Attaining a comprehensive understanding of the unique types of broadcast and filmmaking lenses can be overwhelming, even for professionals with decades of experience. The sheer variety of lens options and features, and the complex science and engineering that goes into making those options and features possible, can boggle the mind.
For many tech directors and film directors already stretched too thin, having that command of the subject extends only as far as it needs to in order to survive the coming weekend. As the landscape of church broadcast, streaming and filmmaking continues to expand. However, it’s more important than ever that we take the time to develop a broader understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different types of camera lenses.
Foundations of glass
In this article we’ll explore the unique types of lenses designed for stills photography, cinema, camcorders, and broadcast-style cameras. Needless to say this is a monster topic, so for our purposes we’ll focus more on the user-end side of things and less on the science and engineering side. With that said, understanding lenses does require a firm grasp of some basic concepts.
One of the most important features of a lens is the focal distance, which is expressed in millimeters.
One of the most important features of a lens is the focal distance, which is expressed in millimeters. Functionally speaking, this rating indicates how wide or tight the shot framing is. For instance a 35mm lens takes in a wider field of view, while a 200mm lens captures imagery further away from the lens. A “prime” lens has a single focal distance, while a “zoom” lens has a range of focal distances, such as 18-135mm.
Cinema lens courtesy of Sigma.
The second crucial feature of a lens is the aperture, which is simply the opening inside the lens that regulates how much light hits the sensor. An aperture rating is usually indicated with an “f,” a slash and a number, such as f/4. Lenses with lower apertures like f/1.4 allow more light to hit the camera sensor and are considered to be “fast” glass. A standard lens description is made up of a combination of the focal distance and the aperture. For instance, one of the most popular types of prime lenses for photography and filmmaking is the 50mm f/1.8 lens.
The third important feature of a lens is the sensor size and image resolution it’s designed to facilitate, as well as the native camera mount system the lens is designed to work with. These are crucial detectives, requiring specific design and engineering choices. Anyone who’s overseen a system upgrade from HD to 4K or from 2/3-inch to APS-C sensors will know that lenses capable of accommodating these jumps make up a huge part of the budget.
Two other important features that can be important parts of a lens is its ability to cooperate with the camera body to select a focal point, commonly known as autofocus, and in-body stabilization functionality, something that helps considerably with hand-held shooting but often comes at the cost of faster aperture abilities.
Photography lenses
For many developing filmmakers, lenses designed primarily for stills photography were how they got started. The advantage of stills glass is that they’re fairly affordable, lightweight and interchangeable, allowing for shooters to achieve highly specialized shots and functionality. The sheer variety of available lens options on the market presents distinct advantages to filmmakers using these types of lenses.
Photography lens courtesy of Sony.
Photography lenses ... are designed to capture a single moment rather than digital footage over time.
Photography lenses, however, are designed to capture a single moment rather than digital footage over time. Generally speaking, the camera body controls aperture and focus on stills lenses. While this is helpful for beginning filmmakers, more experienced cinematographers don’t want to leave those kinds of critical features in the hands of the camera’s software. Achieving critical manual focus is also far more challenging since stills lenses really are not designed to accomplish this feat.
Cinema lenses
Cinema lenses are similar to stills photography lenses in that they are designed to be interchangeable, allowing filmmakers to select exactly the right lens needed for a particular shot. But while stills lenses are designed to capture a single moment, cinema glass is designed from the ground up to capture footage as close to flawlessly as possible.
Perhaps the biggest defining feature of cinema glass is its ability to capture footage with the highest optical quality and repeatability. This means providing precise control over the crucial variables of aperture and focus, and, depending on the model, zoom. Cinema glass is also usually very fast, which allows cinematographers to achieve extremely shallow depth of field in their shots.
Cinema lens courtesy of Canon.
The biggest drawback on cinema glass … is the fact that these lenses don’t offer assistance of any kind to the shooter.
On the downside, cinema lenses are usually far more expensive than stills lenses. (Some manufacturers are working hard to close the distance in price to accommodate the owner/operator filmmaker market.) The biggest drawback on cinema glass, however, is the fact that these lenses don’t offer assistance of any kind to the shooter. In fact, the best results with these lenses are achieved when multiple camera operators work together to achieve critical framing and focus on a single shot.
Broadcast lenses
On the opposite side of the coin, lenses designed for broadcast are engineered to get quality results, in real time and in difficult shooting scenarios. Wider zoom ranges are critical on these kinds of lenses as ENG and IMAG shooters often need to go from very wide to tightly zoomed in at a moment’s notice.
Broadcast lens courtesy of Fujinon.
Wider zoom ranges are critical on [broadcast] lenses as ENG and IMAG shooters often need to go from very wide to tightly zoomed in at a moment’s notice.
Broadcast lenses are also designed to provide the maximum assistance possible, which requires powerful, built-in zoom and focus motor controls. Features like these allow for quick framing and dependable autofocus abilities. Aperture control on these lenses is usually handled as part of a camera’s overall auto-exposure system. These functions combine to make broadcast lenses some of the easiest and most intuitive to shoot with.
On the downside, while they can run a wide budget gamut, broadcast lenses are usually the most expensive type of lens on the market. This is especially true as you get into box-style lenses that can easily run into the six-figure price points. And while broadcast lenses are, technically speaking, interchangeable, the relationship between the lens, the camera and the camera mount is so specialized that these lenses rarely ever come off the camera body.
Camcorder lenses
Camcorders are unique in that they fill a space in the market where immediacy takes precedence over image quality. This is not pejorative, many video producers use camcorders to create unique, compelling content that wouldn’t be possible with any other setup. It’s all about selecting the right tool for the job at hand.
What makes camcorder lenses unique is that the camera itself is designed from the ground up to get the best out of that one particular lens.
Camcorder lens courtesy of Panasonic.
Camcorder lenses are unique in that they are built directly into the camera body itself and are not interchangeable. Just as with broadcast lenses, camcorder lenses are designed to provide maximum shooting assistance with features like motor zoom control, autofocus and aperture settings usually handled by the camera itself. These lenses are all about capturing the moment in real-time, without the luxury of planning or rehearsals.
What makes camcorder lenses unique is that the camera itself is designed from the ground up to get the best out of that one particular lens. This custom engineering usually incorporates built-in ND filtering for increased image control in bright lighting, a function that’s often missing in stills cameras and higher-end digital cinema cameras.
The drawback of camcorders, however, is that the user is locked into the limitations of that particular lens. While camcorder lenses usually have a respectably wide zoom range, they’re usually slower, making low-light filming more of a challenge. Also, if problems develop with the lens on a camcorder it almost always means a trip back to the manufacturer for repairs.
Wrap up
The glass you put on the camera makes a huge impact on the success of your project. Selecting the right lens comes down to finding the right balance of optical quality, functionality and shooting assistance. Success in selecting the right lenses simply comes down to clearly deciding which matters most on the project or application you’re undertaking, then deciding which way to lean that balance.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in December 2018.
