lenses

When you shoot with DSLRs, it helps to have a variety of lenses to help you tell your story. Whether it is super wide angle lenses or long telephoto lenses for events, having a variety of lenses will benefit your production value. If you can, shoot with a prime lens. Primes don't have different focal lengths, but in return you will get a better image because optically, a prime lens is better quality. Prime lenses are typically faster than telephoto lenses (they can let in more light).

(Click on the product image for more info on each item)

35mm Prime

This is a great lens to capture the scope of an event. It's wide, but not too wide. Photojournalists all over the world use a 35mm to tell stories. We have the Zeiss below and absolutely love it. Keep in mind, the Zeiss lenses we own are not autofocus, so they aren't ideal for photography.

50mm Prime

The 50mm prime lens is one of the most versatile lenses you can have. It's wide enough to capture full body shots and events, but also just tight enough to get close ups. If you can only have one prime lens (on a full frame camera like a 5D Mark II or III) you won't regret it being a 50mm. We own the Zeiss below, and we shoot Highlands News with it every week. We also own the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and take photos with it a lot.

85mm Prime

This is a great portrait lens. We use this lens mainly for close-ups, especially for interviews. For video, you're going to want to have this on a tripod, as now we're getting too tight to keep things steady. We own the Zeiss below, and it is one of the best looking lenses we own. We use the Canon 85mm for photos and love it.

100mm Macro

We use this as a specialty lens for when we need to get really close shots. It was used exclusively for our Life Story opener. It probably has the greatest image stabilization of any DSLR lens out there.

17-40 Zoom

This lens is great for when you want to shoot pretty wide without any distortion. We use this lens for shooting broll in small spaces and on our steadicam.

24-105 Zoom

This is the closest thing to a standard video lens for DSLRs. It's a great walkaround lens for shooting b-roll, interviews, and everything in between. We call it the Swiss army knife of lenses. It doesn't allow as much light as our primes, but it can be worth it because of its image stabilization, which works perfectly for handheld video shooting, as well as its large diversity in focal length.

70-200 Zoom

This is a superb telephoto lens that is perfect for portraits and close up interviews. If you combine this with a wide lens, you can cover most any event. We own both. The f/2.8 is great for really low light shooting, but it is very heavy and fatiguing. The f/4 looks great and is a lot lighter.