Have you ever wondered how to make your video look like film? While there are many things you can attribute to the film look, nothing compares to what can be achieved with the right lens choice. Once shooting video became an option on a DSLR, the need for the masses to understand different lenses arose. Knowing what lens to use and how to use it, is key to producing the best product and achieve your artistic vision.
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Have you ever wondered how to make your video look like film? While there are many things you can attribute to the film look, nothing compares to what can be achieved with the right lens choice. Once shooting video became an option on a DSLR, the need for the masses to understand different lenses arose. Knowing what lens to use and how to use it, is key to producing the best product and achieve your artistic vision. A lens is a complex combination of sheer physics, electronics, and engineering. There are many characteristics that give each lens the look and feel it produces, so choosing the right lens for the job is a skill all its own. If you’re new to shooting video with manual controls, we recommend watching our course entitled “camera controls & settings” before continuing. Some of the concepts presented here require a basic understanding of camera use before before they begin to make sense.
In this course you will gain the understanding needed to make the best technical decision for each shooting application as well as the the knowledge for its best use. Also, we’ll discuss the most important attributes of any lens. Optical quality, or how the contrast, resolution, sharpness, color, bokeh and vignetting of a lens will affect which lens you choose to shoot with. We’ll look at focal length; from telephoto to wide angle and how they affect the composition of your shots. Then on to prime and zoom lenses; how to choose between the two and the strengths and limitations of each. What the maximum and minimum aperture or iris is; how the aperture changes exposure, how you use the lens and what different shooting situations require. We’ll explore build quality of the materials used to manufacture a given lens and how that affects its output and… What controls you need for a given job as well as what you dont. Covering all 3 rings you might encounter from aperture to focus and zoom rings. Image stabilization or is is an option not every lens has. We’ll teach you how it works as well as what drawbacks it might have. What autofocus is and what issues it may cause… What type of sensor the lens is designed for. If it was designed for photo or video, and how using adapters force you to change how you use a lens. The combination of all these factors determines the strengths and weaknesses of any lens you put on your camera, and ultimately play a key role in the final quality of your shots. We’ll cover specialty lenses - lenses that have a very specific use. We’ll show you what they do and when to use them. Then, once you know what is out there, how to weed through the volume of choices. And how to pick the lens you need. And lastly, once you find the lens you're looking for, how to keep it working properly along with how to store it properly. Working your way through this course will build a solid knowledge of lenses for videography and give you the confidence to make the right lens choice.
