5 Reasons Why Prime Lenses Are Better Than Zooms
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
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As is the case with all film gear, there are a number of reasons for and against using prime lenses versus selecting zoom lenses. In this video I’ll go over five reasons that make primes superior to zooms - and follow it up with a later video from the other side of the argument about why zoom lenses are better than primes.
5 Reasons Why Zoom Lenses Are Better Than Primes: • 5 Reasons Why Zoom Len...
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0:00 Introduction
1:19 1. Considered Perspective
2:53 2. Optical Quality
4:33 Squarespace
5:52 3. Aperture
7:09 4. Size
8:19 5. Focus
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While in theory I prefer primes, in practice I prefer zoom as an indie filmmaker. Saves me much valuable time.
Facts
Because of those things, filmmakers tend to choose zoom lenses over prime lenses only if there is a need for zooming during rolling, or a constraint that force to choose zoom lenses like harsh conditions(desert, jungle, high altitude mountain without good logistics support), no camera assistant, or event video that needs no lens changing not to lose a frame during the event.
Or simply you dont want to bring your 53k arri alexa on the football pitch
Check out the vast vast majority of films, by the best cinematographers and directors, and they're nearly all shot, and I mean nearly ALL shot on primes. Roger Deakins, Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, Tarantino, Spielberg, Cameron, etc etc all scoff when zooms are suggested. They overwhelmingly all shoot on primes.
@indepthcine I am an aspiring cinematographer and I wanna say that I look forward to watching your videos every Sunday. Great informative content 👍🏽
For birds in flight, I like my zoom lens, I can start tracking an incoming bird, then zoom to near full frame and pan with the bird in flight. I shoot Canon R5 with RF 200-800mm for birds in flight, RF 70-200 F2.8 for other "small in frame" shots.
I mean most zoom cine lenses are parafocal now... Primes have their specific use it seems like. But for me, it doesnt make sense, which is why I use zooms lol. its all about speed and efficiency with your clients.
Very good argument and I cant wait to see the second presentation.
Definitely, what we choose, does depend on the project and the scenes, what they require, like you said, for a certain emotion of the character and what we are supposed to feel.
As a beginner filmmaker, I prefer zoom lenses. It covers all my needs, and I don't afraid to damage the camera matrix exposing it somehow. And I can try different focal distances and see the effect immediately.
All great points and easy to understand thank you 😊
1. Considered perspectiva
2. Optical quality
3. Aperture
4. Size
5. Focus
This guys videos are just always nice to watch. :)
I’m curious what The Sandman on Netflix is using. It appears their using vintage anamorphics or a lot is accomplished in post? Would like your thoughts.
I could be completely wrong - but from what ive heard they are using heavily modified Lomo anamorphics and then up-squeezing them onto the new Sony Venice 8k sensor. if the rumors are correct it would sure explain the extreme look it has!
I'll just post a comment so I'm notified when someone replies
I’m with you on the f-stop capabilities and focus range, and I always appreciate In Depth Cine videos…but I think “better” is a little subjective here. 🤔
As someone else mentioned here, the need to swap lenses can be a real drag (or a liability) depending on shooting conditions, imo light diffraction can sometimes be a positive thing if used intentionally, and intentional placement/framing (while more easily subconscious with primes) is an important choice regardless of lens. More of a mindset difference than an objective, kit difference.
I would have said “5 things prime lenses do better than zoom lenses,” but I know that’s not quite as catchy of a video title. 😂
Anyway, please keep up the interesting and informative work! Always curious to hear your thoughts on anything film-related. 😊
My dude said like 4 times he was gonna go over the other side of the argument too lol
Thank you so much. Great learning ✨🙏🏻
Great video, thanks 🙏😎
I love the photography, and at first i was interested in a cheap camera (Canon EOS1300D) and its lens 18-55mm. But I realized, that mostly I used 18mm or 55mm. Then I bought a Tamron 70-300mm lens. Quite cheap for a tele-zoom. But I realized, that mostly I used 300mm. And at least f4.0-f5.6 necessary.
Now I changed to a Fujifilm X100V with a fixed prime lens and I love it. I have to move closer or further away to get a picture the way I want it. And now I can use an aperture f2.0.
Did the same but without buying the 70-300mm. Now it's a prime 50mm, a standard zoom Sigma 28-70 or 24-70 with f2.8, a wide zoom or perhaps a 40mm for street photography. Thinking of the lens choice is the easiest way to set a style to what you shoot
Great video as always
"Less glass --> Less diffraction" cannot be true, can it? You did not really mean diffraction, but some other word. Scattering or flaring maybe. Diffraction is a fundamental property of light waves and occurs when light encounters an obstruction or aperture. The impact of diffraction is determined by the aperture size rather than the amount of glass in the lens.
Hi. I really like the style of your videos. Do you have some kind of a breakdown of the process of editing them?
6:22 - what do you mean... those two things don't seem to relate... it's literally a piece of metal curling.. how does that relate to the complex design of glass in a different part of the lens?
Can i find even old zoom lenses for around 500$ 600$ bucks in amazon?
I HATE those who make using only primes seem like a selling point for their photo/video work...like if you have a 24-70 f2.8 and a 70-200 f2.8 you're ready for nearly any job and will have plenty of background blur if you want it. Primes are just extremely limiting in many shoot scenarios.
There's no going around that with primes get way nicer photos as they have wider aperture and are sharper (and often have less distortion etc). You'll survive well with the zoom, but just compare the photos taken with very wide aperture sharp primes to standard 2.8 ''fast'' zoom. Primes have clear advantage in when taking art photos. If I went to a football match then my number 1 choice would be a zoom
@@zen933 For weddings and other jobs where you don't have full control or are shooting in small rooms etc. I just wouldn't ever want to be fumbling around with lens swaps. I think especially for video work the sharpness you get from a good 2.8 zoom is more than you will ever need. You can miss shots in plenty of cases using primes. Unless I'm planning most of the shots I will need (like a narrative film shoot) then I would always choose the two zooms over like 5 primes.
Stills that are just portraits are a different matter I suppose, and primes would suit that kind of scenario for sharpness and that little extra DOF.
Agreed sambo
i highly disagree to this statement, what people aren’t considering is the focal distance from a subject, that’s why nowadays cinematographers actually prefer primes while a zoom lens saves time, a prime saves creative freedom, of course zooms are always going to have their place but where the usually don’t is in tight spaces
I like both of them. It really depends on size. Cine lenses are more fun as primes but i have never actually tried zoom cine lens
Bokeh isn't something you have more or less of, it's just the quality of the out of focus areas. It makes more sense to say "more background/foreground blur".
What do you mean? If you have f1.2 lens, you have more bokeh, out of focus area, than f4 lens
This one is for the pro's :
At a given focal length, say 50mm for example, what is the difference in image quality for a shot taken on a zoom vs a prime?
I mean there’d be less distortion and chromatic aberration on the prime. You’d also get a shallower depth of feild on the prime. The zoom would definitely be softer with less creamy bokeh.
I have cine primes but shoot 95% with the canon 18 - 80mm zoom lens.
The primes are way better in picture quality, but for TV production, event or other cases, your move a lot like onetake commercial videos, the zoom winns about the quality and look.
Only in Musicvideos or high picture quality shootings, i never touched the zoom lens at all.
Guys I have some shooting ahead of me… I’m afraid my iPhone11 is not really good at it… especially at night scenes, but I don’t know how to operate a camera at all and they are pricy to loan…
How can I improve the image at iPhone 11??
Not a cinematographer or anything related to film making, but what you probably want to do is have a very very soft lighting on the cast and parts of the environment you want visible. Put like a sheet of bed cover or something over a strong light to soften it.
Besides that, I have no clue. Maybe also try and find an area there that has good light source or at one in the scene or photo, like a those lamps used for camping or a candle.
@@prabeshgurung1067 yeah man, that’s sounds reasonable, I believe I should do my work in so far as setting the light right.
Gonna bring some kind of lamp to lighten the object or a person I shoot, also gonna try to create a nice background lighting in the room, smth soft and comfy.
But in the streets it’s more challenging cuz lights in my city are mostly yellow and not white. I hate this yellow lighting, makes the Colorof clothes and skin worse….
Gonna find a place in my city where the lights are white I guess. Also gonna buy a lamp that will give a white light and gonna bring it with me to the shooting.
Thanks for the reply, hopefully I ll make it
Jumping on this train too, don’t try to push the phone past what it can handle if the environment is still kind of dark. It’s better to look dark than dark and ugly. So have your talent close to your source so like lamps, windows, Christmas lights, what have you. And most important of all, make sure you’re getting good sound. The human brain is a lot likelier to settle for bad picture than bad sound. I cannot stress that sound thing enough.
I like prime leases because it forces me to decide where the camera is gonna be - ROGER DEAKINGS
Why you gotta do 2.8s like that
Try Sony 24-70mm GM ii lens first ✨
Is that Gwen 💔??
I dislike using the term "zoom with your feet" It spreads misinformation since the change in position with a prime results in a different shot compared to zooming in with the lens.
Hi, how can you use film footage without getting copyright strike ?
The way the clips are being used would fall under "fair use" in copyright laws, because he is using them for the purpose of commentary, criticism and education. Its not like he's just posting the clips for people to watch the film for free, he is providing additional value to the footage
And also, it's just very short clips, with no audio, not entire scenes.
@@-Ryodan yeah but that doesn’t protect against automatic flagging
Tell Wes Anderson not to use a zoom LOL. We never use them. I prefer the look of a prime. Always have.
It is so confusing hearing camera lens specifications and zoom in metric and focus distance expressed in imperial
good video
I’m sorry but I hate these kind of vids. Primes, zooms and anamorphic lenses are all just tools, there isn’t one that’s all around the best lens type to use. There isn’t anyone that can watch any movie and accurately say oh that scene was shot with a zoom…oh they just switched to prime. In preproduction there’s extensive lens testing and selection for a given set location and stylistic goal that has nothing to do with whether it’s a prime or a zoom. Number of days to shoot is probably the biggest factor on what lens type to use because the producers dictate the budget which is attached to shooting days. You should see the battles between directors and producers over using anamorphic lenses…an artist vs. accountant throw down.
1 reason zooms are better no need for the second camera assistant :) hahahah
personally i love zoom but if you need speed prime are the best but if you are in a real set you dont have exposir problem
cooke zoom are so beautiful
These rules don’t really apply to recent zooms, which are just as sharp and light as prims with a minimal loss in light.
Could you link me to the data supporting this pls ?
@@OceanstaI think the website dxophotolabs has good info regarding that
They aren't
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first video on this channel I disliked, because of the intentionally incorrect clickbait title.
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Why would you choose depictures of dps wearing useless masks????
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