DSLR prime lens on interview.

Laurence wrote on 2/28/2012, 6:14 PM
I shot an interview today using a Nikon 35mm 1.8 prime lens and two Z96 LED lights (plus ambient light in the room). I had shot the same type of interview two weeks earlier with a regular zoom lens and the same lights. All I can say is "wow"!

The zoom lens has a maximum f-stop of about 5 zoomed in that far. The prime lens does it with 1.8. Video noise was gone, and the image was so much stronger. I am ordering a 50mm 1.8 lens tomorrow.

Comments

paul_w wrote on 2/28/2012, 6:21 PM
+1 Laurence, you cant beat primes. But sometimes not having zoom can slow you down depending on the shoot. Tripod fixed shots, primes for sure, thats me.

Paul. - enjoy!
Laurence wrote on 2/28/2012, 6:47 PM
I have the 1.8 35mm and I'm going to order a 50mm. What do you think about going with a 1.4 50mm instead of a 1.8? It's about twice as much money, and I'm worried about the depth of field being too shallow if the subject moved at all. None-the-less, it is tempting...
PeterDuke wrote on 2/28/2012, 8:58 PM
f5.0 to f1.8 is 7.7 times more light.
f1.8 to f1.4 is 1.65 times more light (2/3 of a stop).

I don't expect you would see too much difference in reasonably well exposed shots. But if you want the best ...
JasonATL wrote on 2/28/2012, 9:06 PM
Congrats! Yes, I realized even before jumping in to DSLR video that I would need primes - it only took a quick test between the kit zoom and a cheap 50mm prime to convince me that both the speed and the sharpness were much better with primes. And usually, these features trumped the convenience of a zoom.

We have the Canon 50mm 1.8. At around a hundred bucks, it can't be beat. Having said that, we upgraded to the Canon 50mm 1.4 at about $350 and love it even more. The reasons we love it might not apply to the Nikon equivalents. The key driver for me was that the focus ring on the 1.4 is much better, especially for video. It also has a better overall build quality. It's no L lens, but very nice. In short, don't ignore ergonomics!

You can always stop down the 1.4 to give you a little shallower DoF. I can tell you that I often struggle with focus with my 24mm 1.4 when it is wide open. The problem is that I tend to get greedy when I have 1.4 available and try to keep the ISO as low as possible and shoot wide open. I'm slowly breaking myself of that, since I haven't found noise on my camera to be bad for my purposes up to around ISO 640.
PeterDuke wrote on 2/28/2012, 9:19 PM
So far as depth of field is concerned, I used this calculator
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Assuming a 50 mm lens and a subject distance of 4 feet, the depth of field is:

f 1.8: 3.93 to 4.07 feet (diff = 1.68 inches)
f 1.4: 3.95 to 4.05 feet (diff = 1.2 inches)

That might be more of an issue.
Laurence wrote on 2/28/2012, 9:30 PM
Normally when I'm shooting an interview, I shoot a range of zooms: out for background, in a little as it gets into the subject, way in as it gets personal.

What do you guys do when you are shooting with primes? Switch lenses during the interview? or just move the camera closer in for closer framing?
paul_w wrote on 2/29/2012, 4:03 AM
Its a bit more work not using a zoom. With primes you can do it both ways, lens change or move the camera closer. Going to longer lens rather than moving means the camera can stay put which is handy. Also, you will get a different look from just moving. Give it a try, 35 to 50 (or even 85) lens change on a subject, then compare to 35 but just move the camera closer. It will have a different perspective.

Paul.