Lenses for talking heAds?

PegLeg Media

PegLeg Media

Well-known member
For work I film a lot of talking heads videos with b-roll mixed in. I have been using a Panasonic gh3 with an Olympus 45mm 1.8 lens. Here is one of my latest vids:


i also have a Panasonic gh2 and am looking for a good lens so I can start filming my talking heads with 2 cameras. I feel like the 45mm is too close up like in the example I posted, ( most my interviews are in a small room). So I was thinking camera one would be straight on with something like a 25mm or 30mm 1.4 lens, then I could use my Olympus 45 1.8 on the b-cam for a closer up shot and angled a little more to the side.

so does this sound like a good idea? Anyone have a better idea for shooting a 2 can talking head. And lens suggestions? I'm looking at the panny 25mm 1.4 and the sigma 30mm 1.4 but they are a little expensive for prime lenses. Would one of these really be worth it or are there some good alternatives? I really want a 1.4 lens so if I have to shoot an interview with no light I can use this as my main cam.


also curious if anyone else would shoot 60p on the gh3 and 24p on the gh2? I love 60p and will not shoot b-roll in 24p so would rather use one cam than shoot both on 24p.
 
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And just found my old canon 50mm 1.4 that cost $50, it is 10x better than my Olympus 45mm so I will be using my canon for interviews and only using my Olympus for photos that require auto focusing.
 
I use Canon 17-55/2.8 on my F3 and when I had the AF100 I used a Nikon 35-70/2.8. Both sweet lenses to shoot heads with.
 
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My usual 2-cam lens loadout for that style is a 25-35mm lens for the medium shot (Leica DG 25/1.4 or Summilux R 35 with or without Speedbooster) and a 35-100 or 50-150 zoom (Sigma 50-150/2.8 w/wo Speedbooster) for the MCU-ECU off-axis. I'll likely side-grade to a Sigma 18-35/1.8 for the medium angle once they're available for Nikon... those two Sigma zooms should encompass all my talking head needs. Semi-natively you could go with the Olympus SHG 14-35/2 and 35-100/2, but that's been out of my price range even on the used market.

Utilizing a 50mm prime with a 20-30mm prime makes perfect sense if you work a touch closer. The trick is finding one that affordable in the f1.4 range... vintage fast 50's are a "dime a dozen". Alternately you could work further back with your 50 as the MED and an easier-to-find fast vintage 85-135mm as the CU... of course you need a lot of space to make that work.

The Leica DG 25/1.4 would be a good native option - ~$500
There's also the Samyang/Rokinon/Bower 24/1.4 - ~$400-500
Samyang/Rokinon/Bower's acclaimed 35/1.4 also runs about $400-500
SLR Magic and Voigtlander 25/0.95's can be acquired for ~$800-900
Sigma's 30/1.4 is a bit more affordable at $300-400

Going a little slower, the Panasonic 20/1.7 can work (~$400), or a vintage Nikon 24/2 (~$300 used), or you can wait a while for the aforementioned Sigma 18-35/1.8 zoom ($800 + unknown waiting time).

I'd contend that for a static shot at 25/1.4, it can work, but I generally stop the medium shot down to ~f1.8-2 to keep focus deep enough to prevent the subject from going soft if they move; that way I can set the MED angle and forget it, and man the CU camera which will need the constant adjustment for focus and framing.

Don't worry about getting a lens fast enough to shoot without lights... I've got f0.95's that can certainly get an exposure, but for talking heads they still look crappy without some shaping of the light on the subject.
 
All those lenses sound good. Would any give a sharper image than the others? If not I assume the best choices would be the sigma since its cheaper or the Panasonic 25mm bc then I could use auto focus for photos if I wanted.

would anyone recommend one of these over the other?
 
I went for the Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4, many reviews cited it's outstanding sharpness, excellent tonal values, and it's remaining very sharp even wide open. I found all of that to be quite true and it is a lens well worthy of bearing "Leica" in it's name.

I also have (and use frequently) the Lumix 20mm F1.7 which is also a very sharp performer.

For when I need a bit more reach or for a portrait perspective look, it's the Olympus Zuiko 45mm F1.8. And lately I've been testing a Rokinon 85mm Cine T1.5, I like the look of the footage, the lens is a tad heavy compared to the m4/3 primes I have and I'd really rather have the Olympus Zuiko 75mm F1.8 but for now I got by for under $300 vs $900.

The 14-45mm Lumix "kit" lens (original sold with GH1 and some of the G series) comes in handy when I need a lightweight zoom's flexibility.
 
The Panasonic 20mm would be a great choice. I often use the 20mm and he 45mm when doing talking heads.

There should be no issue shooting and mixing 60p in with 24p in FCPX as least. Just drop a 60p file into a 24p project and FCP will do the rest.
 
I think I'm going with the panny 25 1.4. I already have the Panasonic 14mm so the 14, 25 and 45 should be a good combo.

thanks for the info guys and feel free to post some of your interview videos so I can get some angles/lighting ideas as well!
 
PegLeg Media said:
And just found my old canon 50mm 1.4 that cost $50, it is 10x better than my Olympus 45mm so I will be using my canon for interviews and only using my Olympus for photos that require auto focusing.
Click to expand...

While I agree that old 50mm f/1.4 primes make nice interview lenses, these lenses are very soft wide open compared to the Olympus 45mm which is tac-sharp wide open. The softness can be an advantage for interviews because most of the time you don't want to resolve every pimple on a person's face. :-)
 
Softness is a very easy thing to add to sharp optics. A Cokin #1 Diffusion filter really takes the edge off m4/3 "crisp" lenses and I'm hearing good things about the Tiffen Black Diffusion series.

It could seem a bit "awkward" putting a Cokin filter on that "tiny" Olympus 45mm but what I've done is to put on a 37-52mm stepup ring on it and my Tiffen Black Diffusion #3 is a 52mm size, add a lens hood and it doesn't look so strange anymore. I also have the set of 5 Cokin diffusion filters and the holder/hood that has a 52mm thread adapter ring on it left over from my portrait studio days. This set of filters are all either #1 or #2 but there was enough variation filter to filter that what I have is a "graduated set" ranging from so subtle you can't see diffusion was used but skin tones come alive - to one so diffuse "don't even try to focus through this one".
 
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