T2i Canon T3i - 70-300mm f4-5.6 and 50mm f/1.8 II - what lens to use for various shots

K

Kalls

Member
Hi Guys,

I have a T3i and a 50mm f1.8 II and a 70-300mm f4-5.6. I am a newbie and have shot a few scenes with 50mm. It turned out good!
However, this weekend, I am planning to make two short films

There are 2 or 3 actors involved. The locations are inside a room (night and day), outside a bank (day), on a street parking lot (day), inside the car (day)and traffic lights(day). Also, need to shoot time lapses (moon, sun and moving cars - any tips on time lapses are welcome!)

The shots are
1. Over the shoulder
2. close up
3. long shot (establishing location)
4. medium shot
5. pan
6. If the slider is ready? (then a dolly!)

Could you please suggest me, what lens should I use for the shots mentioned above? I am planning to shoot on 24P and want to retain the same look and feel with both the lens. I am planing to use auto white balance ,let me know if there is an aperture and shutter speed that is optimal for filmmaking.
I sincerely appreciate your time and support.
 
If those were the lenses I had available, I would probably use the 50mm as much as possible. Maybe use the 70-300mm more toward the 70mm side for close ups. And of course, if you really need to get something far away in the distance your 70-300 would be the thing to use.

Lenses aren't just about how much you can "fit in" to the shot, they also "compress" the background more or less. If you shoot the same subject (say, an identical medium shot of your lead actor) with a 50mm lens and a 100mm lens, more of the surrounding background will be included with the 50mm lens, while at 100mm you will see less of the background. Thus, longer lenses have the effect of "compressing" the shot and minimizing the apparent distance between the subject and the background.
 
The aperture will likely vary based on the available light/what you want to do with depth of field, but the generally agreed upon ideal shutter speed is 1/(2x the fps). So in your case, you'd want to use 1/48 (1/50 in most cases as most cameras don't have 1/48 options). There might be times when you deviate from that, but it's the general rule.
 
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