This video is going to be a no BS beginners guide to lenses so that way you could learn exactly what you need to know as fast as possible So you could start making videos roll the intro Oh Welcome to the video my name is Kevin Mendoza and on this channel I give my low budget tips tricks and tutorials for making cinematic videos So if you're into that kind of stuff and want to learn more make sure you hit that like button and consider subscribing now Let's talk about lenses. I always get asked hey kev. What's the best lens is this a good lens? What does this lens do? What about this one? What's the difference between this lens and this lens? Why is this one so small? Why are lenses called fast? We're going to go over some lens basics so that way you can make an informed decision of what lens to get In my last episode you learned all about exposure including what an aperture is if you haven't watched that episode You could watch it by clicking the link over here So we know the lenses aperture controls the amount of light that passes through it the way we identify How wide this aperture opens up is by the lenses F number you can find this F number printed on the lens All you have to look for is a decimal number something like 1.4 1.8 2.8 4.5 5.6 and so forth You get the idea these numbers determine how bright you can make an image and how blurry their backgrounds can be Think of these numbers like a scale of brightness and blurriness the lower this F number is something like 1.8 or 2.8 The wider that aperture is going to be and we know from the previous video that a wide aperture means a brighter image and a blur your background As you set that F number higher something like 4.5 5.6 all the way up to 22 The tighter the smaller you're making that aperture and the darker and sharper you're making that image Sometimes you may hear a lens be referred to as fast now How can a lens be fast? It doesn't go anywhere a lens is called fast when it has an aperture that can open up really wide Typically F 2.8 or lower it's referred to as fast because as you make that image brighter by opening up that aperture You can speed up the shutter speed in order to compensate for that overexposure So really a fast lens is called fast because of the faster shutter speed it allows Kev what do all these millimeters mean 85 millimeter 50 millimeter 17 to 50 millimeter 10 millimeter 9 millimeter What is all that those numbers refer to focal length the focal length determines the angle of view and the amount of zoom The smaller the focal length for example this 10 millimeter lens the wider the angle of view and the more zoomed out your image will be So as you can see a lot of the room is in the shot It's a very wide angle and zoomed out image now zooming in just a little from 10 millimeters To 18 millimeters you see a big difference you see a lot less of the room and everything zoomed in a lot more Okay, let's go one more. Let's try this 85 millimeter lens now I have to set this up a little farther away because this shot is going to be hell zoomed in be right back and This is what an 85 millimeter lens looks like the camera is about seven feet away Versus our 10 millimeter lens which is about one foot away So just remember this small focal length large angle of view and very zoomed out Longer focal length very zoomed in tighter angle of view now some lenses have a range of focal length We call those zoom lenses you're able to zoom in and out like this Other lenses have a fixed focal length and these are called prime lenses you cannot zoom with these I know it can be overwhelming with so many lenses out there which one do you choose for you? I mean their fast lenses slow lenses short focal length long focal length zoom lenses and prime lenses How do you know which one to get the easiest way to answer that question is to answer this question? What are you shooting if you know what you're shooting you narrow down your options quite a bit Are you in run and gun situations like a wedding where you have to capture moments as they happen spontaneously a fast zoom lens Could help you in these scenarios because you have the flexibility to choose an appropriate focal length How about if you're filming real estate and you want to show off how big the room is wide angle lenses would probably be a good option for that Field of view or what if you wanted some close-ups to capture detailed textures facial expressions or something might just be too far away A lens with a long focal length would be your best bet what lens you choose is very dependent on Situation context and the story you're trying to tell now If you want to continue learning about camera gear and how to make videos make sure to subscribe by clicking right here to Keep up with this series for beginners if you want to learn some fun and interesting camera hacks check out these two videos Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you guys next time. Peace