Choosing the Best Camera Lens for Your Film 

When you’re just starting out with film production, choosing the best camera lens usually involves your budget and the types of video production you’re most likely to embark on. As your skills grow and your desire to branch out into more advanced video production tactics expands, you find yourself considering various other options that are available to you.

In fact, choosing the right camera lens for your production is equal parts process, understanding, and skill as it is budget at this point. Follow along as we show you how choosing the best camera lens for your film can make a world of difference in your video production.  

Consider Focal Length

The focal length of your camera lens is described as the distance (in millimeters) from the center area of the lens to the sensor when the subject is in complete focus. The focal length that you choose will depend on how you intend to fit your subject into your frame.

If you want to fit more into your frame, consider a camera lens that has a focal length that is wide-angle such as a 14mm lens, a 20mm lens, or a 24mm lens.

However, if you want to get super close to your subject when shooting, you’ll want to choose a focal length lens that ranges such as a 50mm to 100mm lens.

Most early cinematographers find that a camera lens with a diverse focal length such as the 50-100mm lens is best because it provides the most versatile filming for the budget.

Consider Aperture

The amount of light that comes into the camera lenses is measured in aperture. The aperture is generally described in terms of a letter f followed by the corresponding numbers which together are known as an f-stop.

The f-stop aperture of the lens that you choose tells you how much light will enter the lens as you film. Choose a small aperture lens such as an f1.2 for shooting in a location where there is minimal light. Choose a higher aperture lens when shooting in a location where there is more light.

Consider the Prime Lens

The type of lens you choose for your camera will also play a role in the film that you produce. If you intend to produce a film that appears bright and natural, a prime lens is the ideal option.

These lenses incorporate more vivid brightness into your shot so that you can easily fix and change shooting errors. Prime lenses are great for beginning cinematographers.

Prime lenses are smaller and lighter than their opposite which is a zoom lens. These lenses come with a fixed focal length and require you to use different lenses if you wish to produce footage at varied focal lengths or ranges but they offer an affordable option to capture crisp, clear shots.

The aperture of a prime lens is generally more rapid than it would be for a zoom lens allowing you to capture fast moving subjects with ease.

Prime lenses include the following types:

• The standard prime lens – used to capture focal length between 35 and 80mm.
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• Wide-angle prime lens – used to capture a broad area or scene.
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• Fish-eye prime lens – used to capture the panoramic effects of a scene in a spherical perspective.
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• Telephoto prime lens – used to bring distant subjects into view without distorting the image.
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• Super telephoto prime lens – used to reach subjects off in the distance with a 200-400mm range.

Consider the Zoom Lens

The zoom lens is large and sometimes considered bulky, especially by new cinematographers. They are  a great option when covering a wide range of focal lengths as they offer flexibility without the need to bring multiple lenses.

Zoom lenses have a variable focal length that is appreciated by beginning cinematographers but they can be moderately expensive and out of range for the beginner.

If you intend to shoot scenes from far away, a zoom lens is a must for your film production equipment checklist. Many zoom lenses help the cinematographer to stabilize the image by providing the ability to capture a crisp, sharp image that can be stabilized in post-production. 

Zoom lenses include the following types:

• Digital zoom – which involves cropping the subject and resizing to fit the frame in a closer view.
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• Optical zoom – which involves adjusting the focal length and magnifying according to the filming distance.

Consider the Macro Lens 

The macro lens is another option you’ll have when producing a film. This lens comes in either a prime macro lens or a zoom macro lens. The macro lens is used by cinematographers to capture small objects in a larger-than-life view.

Macro lenses are often used to capture close-ups of insects, features of various objects, or to show the intricate details of the subject up close.

Consider Telephoto Lenses

Most starting cinematographers will need at least three camera lenses in order to capture the desired subjects of a film in normal, close up and distant views.

The telephoto lens compress the distance of space behind a subject so that the background will appear closer and the subjects appear more vividly in the foreground. Telephoto lenses feature a shallow depth-of-field that is great for singling out a particular object or actor in a scene. 

If you intend to film close-ups, a telephoto lens can produce a flattening element on the face that compresses the facial features in a way adds balancing and pleasing effect to the character.

Telephoto lenses with a focal length of 85mm are ideal for close-ups in most cases but the actual range that you use will vary based on personal preference and various other factors.

Which Lenses are a Must? 

As a starting cinematographer, there are three camera lenses that you really must have for all film production. They are the wide-angle, normal and telephoto lens.

Once you have these three lenses you can begin to diversify your camera lenses portfolio so that you can have some more fun with the lenses that you have and the types of footage that you can capture. 

For instance, you may start out with the following lenses:

• An 18mm lens
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• A 32mm lens
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• And a 75mm lens

Then, you’ll find later as you grow your cinematography skills, that you want to sometimes capture a super wide view or a super close up. Therefore you would diversify your lens kit by adding to it a 25mm lens and maybe a 100mm lens. 

Consider Speed

The speed of the lens that you choose will play a key role in your ability to capture top quality footage. There are two main benefits that come with choosing a lens that has a rapid or high speed.

First, a fast lens allows you to shoot footage in areas of lower light. Second, a fast lens allows you to gain exclusive depth of field control over the footage that you have so that you can isolate out your subject or a particular action in the frame.

A great cinematographer will consider the speed of each lens that is purchased as cutting between lenses from one scene to another will require either a balance of amount of light that is captured or a lot of work post-production in color correcting.

Core lenses, the wide, normal and telephoto, should have an equal aperture or a fast speed if possible to ensure as close as possible light capture when switching between scenes.

True Cinema Lenses

As you choose a lens for your camera, make sure you are only using cinema lenses that are made for motion picture capture. Cinema lenses provide a wide range of benefits and added features that make them more valuable than their still photo partners.

They tend to have larger, and heavier internal focus that is able to work closely with matte boxes and other equipment. These lenses have a 270 degree rotation and allow you to go from minimum focus distance to infinity. No other lens allows for such a precise focus pattern.

If you’re not sure which lens to use for your film production, consider your shot list closely and choose lenses that are most versatile for the types of shots you intend to capture.

Don’t have a shot list prepared? Contact Beverly Boy Productions to meet with a camera crew and Director that will work your creative vision into a shot list that can be used to define the appropriate camera lenses for your needs.