Recording media in Phasmophobia is one of the most reliable ways to pad your post-contract earnings, yet most players treat the Photo Camera like an afterthought. Every contract gives you three distinct media types to capture, each with its own reward table and a clear split between Unique and Duplicate captures. Get this system right and you will consistently leave investigations with significantly more money and XP than players who ignore it.
How does the Phasmophobia media system work?
According to the Phasmophobia Wiki, whenever you record a subject for the first time in a given category during a contract, it receives a Unique stamp and pays the full reward. Record another subject in the same category and it drops to a Duplicate, which pays noticeably less. This applies across all three media tools: the Photo Camera, the Video Camera, and the Sound Recorder.
The tier of equipment you bring also matters. Using a Tier II version of any recording tool adds $1 and 1 XP per piece of media captured. Bump that up to Tier III and you get $2 and 2 XP per piece. These bonuses are small individually but stack up across a full investigation with multiple captures.
All media rewards are factored into the overall reward multiplier, so higher-difficulty contracts amplify everything you record.
Journal media tab overview
Aim for variety when capturing media. Since the second capture in any category pays Duplicate rates, spreading your shots across different subjects (ghost, bone, fingerprints, dirty water) earns far more than photographing the same thing repeatedly.
What counts as photo evidence and how much does it pay?
Photo evidence is captured with the Photo Camera. The reward gap between categories is significant, so knowing which subjects are worth chasing changes how you approach each investigation.
The ghost itself is the highest-value photo target at $15 and 15 XP for a Unique capture. Getting a clean ghost photo is harder than photographing a bone on the floor, but the payout reflects that difficulty. The Phasmophobia Ascension Update patch notes on IGN confirmed that photo quality now depends on how close and centered the subject is in the frame, so getting right up to your subject matters.
Several cursed possession categories (Haunted Mirror, Monkey Paw, Music Box, Ouija Board, Summoning Circle, Tarot Cards, Voodoo Doll) only pay Unique rewards with no Duplicate value listed. Photograph each one once and move on.
Ghost photo capture rewards
What are the top-paying video evidence categories?
The Video Camera has the highest potential rewards in the entire media system. Two categories stand above everything else:
Recording a Hunting Ghost on video pays $20 and 20 XP for a Unique capture, the joint highest reward in the entire video table. This makes having a Video Camera active during hunts genuinely worthwhile, not just for the footage but for the direct financial return. The Obake's shapeshift is equally valuable if you happen to be on a contract featuring one.
According to the Phasmophobia Wiki, several previously unique video categories (phones, sinks, showers, camping stove, bear trap) were reclassified as generic interactions in patch 0.13.1.0, so they now pay at the lower interaction rate rather than as standalone categories.
How do sound rewards compare to photos and video?
The Sound Recorder has a smaller list of categories than the other two tools, and the Perfect Investigation requirement only asks for 3 Unique sounds compared to 5 each for photos and video. That said, the top-tier sounds pay as well as the best video captures.
A Hunting Ghost recorded on the Sound Recorder pays the same $20 and 20 XP Unique rate as on video. Running both a Video Camera and a Sound Recorder during a hunt covers two separate Unique captures simultaneously, which is one of the most efficient media strategies available.
The Banshee's Paranormal Scream and the Deogen's Paranormal Breathing each pay $10 and 10 XP as Unique sounds. These are ghost-specific paranormal sounds, so capturing them also serves as a strong ghost identification clue. For a deeper look at using evidence like this to narrow down ghost types, the community cheat sheet on Steam is a solid reference for cross-referencing indirect clues.
Sound recorder evidence capture
How do you achieve a Perfect Investigation?
A Perfect Investigation requires meeting the standard completion criteria plus filling your journal with only Unique media. The specific targets, per the Phasmophobia Wiki, are:
- 5 Unique photos
- 5 Unique videos
- 3 Unique sounds
That means 13 total Unique media captures across all three tools. The key word is Unique. A Duplicate does not count toward this total, so photographing the same fingerprint twice wastes a slot.
Practical approach: plan your media targets before you start recording. Identify 5 different photo categories you can realistically capture (ghost, bone, fingerprint, dirty water, ghost writing is a solid default list), set up Video Cameras to passively capture ghost orbs, light flickering, and ghost writing, and keep the Sound Recorder active during any ghost event or hunt.
You can delete up to 3 pieces of media during an investigation, according to patch 0.13.0 notes. Use this to remove accidental Duplicates and free up slots for better Unique captures. Note that 3-star photos cannot be deleted, per patch 0.10.1.0.
Perfect Investigation media requirements
Equipment tier bonuses: are they worth it?
The per-item bonuses from higher equipment tiers are modest on paper: $1 and 1 XP for Tier II, $2 and 2 XP for Tier III. Across 13 Unique captures on a Perfect Investigation run, Tier III gear adds $26 and 26 XP before the reward multiplier applies. On higher-difficulty contracts where the multiplier is significant, those numbers scale up meaningfully.
Tier III equipment costs more to bring, so the math only clearly favors it on longer investigations or higher-difficulty runs where you expect to capture a full set of Unique media. On quick Amateur contracts, the upgrade cost may outpace the bonus earnings.
For more guides covering Phasmophobia strategies and other ghost-hunting tips, browse the full guides library at GAMES.GG.