For video, difference between prime and zoom
- Thread starter deleuze3
- Start date
QuickHitRecord
Veteran
Apertures and light transmission aside, the simpler design of a prime lens will eliminate a lot of the distortion, edge softness and chromatic aberration that you'll usually find in zoom lenses.
Egg Born Son
Veteran
Other than optical qualities which vary from lens to lens and even sample to sample, I want to raise another consideration in zoom vs prime.
There are some fantastic zooms out there so I hesitate to fall back on old wisdom. However I still believe primes teach you to be a better camera operator. Moving the camera to achieve correct framing goes a long way to finding the right shot quicker after you've been using them a while. Lately I just seem to know where to go. Primes force you to think about which lens you are using at any given time and why. It trains you to recognise whether the selection is supporting the story or simply a matter of convenience. Sometimes you don't have a choice, in cramped confines you sometimes have to go wide. But where a choice is available there are a multitude of reasons why you might choose one over the other and I believe that decision making is where the art lies.
Using a limited set of primes gives a consistency to the look of your project. And conventional wisdom says that a prime will produce a better image although I don't know how true that is, even in the old days. I have an Angenieux zoom that is just beautiful and the mojo puts my Nikkor collection to shame. However having done my time with primes through my formative years I think has made my shot selection better. Depending on the nature of the project I generally still move the camera even when using a zoom. And as much as I love my Angeniuex and Lomo zooms I still tend to use the primes more often than not because they force consideration of each and every shot.
By and large when it's my call, I prefer to see the actors block their scene and find the performances, shots and angles as they do. Through a working knowledge of my lenses in combination with the script I always seek to find an angle and focal length that supports the story by one theory or another. And my ability to explain my choices both puts the director at ease and frames the argument/discussion giving them an opportunity to counter my choices in the right terms, if my reasoning doesn't support their vision. With a zoom the choices are less obvious. The choice tends to start and end with framing, without much consideration of other qualities. The director can't say "I want you to use this lens again, I really liked the look of that last setup".
There are some fantastic zooms out there so I hesitate to fall back on old wisdom. However I still believe primes teach you to be a better camera operator. Moving the camera to achieve correct framing goes a long way to finding the right shot quicker after you've been using them a while. Lately I just seem to know where to go. Primes force you to think about which lens you are using at any given time and why. It trains you to recognise whether the selection is supporting the story or simply a matter of convenience. Sometimes you don't have a choice, in cramped confines you sometimes have to go wide. But where a choice is available there are a multitude of reasons why you might choose one over the other and I believe that decision making is where the art lies.
Using a limited set of primes gives a consistency to the look of your project. And conventional wisdom says that a prime will produce a better image although I don't know how true that is, even in the old days. I have an Angenieux zoom that is just beautiful and the mojo puts my Nikkor collection to shame. However having done my time with primes through my formative years I think has made my shot selection better. Depending on the nature of the project I generally still move the camera even when using a zoom. And as much as I love my Angeniuex and Lomo zooms I still tend to use the primes more often than not because they force consideration of each and every shot.
By and large when it's my call, I prefer to see the actors block their scene and find the performances, shots and angles as they do. Through a working knowledge of my lenses in combination with the script I always seek to find an angle and focal length that supports the story by one theory or another. And my ability to explain my choices both puts the director at ease and frames the argument/discussion giving them an opportunity to counter my choices in the right terms, if my reasoning doesn't support their vision. With a zoom the choices are less obvious. The choice tends to start and end with framing, without much consideration of other qualities. The director can't say "I want you to use this lens again, I really liked the look of that last setup".