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This week on DSLR Film School. Are primes better than zooms for video? Let's find out.
Welcome to DSLR Film School, your one stop shop for all things filmmaking. I'm your host,
Zain Chagany. Let's talk lenses. I've always heard that primes are infinitely better than
zooms because they're sharper. So today I decided I'd put a few lenses to the test.
Before we get into that, I want to explain why primes are usually sharper than zooms.
Now you'll notice I said usually and that is because not all primes will be sharper
than zooms. But why are primes usually sharper? Primes have less optical elements which not
only makes them easier to design than zooms often resulting in lower price points, the
lower number of optical elements will usually result in a sharper image, less distortion
and less chance of chromatic abberations. Now I say usually because there will always
be zoom lenses that are just as sharp as some primes, but those zooms usually cost significantly
more because they use more optical elements and because the lens manufacturer had to spend
much more time designing a lens that is so sharp. Take the Canon 24-70mm f2.8L lens for
instance. If I were to compare that lens at 50mm to the Canon nifty fifty, I guarantee
the 24-70mm will be just as sharp if not more so, but the 24-70 will also cost nineteen
hundred dollars more. For this test I wanted to use lenses that would be a bit more accessible
to those who may not have a lot to spend on lenses so today I'm going to be pitting the
nifty fifty Canon 50mm f/1.8 against the Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-f/5.6.
The nifty fifty, fantastic plastic, whatever you may want to call it is an excellent lens for the price and is
a lens that I recommend to anyone who is just starting out with a DSLR. It retails for around
$80-$100 new on amazon and is a low light beast. The Canon 28-135mm is in my opinion
the best kit lens Canon has ever provided with any DSLR. It's the lens that came with
my Canon 7D back when I bought it several years ago and is now the lens that sits on
my desk. It retails for about $450 new which is too much in my opinion which probably explains
why the lens costs nearly half that used on Amazon. It's made of plastic just like the
nifty fifty but feels much more rugged. I wanted to make sure I put both of these lenses
on an even playing field, so I tried to match all the settings as best I could. Because
the 28-135 had a variable aperture I had to set the aperture at f/5.6 when shooting at
50mm. So let's take a look at the test footage. This first shot comes from the Canon 28-135mm
lens, shot with a 50mm focal length at f/5.6, ISO 100, using the faithful picture style.
The footage seems sharp enough, but let's see how it stands up to the nifty fifty. This
next shot comes from the Canon 50mm shot at f/5.6 ISO 100 with the faithful picture style.
The image that the nifty fifty delivers is definitely more pleasing to my eyes. There's
more contrast while the Canon 28-135 footage seems a bit dull. In terms of sharpness, both
lenses seem to be pretty similar at f/5.6, with the nifty fifty being a tad sharper.
If we zoom into both clips at around 500% we can see just how much sharper the nifty
fifty is. The nifty fifty also seems to retain more detail in the leaf. So in this case,
the prime is sharper than the zoom. Again this may not always be the case, but when
you're looking at lenses in this kind of price range you'll find the primes to be sharper
than the zooms. Ultimately they're two different tools for two different uses, but if you're
only looking for image quality and not for the conveniences that zooms offer, I'd recommend
a prime. Links to both of the lenses used in this test will be listed in the description.
Now I've got a question for you guys. What lenses are you guys rocking on your cameras?
Leave a comment down below! Personally I've been using Zeiss ZE primes because they're
tack sharp. If you liked this video give it a thumbs up! Subscribe if you want to see
a new video from me in your subscription box every monday, But that's all I've got to say
for today, thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you next time.