Different Types of Camera Lenses
Lesson 13 from: Videography 101: How to Use Your Camera to Record VideosTomas George
Different Types of Camera Lenses
Lesson 13 from: Videography 101: How to Use Your Camera to Record VideosTomas George
Lesson Info
13. Different Types of Camera Lenses
Lessons
Introduction and What You're Going to Learn
00:29 2Video Resolutions
04:15 3Frame Rates
07:25 4Aspect Ratios
02:40 5The Rule of Thirds
01:19 6The Exposure Triangle Introduction and Light Meter
01:18 7Shutter Speed for Video
03:04 8Aperture
05:22ISO
06:35 10PAL Region Downloadable Guide/Cheatsheet
02:04 11NTSC Region Downloadable Guide/Cheatsheet
02:36 12White Balance
03:51 13Different Types of Camera Lenses
05:17 14Focal Lengths
01:15 15Thread Sizes and Lens Mounts
01:22 16ND Filters
04:52 17Polarising Filters
00:53 18UV Filters
00:58 19DSLR vs Mirrorless Cameras
04:01 20Talking Head Video Setup Walkthrough
12:18 21Outside Higher FPS Video Walkthrough
12:18 22Thanks and Bye
00:11Lesson Info
Different Types of Camera Lenses
OK. So now let's talk about the different types of camera lenses that you might want to use for shooting videos or taking photos. The first lens you'll probably come across is a kit lens. So when buying your camera, it may come with a kit lens or if it doesn't come with a kit lens, it will say body only if you have the kit lens included, then you may have to pay more than just having the body only a kit lens isn't the best, but it may be OK if you're a beginner and you're just starting out with videography or photography. If you want a more professional set up, then you probably don't want to use the kit lens. In most cases, a kit lens will be a variable aperture zoom lens. This means when you zoom in or out on the kit lens, the maximum aperture or lowest F stop number will change. For example, if the kit lens is at 18 to 55 millimeter F 3.5 to F 5.6. When you zoom out all the way to millimeter, the lowest F stop number will be 3.5 but if you zoom in all the way, the lowest F stop num...
ber will be 5.6. So with a variable aperture zoom lens, when you zoom in the aperture settings will change, this might be OK if you're taking photos and you're using auto iso for example. But if you want to film video and you're using manual settings and you want to zoom in and out with this lens, then this may not be ideal as the aperture settings will change. When you zoom in with a variable aperture lens. A kit lens will also start with quite a low aperture such as F 3.5. If you want to let in more light and get that blurry background effect, then this F dot number may be a little too high and you may wish to consider a lens that allows you to have a higher aperture amount. This is where you might want to consider a lens with a lower F dot number. And if you want a zoom lens, you may wish to consider a fixed aperture zoom lens. A fixed aperture zoom lens will have the same lowest F do number when you zoom in and when you zoom out a good common fixed aperture zoom lens is a Sony G Master 24 to 72.8. This will have a maximum aperture of F 2.8 from 24 to 70 millimeters. Fixed aperture lenses will be more expensive than variable aperture lenses. But generally they'll be more suitable for professionals as the aperture is fixed and they have the same lowest F stop number. They'll also be heavier than kit lenses as it will have more glass. Ok. So that's kit lenses and zoom lenses. Next, let's have a look at prime lenses. Prime lenses have a fixed focal length which means you can't zoom in or out with these lenses. Prime lenses though will often have a lower F stock number than most zoom lenses and will go all the way down to F 1.2 prime lenses do tend to give a sharper image than zoom lenses and often smaller and lighter than zoom lenses. They are smaller and lighter as there is fewer moving parts in these types of lenses. Prime lenses are at different price points, but many manufacturers will have a set of inexpensive prime lenses that can be great for beginners. I'm actually using a prime lens right now. This is a Sony 35 millimeter F 1.8. The main disadvantage of using a prime lens is you can't zoom in or out. So they may not be ideal for situations like filming sports or somewhere where you can't control where the subject will go and where you can't physically follow them in a studio environment like where I am now where I'm not going to be moving from the spot, I would use a prime lens as I do give a sharp image and have a lower F stop number than most zoom lenses. OK. So that's prime lenses. Next, let's talk about some other types of lenses. These are less common than the ones I've already talked about, but you may wish to use them for some things every now and again. The first is a macro lens. These tend to be prime lenses and allow you to focus on something that's very close to the camera. These might be useful for filming insects or close ups for product photography or videography. For example, a non macro lens will not focus when you get really close to the subject. But the macro lens allows you to get really close to the subject and still keep them focus. The next type of lens is a telephoto lens. This could be a zoom lens, something like a 70 to 200 millimeter or even a 200 to 600 millimeter. These types of lenses allow you to zoom in a lot. This could be useful for sports or wildlife where you want to be far away from the subject and you don't want to get too near the subject. Also, when you zoom in on a telephoto lens, it will actually compress the image and look more flattering at times. You can also get prime telephoto lenses, but these weren't allowed to zoom in or zoom out telephoto lenses can also be used for portrait photography. Often the focal length between 7090 millimeters can look great for photographing the human face. Next is wide angle lenses. This could be a zoom lens, something like a 10 to 18 millimeter. A wide angle lens could also be a prime lens, something like a 15 millimeter. These types of lenses could be useful if you want to get a lot of things in shot. Maybe a landscape, for example, wide angle lenses can also be useful for vlogs or selfie videos. So you can hold the camera at arm's length and film yourself and still get all of your head and shoulders in shot. However, you will tend to get some warping when the focal length is less than 24 millimeters. So it can look a little strange recording a person's face with anything less than 24 millimeters. This could be useful as a creative effect or for landscapes and scenery. However, I don't recommend a wide angle lens. If you want any natural looking shots of people, then there's fish eye lenses. These are even more extreme than wide angle lenses and have extreme curvature on the edges. These tend to be prime lenses and we're very popular with skateboarding videos. So the videographer could follow the skateboard with this wide angle shot and get them doing their trick on a skateboard and get it all in shots. These lenses might also be useful for creative effects, but I personally wouldn't use them as there's just too much warping for anything that I'd want to film. Ok. So that's some other types of lenses. Thanks for watching. And I'll see you in the next one.
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