Should you use a prime or zoom lens for videography? Read here the pros and cons of each, how they impact your image quality, and work creativity. By the end, you will be able to choose the right lens.
Introduction:
If you are on the road to becoming a seasoned videographer, the question of whether you should use a prime or zoom lens for videography usually comes to one’s mind. Both these lenses are commonly used in the industry, and it can be confusing to pick one for professional videos. First, let's break down their advantages and disadvantages.
Pros and Cons of Prime Lenses
1. Prime lenses have superior image quality even in budget models due to their less complicated optical design. Final images are known to have less distortion and chromatic aberration; both can plague image quality.
2. Due to their simple design of optics, these lenses can fit in larger maximum apertures such as T1.4 or T2.9, which can produce better low-light shots with shallow depth of field and can make the subjects stand out dramatically in the frame.
3. Prime lenses are suitable for run-and-gun shooting styles, as they are compact and lightweight compared to zoom counterparts.
4. You are stuck with one focal length, which means you have to carry and swap different lenses to cover multiple shot types. Some people don’t like that at all, and some get used to it.
Pros and Cons of Zoom Lenses
1. They fix the problem of carrying multiple lenses for covering different scenarios and provide the flexibility of switching to different focal lengths.
2. Switching from wide to telephoto in a single take doesn’t require you to change position.
3. Carrying one zoom lens is far easier than holding a bag of two or three prime lenses during shootouts.
4. Comes in handy if you quickly want to adapt to changing scenarios, but relocation is not possible.
5. They have complicated optical designs, which makes their aperture smaller, e.g., T3.5 to T5.6.
6. They are bulkier and significantly heavier than their prime counterparts.
7. They cost much more than a regular prime lens.
8. Zoom lenses are notoriously famous for letting in softness at certain zoom positions.
9. Their optical quality is not comparable to prime lenses, but recent generations of zoom lenses are equally as good as prime lenses but come with hefty price tags.
Stacking Prime Vs Zoom in Videography
Both the prime and zoom lens domains have to offer their strengths to filmmakers; that is why a zoom and prime combo is used during professional shootings. Videographers may opt for a prime lens when a scene requires a truly cinematic, controlled feel. Prime becomes the go-to choice when image quality, low-light performance, and creative depth of field have to be kept at the highest quality.
For scenes where these factors are not important, zoom lenses are used, which provide them flexibility to shoot from distances and quickly reframe without interrupting the scene.
If you are planning for a professional video shoot without the need to interchange lenses very often, then investing in both should be the case. So instead of searching for the answer to the question of whether you should use a prime or zoom lens for videography, the wise way forward should be to research which prime lens focal length and zoom lens range would be most related to your project, within a budget you can afford.
Zoom and Prime Lens Recommendations
If you want to build a prime-zoom lens kit, then look for 24-70mm and 24-105mm zoom ranges, which are considered the workhorse zooms for video professionals. This range will cover most of the scenarios in any video project, ranging from wide angles to moderate telephoto shots. The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM and Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG DN Art are some great picks this year.
Combine these zoom lenses with a capable prime lens to get that complete creative control for video shooting. One such revolutionary option this year is the SIRUI Saturn 35/50/75mm Full-frame Carbon Fiber Anamorphic Lens kit. This trio of 35mm, 50mm, and 75mm lenses is anamorphic in optical nature and can shoot with a 1.6x squeeze factor, delivering that classic Hollywood-style compressed widescreen look with classic blue & neutral flares, a feature associated with anamorphic optics.
Then there is a super bright and fast T2.9 aperture across all focal lengths, which makes this lens exceptional for low-light, crispy shots. The carbon construction of the outer shell is solid too and weighs significantly less than others in the same class. A worthy lens investment to use with a zoom lens of your choice during video shoots.
Wrapping Up:
The answer to the trending online question of “should you use prime or zoom lens for videography” lies in one’s requirements of the video project. Most professionals build a lens kit of both high-quality primes for key cinematic shots and a capable zoom lens for versatility when making shots that can sacrifice high-end video parameters.
