Canon Lens Reccomendations

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Canon Lens Reccomendations

Hi Everyone, hope you are okay, I have a few questions regarding recording equipment that someone might be able to help with. 

 

I have been working on my course for a while now, I have all the written content produced and am looking to start filming in the new few weeks. Most of the course will be filmed with screen grab and capture but I am looking to advice as to audio and video. 

 

Video

I am planning on filming myself as a headshot from my desk and that will be included when I am talking directly to the camera. The space is not that great so I will be fairly close. I already have a canon 70d camera but am looking for reccomendations as what lens to use. Thesse are the two I have consideres but what do you reccomend?  

  • Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens
  • Canon EF 17-40mm

Audio

For the audio I am planning on using a lavier mic, do you have any reccomendations as to what to use? I planned on using a lavier mic as I thought that was easier and students wouldnt see it as much as If I had a blue yeti ect. What are you guys thoughts on this? 

 

I already have a zoom audio recorder that I can hook it up to and I dont mind spending a bit to get a good mic.

 

Thanks for your help 

5 Replies
GregReverdiau
Community Champion Community Champion
Community Champion

Matt, 

Here my recommendations based on experience with several types of camera and mics: 

 

Video: Keep in mind that a very wide angle lens is going to distort your facial features (small nose, large ears) so I would get a longer lens rather than a smaller one. I owned the 17-40mm years ago and it's a beautiful lens so I would go for that. I don't know what kind of crop factor the 70D has but I'm assuming it's an APC sensor so somewhere around 1.6x, in which case I would try to set up the zoom so it's pretty between 35 and 50mm (35mm equivalent), which in this case would be around 20-30mm with that lens. This will give you a fairly natural look in your videos. This also means you may have to move the camera a little further away. 

 

Audio: Since you have an external recorder (I use the Zoom H4N), I would recommend you get a boom mic instead of a lav mic, especially if you have the budget. I use the Sennheiser MKE600 and I absolutely love it! (The Rode NTG2 is also a great mic). Not cheap but it made a day/night difference in my recordings from a lav mic (I still like the lav mic for other application though). You can set it about 15-20" away from you, above you, and pointing towards your chest for best results (use a mic stand). If you have an H4N, I set my sensitivity to 30 and it gives me a nice -12dB average recording which requires very little editing. 

 

Best of luck with your setup, 

- Greg

Greg Reverdiau - Airplane and Drone Training

I'd back Greg's lens choice. I use a 24mm lens on my Canon SL1 (100D). I stand during my lectures, so this allows for enough headroom, while keeping my tabletop in view. The camera sits 60 inches from me.Screen Shot 2019-03-08 at 9.38.54 AM.png

I would use the 17-40 st f4. Try  to setup to work as close to 40mm as you

This is designed for video work and is the most versatile of the STM lenses, and will also give you great flexibility in future: 

 

Canon EFS 18-135mm STM Lens

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-EF-S-18-135-3-5-5-6-Black/dp/B0089SWZ3U/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=canon+stm...

I always like prime lenses like 50mm f/1.8. Main reason for that is the quality of the picture is always better than zoom lenses. I’ve used a 60mm macro lens for my first course on Udemy and I’m pretty happy with that. The second reason is that I don’t have a prompter but I’m reading from my laptop and the further you look at is better. If you’re so close to the screen you are reading from, it disturbs the audience because you can’t make eye contact.  

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Audio and video solutions
Figure out how to create the best audio and visual set-up for your price point and skill level. This is a great place to chat about different mics, green screens, video editing software, and more.
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