What are the 3 most popular focal lengths in movies?

H

hgf4

Well-known member
Just wondering what you think are the most used lenses, starting with the most widely used. My guess would be:
1. 50mm
2. 85mm
3. 28mm
Of course it will vary from film to film.
 
It varies film to film, subject to subject, director to director, DP to DP. There is so much variance, it's not even worth trying to pick.

In general, Films will stay between 20mm and 100mm. There are times where you'll get a 180, 300mm, sometimes even a 600mm (A shot from across the street - Sex & the City).

It might be more correct to look at the script/storyboards and determine how big your establishing shots need to be, how many 2-shots, 1-shots, crowd shots, etc., and plan from there.
 
I have read, many times, that a lot of cinematographers, shooting 35mm MP film, have a fondness for a 40mm lens as there "Normal" lens. After that, I am with PerroneFord, it just depends.
 
David G. Smith said:
I have read, many times, that a lot of cinematographers, shooting 35mm MP film, have a fondness for a 40mm lens as there "Normal" lens. After that, I am with PerroneFord, it just depends.
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Thanks. I guess that 20mm Panasonic kit lens with the GF1 isn't so strange after all. I recently watched something and tried to guess what lenses they were using. My guess was 80% of the shots were done with a normal lens- something around 50mm. But I'm no expert and that was just a guess.
 
PerroneFord said:
It varies film to film, subject to subject, director to director, DP to DP. There is so much variance, it's not even worth trying to pick.

In general, Films will stay between 20mm and 100mm. There are times where you'll get a 180, 300mm, sometimes even a 600mm (A shot from across the street - Sex & the City).

It might be more correct to look at the script/storyboards and determine how big your establishing shots need to be, how many 2-shots, 1-shots, crowd shots, etc., and plan from there.
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Thanks for the info/advice.
 
The DP for most of the Coen Bros. movies, Roger Deakins, was asked on his forum if he were to choose only one lens, and he picked a 32mm. then he was asked if he were to choose only 4 lenses, and said 27mm, 32mm, 40mm, and a 65mm.

i really like his cinematography, but i had always assumed he shot wider.

here's the link to the discussion:

http://www.deakinsonline.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1281
 
Fahad said:
The DP for most of the Coen Bros. movies, Roger Deakins, was asked on his forum if he were to choose only one lens, and he picked a 32mm. then he was asked if he were to choose only 4 lenses, and said 27mm, 32mm, 40mm, and a 65mm.

i really like his cinematography, but i had always assumed he shot wider.

here's the link to the discussion:

http://www.deakinsonline.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1281
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Thanks Fahad! That was an interesting read and I'm bookmarking that forum.
 
my favorite combo with my GH1 is my Canon FD 24mm (48mm with GH1 sensor) with the wd-55 .75 wide adapter...36mm equivalent. lovely.
 
that 20mm on the gf1 is gonna be wider than a 40mm on a cinema camera. 35mm is closer to aps-c, so that 40 would be like 25 on full frame, whereas the gf1 would be 40mm equivalent for full frame (but less for the gh1 since it's wider, i think).

i read somewhere that all of rushmore was shot with a 40mm. that could be completely wrong, but i don't have it here to watch and see. that seems slightly too long for wes anderson. i know he likes wide, symmetrical framing.
 
I've always wondered this too, especially with how the T2i has the thing where alot of the lens' picture is cropped out.

Basically, I've been testing my 50mm out in a forest, and hands down, it's too zoomed in to capture a specific shot I want for one of my films (a scene where a girl hugs a tree, the bottom of the screen stops under her arms, ect ect it's basically a close-up shot), yet by the time I back up a little, it seems the wide angle properties of it make the tree and subject way too skinny in comparison to real life, even if the shot still would only be about waist down on the subject.

So I'm guessing a 35mm may work here? I have a feeling I'll need a prime for this shot, forests are never too bright, especially in the very late sunset where there's no pesky highlights, about the only time of day that I'd be able to film.
 
35mm is pretty close to a normal field of view (what you actually see) on an aps-c sensor. if you have the kit lens, just zoom it to 35 and see how it looks. i just used the 35 1.4L and 85 1.2L that we had rented on a shoot. both awesome lenses, but the 85 had some weird focusing things going on. when you'd turn the camera off, the ring would spin, but nothing internal; turn the camera on and it would. it kept causing my focus marks on my follow focus to be off. it also would get held up sometimes and the actual focus mechanism just wouldn't move for a moment, while the ring would spin freely. the throw was like 360 degrees, which was too long for the focus rings we were using so i kept hitting the latch on the ring. i'd have to turn the camera off, spin the focus ring to reset it in a better place since the internals didn't move, and turn the camera back on. i dunno if this is normal or not, but it was kind of annoying.
 
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dust'n the callipygous said:
that 20mm on the gf1 is gonna be wider than a 40mm on a cinema camera. 35mm is closer to aps-c, so that 40 would be like 25 on full frame, whereas the gf1 would be 40mm equivalent for full frame (but less for the gh1 since it's wider, i think).

i read somewhere that all of rushmore was shot with a 40mm. that could be completely wrong, but i don't have it here to watch and see. that seems slightly too long for wes anderson. i know he likes wide, symmetrical framing.
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Wes Anderson likes 40mm anamorphics, so with that 2X squeeze, it would actually look more like a 20mm lens than a 40mm.
 
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