50 mm Lens
The most common and widely used camera lens is a 50 mm. This lens is widely described as having the view of the normal human eye. This means that using a 50 mm (Figure 2-4) lens closely mirrors what you see as your field of view on a day-to-day basis. When in doubt, this is a great lens to default to or use if you are limited in the number of lenses you have available. Make sure to have a 50 mm lens in your kit and readily available.
Figure 2-4: Sony A-mount Zeiss 50 mm
Set of Prime Lenses
As mentioned in Chapter 1, a set of primes (Figure 2-5) refers to your chosen inventory of fixed focal lengths. If you have three or more prime lenses, you have a set of primes. However, a set of primes is as varied as the number of angles you can shoot from. How do you narrow your choices?
Figure 2-5: Zeiss CP.2 Super Speed lens set
First, choose a lens for any specialty shot or unique look you are trying to create. For instance, if you are shooting a scene from the top of a building and you need to turn the cars and people on the ground into miniature versions, you would need to use a tilt-shift lens. On most shoots you will not need a specialty lens, but if you do, it is easy to identify and rent or buy that lens.
Second, decide whether you will be shooting in close quarters or shooting from longer distances in more open areas. In general, you are trying to get a range of focal lengths that allow you to get coverage in the locations where you are shooting.
The more lenses you have and the better understanding you have of how lenses change the compression of the image, the framing of the image, or the action in the shot, the better you will be able to narrow your choices. Here are three sample prime lens “kits” that you could use as a guideline for building your prime lens set if you are using a full-frame sensor camera. You will need to do your crop factor conversion if your camera is not full frame.
Trade-offs
Since so many lenses are available, there are trade-offs between the common types of lenses.
First, let’s look at older lenses vs. newer glass. The glass in a newer lens has a multi-coating that improves the quality of the image and reduces the flaring of the lens. Also, since the lenses are new or nearly new, there are few to no problems with the aging of the lens. Scratches, fungus, hazing, and overall high use of a lens can be issues on older lenses and glass. One drawback to using newer glass, though, is most everyone has the same lenses and glass. If you want to stand out with a unique look created in camera, then it is much harder to achieve that using only the latest lenses.
One benefit of new lenses is the ability of the lenses to be controlled by the camera. Older lenses have no way to communicate with your camera, so you have to manually focus the lens at all times, including when taking stills. Since there is no communication between camera and lens, the metadata of your f-stop, the shutter speed, and so on is not stored with your footage or images. Also, they may not have multi-coating on the glass, so the lenses themselves may not be in pristine condition. On the flip side, in general used glass is cheaper than new glass. In some cases, you can get amazing-quality lenses with top-quality glass at a fraction of the cost of new lenses. Additionally, the lack of (or reduced) multi-coating can actually give you beautiful flares and help create the “look” of your film in camera. Don’t rule out using older lenses with great glass. Just because it was made in the 1960s doesn’t mean it doesn’t still take world-class images.
Buying Lenses on a Budget
Don’t confuse a lens kit with a kit lens. Kit lenses are those sold with a camera body when purchased new. Many people buy a camera with a kit lens so they have a lens to start with, but kit lenses in general are not very good. They typically are zooms that do not have a fixed aperture. (Fixed aperture means the fastest f-stop of the lens can be achieved at any focal length. Kit lenses usually become slower the more telephoto you shoot.)
To save money, skip the kit lens. Instead, buy old prime lenses and use lens adapters or have them converted, or put the savings toward a zoom lens with a fixed aperture. Older, good-quality prime lenses are more likely to give you a superior image than standard kit lenses. If you are willing to hunt eBay and other websites, you can buy three or four fast, older prime lenses for the price of an average kit lens.
Here are some recommendations for basic lens kits that would be good to have on a shot. These are suggestions for getting started, and if you can add more lenses to the mix, then you should add them as you need them. Again, these recommendations are for a full-frame sensor camera, and you need to convert if you are using a crop sensor camera.
Versatile Kit This kit would consist of two zoom lenses and a prime lens: 24–70 mm, 70-200 mm, and 50 mm. If you are shooting a documentary or have little to no time to set up for a shot, then this kit will get you the coverage you need and allow for some flexibility in the speed of setting up your shots. Get yourself a wide-angle zoom, such as a 24–70 mm, and a telephoto zoom, such as a 70–200 mm, to cover the likely range you will need during your shoot. In addition, get yourself a trusty 50 mm prime in case you can shoot interviews or some of your setups without having to use one of the zoom lenses.
Movie Kit This consists of one zoom lens (either a 24–70 or a 70–200) and a set of three prime lenses from among 24, 35, 50, 80, and 100 mm. A set of prime lenses can help you create the visual look you want and affect the way you tell your story. The biggest factor in your lens choice for this kit will be where you are shooting. If you are inside a house or in very tight space, then wider-angle lenses are a better choice than long lenses. However, if you are doing mostly exteriors or you’re in a location with a lot of space, a mix of standard primes and some longer lenses would be a better fit.
One Lens If you have a limited budget or if you are going for a particular look or style, you should narrow your lens choice to only one lens, either a 50 mm or a zoom. Lenses are expensive and in some cases can paralyze you with the number of available choices for any given scene. Try shooting on just one lens and see what your creativity can bring to the screen. Sometimes less is more.
Giving a recommendation for a lens is like picking your favorite child. There is no way that everyone will agree with your recommendation. We are giving our opinion on what we have found using the various lenses available, and that is what it is – our opinion. If you are heavily invested in one brand of lens, then use that lens. Just get out to shoot something and test what you have. If it turns out that later you want to try some other lenses, then take a look at the following material and pick some off our recommendation list.
Lens Rentals
There is no definitive answer as to what is the best lens to use for filming on a DSLR camera. How one person feels about a lens can vary widely from the opinion of another person. Good lenses are not cheap, and there are a few reasons to rent a lens.
Lens rentals provide a relatively cheap training ground. If you don’t have a lot of experience with still (or cinema) lenses, then choosing the correct one to buy is like taking a shot in the dark.
If you are going to be using a specialty lens for only part of a shoot or for a limited time, it may make sense to rent a high-quality lens as opposed to buying a cheap lens that you will rarely if ever use again.
Many companies rent lenses, and we recommend renting a few lenses that you are considering buying and testing them. Check out LensProtoGo.com, LensRentals.com, or Mophorentals.com for some great options.
Lens Brands
There are many lens manufacturers both past and present, and most if not all are valid choices for you to use. The main brands we will talk about in this book