best lenses for dark and small room footage - canon 7d

ghostwriter · July 6, 2010

Ok guys, here is the deal.

It's kind of funny to say that, but I wanna shoot porn.

I just bought a canon 7d with a canon 50mm 1.8 lenses. I just found that this lens is not

enough for my purposes. I did some tests, and they look too close on the subject.

I wanna shoot in a dark room, aproximate 3 meters x 5 meters, or 9.8 x 16.4 feet (im not sure if the feet conversion is correct)

The light is really bad but I plan to put something better there.

I wanna shoot 2 styles of porn. One is a high quality low-light amateur (no cuts) and the other one (which I will train to do so) is trying

to use boudoir / glamour photography lighting style, like those expensive erotic movies. like these pics here (there is no nudity on the links):

http://s3.hubimg.com/u/309574_f520.jpg and http://www.kevinthom.com/assets/sensual-glamour-and-boudoir-photography.jpg

I plan to direct and shoot myself some of the scenes, but I also need something that I could easily put on a tripod and let it record by itself (no camera operator) like those amateur movies, since I will be the actor and I will have no camera man. Sometimes a friend (who doesn't know

manual shooting) will also be recording.

So based on what I have said, what lens do you recommend for me? something sharp, fast, and easy to focus?

Chris Burke · July 6, 2010

try a canon 17 to 24 L series zoom. You can always rent good lenses as well. I think a Canon 14mm is the widest you'll get from them. Any of there L series lenses should be fine.

Saul Rodgar · July 6, 2010

Hmm, first thing you should change your screen name to your real name as per forum rules. Being how you are wanting to shoot porn and may be a woman, I can see why you wouldn't want to do that, but those are the forum rules.

Nothing wrong with shooting porn tho. There are a few anti-porn crusaders out there, but, hey! consenting adults will do what they will and I for one want to keep the government and religious zealots out of the privacy of their (consenting) adult bedrooms and production rooms. :ph34r:

Second thing, you are asking for trouble in a number of fronts. You will likely need to rent lenses that are wider and faster than what you have now: not cheap and depending what you get (the really bright and wide PL mount cine lenses), you will need to permanently modify your camera, also not cheap. Then, if you shoot on the 7D in low light (T1.4 or T1.8 on fast and heavy lenses) with only one person (sometimes), your focus and image stability will be crap. Your footage will be unusable, most likely. For what you describe, I would use a 1/3" chip tiny video camera. There is a reason why 99.9% of porn (POV and otherwise) is currently shot on those types of cameras). You can still light it the way you want, but your depth of field will be greater and much more forgivable, while the camera's lightweight and small size will help with stability problems. With a one person crew, who is also "acting," you can't have it both ways.

You could get a still photography 10-20mm zoom, but they are not fast (around f3.5/5.6) and crank the ASA to 6400 or or as high as the camera will go, and stop the lens down to get as much depth of field as possible. That may work for you, but your picture will be noisier than if you used fast lenses wide open of course, but much of your focus troubles will be minimized. But since the camera will be moving all over the place, with varying degrees of focus distance, it will not be perfect. I'd stick to a 1/3" auto-focus hand-held camera for what you are describing. ;)

Or use both, get the beauty pre-sex stuff on the Canon and when the action begins, pull out the smaller POV cam, that way you can have it both ways. Have fun!!

Edited July 6, 2010 by Saul Rodgar

ghostwriter · July 6, 2010

if any moderador sees this please send me an email. I just can't change my nickname to my real name.........

can you give examples of 1/3" chip tiny video cameras?

is it impossible to get the boudoir/glamour style stills into the video? or you mean that I need

those cine lenses for that? I guess like the cine zeiss (4000 dolars?) the thing is, I don't wanna have the same

look as anyone else, I wanna try do some kind of artsy porn. Or you are saying that because of having no camera man?

some videos that I like the style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK8Oz8FU6h0

I could be using pov (if you mean the camera on my hand) but I was also thiking about putting the camera fixed on a tripod

I'm willing to spend around 1000-1500 for now just to start, and increase quality as I earn money (reinvest). I don't wanna

change my camera now, I'm still buying basic stuff like CF cards, tripod, bag ,etc.

sorry if I'm asking stupid questions, I'm a beginner

Saul Rodgar · July 7, 2010

Bigger sensor cameras like the 7D, generally require focus pulling for low light filming. Smaller sensor cameras are far more forgiving to that, as the smaller the sensor, the more depth of field it has so the focus is not as critical.

Nothing wrong with wanting your footage to look with shallow depth of field. Thing is, such productions usually require someone to be in charge of keeping the focus sharp consistently, a full time job.

For a porn shoot that has one person holding the camera while making out with someone else, that person simply cannot be focused enough to be pulling focus consistently, so the footage is likely to be out of focus throughout, and therefore unusable.

So, I would shoot all of the material either with a smaller sensor camera (there are hundreds of models out there, but an example is below) or use the 7D for the material that you can control the focus on (non-sex) and the sex scenes with a camera with autofocus and smaller sensor so that you get the best of both cameras.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Handycam-HDR-XR150E-Definition-widescreen/dp/B003C2ESQ0

Rent any camera (preferably the 7D), if you haven't bought the 7D already, and try to shoot while making out, recreating what you want to accomplish for the porn movie, but as a test. When you are editing later, you'll see what I am talking about. It is not so easy as it looks. Try looking for honest making-of-porn movies (there is a few online) and you'll see even low budget porn generally involves more people than just the talent holding the camera to make it happen successfully.

ghostwriter · July 7, 2010

Bigger sensor cameras like the 7D, generally require focus pulling for low light filming. Smaller sensor cameras are far more forgiving to that, as the smaller the sensor, the more depth of field it has so the focus is not as critical.

Nothing wrong with wanting your footage to look with shallow depth of field. Thing is, such productions usually require someone to be in charge of keeping the focus sharp consistently, a full time job.

For a porn shoot that has one person holding the camera while making out with someone else, that person simply cannot be focused enough to be pulling focus consistently, so the footage is likely to be out of focus throughout, and therefore unusable.

So, I would shoot all of the material either with a smaller sensor camera (there are hundreds of models out there, but an example is below) or use the 7D for the material that you can control the focus on (non-sex) and the sex scenes with a camera with autofocus and smaller sensor so that you get the best of both cameras.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Handycam-HDR-XR150E-Definition-widescreen/dp/B003C2ESQ0

Rent any camera (preferably the 7D), if you haven't bought the 7D already, and try to shoot while making out, recreating what you want to accomplish for the porn movie, but as a test. When you are editing later, you'll see what I am talking about. It is not so easy as it looks. Try looking for honest making-of-porn movies (there is a few online) and you'll see even low budget porn generally involves more people than just the talent holding the camera to make it happen successfully.

Actually I already bought it :( . the good thing I can still do non sex scenes, or hire someone in the future.

what about putting the 7d on a tripod and letting it record it? is it still going to have this focus problem? maybe adding

some soft light

what is the best small sensor camcoder you suggest? . can I replace the lens and get a similar quality? maybe something aroud 1000? or 1000 used on ebay

1000, I can use both cameras too

Fred Neilsen · July 7, 2010

Actually I already bought it :( . the good thing I can still do non sex scenes, or hire someone in the future.

what about putting the 7d on a tripod and letting it record it? is it still going to have this focus problem? maybe adding

some soft light

what is the best small sensor camcoder you suggest? . can I replace the lens and get a similar quality? maybe something aroud 1000? or 1000 used on ebay

1000, I can use both cameras too

Yes, an almost Vista Vision sized sensor with a lens wide open isn't always that fun to focus, you should still try and shoot this video with a 7D, after all, what your looking for is a point of difference and yours is production value. Although these cameras inherently produce a shallow depth of field, they are also quite easy to focus, after all, I'm sure there are still photographers who have shot wide open, on a 300mm lens (albeit they have AF and an optical View Finder)... There are a couple of measures that you can take to make it easier for yourself,

Shoot wide angle (check, you will be shooting on something wider than 25mm, you may want to correct it for distortion though (though I personaly like it)
Aim to shoot at around 5.6 or at 1 or more stops smaller than the widest setting (eg: 1.4 is wide open, so shoot at 2.8 ect)
Avoid dolly or handheld shots, unless they are well rehearsed and quite simple/repeatable
{*}You may find it helps to purchase the LCD to Digital viewfindere accessory, which allows you to transform your camera's screen into a nice viewfinder (as your optical doesn't work in video mode)

As far as lenses go, both nikon and canon make some perfectly good primes which you can rent quite cheaply, though you probably know someone who owns one, albeit there not perfect for "proper" productions but they are great mounted on an HDSLR, If you realy want to use Cine lenses, you can rent a PL converted 7D (or have yours done, though it's expensive) and a lens quite cheaply.

Fred

ghostwriter · July 7, 2010

Yes, an almost Vista Vision sized sensor with a lens wide open isn't always that fun to focus, you should still try and shoot this video with a 7D, after all, what your looking for is a point of difference and yours is production value. Although these cameras inherently produce a shallow depth of field, they are also quite easy to focus, after all, I'm sure there are still photographers who have shot wide open, on a 300mm lens (albeit they have AF and an optical View Finder)... There are a couple of measures that you can take to make it easier for yourself,

Shoot wide angle (check, you will be shooting on something wider than 25mm, you may want to correct it for distortion though (though I personaly like it)

Aim to shoot at around 5.6 or at 1 or more stops smaller than the widest setting (eg: 1.4 is wide open, so shoot at 2.8 ect)

Avoid dolly or handheld shots, unless they are well rehearsed and quite simple/repeatable
{*}You may find it helps to purchase the LCD to Digital viewfindere accessory, which allows you to transform your camera's screen into a nice viewfinder (as your optical doesn't work in video mode)

As far as lenses go, both nikon and canon make some perfectly good primes which you can rent quite cheaply, though you probably know someone who owns one, albeit there not perfect for "proper" productions but they are great mounted on an HDSLR, If you realy want to use Cine lenses, you can rent a PL converted 7D (or have yours done, though it's expensive) and a lens quite cheaply.

Fred

thanks Fred, but any especific recommendation?

Fred Neilsen · July 8, 2010

thanks Fred, but any especific recommendation?

I'm not very up to date with still photography lenses, but I can point you in the right direction, your probably looking for something....

Fast (because of the low light) something around f2.8 or faster would suit low light shooting.
Wide (because of the small room) preferably something less than 25mm
Cheap, well who doesn't like low cost...

Anyway, based on this, you will probably be choosing a Prime, not a zoom, as primes are generally sharper, can go wider and are faster than zooms. Though sometimes more convenient zooms will give you less bang for your buck. A quick google search will give you plenty of local photography rental houses, where you can get a good deal on a prime lens (ask them for a specific lens choice based on your criteria), with a filter or two. Some of the larger rental houses even stock cine accessories like follow focuses and handheld rigs optimized for DSLRs.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Frederik Nielssen

ghostwriter · July 8, 2010

I'm not very up to date with still photography lenses, but I can point you in the right direction, your probably looking for something....

Fast (because of the low light) something around f2.8 or faster would suit low light shooting.

Wide (because of the small room) preferably something less than 25mm

Cheap, well who doesn't like low cost...

Anyway, based on this, you will probably be choosing a Prime, not a zoom, as primes are generally sharper, can go wider and are faster than zooms. Though sometimes more convenient zooms will give you less bang for your buck. A quick google search will give you plenty of local photography rental houses, where you can get a good deal on a prime lens (ask them for a specific lens choice based on your criteria), with a filter or two. Some of the larger rental houses even stock cine accessories like follow focuses and handheld rigs optimized for DSLRs.