The question is, “if you could pick one lens for conducting interviews, what would it be?” It sounds simple enough, but it’s a loaded question.
For example, the differences between a full-frame image sensor (Canon 5DmkII) and a cropped image sensor (Canon 7D) changes the math on everything. A couple other considerations would be, what kind of OTHER things do you expect to be shooting? What kind of environments do you typically find yourself in? Are you using it strictly for HD video, or are you shooting stills, too?
Prime lenses are the undisputed best lenses for interviews. And on a full-frame HDSLR (Canon 5DmkII, etc.) 85mm is the favorite focal length. Our go-to interview lens is the Zeiss Planar f/1.4. But the price point makes it impractical for most people, especially if you’re doing just interviews. And the other blogs may not tell you this, but really fast lenses aren’t going to do you any favors in an interview. A mid-range zoom lens on a single subject can provide great bokeh (background blur) at f/4.0, and your subject won’t drift out of focus if they move around a bit. You can get more creative/artistic and probably go as fast as f/2.8. But if you’re just shooting talking heads, there’s no need to spend all kinds of money on a f/1.4 (or on the coveted f/1.2). The Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 is perfect in this role at $369.00.
But here’s where it gets squirrely … for a cropped DSLR (Canon 7D) 85mm is going to be too tight, so you’d have to go with 50mm for the same effect (unless you have a LOT of room for every shoot). But the good news for 7D owners is that 50mm lenses cost less than 85’s. It seems that the 7D allows you to KEEP saving money! The Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 is $344.00. But again, if it’s JUST interviews, you might want to save the money & get the f/1.8 for $99.00. Photographers would shudder at the comparison of those two lenses, but if you’re on a tight budget, you’re gonna do just fine with the f/1.8.
The problem with that is that if you put your eggs in the basket of a single prime lens, you won’t have any flexibility whatsoever. This is why our Prolifik Films “kit” lenses are the Canon L-series 24-105mm (they’re around a grand). These aren’t particularly fast lenses (f/4.0) but since they’re L-series, they create a beautiful image, and can zoom while keeping a consistent f-stop setting (referred to as “non-ramping”). We especially like the range & the fact that they have an image stabilizer (IS). Evidently, the IS prevents them from being a faster lens without making the thing half again as big. I find that when I dial the contrast down, I get a very similar picture to a mid-range prime lens.
It seems like we shoot this sort of thing just about every day (just watch the first few seconds):
CCC 25th Anniversary | Bill Hybels Greeting from ProlifikFilms on Vimeo.
I used a monopod and the 24-105mm lens at around 80mm, f/4.0 with the IS on. The key light source was a lamp that was sitting in the room that I moved closer to the frame. All of the other ambient/architectural lights were left as I found them.
The lower-cost Canon 28-105mm EF lens ($229.00) changes from f/3.5 (wide) to f/4.5 (tight). But for simple lock-down interviews you could certainly set it up & leave it. So that might be an option for some.
If you’re considering the Canon 7D, the Tamron 28-75mm is a good “middle of the road” option. It’s fast (f/2.8) and non-ramping. On a 7D, the range is equivalent to 45mm to 120mm on a full-frame camera. It’s $460.00, so combined with a 7D that’s probably about the cheapest I’d recommend, for high quality & maximum flexibility. The problem is that the Tamron 28-75mm matched up with a 5DmkII doesn’t give you any zoom at all. 75mm is right around the “this-is-what-it-looks-like-in-real-life” size on a full-frame camera.
This conversation could go on & ON … but the point is that if shooting interviews & “my story” style videos is primarily what you’re looking to do, you’re not looking at an endless buffet of choices. It’s a manageable number of lenses to choose from between $100 and $1,000 dollars. And a high-quality zoom will serve you well even if you have to choose just one.
