Gear Up Yourself: Selecting Prime Lenses for Successful Vlogging

A Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

0

The staple of any vlog is the talking headshot, a shot of the speaker talking directly to the audience. You can compose this shot with different kinds of lenses for your interchangeable lens camera.

But which kind of lens is the right lens for you as a vlogger?

In this article, I’m going to help you figure that out.

• Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
• Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
• Part 3: Crop Factor
• Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
• Part 5: Aperture
• Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
• Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto

There are three main ranges in focal lengths that camera lenses can be categorized into wide, standard, and telephoto.

Wide-Angle Lens

Wide-angle lenses can “see more.” They allow more of your scene to fit inside your frame. Objects that are closer to the lens appear much bigger while objects that are further away appear even smaller. Perspectives are also enhanced, making close objects and people that just make it into the sides of the frame appear more stretched out. Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, wide-angle lenses will appear the least zoomed in.

Standard Lens

With standard lenses or normal lenses, you won’t get the stretched out objects or enhanced perspectives that you get from wide-angle lenses. Instead, standard lenses are meant to see scenes as the natural human eye is meant to see them. If you shoot a scene with both a wide-angle lens and a standard lens from the same position, you’ll notice that less of the scene fits into your frame. Standard lenses will appear more zoomed-in than wide-angle lenses, but less zoomed-in than telephoto lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Out of all the other ranges in focal lengths, telephoto lenses will appear the most zoomed in. This can be beneficial for the shooter who wants to get a closer shot of a scene without having to physically be in close proximity to the scene. Objects that are further away in the background also appear larger and closer than they would appear on wide-angle or standard lenses.

Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group

You can get your talking head footage using lenses from any of the three focal length groups. Depending on how you plan to vlog most of the time, though, one of the three focal lengths might be more suitable for you.

When to vlog with a wide-angle lens

Wide-angle lenses are the most commonly used lenses for vlogging. Wide-angle lenses are great when you need to be close to your camera. This might be the case for you if your recording space is small or if you want to film yourself as you hold your camera up with your own hand.

Being close to your camera not only gives you the option to use your camera’s built-in microphone, but it also gives you the option to make use of camera-mounted shotgun microphones.

When to vlog with a standard lens

Standard lenses are great when you have more space to be further away from your camera. The perspectives in your shot will look more natural through a standard lens, making your talking head footage feel more corporate or professional. You’ll also be able to get blurrier backgrounds using a standard lens versus a wide-angle lens.

Being further away from your camera, however, means that you’ll have to use a separate microphone positioned closer to you.

When to vlog with a telephoto lens

As telephoto lenses are even more zoomed in, you’ll need to be even further away from your camera to fit yourself inside your camera frame. Why would any vlogger ever need to be that far away from their camera? One word… teleprompter. If you want or need to stick to a script, you’ll have to be far away enough from your camera that it doesn’t appear like your eyes are scanning left to right. You then close in the distance with a telephoto lens.

In the above video, Marcos Rocha compares different focal lengths for talking head videos. Which focal length range do you like the look of?

Crop Factor

Focal lengths in camera lenses are measured in millimeters. You can vlog yourself handheld with a 24mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor (the sensor is the piece of hardware inside your camera that turns the light it receives into a digital image). But if you use a 24mm lens on a camera with a smaller sensor, like an APS-C sensor or even smaller Micro 4/3 sensor, more of you will get cropped out (see below).

In order to make up for the cropping that occurs, you will need to use a wider lens on cameras with smaller sensors to get the same shot you’d get with a full-frame camera.

Focal Length Equivalency Table

This table shows you the focal lengths needed to achieve the same shot between cameras with different sensor sizes. In order to take a shot as wide as the shot I took of myself with the 24mm lens on my full-frame camera, I would need a 15mm lens on an APS-C sensor camera or a 12mm lens on a micro 4/3 camera.

Focal Length / Sensor	Full Frame	APS-C	Micro 4/3
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	16mm	10mm	8mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	18mm	11mm	9mm
Wide (Handheld Selfie-Safe)	24mm	15mm	12mm
Wide	35mm	22mm	18mm
Standard	50mm	31mm	25mm
Telephoto	70mm	44mm	35mm
Telephoto	100mm	63mm	50mm
Telephoto	200mm	125mm	100mm

Aperture

The next thing to consider when you’re looking for a lens is the aperture, the hole (often adjustable) within the lens that lets light in. Aperture for camera lenses is measured in f-stops (f/1.4, f/1.8, f/2.0) - the smaller the f-stop number, the larger the aperture (bigger hole letting even more light in).

Because larger aperture lenses let more light in, they need a shorter time for cameras to compose an image. This is why larger aperture lenses are also called “fast” lenses.

Fast lenses are more expensive because they cost more to produce. There’s a lot more that goes into them, including larger and higher quality glass elements.

But do you even need a fast lens?

Vlogging With a Fast Lens

Pros of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• Better low-light performance
• Better autofocus performance
• Better “bokeh” (out-of-focus areas, like your background, having that nice blurry look that you see in a lot of movies)

Cons of Vlogging With a Fast Lens

• More expensive
• Moving subjects more likely to get out of focus when shooting with a large aperture
• Better continuous autofocus performance needed when shooting moving subjects with a large aperture

Optical Image Stabilization

Finally, you’ll have to decide whether or not you want your lens to have built-in optical image stabilization (OIS).

OIS is very beneficial to have on a lens if you’re a vlogger who films mostly handheld footage. Although this technology adds to the price of your lens as well, it can greatly help you to capture smoother footage that may otherwise be shaky. Nikon calls this technology “Vibration Reduction” (VR) for their lenses.

In the above video, you can see how much OIS can help to stabilize your footage. MicBergsma simultaneously compares the footage between two GoPro Hero5 Blacks, one with OIS on and one with OIS off.

If, however, you are shooting most of your vlogs on a tripod, you won’t need a lens with OIS.

Looking for ways to set up your talking-head shot for YouTube with any of these lenses? Check out our post on 4 Ways To Set Up Your Talking-Head Shots For YouTube .

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Most Popular Free Photography and Film Archives

Top 10 Free Stock Footage Websites You Should Know

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Of course, it is important to make sure that you find a wide range of copyright-free video footage to compile a great video. This is why we made a list of the 10 best places to get free stock footage.

1. Dissolve

Dissolve offers one high-quality HD clip for free every single month. Furthermore, you can access their comprehensive library with more than 1 million stock videos for both commercial and personal projects. If you show them where you use the clips, you could receive a $500 gift certificate. It’s worth taking a look into as the website has a lot to offer.

2. Mazwai

Mazwai is an aggregator of some of the best free stock footage on the internet. It boasts a wide range of mini-films that are available for immediate download on the public domain. You can download them without even giving away your email address, which is particularly convenient. There are HD video clips and other footage all available under the CC3.0 Attribution License.

3. Videohive

Videohive is a great resource created by the same people behind the Envato market. It offers free monthly clips as well as a wide range of different creative assets. You can get royalty-free videos as well as templates created by professionals from around the world. The database currently stands at about 320,000 effects and stock footage videos, but it keeps growing by the minute.

4. Distill

Distill provides you with ten free HD videos every ten days. When you break it down, you get one piece of free stock footage a day which is quite convenient. It was created by people with tremendous creativity, and it is intended for other creative types. It is perfect for personal as well as commercial and professional uses.

5. Coverr

Coverr offers seven free stock footage clips every week. You can use these for whatever you want to. Furthermore, it is a project created with Coders Clan which is rather reputable in the field. The website offers a lot of tech clips as well as subjects like travel and leisure. They also take requests.

6. Benchfront B-Roll

Beachfront B-Roll offers an abundance of free clips from a wide range of different categories. They also have a lot of animated backgrounds that are designated for production purposes as well as unique HD stock videos. All of the clips in the library are free. All you need to do is perform a quick “right-click save” and you’re good to go.

7. Free Footage

This is another website that offers particularly high-quality HD footage from filmmakers who are based in the UK. They use the platform as a means of distributing and sharing their passion. It is broken up in different categories, and you can use everything that you like free of charge.

8. Pexels Videos

Pexels Videos boasts an abundance of free stock footage, this website is worth taking a look at. One of the best things about it is there is no official need for attribution so you can download at will. All of the videos are licensed under the CC0 license. You can edit, change, and download them for personal and commercial purposes without any issues at all.

9. Videezy

At Videezy you’ll find a community as well as a database of free stock footage. You can discuss your video plans with the community and get help with better designs and videos. All of the videos which are found on the website are free of royalties and can be used for whatever you want.

10. Life of Vids

Not only can you find free videos on Life of Vids , but also HD photos. New looping footage is also added every week. You can easily download the files without any copyright restrictions. It’s a reputable website with a lot of choices that you can freely take your pick of.

These are without a doubt the 10 best places that you can go to to get your free stock footage and make a clip that’s worth people’s attention.

Create Stunning Videos with Easy-to-Use Video Editor

Now that you have known where to find free stock footage, it’s time to open a video editing software to edit your royalty-free videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Of course, it is important to make sure that you find a wide range of copyright-free video footage to compile a great video. This is why we made a list of the 10 best places to get free stock footage.

1. Dissolve

Dissolve offers one high-quality HD clip for free every single month. Furthermore, you can access their comprehensive library with more than 1 million stock videos for both commercial and personal projects. If you show them where you use the clips, you could receive a $500 gift certificate. It’s worth taking a look into as the website has a lot to offer.

2. Mazwai

Mazwai is an aggregator of some of the best free stock footage on the internet. It boasts a wide range of mini-films that are available for immediate download on the public domain. You can download them without even giving away your email address, which is particularly convenient. There are HD video clips and other footage all available under the CC3.0 Attribution License.

3. Videohive

Videohive is a great resource created by the same people behind the Envato market. It offers free monthly clips as well as a wide range of different creative assets. You can get royalty-free videos as well as templates created by professionals from around the world. The database currently stands at about 320,000 effects and stock footage videos, but it keeps growing by the minute.

4. Distill

Distill provides you with ten free HD videos every ten days. When you break it down, you get one piece of free stock footage a day which is quite convenient. It was created by people with tremendous creativity, and it is intended for other creative types. It is perfect for personal as well as commercial and professional uses.

5. Coverr

Coverr offers seven free stock footage clips every week. You can use these for whatever you want to. Furthermore, it is a project created with Coders Clan which is rather reputable in the field. The website offers a lot of tech clips as well as subjects like travel and leisure. They also take requests.

6. Benchfront B-Roll

Beachfront B-Roll offers an abundance of free clips from a wide range of different categories. They also have a lot of animated backgrounds that are designated for production purposes as well as unique HD stock videos. All of the clips in the library are free. All you need to do is perform a quick “right-click save” and you’re good to go.

7. Free Footage

This is another website that offers particularly high-quality HD footage from filmmakers who are based in the UK. They use the platform as a means of distributing and sharing their passion. It is broken up in different categories, and you can use everything that you like free of charge.

8. Pexels Videos

Pexels Videos boasts an abundance of free stock footage, this website is worth taking a look at. One of the best things about it is there is no official need for attribution so you can download at will. All of the videos are licensed under the CC0 license. You can edit, change, and download them for personal and commercial purposes without any issues at all.

9. Videezy

At Videezy you’ll find a community as well as a database of free stock footage. You can discuss your video plans with the community and get help with better designs and videos. All of the videos which are found on the website are free of royalties and can be used for whatever you want.

10. Life of Vids

Not only can you find free videos on Life of Vids , but also HD photos. New looping footage is also added every week. You can easily download the files without any copyright restrictions. It’s a reputable website with a lot of choices that you can freely take your pick of.

These are without a doubt the 10 best places that you can go to to get your free stock footage and make a clip that’s worth people’s attention.

Create Stunning Videos with Easy-to-Use Video Editor

Now that you have known where to find free stock footage, it’s time to open a video editing software to edit your royalty-free videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Of course, it is important to make sure that you find a wide range of copyright-free video footage to compile a great video. This is why we made a list of the 10 best places to get free stock footage.

1. Dissolve

Dissolve offers one high-quality HD clip for free every single month. Furthermore, you can access their comprehensive library with more than 1 million stock videos for both commercial and personal projects. If you show them where you use the clips, you could receive a $500 gift certificate. It’s worth taking a look into as the website has a lot to offer.

2. Mazwai

Mazwai is an aggregator of some of the best free stock footage on the internet. It boasts a wide range of mini-films that are available for immediate download on the public domain. You can download them without even giving away your email address, which is particularly convenient. There are HD video clips and other footage all available under the CC3.0 Attribution License.

3. Videohive

Videohive is a great resource created by the same people behind the Envato market. It offers free monthly clips as well as a wide range of different creative assets. You can get royalty-free videos as well as templates created by professionals from around the world. The database currently stands at about 320,000 effects and stock footage videos, but it keeps growing by the minute.

4. Distill

Distill provides you with ten free HD videos every ten days. When you break it down, you get one piece of free stock footage a day which is quite convenient. It was created by people with tremendous creativity, and it is intended for other creative types. It is perfect for personal as well as commercial and professional uses.

5. Coverr

Coverr offers seven free stock footage clips every week. You can use these for whatever you want to. Furthermore, it is a project created with Coders Clan which is rather reputable in the field. The website offers a lot of tech clips as well as subjects like travel and leisure. They also take requests.

6. Benchfront B-Roll

Beachfront B-Roll offers an abundance of free clips from a wide range of different categories. They also have a lot of animated backgrounds that are designated for production purposes as well as unique HD stock videos. All of the clips in the library are free. All you need to do is perform a quick “right-click save” and you’re good to go.

7. Free Footage

This is another website that offers particularly high-quality HD footage from filmmakers who are based in the UK. They use the platform as a means of distributing and sharing their passion. It is broken up in different categories, and you can use everything that you like free of charge.

8. Pexels Videos

Pexels Videos boasts an abundance of free stock footage, this website is worth taking a look at. One of the best things about it is there is no official need for attribution so you can download at will. All of the videos are licensed under the CC0 license. You can edit, change, and download them for personal and commercial purposes without any issues at all.

9. Videezy

At Videezy you’ll find a community as well as a database of free stock footage. You can discuss your video plans with the community and get help with better designs and videos. All of the videos which are found on the website are free of royalties and can be used for whatever you want.

10. Life of Vids

Not only can you find free videos on Life of Vids , but also HD photos. New looping footage is also added every week. You can easily download the files without any copyright restrictions. It’s a reputable website with a lot of choices that you can freely take your pick of.

These are without a doubt the 10 best places that you can go to to get your free stock footage and make a clip that’s worth people’s attention.

Create Stunning Videos with Easy-to-Use Video Editor

Now that you have known where to find free stock footage, it’s time to open a video editing software to edit your royalty-free videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

Of course, it is important to make sure that you find a wide range of copyright-free video footage to compile a great video. This is why we made a list of the 10 best places to get free stock footage.

1. Dissolve

Dissolve offers one high-quality HD clip for free every single month. Furthermore, you can access their comprehensive library with more than 1 million stock videos for both commercial and personal projects. If you show them where you use the clips, you could receive a $500 gift certificate. It’s worth taking a look into as the website has a lot to offer.

2. Mazwai

Mazwai is an aggregator of some of the best free stock footage on the internet. It boasts a wide range of mini-films that are available for immediate download on the public domain. You can download them without even giving away your email address, which is particularly convenient. There are HD video clips and other footage all available under the CC3.0 Attribution License.

3. Videohive

Videohive is a great resource created by the same people behind the Envato market. It offers free monthly clips as well as a wide range of different creative assets. You can get royalty-free videos as well as templates created by professionals from around the world. The database currently stands at about 320,000 effects and stock footage videos, but it keeps growing by the minute.

4. Distill

Distill provides you with ten free HD videos every ten days. When you break it down, you get one piece of free stock footage a day which is quite convenient. It was created by people with tremendous creativity, and it is intended for other creative types. It is perfect for personal as well as commercial and professional uses.

5. Coverr

Coverr offers seven free stock footage clips every week. You can use these for whatever you want to. Furthermore, it is a project created with Coders Clan which is rather reputable in the field. The website offers a lot of tech clips as well as subjects like travel and leisure. They also take requests.

6. Benchfront B-Roll

Beachfront B-Roll offers an abundance of free clips from a wide range of different categories. They also have a lot of animated backgrounds that are designated for production purposes as well as unique HD stock videos. All of the clips in the library are free. All you need to do is perform a quick “right-click save” and you’re good to go.

7. Free Footage

This is another website that offers particularly high-quality HD footage from filmmakers who are based in the UK. They use the platform as a means of distributing and sharing their passion. It is broken up in different categories, and you can use everything that you like free of charge.

8. Pexels Videos

Pexels Videos boasts an abundance of free stock footage, this website is worth taking a look at. One of the best things about it is there is no official need for attribution so you can download at will. All of the videos are licensed under the CC0 license. You can edit, change, and download them for personal and commercial purposes without any issues at all.

9. Videezy

At Videezy you’ll find a community as well as a database of free stock footage. You can discuss your video plans with the community and get help with better designs and videos. All of the videos which are found on the website are free of royalties and can be used for whatever you want.

10. Life of Vids

Not only can you find free videos on Life of Vids , but also HD photos. New looping footage is also added every week. You can easily download the files without any copyright restrictions. It’s a reputable website with a lot of choices that you can freely take your pick of.

These are without a doubt the 10 best places that you can go to to get your free stock footage and make a clip that’s worth people’s attention.

Create Stunning Videos with Easy-to-Use Video Editor

Now that you have known where to find free stock footage, it’s time to open a video editing software to edit your royalty-free videos.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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