How can interchangeable lenses help?

Vamp · Post by **Vamp** » Mon May 24, 2004 8:30 pm

I mean, what difference would two different lenses make? just how wide or how tall the picture is? Can't you just use one lens effectivly by framing your shots carefully? Would you really need to swich between lens during a production with a camera like the XL1 or is it not really that big a deal? Does it make a big differnce to the overall look?

Ornsack · Post by **Ornsack** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:37 pm

Yeah, wide angle lenses work better for wide angles, telephoto lenses work better for when zooming and give greater magnification, then there's close up lenses which give good focus to close up objects... that's just the surface of it.

Different lenses are designed for different screen ratios too

Vamp · Post by **Vamp** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:47 pm

So is it recommended toget a cam with interchangeable lenses, or not neccasary?

Ornsack · Post by **Ornsack** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:11 pm

Not neccasary on your level. They're damned expensive, so just learn what you've got for now, and learn how to make films.

Vamp · Post by **Vamp** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:33 pm

But like I said, can you not get the same effect of different lenses by just planning your shots more carefully?

Ornsack · Post by **Ornsack** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:29 pm

No. Say you wanna get a good view of a room, a wide angle lens is the only way to achieve it as you'll never be able to get back far enough with walls in the way

I could go on, but you'll just as more similar questions

Vamp · Post by **Vamp** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:34 pm

I see, So I wonder whether I shold sacrifice quality for quantity when it comes to camera images.

Ornsack · Post by **Ornsack** » Mon May 24, 2004 11:36 pm

Stick to making films... Honestly if you learn with the worst equipment, you'll use the best equipment a lot better as and when you get to use it

bad_karma24 · Post by **bad_karma24** » Tue May 25, 2004 12:57 am

For most amatuer filmmakers, interchangable lenses aren't necessary.

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Tue May 25, 2004 2:41 am

And good glass for the XL1 is expensive, a good lense can set you back better than $1000 US. really good glass can be more than a low end DVCPro camera body. You can use adapters to get wide angle. And to be honest, if you have to ask the question "Do I need Interchangeable lenses" then the answer is absolutely not. If you have to ask, then you don't know enough about optics and lens theory to use it effectively. Stick to a good cam with fixed lens, and learn to use that. Framing is important no matter what lens you use, not to get an effect, but to effectively tell the story. There is a whole series of framing rules. Staring with the rule of thirds, but also fore and background framing, even which side of the frame the good guy should enter as opposed to the bad guy....

ALove · Post by **ALove** » Tue May 25, 2004 3:12 am

i got the XL1 as an investment, so i can use it forever and eventually beef it out

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Wed May 26, 2004 2:21 am

He he he helike any other technology, it will be old and replaced in pretty short order... Like S-VHS, Hi-8, and Dig 8, they are still all functional formats, but they are far from the current standards. No camera or electronics should ever be looked at as an investment, it's simply a tool, and when a better tool comes along, it's time to replace it.. hte next 'killer' format???? HDV - maybe.... for an investment, look to DigiBeta ( If you have $30K or so to 'invest' LOL. Mini DV's days are numbered... HDV and direct to disk are right around the corner. I'm figuring in another year, a low end DVCPro50 cam - a true pro format with 4:2:2 sampling instead od DV 4:1:1 will be about the same price as an XL1 or PD 170 today. Not an investment, but a bargain...

ssj3gohan · Post by **ssj3gohan** » Wed May 26, 2004 6:21 pm

about that.... direct to disk, are there relatively cheap DTD cameras already for sale, or are they still very pricy?

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Thu May 27, 2004 7:41 am

Still pretty pricey. Last I checked, JVC had a nice little one for about $1,500 or so. They will get cheaper as time goes on. Also, this summer the uncompressed DVD format is supposed to come out. THAT I look forward to!!

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Thu May 27, 2004 11:58 pm

Yeah the current DVD format is pretty bad compared to DV tape, There are some pro cams with Direct to Hard Disk recording, or to Memory sticks, supposed to be incredibly efficient. Allows a rough edit in cam in the time it would normally take to log a tape..

Epsilon · Post by **Epsilon** » Fri May 28, 2004 6:48 am

Hitachi made a nice pro DVD recording camera last year. Very cool, but probably obsolete by now!

shawneous · Post by **shawneous** » Sat May 29, 2004 7:43 am

Greetings forum members! I am Shawneous. I have actively read this board for a while and decided to now post as I feel I have something noteworthy. I own an XL1s with both the 16x zoom lens and the 3x wide angle and it makes a huge difference and I use them both, a lot. However, I agree with the other poster that said if you have to ask the question then you don't need it.

Lastly, a bit about me for the board as I will continue to post. I'm an indie filmmaker in Portland, OR and you can see my site at www.nelsonentertainment.com (pictures from my set at http://www.nelsonentertainment.com/sfm_pics.htm). Right now I'm shooting a comedy, which while not nearly as cool as war movies, it's nice to have hot women on set following my direction

. My next movie will be a feature length action/horror so I hope to learn from you guys and swap knowledge. I'm only 21 and have been making movies for only one year and I've never been to film school, so I'm a fellow guerilla filmmaker.

Vamp · Post by **Vamp** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 2:23 pm

Wow, Shawn, your sets look really professional...

The XL1 is still the ugliest camera I've ever seen though

levertuning · Post by **levertuning** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 6:31 pm

I just watched Reverie and i like it. A lot of movies posted here are full of effects and i think it's nice to see some movies without all that. There always some shooting and explosions. It would be nice of there were more movies here like yours.

By the way. Why is that movie named Reverie?

shawneous · Post by **shawneous** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 4:15 am

levertuning wrote:I just watched Reverie and i like it. A lot of movies posted here are full of effects and i think it's nice to see some movies without all that. There always some shooting and explosions. It would be nice of there were more movies here like yours.

By the way. Why is that movie named Reverie?

Hey thanks man! I appreciate it. There weren't any explosions but I did kill someone, so maybe that'll get others on here to watch it

.
Reverie is French for a beautiful dream, which is the opposite of the movie...

justsomeguy · Post by **justsomeguy** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 4:02 pm

that sounds really cool, ill check it out when i have the chance. and about the lenses thing, if you need a wider angle you can just get a wide-anlge converer thing. im not exactly sure how that differs from an interchangle able lense though

MattHawkins Online - Film Making Forum

How can interchangeable lenses help?

How can interchangeable lenses help?

Yes, they do matter