My friend and I recently got a Canon T3i for filming. Does anyone have any lens recommendations for it? I plan on shooting a short film for my towns annual film festival this September and I want to get the best out of the camera we have
Camera lens recommendations?
- Thread starter AlexJamesM
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Are their any shots you want, that are very unique? Special lenses is what you need to get certain shots, and can help you make your decisions.
Just get a good set of primes .
Canon 50mm 1.8 is the first lens I'll recommend , it is a cheap lens ,however it is very good for it's price and you can achieve very shallow depth of field if this is something you're going for .
Then I'll recommend Rokinon 14mm as a wide angle lens and then something with wider range of focal lengths in case you're shooting documentaries or weddings , I would say 24-105 , but it is a bit pricier .
Rokinon 14mm and 50mm 1.8 are great choices but this is in case you're on a low budget .
You should tell us how much money you got to spend on lenses?
Canon 50mm 1.8 is the first lens I'll recommend , it is a cheap lens ,however it is very good for it's price and you can achieve very shallow depth of field if this is something you're going for .
Then I'll recommend Rokinon 14mm as a wide angle lens and then something with wider range of focal lengths in case you're shooting documentaries or weddings , I would say 24-105 , but it is a bit pricier .
Rokinon 14mm and 50mm 1.8 are great choices but this is in case you're on a low budget .
You should tell us how much money you got to spend on lenses?
If you have the budget for it:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...nt&ci=1884&N=4028759430+4206889901+4237293403
Fill in with a 50MM Canon prime - usually easy to find cheaply used. The 35 and the 85 are the other two to get on a budget, and the 24 as an addition if you have the coin. The 14 isn't really necessary and it's much slower anyway.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...nt&ci=1884&N=4028759430+4206889901+4237293403
Fill in with a 50MM Canon prime - usually easy to find cheaply used. The 35 and the 85 are the other two to get on a budget, and the 24 as an addition if you have the coin. The 14 isn't really necessary and it's much slower anyway.
Well only a few hundred for now probably. I'm still looking to buy some lighting stuff like shop lights if those do the trick for simple lighting. I'm not exactly sure what kinda shot i'm going for yet. Tips on lighting would help too if you guys have any
Well only a few hundred for now probably. I'm still looking to buy some lighting stuff like shop lights if those do the trick for simple lighting. I'm not exactly sure what kinda shot i'm going for yet. Tips on lighting would help too if you guys have any
Do you need audio too? Too many first time film makers blow most of their budget on their camera and lenses, leaving little for the audio. Good audio is critical.
You might want to consider just getting the Canon 50mm 1.8 (as suggested by NickysFX) and putting the rest towards decent budget audio gear. A good mic on a boom with an audio recorder are used by many budget crews. The ones with more budget have better gear and a high quality pre-amp/mixer.
I don't know if you need to capture dialogue for your filming?
Hopefully you're aware the native audio capture ability on DSLR cameras is atrocious.
These are a step-up, budget and mount directly on your camera:
Rode VideoMic - Camera Mounted Shotgun Microphone
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/363083-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_VideoMic_Camera_Mounted.html
Rode VideoMic Pro Compact Shotgun Microphone
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/744768-REG/Rode_VIDEOMIC_PRO_VideoMic_Pro_Compact_Shotgun.html
They're not as good as a good mic or a boom with a separate audio recorder but they're much better than your camera's in-built audio gear.
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If you want shallow DOF, get lenses that you can pull focus with where the focus ring is not so far at the front of the lens. This will help you not let the shadows of your fingers be shown in camera accidently.
Well only a few hundred for now probably. I'm still looking to buy some lighting stuff like shop lights if those do the trick for simple lighting. I'm not exactly sure what kinda shot i'm going for yet. Tips on lighting would help too if you guys have any
What gear besides the T3i do you have?
What lens would people recommend for a Nikon D5100 for film making? Primarily interested in making horror films, and documentaries. Looking for cheap, but good. Budget for multiple lenses, around $500 dollars.
One of the lenses, I will want to be able to do tracking and steadicam shots with.
One of the lenses, I will want to be able to do tracking and steadicam shots with.
do not get the 14mm samyang/rokinon, unless your confident you can handle your camera really well in exposure terms, this lens is beautiful i have it, but its a pain in the ass when using it outside, shots overexpose a lot, im talking just the simplest of daylight can really muck up a shot it doesnt handle daylight very well, unless of course you have a mattebox, which i dont...
I currently have a
50mm 1.8 mk2 canon - a must buy if you havent got cash, otherwise definitly go for the 1.4
samyang 14mm wide angle - only an experienced person should handle this lens
next lenses: canon 85mm 1.8 USM
Samyang 35mm - or the canon equivalent
im told the samyang 35mm is really really good, but if the lens suffers like the 14mm then il stick with canons better technology in lens coating its really not worth the hassle.
I currently have a
50mm 1.8 mk2 canon - a must buy if you havent got cash, otherwise definitly go for the 1.4
samyang 14mm wide angle - only an experienced person should handle this lens
next lenses: canon 85mm 1.8 USM
Samyang 35mm - or the canon equivalent
im told the samyang 35mm is really really good, but if the lens suffers like the 14mm then il stick with canons better technology in lens coating its really not worth the hassle.
I'd give a big +1 for Sigma 30mm... not cheap but I love it!!
Is there any benefit to buying a USM lens as a filmmaker??? Autofocus and lens noise don't really factor into my situation. They are generally lovely lens though.
I'm gonna go for a 80mm-ish option next... I may even go for some sort of FD 50mm with an adaptor sort of thing...
Sigma just released a new 35mm "Art" series that looks amazing. They call it their flagship lens. I totally want one, but it lists at $800. Reports are that it's worth it, though. No stabilization, though.
The benefit to a USM lens might actually be the dampened focus lending itself better to hand-held focus pulling without a follow focus. While it's usually better not to have full-time manual focusing (that is, the focus ring has pegs at MFD and infinity), most of those don't dampen the focus ring so it can have some play in it. Or worse, if you barely touch it, you'll spin the ring.
The old FD 55 f/1.2 can be adapted without optics for film use and looks really good. I use one! It gives a very nice, cinematic picture. You can also have a low DOF, but at 1.2 (esp on a full frame camera), you simply can't pull focus on a live subject with 1 inch depth of field.
This is not true. You HAVE to use an optical adapter to use FD lenses with the Canon T3i. So you DONT want that lens for that camera. If you have a GH2\3 or similar then yes.