What type of lens would I need for outdoor shots similar to the wide shots in this music video?

Question

I am trying to find out what type of lens I need to get the shot that's in this music video. I am trying to shoot a video and I have a Canon Rebel T6i with the 18-55 kit lens. I want to be able to get the outdoor type shots similar to the ones in the video.

I am definitely looking into a gimbal for steadiness but my question is about the wide-angle shots, like on the beach and in the field where you can see the subject kind of in the middle or to the side but you have a wide view. Is this something that can be done with the camera and 18-55 kit lens? Or do I need a different lens for it?

Answer 1

I assume the horizontal focal length in this video should be around 35-50mm on full-frame. You own a APS-C sensor size camera with a crop factor of 1.5 which means you can achieve this field of view with your lens at approx. 24-35mm. The thing is the "mood" of the clip is not only about the focal length.

• Notice the blur of the background in most of the scenes? The aperture in this video should be around f2-2.8. You can't go that low with your kit lens. Lenses with low aperture are quite expensive but if you really want to achieve a similar look look into the cheap 7artisans and Meike 25mm or 35mm lenses with sub-f2.0 aperture. Those are manual lenses (so no auto focus!) with a fixed focal length (no zoom, you have to go closer or further away) but the optics are not bad considering the price tag. Check out Flickr by simple googling Flickr and the lens name. You will find groups such as this where people will post their pictures and you will get a feeling for the field of view and amount of blur you can achieve as well as sharpness and optical artifacts.

• Notice the oval bokeh? The things that are out of focus appear somewhat distorted/stretched. This is because they are using an anamorphic lens, that's a lens with a different vertical and horizontal focal length (the ratio of the two is given by the squeeze factor) and allows you to film a wider image on a smaller sensor: A wide image is actually squeezed within the lens element so it fits on a sensor with normal aspect ratio (16:9 or so) and when editing it is stretched again. This gives a very wide cinema-like image. You can buy old cheap anamorphic projector lenses and hold them in front of your camera to get similar results but it might be very hard to get a decent focus. You could crop the image to make it look more cinematic and not care about the bokeh or crop it or use something like home-made fake anamorphics that generate anamorphic-like pictures on spherical lenses.

• They film in RAW with a camera with a high dynamic range. If you will film with your camera in bright sunlight it is likely it will be that the contrast will be too high for your camera to capture it in traditional video format. For many Canon cameras there exists an alternative firmware (use at your own risk) Magic Lantern that allows you to film in RAW format. Just check the difference in dynamic range between the two. But I think it is not available for your particular camera model. In the end a skilled colour grading is as essential as a good codec.

• They have decent stabilisation. Most likely something like an electric gimbal but honestly you should easily achieve the same with a cheap glidecam. I bought a Laing P04s for a tad under 200€ some time ago and it is built like a tank and works like a charm. Takes a bit of practice to balance it but the results can be pretty good with most low budget glidecams.

That being said not all is about equipment. There are a lot of extraordinary videos by skilled people made on low budget equipment. Spending that much makes only sense if you do more than only film a clip once.

Answer 2

This will be a bit too long for a comment, but here I go.

You need to be specific, not only for this specific forum but also in your approach to things.

Get one scene, one, and analyze what you are interested in, what made you wonder something that you can not replicate.

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I only took a glimpse, but the truth is that I only saw one image that will be difficult for the lens you have, and it is not on the beach, is on the car, the out of focus background. For that you need a lens with a bigger max aperture, let's say a typical f1.8 lens.

The rest can be done with your lens. Move closer to your subject, move away, zoom in and zoom out.

If you want a wider lens, simply look for something wider than the 18mm you already have. The wider the lens, the less important is the f stop.

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Is this something that can be done with the camera and 18-55 kit lens?

The easiest way to find out is... to find out...

Go outside and film a friend, film a stranger passing by, film a tree. The time you invest in actually filming will be more valuable than anything.

Only after you actually know what your current gear can do, you will know if you need something else.