Camera Lenses - getting the film look

The Camera Lens

The lens is an essential component of any camera. It is what controls the amount of light let into the camera, the magnification of the image being captured, and the focus distance of the image. There is no major difference in principle between a lens used for a still camera, a video camera, a telescope, a microscope, or other apparatus, but the details of design and construction are different. A lens might be permanently fixed to a camera, or it might be interchangeable with lenses of different focal length, apertures, and other properties. For film, the cameras we will be focusing on have the ability to switch between different lenses.

Zoom Lenses

The most well-known and used of all lenses. A Zoom lens comes standard on most DSLR cameras.The convenience of variable focal length comes at the cost of image quality, weight, aperture, and autofocus performance. For example, all zoom lenses suffer from at least slight, if not considerable, loss of image resolution at their maximum aperture, especially at the extremes of their focal length range. This effect is evident in the corners of the image, when displayed in a large format or high resolution. The greater the range of focal length a zoom lens offers, the more exaggerated these compromises must become. The cost of a zoom lens is much higher than that of a prime lens, but this is not to say prime lenses are a budget option. With one zoom lens you could potentially cover a focal range 55mm to 250mm. The alternative would be buying a set of prime lenses at specific focal lengths in order to achieve the same range.

Prime Lenses

The prime lens is one of the most essential lenses for film. The prime lens has a set focal length allowing it to be much quicker. What this means it that it is able to open up to a lower f/stop creating more dynamic blurs. This can be for a visual aesthetic or personal preference. The glass used in prime lenses also tends to be of a higher quality. The higher quality glass is able to produce a more clear but soft look. These kinds of lenses are most associated with portrait photography and can also be used to acquire the cinematic look. The best way to create cinematic imagery is through the use of lighting.

Cine Lenses

One of the best and most important features of a cine lens is its ability to maintain focus on moving subjects or smoothly switch focus from one subject to the other. Moving subjects in a movie scene are kept in focus by slowly rotating the focus ring and “following” the subject. This is a difficult feat with regular still lenses, as their focus rings have no hard stops and will require extreme precision on the user’s part to achieve proper focus while following a moving subject. On the other hand, a cine lens has a focus ring with clearly visible markings and hard stops at the beginning and at the end. Cine lenses are also parfocal lenses. These are lenses that are able to keep their focus locked on subjects even when you zoom in on a particular scene. With a non-parfocal lens, the simple act of zooming in or out may change your focus, requiring you to refocus your shot. This function of a cine lense allows for crash zooms as used by Quentin Tarantino in the video below.

The other most noticeable difference between a cine lens and other lenses is the extra ring allowing control over the aperture. Most lenses only have a focus ring and a zoom ring. The aperture ring allows for precise shifts in exposure to be made during a shot.

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