Canon C100 or even C300 since used ones are inexpensive these days and pros seemed to use them.
What do you use yourself?
I think this really depends on your personal preferences. Prosumer camcorders are also a great choice for gonzo and lots of producers are shooting with those. The main downside to camcorders is that the built-in lens sometimes isn’t wide enough to capture all the action when you’re shooting so close, so you may need a wide angle adapter which can cause some distortion.
You mentioned a focusing issue, I think as long as you pick the right camera and lens combination, you should be able to achieve fast and quiet autofocusing (for example a Sony A7S with their 16-35 lens should focus quickly). Of course, you’ll want to test these things before buying.
I think Canon C100 or C300 is a bit overkill for shooting gonzo porn, honestly. Those are more appropriate for proper film projects. I personally prefer a lighter weight option if I’m going to shoot handheld content by myself!
I personally shoot with interchangeable lens DSLRs (hence the article bias, hah!) Though I also make use of smartphones and action cameras (GoPros) depending on the shots I’m trying to get.
Thanks for the comment! Hope this helps a bit.
How about storage? Did you add any external memory, such as an SD Card, to your phone? Do you know how many minutes you can record with 1TB of storage? What is the best practice here?
Having an extra SD card is very useful if you’re shooting on your phone just because the video files can get quite large. It also makes it easy to transfer to your computer for editing. 1TB of storage is a huge amount of space. Typically when I film a 30 – 60 minute scene in 1080p on a proper DSLR camera, it’s about 30 – 50gb in total file size. I have several 1TB drives for archiving footage.
Thank you so much for the guide, I’ve been shooting adult videos casually for a few years now and looking to upgrade my setup. Just a quick question, why would one need a wide-angle lens? Are the scenes not relatively compact? And wouldn’t a wide angle distort some of the image? I’m relatively uneducated on different types of lenses. Thanks in advance <3
Hey Johnny! Almost all professional porn is shot on wide-angle lenses (especially gonzo/POV content). If you’re filming POV, then you’re VERY close to the other performer(s) and a more narrow lens isn’t going to capture all of the action. You’re also going to be moving and shaking a lot. All of that movement translates into a lot of camera shake in the final video, which isn’t very comfortable for the viewer to watch. It’s true that you may not need a wide-angle lens if you have your camera on a tripod and set a fair distance from the action. But, anything handheld is better done with a wide-angle. And, yes, there will be some distortion, but it’s fairly minimal as long as you’re not going ultra wide (16mm full-frame is wide enough in my experience). Hope that helps to answer your question!
Thank you so much for the reply, <3
So I usually have the camera on a tripod, camera shake is not really an issue for me. I typically shoot bondage videos, so the subject is generally in the same spot for the entire scene. I have a standard lens right now. Is there any particular wide angle lens you would recommend? I'm shooting primarily with a Sony a6400.
Thank you so much again, you're awesome. 🙂
I would go with Sony’s 10-18mm lens (great crop frame wide angle to pair with a6xxx series!)
Heyya! The Sony A9III just recently released and will soon be available. How (if at all) would you fit her into your rankings? 🙂
Hey! The A9III meets all my qualifications for a good porn camera. However, if you’re on a budget, it’s probably a bit overkill. You can just get one of the older Sony mirrorless cameras for a fraction of the cost (any of the A7S series, for example).