Professional camera technique: changing a culture of over zooming

[Todd Terry]

[todd mcmullen] “…while we are not zooming during shots we are certainly able to re-frame…”

And that’s the key. Nothing wrong with a zoom lens, as long as you don’t zoom during a shot (unless really needed).

I love primes and that’s almost all I shoot with… but if I had an Arri Alexa like Todd M I’d probably shoot with zooms, too.

Also keep in mind that with glass you tend to get hat you pay for… and those Optimo zooms are more than $20K apiece, and you’d probably want two of them in order to be prepared for most situations/focal lengths.

T2

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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Alan Lloyd]

[Todd Terry] “An amateurish zoom-happy shooter might likely start with a closeup of the door, then zoom out to show the whole building. That usually looks cheap and unnatural, more like bad news footage or someone’s home movie. The same shooter with the same camera and same zoom lens might instead choose to shoot a closeup of the door (not zooming), and cut to a wide shot of the building. Much more filmic, natural, and professional. All with the zoom lens.”

And a shooter who’d also edited would likely include at least some small angle change as part of that cut.