roger deakins cinematography lens length

#Roger deakins cinematography lens length full

Just barely wider than our regular field of vision, but not too wide that it becomes distracting. That’s where a lens like the 28mm comes into play. When we go to the movies we want to have an experience that emulates reality in many ways, but also is fantastical and surrealistic. And if you are truly attempting to emulate the look of motion pictures, than the 28mm lens is a focal length that you absolutely can not ignore. And while on paper it may not seem or sound like the most exciting lens choice, keep in mind that the 28mm lens has been a gold standard in shooting motion pictures for over a century, being used to capture some of the most recognizable moments in cinematic history. In fact Spielberg, Scorsese, Orson Wells, Malick, and many other A-list directors are have cited the 28mm lens as one of their most frequently used and in some cases a favorite. So what is the right focal length for the rest of the film? Where is the sweet spot? Ultimately that is up to you as the filmmaker, but for many filmmakers the 28mm lens is the secret ingredient. Sure, for insert shots, extreme closeups, low light, and other specialty shots, there are many cases shooting wide open may be necessary or the right choice – but not for the majority of the film.

#Roger deakins cinematography lens length full

Shooting at that kind of aperture allows for optimal lens performance and smoother focus pulling and is a very far cry from shooting wide open at 1.4 on a full frame DSLR. But how many blockbuster or large-scale independent films can you remember where every other shot was teetering on the brink of being out of focus as so many micro-budget films are? Every film is different and every DP has their own way of working, but in general most substantial films are shot between f4 – f8 the majority of the time. This is really a shame because one of the most used lenses in the history of cinema and therefore one of the keys to unlocking a cinematic look when shooting digitally is the 28mm wide angle lens.īefore we discuss the seemingly magical 28mm focal length, it’s important to recognize why shooting long lens/shallow DOF throughout your film can be the furthest thing from cinematic.Īny 35mm film camera is capable of getting razor thin DOF in just about any circumstance. Unfortunately, shooting on wider lenses (and for some even normal lenses like the 35mm) has become a lost art. The irony though, is that since so many filmmakers went crazy for the ultra-shallow DOF look and used it to death over the past 5 years, it’s now become one of the biggest giveaways that a film was made on a DSLR and probably on a very low budget. Since the 5D was introduced and razor shallow depth of field became easily achievable, just about every low budget indie film went down the path of shooting a lot of long lens shallow DOF shots in an attempt to make their film ‘more cinematic’. Probably one of the biggest misconceptions about achieving a filmic look, is that long telephoto lenses and shallow depth of field are a necessary part of the equation. But something that I didn’t delve into in detail in that article was lensing choices – specifically wide angle vs. My recent article ‘How To Make Video Look Like Film’outlined a lot of basic techniques that when implemented can drastically help to improve your digital cinematography and truly make it more film like.

For those of you that follow this blog regularly, you know that achieving a filmic look when shooting digitally is very important to me and something I often write about.