Ready to turn your passion for gear and tech into a thriving online presence, without losing your sanity? Pat Miller digs deep with YouTube filmmaker and photographer Sidney Diongzon to reveal what really goes into mastering content creation and scaling your influence.

Episode Highlights 🎤💡:

(03:26) - Why gear reviews resonate with creators

(08:57) - Building a system to stay productive

(15:12) - How a simple, fun video went viral

Connect with Pat Miller ⬇

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Connect with Sidney Diongzon ⬇

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Thank you to our sponsor, Sony!

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I'm Pat Miller, and this is The Professional Photographer Podcast. Thanks for joining us on The Professional Photographer Podcast. I'm your host, Pat Miller, and we are live at Imaging USA 2025 in Dallas. This has been a great show. We're presented by Sony, and I'll gush on their gear in a minute, but you are here to learn. This is the Scale Your Influence series. And on the show today, Sidney Diongzon. We're going to have a great conversation about what it takes to be a great YouTuber. Not only the technical side, but how do you handle comments from the audience, how do you manage your work week, and get it all done? And some of the stuff that he's learned along the way. Reviewing gear and making a life as a YouTuber. You're going to love the episode. We'll get to it in just one moment. Now, the set here today is bananas. Sony has gone all out. We are using their cinema line cameras, which have worked flawlessly all week. And we're using their Monitor & Control app, which runs on an iPad, no wires. People have been stopping and ooh-ing and aww-ing all week. So, Sony, thanks for all your tech and thanks for making us look good. All right, Sidney is standing by. Let's get him on the air. Sidney, welcome to the professional photographer podcast. How are you today?

Thank you for having me. Yeah, I'm doing really well. Excited to be here.

Is it weird to be on someone else's video and not be on your own video?

Not so much. For one, I'm Filipino, so I love being on camera. And two, you know, I'm a YouTuber where I film–my YouTube friends, they film me. Like, we're kind of used to that. So this is where I fit. Yeah.

I'm glad you're here. If someone has not seen your channel, they've totally missed it. But how. How would you describe what you do to someone that hasn't seen your stuff yet?

So I'm a filmmaker and photographer, and on my channel, I do a lot of camera gear reviews, behind the scene vlogs, and filmmaking tutorials. Basically, giving people enough knowledge and just reviewing gear so that they can go and start their own businesses.

Where does the filmmaking start and end, and the YouTube reviewing start and end? How do those things work together?

So I've always been fascinated with cameras in general, like from family parties. Like, I remember my uncles and cousins would have, like, these Sony Hi8 cameras and, like, filming all these family events. And I loved it. Like, we just sat around just watching, like, the same party over and over again. And so I grew a fascination just for documenting. Soon, I kind of fell in love with filmmaking. So I went to film school, made some short films. And after film school, what they tell you is that when you graduate, make sure you have a spec script in hand so that when you go to a studio, you can at least have a script ready to go in case you meet a producer. So the goal was distribution. So, did the whole studio thing. Didn't really like it. I realized I didn't like being told what to do. So I kind of quickly learned like, oh, maybe I should do my own thing. So I shot weddings, did corporate videos, and then YouTube came along where it was a free platform where in the filmmaking world you have to pay to have your short film be on a festival.

Sure.

So when YouTube came along, it was free. Like, great. I could put my short films on there. But then I started talking about gear and people resonated with it, and then started making money with it, and I was like, great, this is what I want to do.

Yeah. And reviewing gear because you were just hooked on gear or you did one off and like got a bunch of reaction and did more of it.

I have always been tech support for my family for as long as I can remember. How do I set the wi-fi? What button do I press to turn on the TV? So for as long as I can remember, I've always been tech support and so, just I talk about it naturally and so I guess people resonated with it, and which is funny because YouTube, you kind of find like-minded people, very similar people who also play tech support for their family. And so, yeah, all us YouTubers, like, we're very similar people in that respect. But yeah, I just love talking about gear.

The thing that I love about the stuff that I've seen of yours, it's so real. Like you're making jokes, you're dropping things, you're doing things twice. Like, it's so authentic. I feel like I know you. Like, I feel like I've talked to you before. I've never talked to you before. Purposely leaving that in to build relationships with your audience?

I do. Also, I'm very accident prone. So it just happens. I drop things all the time. And so for me, if I watch these videos, like, I kind of don't want to see a perfectly edited video. Like, I like seeing those mistakes, I like seeing those human errors. It's just more entertaining for me at least. And so, I just leave it in.

What is the state of reviewing gear? How much are you asked to review? How much are you doing? What is the business like of being a gear reviewer?

I feel like we're still trying to figure it out, where a few years ago when brands started realizing, like, wow, we can actually showcase our products in the form of reviews, let's send a bunch of products to these YouTubers. And so there was an influx of reviews everywhere. But now that pretty much every camera is that good, there hasn't been a need, I guess, to see every camera review because people are satisfied with what they have.

Sure.

Which is great. And so I think now it's kind of marrying the product and the content creation is the key that I feel is more important and more entertaining. You know, like, yes, this is a great camera, but here's how you use it in a practical sense as a filmmaking tool, as a photography camera, as a camera to capture your family home videos. Like, how do you use this particular product in those scenarios? And so that's where I'm kind of transitioning to, like, that was my first love, just showing how to use a product the right way or in a certain way. Because, I don't know, I feel like a lot of people nowadays have a pretty good knowledge of what a 4K video resolution is and, you know, high megapixel photos, like, they're pretty smart now. So now that we have that established. Cool. Let's go deeper. Let's start creating.

Yeah, you may do it instinctually, but as a viewer, I really appreciate your level of expertise that doesn't come across that way. And I mean that as a compliment. One of your videos was walking down the street with a handheld gimbal and an iPhone together, and it was a split screen, and you were talking about it in a way that as a layman I could understand, even though I know that you're, you know, Michael Jordan understanding of the technology. But it's very approachable. Is that something that either instinctually or purposely you're doing?

Oh, 100%. It's like when my friends ask me, how does this work? Or how do I do that? Like, I have to meet them at their level. You know, I may know certain things, and that's fine. But like, if I do, in that example, iPhone, gimbal, like, that's something anyone can relate to, right? If my friend was standing there right next to me while filming that, like, they can actually See what I'm doing. And they understand it, like, okay, there's benefits to using a gimbal versus your phone. Got it. Yeah.

That helps a lot.

Yeah. I try to simplify everything.

Okay, we want to now flip it and talk about what film school has taught you, that maybe we can steal from you. So looking at YouTubing and creating content that looks very organic and approachable, what are some of the things you learned in film school that maybe we wouldn't understand that you're doing because you went to film school?

That is a great question. So in film school, I had a professor tell me that the equivalent of four years out of film school is being on set for a whole week. You're there, you're learning everything, you're kind of just thrown into it, and so you have to learn fast. And so we have a bunch of content out there teaching you how to set up YouTube studio, how to light your set, you know, how to do this, how to do that, but you can't really learn it all until you actually do it. And I think there's a lot of hesitancy for people trying to get into content creation because it's scary, it's weird. It's a weird job. And so if you don't press record, you'll never know what's going to happen. And so at film school, just when I was thrown on set, like, I was afraid, like, I didn't know how to hold up a boom. I didn't know how to do this. But I'm like, I got to get over that. I just. I just got to do it. And I learned so much by just being on set.

Because you've been trained at that level.

Yeah.

Do you obsess over your work, or are you able to kind of deliver it and make it good enough and walk away?

I think it's a bit of both. Like, I want to do my best to create the best thing possible, but also I kind of want to make it relatable. And also, I don't have that much time, so like, I can't always fine tune a video for weeks and weeks and weeks. I just got to put it out there.

Let's talk about time. Because there's–I mean, YouTube's a big place, you can fill it with a bunch of stuff–obviously, putting a lot of content through the pipe can wear you down. And it's part of a process of making sure that you're in the right place to create. So how do you manage your time and make sure that you can keep going?

Yeah, this actually took a long time for me to figure out because when I first started YouTube, I was excited. I wanted to do everything I want to shoot all the time. Not realizing that it kind of, you know, took away from my time sleeping or spending time with my family, it just consumed me. And, you know, maybe there's some truth to, like, you got to be a little bit obsessed about doing something to be successful, but that's not really sustainable. And so I figured out boundaries that I place myself in or a better way of saying it. I've set systems that's helped me become efficient. So, for example, I know Mondays are my pre-production days. Like, I don't do any filming. I plan what I'm going to film for the rest of the week. Like, I either call up places like, hey, I'm going to film here, is that okay? Or I look at the weather like, okay, Wednesday is the best time to film. I live in Dallas, so, you know, it changes every 10 minutes. So I do all my planning on Monday. I do a bit of admin too. And then Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are my filming editing days. And then Fridays are more admin marketing days. And so I do a lot of outreach. I pitch ideas to brands. And so once I know those days, then I'm good. I can fly. And then the weekends, I just do nothing. I relax, I rest, I play games, I hang out with my family. And so, yeah, so for me, the way I work, if I know my boundaries, great. I will excel on Monday doing admin and pre-production, and then I'll excel Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, filming, and then Friday, that's marketing day.

What's the go-to game on the weekends?

Oh, Call of duty.

Heck yeah. 100%, absolutely.

I'm a hardcore Call of Duty Zombies fan, and I just love the story. It's just so fun. And now that my kid's a bit older, like, we kind of play together, which is really great. And so it's just fun.

Are they smoking you now?

Yeah, 100%.

100%, all the time, they're there to kick dad's butt. That's how it goes. How long did it take you to build that system to have such a clean operation of a Monday, I do this. Tuesday, I do this. Friday, I do this.

It actually took me a whole year to figure it out. Because when you're in it, it's hard to figure it out as you're working. Right? 'Cause you don't have time to figure it out. But I think it took me to a really, really low place where, you know, my marriage was not really the best. My work wasn't really the best. I was just putting out low-hanging fruit kind of videos, videos that I wasn't really proud of. I'm like, why am I spending this much time making a video that doesn't even get that many views? And so I kind of had to like stop for a whole six weeks just to like rest and just kind of figure it out, talk through, you know, with my wife, what works, what doesn't work, you know, what's a priority, what isn't a priority. For me, I was prioritizing, you know, getting more subscribers, getting the brand deals, getting a certain amount of money or whatever because I wanted to provide. So there was a good reason for that. But I was going about it in the wrong way. You know, I was excluding my family or neglecting them. I was just so focused on this. Like, I was home, I was there, but I wasn't present, if that makes sense. And I'm so thankful for my wife to, you know, help me walk through that, which is great. Sometimes it's a hard conversation, but you kind of have to have that conversation. Morally, I had to have that conversation for myself if, if I'm placed in a corner and I have no place to go, like, for me, the way I work, I have to figure it out. I have to figure out solutions that's going to help me. Because if I listen to somebody else, like, it's going to be hard for me to listen, even though they're offering good advice. But just knowing how I work, you know, I gotta figure it out. But also humble myself, like, I should listen to my friends and my family. I need to listen. And so it was a very humbling experience. But then it took an entire year just to figure out, okay, how can I go from here, this bottom pit, to where I need to be, where I should be? And so. And it's doing simple things like, okay, sleep more. That's one thing I can do. Great. I feel better. All right, what else can I do? I should probably start going to the gym, you know, and moving. Yeah, so, and then designating days to do certain tasks, you know what I mean? And then, you know, when the weekend comes, like, okay, don't do anything. And so those simple things, which is very simple for anyone on the outside looking in. It's very hard to do when you're in it because you're so focused on getting that goal. Right? But if you step back, like, I can't operate if I'm always exhausted. You know what I mean? So if I set these things in place for me specifically, it may not work for everybody else. I know that'll get me to where I'm operable, if that makes sense.

At your level, still, the treadmill of expectations, it still happens.

Yeah.

There are folks like myself, oh, if I could get to 10,000 subscribers. For your level, 100,000 subscribers. Now I got to get to 250, I got to get...that still is a thing, isn't it?

It's still a thing. And for me, I grew up in a Filipino family where having straight A's was expected, being a doctor was expected, so I grew up with expectations. And so I was just pressured right from the get, you know what I mean? And also going to schools where they're very smart kids and, like, just you're just constantly competing where, you know, that's–looking back at it now, it's like, wow, that's actually not very healthy at all. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, be competitive, do your best, but also learn when to step back. And so that's what I'm trying to apply to myself, because I'm trying to apply that to my kids. It's like, I want you to do your best. If you don't get straight A's, that's okay. I still love you, you know? I mean, I'm gonna do my best. If I don't get 20,000 views in the first week, that's okay. Next week's a new week. I can try again. And so releasing myself from that pressure has been really helpful. Setting systems in place has been so helpful and just kind of like, knowing where you're at. Like, if I know I'm in a good place and I can film two, three videos in a week, cool. I can do it. If I'm not in a good place and I need to film, maybe if I can only film one video or no videos, then that's okay. I'm gonna let that go. There's always next week. There's always tomorrow.

I'm a big believer that celebration kills imposter syndrome and the feeling that we're not good enough.

Yeah.

And you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but I want you to think back to some videos that you've put together. When's the last one that you put out that you thought that met my expectation, that one was really good. And how do you celebrate when you ring the bell in a way that you're proud of?

Yeah. It was a video about this tiny adapter from DJI, and I had just gotten it and I had. I didn't make any plans at all, but it was like, wow, this is actually really fun. It's a beautiful day. Okay, let's just go. No plans. Let's just film something fun. Whatever. So I was filming this video in a park, and it wasn't the best video at all, but I kind of made everything probably within two hours.

Wow.

Yeah. Within two hours from start to finish. It was that simple. And I was expecting, like, maybe. Maybe a couple thousand. Whatever. I'm just excited about it. This is cool. I put it up in one week,100,000 views. I'm like, come on. But I enjoyed making that video, you know, and that was one of those moments. I was like, okay, all right. This reminds me of the videos that I used to make. I simplified everything. I was very happy. I was very joyful. I just filmed the in the moments. I didn't plan a shot and plan the wide exposition shot. I didn't fly a drone to set up the scene. I didn't do any of that stuff. You know, I didn't even shoot it in log. You know, like where you have to color grade. Like, I just wanted to film it so straight out of the camera. I want it to look good. And, yeah, it ended up becoming one of my best videos I've ever made.

Isn't that crazy that when you get closer and closer to your inspiration and joy, sometimes those are the best things.

We need those reminders, man.

For sure. Okay, before we get out of here, when you have that many pieces of content in front of people, you get to have experiences with people commenting on your work and sharing feedback. How does that go when you're running at your velocity?

It's funny. I get it. I get those negative comments all the time. And some are so ridiculous and some are a bit cutting. And I used to get offended a lot, especially when I first started out. But then the more content that I make, the more of those comments that I receive. But to me, it really feels like online road rage. It's the thing that I'm making up. It's the road rage thing that people go through where they're so angry at somebody, they're saying these curse words or, you know, doing all this stuff. But they wouldn't normally say those words when they're right in front of the person. Same thing with YouTube comments. You know, they're behind the keyboard, you know, behind the safety of their computer screen saying all these things, but they would never say that in front of the person.

No.

You know, and so when I see those comments, I'm like, you know what? They're probably having a bad day. They're probably taking out their frustrations on me because I'm a punching bag. It's easy to do that, right? Behind the safety of your computer. And so, yeah, in fact, there was a moment, now that I remember this. There's this show called NAB. It's a huge video production convention. A guy comes up to me and he goes, hey, man, I love your stuff. I just want to say I'm sorry. I'm like, for what? It's like I said something negative a couple months ago, but, you know, you're totally cool in person. I just want to say I'm sorry. I totally forgot about that comment. I'm like, oh, cool. Yeah. See? Again, you wouldn't say those bad things in front of a person. But yeah, it's just I think you just got to take whatever those comments are with a grain of salt. They're probably having a bad day, but just go about, do your business.

It's a great conversation. Sidney, thanks for coming on the show. I appreciate it.

It was a pleasure. Loved it. It was great.

Thanks for tuning in to The Professional Photographer podcast live from Imaging USA 2025. And a big thanks to so for making this look great. Well, as great as you can make this look. But we appreciate you being here. So here's what's next. You need to like and subscribe to this podcast feed because we release this show every week where I get a chance to sit down with the leaders in the industry. And our point of view is to help you build a better photography business. So, like, and subscribe. And if you want bonus points, I'll email them to you. You'll get bonus points if you leave a comment on this episode. What did they share on the episode that you want to make sure that you're going to put into your business so you can get further down the road. One other way you can get further down the road, become a member of PPA if you're watching this and you're not a PPA member. Come on, bro. You are missing out of all the good stuff that PPA provides. I'm talking about equipment, insurance, top-notch education, and a community of photographers around you that are serious about improving their craft. If you want to know more, go to ppa.com. That's ppa.com. At PPA, you belong here. Thanks again for tuning in to The Professional Photographer podcast. I'm your host, Pat Miller. We'll see you right here next time. Talk to you soon.