What is the difference between film and regular footage?

With the popularization of photographic equipment, photography is gradually becoming a popular cultural demand, but most of us do not have a deep understanding of cameras and lenses. We only know that movie lenses are more expensive, but we don’t know why they are so expensive. This article will help most practitioners (photography enthusiasts) understand the difference between film and ordinary lenses

Unique features of lens glass

Lenses are one of the tools for making moving images one. It completes shooting by changing visual focus, zooming in and out, and working with different accessories. Due to their more precise structure and better lens surface coating technology, cine lenses have better control over flare and spots. When shooting video, the optical quality of the lens glass determines the image image.

Making Materials

Take a look at the image above. Don’t you think movie shots look more awesome and professional? Ordinary photographic lenses mostly use plastic and a small amount of alloys. High-end photographic lenses have more alloy components. Cinema lenses are basically made of metal and alloys and adopt a waterproof seal design. The cinema lens ring also uses a sawtooth design to match the external motor and gear.

Lens Size and Weight

Most cinema lenses are larger and heavier than ordinary lenses. The Carl Zeiss 28mm in the picture is much larger than the stills 28mm lens.

You can find entire series of cine lenses with exactly the same outer diameter and dimensions, such as Leica lenses:

Series lens sets

Lenses with the same diameter Lens combinations made up of lenses can generally be used with their accessories. Imagine using an ND filter for a scene. When you change lenses, you don't have to change filters. Because these filters are universal, this not only saves money on filters (because they are really expensive), but also saves time.

When using a matte box, you don’t have to worry about whether the front diameter of your lens will fit. You'll need to adjust the position of the lens so that it fits seamlessly on the focus ring, as well as the remote zoom and aperture controls. The same lens group has the same lens diameter, so there is no need to change the configuration of the extinction box when shooting.

Focus Control

One of the most common functions of a video lens is to change the focus. With regular lenses, probably the most commonly used focus control is the camera's autofocus feature. Suppose you are shooting a scene and you need to move the focus from one fixed object to another. Since the subject doesn't move, you can set the focus ring to where the first subject is in focus. Then rotate the focus ring until the second is in focus and mark that position. So how to mark it on a normal lens?

Canon 24-105 EF lens

We can see it from the numerical value on the lens. We are moving the focus from 3 meters to 5 meters (on this lens in the image) and we need to refer to the accuracy value on the lens when rotating the ring. In addition, the focus can go to infinity. When you reach the infinity mark, you can continue spinning the ring. Although using the following focus setting can control the focus more accurately, there will still be errors in actual operation.

For cine lenses, the distance at the start and end of the focus ring is set. The range of movement of the object is more precise and the focusing operation is easier. Even if the focus is not followed, the markings on the lens can accurately help us focus

Canon Cinema 35mm T1.5

Lens Focus

Speaking of focus, there is a flaw in lens optics called "breathing." This is when the lens is focused and the image appears to zoom in or out. Ordinary lenses have retained this characteristic because they are positioned for flat photos. However, cine lenses are designed to minimize or even eliminate the breathing effect.

Aperture Control

The aperture is controlled by a ring on the cine lens. Cine lenses make it easier to control your exposure as your shot moves from one place to another, allowing for more precise exposure, whereas it's difficult to do this with regular lenses.

Lens Zoom

Cinema zoom lenses are often quite expensive. When they are enlarged or reduced, they do not change their physical size (objects do not deform). This is very important, especially when shooting with a camera, where even slight changes in focus will need to be rebalanced if the scaling affects the computational magnitude of the camera. For normal lenses, if you need to zoom them while recording, they don't have smooth zoom transitions. The graphics look crazy most of the time.

Color, Contrast, and Sharpness

While there may be variations in color and contrast among lenses from different manufacturers, most of the time a brand of cine lenses will be used throughout a production collection Consistent color and contrast, not to mention sharpness, is what every brand is looking for.

Chromatic aberration

This is an optical flaw in lens design. After all, human eyes and lenses are different, which is why cinema lenses are designed to minimize or completely eliminate these problems.

Bokeh and Halo

Cinema lenses have beautiful bokeh and halo effects. When we shoot against the light, the lens halo and shallow depth of field combine to form a beautiful picture

Pseudo movie and real movie lens

I want to know why there are 100,000 movie lenses The difference between 1 million and 1 million? Although many pseudo-cinema lenses and real cinema lenses are made based on the properties of glass, coatings and other glass optical technologies. They also have the qualities that cine lenses possess, including physical aperture control, smooth zoom, hard-stop focus rings, minimized breathing, and more. However, they are still different. Pseudo-cinematic shots can look pretty good in most situations if you don't focus and zoom. But once the lens is imaged in darkness or complex light conditions, the problems will be exposed. But for low-budget or independent films, pseudo-cinema lenses are a really good choice.