Budget Shooting: Still Prime or Cine Prime?

I am in the market for new glass. I shoot both still photography and video, so naturally I wondered if I really need dedicated lenses for both. I shoot Canon.

Convention says yes. Although DSLRs are popular for video production, they have their limitations. Thankfully, someone else had the same question and decided to do a side-by-side comparison.

Canon CN-E Prime Lenses - Non-scientific Comparison - Magnanimous Media from Magnanimous Media on Vimeo.

My verdict? For my purposes right now, there is little difference. I kinda like the look of the EF lenses. The EFs shoot a little warm, but I like shooting warm. Warm shooting is part of my shooting style. I also feel your target audience will not notice the difference if your story is engaging. The CN-E primes do have a larger color range, which could be useful in some low-light situations.

For the price tag, I am sticking with EF lenses until I am shooting a project that needs what the CN-E lenses can provide. Then, maybe I can just rent them from borrowlenses.com!

Happy Filmmaking!

More Images from LAFF

I never did mention the movies I saw. I am a working girl, so many of the films I wanted to see previewed on the weekends. I saw:

Zero Bridge-touching tale about a pickpocket teenage orphan in Kashmir.

I Sell the Dead-very quirky, but fun.

Wah Do Dem-which won the narrative award, by the way! White boy lost in Jamaica. What's not to love about that?

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia-just like it sounds. Produced by Johnny Knoxville.

Not a large list, but I missed quite a few I intended to see. My boyfriend volunteered at the festival so my tickets were gratis! It was at this same festival that he decided he wanted to produce some projects I'm working on. In LA for less than two months and he already caught the filmmaking bug!

Us in the Filmmaker's Lounge.

More photos. Excuse my Blackberry camera:


Tap dancing king of West Virginia.

Happy Filmmaking!

Photos from LAFF

Didn't think I was going to cover the festival, right? Well, enjoy my attempt to take decent pictures with my camera phone.

Westwood CA, USA

Map of the festival.

The Zone Perfect Lounge: where the cool kids hang out.

This was an exhibit where patrons added on the paintings. The results are...interesting. I'm attempting to "fix" a painting.

I added the water, the hill, and the city. I tried.

More photos later! Happy Filmmaking!