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Quick Rant: Wide Angle Lenses on Prosumer Fixed Lens Cameras
By Frey | July 9, 2007
This is just a quick rant on the overuse of wide angle lenses on prosumer High Definition and MiniDV Cameras. If you partake in this practice, please go to an WAA meeting (Wide-Angle’s Anonymous) and/or seek other professional help.
Seriously, here’s the deal - if you have a Camera with a fixed lens, be it a Panasonic HVX200, a Panasonic DVX100, a Sony V1U, or any other prosumer fixed-lens camera, please don’t slap a wide angle lens on it and expect to get a picture that resembles anything near decent quality. It’s a wide angle lens, for a fixed-lens camera. Often, they are cheaply made, so you can not get a great image, but if you think that paying a few hundred dollars extra for a good one will save your picture, think again - even the more expensive wide-angle lenses distort the image a little when it comes to slapping them on a fixed-lens camera.
Wide-angle lenses are rarely necessary. Yes, they are fine for certain scenes if you’re shooting a horror film or other film in need, but please don’t leave it on for very shot. It looks bad and is very apparent to the viewers that something is very wrong with the picture (the average viewer may not be able to put his/her finger on what the issue is, but they will notice). Sometimes necessity forces you to use it in a tight spot, like a closet or other small office, but you’d be better off moving the talent out to a slightly wider area if at all possible - if for no other reason than you can do a better job with your lighting!
Believe it or not, most of the Prosumer cameras have a wider angle ability built in. For instance, I have a Z1U sitting beside me with a built in zoom designed for being able to do wider viewing angles. It’s focal length ranges from 4.5mm to 54.0mm. The equivalent Field of View in 35mm Cinema would be 32.5mm to 390mm in 16:9 mode, so if I were shooting on film, 32.5mm would be considered wide, but the distortion is rarely perceptible. I know the HVX200 has a slightly wider zoom (I believe the 35mm equivalent is 32.5mm to 423mm) that’s capable of doing wide shots as well.
More than once, I’ve seen a good-looking lead Actor/Actress turned into someone that could be considered less-than-attractive because the filmmakers decided to leave the wide-angle lens on (ever heard someone on a film set say, “We’re in a hurry, we’ll just leave it on.”? If you have, run away as quickly as possible). If you’re using a good-looking actress, I seriously doubt that you would want her to look bad, but that’s just me thinking out loud…
A side note: A basic 35mm cinema lens arsenal would only need 4 lenses: a 35mm, a 50mm, a 75mm, and a 100mm. You could actually get away with two, or possibly even one lens, but having a wider selection makes for an easier time.
Okay, this “quick” rant has turned into something a little longer than I’d expected, so I’ll wrap it up with this: I don’t own a wide angle lens for any of my fixed lens cameras. The zooms are wide enough that I don’t need one, but if I found myself in a situation where I did, I’d just rent it for the day. Wide-angle lenses are a lot of money, and the cheap ones usually have vignetting anyway. Better to rent when you can, but the best images are shot without a distorted wide angle…
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Topics: high definition, other, production |
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