A new camera for Katiecakes

Ohayo!
We are Lupus Yonderboy and DirtyJazzHands, just two among many of Katiecakes's knights of the Realm on her YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/Katiecakes) and Discord server (https://discord.gg/JpeA2mutvn).

We’re fundraising for our beloved Katiecakes because her trusty old Sony Alpha 850 DSLR camera is on its last legs and she'll need to get a new one soon. It's the one she's been shooting all her YouTube thumbnails and Patreon content with, including enormously-sized, full-resolution photos and 4K wallpapers.

The camera that needs to replace her failing one is a Sony Alpha 7S III. This camera is not an amateur level piece of kit and the price, unfortunately, reflects that. Katie can shoulder the greater part of the cost for this new camera, but in order to get it into her hands as soon as possible, we'd like to ask you to help her out if you can, so that she can continue to spoil us with her wondergood shots and cinematic looking video footage.


Ever Forwarder!



Who is Katiecakes?
Katiecakes — or Katie, if you're feeling a bit informal — is a YouTuber with a channel of the same name. She is probably best known for producing her in-depth and professional level Sekiro combat guides, and this is where many of her followers have come from.

She is, however, so much more than an encyclopedic trove of Sekiro knowledge who can show you how to pwn all the bosses to dust.

Katie is also a YouTube streamer who plays games of all varieties (with a particular affinity for FromSoftware games) for everyone to enjoy as she interjects key commentary, humor, and passion for the game while interacting with the live audience through chat. On top of that, she also sings songs at her Patreon patrons’ requests with a voice that envelops the listener with both warmth and chills — she's just that good!

For all her content, Katie does professional level photoshoots. She takes these photos and creates the thumbnails that everyone sees for each of her video series as well as extra content created especially for her patrons. For each of these shoots, she puts a lot of thought, effort, money, and time into making them come alive with key cosplaying — all the way from roleplaying each character’s actions to putting together the perfect outfit, make-up, and hair. To this end, Katie’s racked up a sizable collection of high-quality wigs by now. She’s even got a real knight’s helmet and gauntlets! If that’s not dedication to the Realm — to us — then we don’t know what is.

Perhaps most importantly, Katie is not your average YouTuber. She is infinitely approachable, down-to-earth, and a very, very giving person. If you need help with a boss? She'll help. Need life advice? She'll offer that. Need to vent? She'll listen. Can’t sleep? She made SekiSoulsBorne ASMR videos! She'll do anything in her power to help a friend or viewer (often one and the same!) and ask for nothing in return. She does this because she cares and has the biggest, warmest heart you ever saw or felt.

All of this alone is a full-time job. The fact that she does this while also having a regular full-time job is just insane. Free time? Katie doesn't even have any sleep time! 

And she does it all for us.


 
What is this funding campaign about?
As Katie has told us many times by now, she has a friend who's a professional photographer who has known her for years, ever since her modeling days. Let’s claim Katie is among the best parts of their artistic portfolio.

Said photographer friend conveniently happens to be based out of where Katie’s living and they help her with imagery for her YouTube channel. That total hero does it for free, under the conditions that Katie provides her own photography and studio gear such as camera, lenses, lights, editing hardware and software, etc. Looking at her dope pictures, this is evidently a great deal!

So, Katie owns a Sony Alpha 850 full-frame digital SLR camera, a 135mm Zeiss lens and 50mm macro lens, and a fisheye lens. She’s had this fancy kit ever since she first started painting professionally around 2010 and has used it to digitalize her work with amazing color accuracy and detail. You might have seen her super sweet paintings on her streams or on the Discord server.

You might have also seen pictures of her cosplays, her homemade edible works of art (like the buttercream cakes with actual buttercream paintings on them), or the highly detailed custom macarons and other sweet things. Those were also captured with this photography kit.

Sony's cameras are built to last a long time, but they don't last forever. 

Katie told us that when she was cleaning and testing the camera last week, she experienced, for the first time in 11 years, a couple of shutter shunts. Basically, the shutter — the heartbeat of the camera — is failing, which is a key sign that the trusty camera is dying. 

The livelihood of our beloved Katiecakes’s channel is on its last legs and she’s very worried.

It’s probably got a couple more shoots left in it, but the life of the camera is uncertain at this point.


 
Why are these two dudes running this fundraiser?
Now, close followers of Katie know how much she is all about giving, in all the key ways a person can give, without ever asking for anything in return. She just cannot abide by even just the thought of burdening others, especially those close and dear to her, which includes many of us — her followers, supporters, and friends. And on the rare occasion she does accept help offered to her, she will return the favor with eternal gratitude. 

We decided that something needs to be done here to avoid a situation that would be sad for her as well as everybody who enjoys all that she does and creates for her channel and fans.

We believe that this is a prime opportunity for her community — The Realm — to come together and show her that she and her creative work are important to us and enrich our very lives.


What exactly are the funds for?

Katie is looking at the Sony Alpha 7S III as a replacement for her soon-to-die Alpha 850.

Like the 850, this one is full-frame but has an even better sensor, can hold her lenses, and even has video recording capabilities. She’d be able to produce high quality cinematic footage in addition to the breath stealing still photographs we are accustomed to seeing and addicted to getting. In addition to this new camera body, she’s eyeing a gimbal, a neutral density filter, and an adapter for using her existing lenses with it. These additional add-ons are necessary for Katie to use the gear that still works well with the new camera. Otherwise, the cost for replacement gear would be much, much higher.



Why is fundraising necessary?
The primary key pressures here are of course money and time.

Aside from this new baby and its accessories costing over $3,000 USD, Katie is also under pressure by the fact that she has a music video project she needs to release before Elden Ring drops in February, because once Elden Ring drops, there will only be EldenRinging for a whole lotta while.

This music video will consist of footage both from a video game as well as footage of Katiecakes, live and in the flesh. Originally, she was going to use a phone to do this. However, since her Sony DSLR is now dying anyway and needs to be replaced, she would ideally like to have this replacement camera by early January. That’d give her the time to shoot the footage needed and build the music video in time for release at the end of January or early February. Again, this is only in addition to the other, more regular, things she uses her camera for — the bread and butter of her YouTube channel.

We have decided to set the goal of this fundraiser at around half of what her new camera and the necessary accessories will cost her. Meeting this goal would greatly alleviate the financial burden and, more importantly, her worries for her channel and current projects.



For the Realm!
Katiecakes always goes all out for us — us being her audience, subscribers, patrons, Discord server members, and friends. She enriches the lives of everyone who joins and participates in her - our! - community. This is evident in all of her streams and produced videos, in chatting with her on Discord, and maybe even more so in your very own personal experiences with her. 

Katie has your back, always.

We should have her back in this very serious situation.

Let us show her how much we appreciate all of her work, and how important she is to us. By contributing to this campaign, you’re contributing to one of the most integral aspects of her work and channel, and to that effect, to the enjoyment her fans have the sheer pleasure of experiencing.

Please do not disregard this call for help. We want to reiterate that Katie never asks for help and that is why we are doing so in her stead. This affects all of us. We are not looking for any single individual or small group of people to fund this entire campaign. Rather, we believe the many can move mountains that perhaps the few cannot. If everyone pitches into the kitty then we can pwn this fundraiser and we all win — you, us, Katie, everyone.

And who doesn’t like pwning?

Think of all that Katiecakes has given to you without any expectation of recompense and please consider making a donation. All donations, of any size, are greatly and immeasurably appreciated and will go toward funding for Katiecakes’s new camera so that we can continue to delight in all of her unique and wonderful creations.

Thank you so very much,


— Lupus Yonderboy & DirtyJazzHands