When content creator Ethan Nestor started his own YouTube channel back in 2012, he had no idea it would grow into what it is today. Now, nine years later, his channel CrankGameplays has gained over two million subscribers with no signs of slowing down. Nestor uses a variety of Sony cameras like the Alpha 1, Apha 7C, FX3 and FX6 to create his compelling videos, and he’s recently put the Sony ZV-E10 into his rotation. “It's such a great run-and-gun camera,” he says. “If I just want to shoot something, I’m just going to grab it really quick and go.” We caught up with him to learn more about how he creates content that grabs our attention.

We connect with Ethan Nestor about his YouTube channel CrankGameplays and how he creates compelling videos with the Sony ZV-E10.

CrankGameplays On YouTube

The CrankGameplays channel has much more content than just in the genre of gaming. Nestor saw gaming as the quickest way for him to begin creating content for an audience, and that led him to trying out plenty of other genres. “I've never really pigeonholed myself into gaming,” he explains. “That has never really been the main thing that I wanted to do. I obviously love video games and it's a huge part of my life, but I just chose that route because it was the quickest way for me to create anything, and that led to me being able to create in other avenues. It's never been about gaming or vlogging or one particular thing. It's always just been about creating, whether that thing is a project that takes me weeks to do, or whether it's just a random video at night.”

One project of Nestor’s that caught special attention was called, “Unus Annus.” Nestor and content creator Mark Fischbach collaborated for this unique YouTube channel, where they would create videos with the end-goal of them all being completely wiped from YouTube after a one-year run, never to be seen again. While the project proved to be incredibly demanding, the content’s unique demise in a way brought comfort to Nestor. “I've never gotten more closure than with Unus Annus,” he says. “We had a plan, we executed it, and then it was done. There's no, ‘I wish that we were still doing that,’ or ‘Maybe we could do that again.’ It filled its purpose and it's done. I have a ton of fun memories from it, but it's completely over and I'll never do that again. There's so much comfort in that, honestly. I miss making those videos and the grind was kind of nice, but just being able to look back and say that we did the best that we could and it ended, is super nice. There are no second thoughts about it. It's just nice to have that amount of closure on a project.”

Adding The Sony ZV-E10 To The Mix

As Nestor has moved through other various projects, he’s garnered quite the collection of Sony cameras for content creation – the FX3, FX6, Alpha 1, Alpha 7C. He remarks how excellent all of them are for creating solid videos, but says he recently found himself reaching for the new Sony ZV-E10 because of its versatility and also simply because it is the easier camera to grab. “The ZV-E10 is so small and light, and there's so many really great features on it. It's such a versatile little camera that it just allows you to have a bunch of flexibility without having a lot of setup, while still getting really good quality. That's something that I really like about it, just being able to grab it and go, without having to do a bunch of setup. I don't have to lug around a bunch of big gear. There's a lot of really great features in it and it was just easy to grab and create as soon as I wanted to.”

Nestor also mentions how the camera’s small form factor and lightness makes it a great camera for vlogging because it’s less intrusive if you’re out and about. “With the ZV-E10, you can just set it up on a little tripod or grip. The built-in mic is pretty impressive on it but there's also a hot shoe, so you can still use a higher quality mic. It has interchangeable lenses, so you can put a lens or MD filter on there. It seems like it's a kind of camera that you don't even really have to think about, which is really nice.”

He continues, “It's such a flexible camera where you can slap on that 16-50mm kit lens if you want just a super compact, really easy point-and-shoot. You can use it if you’re just going to film something, or you can fully rig it out. I had my 70-200mm on there, and there's a 50mm prime on it right now. Just a lot of better, higher quality glass. And so you can have it be as small and simple as possible, or you can really build it out.”

The flexibility that the Sony ZV-E10 provides Nestor in his content creation allows him even more freedom to create the videos that he wants to make. “I think that my favorite thing about what I do is just being able to create what I want and just have the amount of fun that I have,” he says. “Especially over this past year, I've made so many friends through the internet, specifically through streaming, where it's just like I'm just hanging out with friends and having good times. I'm very excited to be able to hopefully soon do that in person, because I love making videos with people in person. I think just having the creative freedom to make what I want to make is my favorite thing. Having that freedom and having the community that I have that supports that is really cool and really special.”

See more of Ethan Nestor's work on his YouTube Channel.