A Filmmaker's Guide to Camera Lens
Every lens will add its own unique style and appearance to the resultant video. Experimenting with various kinds of camera lenses is an excellent way to enhance the look of cinematic material, whether you're filming a Nollywood blockbuster or a Day-in-the-Life YouTube video.
Lens could be of three types;
A prime lens can also be a standard lens.
Zoom lenses can also be parfocal lenses.
Long-focus lenses can also be telephoto lenses.
Different lenses work best for different situations, and this isn’t limited to photo lenses or video lenses. The image properties for both are based on the quality of the lens and the focal length.
A camera lens's focal length is defined as the distance between the lens's optical center and the film plane. A lens's name is usually derived from its focal length.
Also, the types of lenses available for DSLR cameras or mirrorless cameras are based around the lens mount, and not the focal length or lens capabilities.
You can have a prime lens for a DSLR, or a fish-eye lens for a mirrorless camera as long as the mount of both the camera and the lens are compatible.
Prime Lens
Any lens with a preset focal length is considered a prime lens. Since you can't zoom in to change the lens' field of vision, it cannot be said to have “zoomed” features. An example of a prime lens is a lens with a fixed focal length of 50mm.
Prime lenses allow you to set the focal length, but you cannot alter the focal length by rotating the focus ring. The quality of picture provided by a prime lens is often regarded as industry standard owing to its high overall image quality.
Some cinematographers will use zoom lenses depending on the situation, but they may also use prime lenses. It may be very subjective, but there is no set rule about it.
Another key difference is that a prime lens isn't simply a cinema lens. Photography prime lenses absolutely exist, and the lens quality is often better because you do not have to worry about the lens elements shifting during a zoom.
Prime lenses are better quality for photo and video because they are built around a specific number of set parameters rather than constantly fluctuating parameters like in a camera zoom lens.
Another advantage of prime lenses over zooms is that they require you to move the camera in a more deliberate manner rather than just zooming in from your previous setting.
When buying prime lens, you can choose from the following;
14-20 mm
For a cinematographer or a filmmaker, a wide-angle prime lens, ranging from 14mm to 20mm or more, is a wonderful tool. It is often used to highlight a figure or item in the foreground in situations when there is also a backdrop. It will greatly enhance the sights whether utilized to record an interior or particular outdoor area.
There is no "flattening" of foreground and backdrop unlike other kinds of lenses. The foreground elements are brought to the fore and become too exaggerated. It's important to remember that a wide-angle lens distorts the facial features and the surrounding things. However, if distorted aesthetics are what you are after, a wide-angle prime lens may be just what you're looking for.
50mm
The 50mm is a timeless lens that almost every filmmaker should consider utilizing at some point. The “Nifty Fifty,” as it is often known, is very flexible and excels at recording situations involving two actors.
According to some, the 50mm and 35mm lenses are excellent for realism since they closely resemble how people perceive the world. Additionally, it is affordable and lightweight, with some beautiful out-of-focus bokeh (TK). Additionally, the 50mm lens's low weight makes it an excellent choice for handheld filmmaking.
Zoom Lens
A zoom lens is any lens with a variable focal length. It can be “zoomed” in to transform the focal length and, therefore, the field of view. This magnifies or demagnifies the subject to bring them "closer to" or "further from" the audience.
While some cinematographers favor zoom lenses, prime lenses are usually chosen. A fixed focal length often equates to a high degree of control and picture quality. Having said that, if you're going to use a zoom lens in your next film production, you're going to need one.
Additionally, prime lenses often have a larger camera aperture rating, which influences the depth of focus. Apertures with larger apertures allow for more light and a shallow depth of focus, while apertures with smaller apertures create a shallow depth of field. However, these points are applicable to all kinds of camera lenses.
Directors use them for dramatic zooms and a bit of comedy such as seen in The Office and Brooklyn 99.
When buying, a filmmaker can always start with the 24-105mm lens.
24-105mm
A zoom lens like the 24-105mm is a good alternative; it is standard equipment on, for example, Canon 5D cameras.
You also have a lot of flexibility with this wide-angle option. When you desire a closer-than-usual picture, you can zoom all the way into 24mm. You may adjust your focal length by zooming out or moving the camera around, whether handheld or on a tripod.
Long-Focus Lens
A long-focus lens is any lens with a set focal length that is significantly longer than the length of the sensor or film (measured diagonally). For a full-frame sensor, your focal length would be anything above 55mm.
Often any lens with a focal length that falls between 55mm to 500mm can be categorized as a long-focus lens. You may hear them referred to as 'long lenses.'
Some long lenses are also telephoto lenses, but this only occurs in a specific situation where a telephoto group of glass is built inside.
When buying, the filmmaker can start with the 75mm lens;
75mm - Telephoto lens
A “telephoto” or “long” lens is far less frequent in filmmaking. While Ridley Scott utilized the 75mm long lens in several of his films, particularly for Blade Runner and Alien, he also used the 50mm lens for images in those films. Blade Runner, because to its large and costly sets, was able to provide an impression of depth even if the distance between foreground, middle ground, and the backdrop was compressed using telephoto lenses.
It is always better to use a long lens when you are taking pictures of scenes with a lot of fine detail. Most, if not all, don't get to work on a set as vast and spectacular as Blade Runner. While you don't have to spend any money to be able to make your own movie scenes using telephoto lenses, with the proper camera motions and eye for interior and outdoor settings, you too can create a scenario like this.
Other lens types include;
Fish-eye lens
A fisheye lens is any lens with a set focal length that is significantly shorter than the length of the sensor of film (measured diagonally).
For a full-frame sensor, your fisheye focal length would be anything below 23mm. Here's a history of the fisheye lens from Vox.
Typically, any lens with a focal length of between 22mm and 1mm is classified as a fisheye lens. It is easy to understand why the fisheye lens is considered a specialist kind of camera lens. While the distortions it generates are undoubtedly artistic, they are totally "unnatural" in comparison to human eyesight.
Telephoto Lens
A telephoto lens contains a unique lens group called a telephoto group. This is because some lenses have a focal length larger than the lens's physical length. A 500mm lens is an example of this, although it is dependent on the lens's actual length.
Consider how a telescope can spot planets that are years away, but its physical size does not extend further than your bedroom window.
Macro Lens
A macro lens is a lens that creates an image on the sensor plane or film plane that is comparable in size to the physical thing being photographed. Macro lenses are often employed to capture very tiny subjects in great detail, such as an insect or a coin.
This is a photography example, but if you are deliberate and careful, you can apply this to your filmmaking as well.
Other important factors in choosing lens include;
Another factor to consider is the lens's speed. If you're shooting cinematic footage for a short film or YouTube video, you'll want a lens with a large aperture that allows for plenty of light and detail to enter.
A fast lens has a small f-stop. A really fast lens would be a 1.4, although this may be very costly. As a result, you may also search for f-stops 1.8 and 2.0.
If necessary, rent any of the lenses listed before. Experiment with primes and zooms, as well as lenses with a variable f-stop range. With experience, you will discover the cinematic lenses that are most suited to your project.
F-stop
F-stop is a unit of measurement for the width of a lens aperture. When the blades (or diaphragm) of an aperture are expanded, the F-stop (or F-number) decreases; when the aperture is progressively closed, the number increases.
This is the most straightforward method to comprehend F-stop. However, if you're looking for the optical definition of F-stop, it's the ratio of the focal length of the lens to the diameter of the aperture.
Lens Speed
If you're shooting cinematic footage for a short film or YouTube video, you'll want a lens with a large aperture that allows for plenty of light and detail to enter. A lens with a large aperture is referred to as a "fast lens."
Fast lenses have a small f-stop value. A really fast lens would be a 1.4, although this may be very costly. As a result, you may also search for f-stops 1.8 and 2.0.
If necessary, rent any of the lenses listed before. Experiment with primes and zooms, as well as lenses with a variable f-stop range. With experience, you will discover the cinematic lenses that are most suited to your project.
Sensor Size
The sensor size of the camera is another element that will affect how lenses interact with it. The sensor size of a digital camera is a measurement of the sensor, with 35mm film serving as a reference point.
DSLR cameras utilize either APS-C (Canon uses a sensor size of 22.2 x 14.8 mm, while others use a sensor size of 23.5-23.7 x 15.6 mm) or Full Frame sensors (36 x 24 mm). Full frame is a trendy term in digital cinematography these days, since the 36 x 24mm sensor size is the most similar to motion picture 35mm film. In other words, the sensor can hold a lot of information, much as 35mm film can expose more light than, example, the considerably smaller 8mm film format.
Crop factor
As previously stated, DSLR cameras have considerably smaller sensor sizes in comparison to 35mm film. As a result, when filmmakers began utilizing DSLR cameras with lenses designed for 35mm film, they noticed that pictures were cropped. Another way to think about it is that although a DSLR and 35mm film camera may both use the same lenses and get the same optical information via the circular lens, the DSLR camera will crop off a larger portion of the field of vision than the 35mm film camera.
To get the crop factor in relation to 35 mm film, just multiply the crop factor of the camera by the focal length of the lens. As an example. When a 24 mm lens is used on a camera with a crop factor of 1.5, a total crop factor of 36 mm is obtained.
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