You can start UGC with the phone you own, a window, and CapCut. If you want to spend money, spend it in this order: a $30 phone tripod, a $40–60 LED panel light and a $25 clip-on mic. Total about $105. Skip the ring light, the camera and paid editing software until brands are booking you regularly. I filmed my first gifted and paid videos with a window and a desk lamp.
Every week someone DMs me a screenshot of a $400 “UGC creator starter bundle” and asks if they need it. No. You need about four things, and two of them you already have. Here’s my real setup, what it cost, and the one thing I bought too early.
The stuff you already own
Your phone. I shoot everything on my iPhone. Any iPhone 12 or newer, or a Pixel or Samsung from the last few years, is more than enough. Brands do not ask what you filmed on. They ask if the video looks good.
Settings that matter: 4K at 30fps, HDR off (it looks weird on other people’s phones), and tap-and-hold on your face to lock exposure so the brightness stops jumping when you move a product. Also wipe the lens. I’m serious. Half of “my videos look blurry” is a fingerprint.
A window. The best light in my apartment is the living-room window in the late morning. It’s soft, it’s free, and it makes skin look like skin. My first spec videos and my first gifted collabs were filmed with nothing else. You can see them on my Instagram and I promise you can’t tell.
What I bought, in the order I’d buy it again
1. Phone tripod with a flexible head: about $25–35
The first thing to buy. Not for fancy shots, but so you can be in the video with both hands free to hold the product. Look for a Bluetooth remote included; it saves you running back and forth.
2. One LED panel light: about $40–60
Not a ring light. I’ll say it again because it’s the most common mistake: ring lights make your eyes look like you’ve got two donuts in them, and every brand marketer can spot it. Get a small rectangular LED panel with adjustable brightness and color temperature, put it at 45 degrees to your face, slightly above eye level, and you get the “soft window at 11am” look at 8pm on a Tuesday. This is the purchase that made my videos look professional overnight.
3. Clip-on wireless mic: about $20–30
You don’t need it for ASMR or product-only videos. You need it the moment you talk to camera in a room with a fridge, an AC unit or NYC traffic outside. The little wireless lav mics that plug straight into your phone are cheap and make you sound like you know what you’re doing. Brands notice audio more than you’d think, because they’re going to put your video next to their own ads.
Skipped: a reflector
Every gear list tells you to buy a white foam board to bounce light onto the shadow side of your face. Confession: I don’t own one. Facing the window by day and keeping the LED panel slightly in front of me at night does the job, and a light wall behind the phone bounces enough on its own. If your room has dark walls, a $5 board from an art store is fine. Otherwise skip it.
That’s the kit. Tripod, panel light, mic. Roughly $95–125. Everything else is nice-to-have.
Apps: all free
- CapCut for editing. Captions, trims, speed ramps, trendy transitions when a brief asks for them. It’s what most UGC creators use.
- Notes app for scripts. I write the hook and three bullet points, that’s the script.
- Google Sheets for tracking brands, pitches and deliveries. This spreadsheet became my brand list, so start it in week one, not week two like I did.
- Canva for a quick thumbnail or a one-page rate card.
What I’d skip (or wait on)
- A ring light. See above.
- A “vlogging” camera. Transferring files and color-matching to phone footage takes longer than filming, and brands want it to look like a phone video anyway.
- A premium editing subscription in month one. You won’t know enough to use the features yet. Wait until you’re doing several videos a week.
- A giant backdrop. Brands want your video to look like a real person’s home, not a studio. A plain wall and one shelf work better than anything you can buy.
The “looks expensive” tricks that cost nothing
- Film during the day next to a window, camera between you and the window.
- Keep the background simple and a bit out of focus: hold the product closer to the camera than the wall.
- Clean up what’s behind you. One plant, one candle, done.
- Wear a neutral, warm-toned top. Bright white and busy patterns steal attention from the product.
- Shoot more than you need. Brands love when you can send an extra hook variation without refilming.
If your apartment is tiny, mine is too, and I wrote a whole guide on filming UGC in a small space. The short answer is that you need about four feet and a window.
Total, honestly
Phone (already have) + window (free) + tripod ($30) + LED panel ($50) + mic ($25) = about $105. Everything else you can earn your way into after your first few collabs. Which, if you pitch properly and say yes to a few gifted ones, is a few weeks away, not a few months. And when the kit arrives, the free starter pack below tells you exactly what to film with it in your first 30 days.
Frequently asked
What equipment do you need to start UGC?
A smartphone from the last 3–4 years, a tripod and natural light. A small LED light and a clip-on mic are the first upgrades worth buying. Nothing else is required.
Do you need a ring light for UGC?
No. Ring lights create a flat look and a ring reflection in your eyes that brands recognize instantly. A single soft LED panel at 45 degrees looks far more like an ad.
What app do UGC creators use to edit?
Most use CapCut (free) for captions, cuts and trending formats. InShot and VN are fine too. Premiere or Final Cut are not necessary for vertical video.
Is an iPhone good enough for UGC?
Yes. Any iPhone from the 12 onwards, or a recent Samsung or Pixel, shoots better than what most brands need. Clean the lens, lock exposure, and film in 4K at 30fps.
I post the actual collabs, behind-the-scenes and what brands reply on Instagram.
Anastasiia, NYC beauty UGC creator since spring 2026, with a stylist background. I make product videos for beauty, wellness, fashion, home and tech brands, and I write about how the business side actually works.
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