WHY I’M A BIG BELIEVER IN 35MM LENS

Why I’m a big believer in 35mm lens and why it’s one of my favorite.Before we discuss the seemingly magical 35mm focal length, it’s important to recognize why shooting long lens/shallow DOF throughout your film can be the furthest thing from cinematic.Any 35mm sensor/film camera is capable of getting razor thin DOF in just about any circumstance. Every film is different and every DP has their own way of working, but in general most substantial films are shot between f4 – f8 the majority of the time.So what is the right focal length for the rest of the film? Where is the sweet spot? Ultimately that is up to you as the filmmaker,
but for many filmmakers the 35mm lens is the secret ingredient.It’s pretty easy to just slap on a long lens, frame out all the ugliness and make the background blur out and get a pretty decent image. But that’s not always the answer and more often than not it’s the easy way out and won’t yield the best possible results. You can’t cheat your way out of every shot and you especially shouldn’t attempt to shoot long lens out of convenience if your scene doesn’t call for it. By shooting with wider lenses you are forced to take into consideration your lighting, composition, and production design much more thoroughly. And this is a very good thing for a lot of independent filmmakers who often skimp out in these areas. Personally, I would prefer to capture a shot with a wide lens and deep DOF that has beautiful art direction to it and loads of detail, than a long lensed shallow DOF shot where the environment is essentially lost in the bokeh.The bottom line is there are no shortcuts in achieving a filmic look. Following practices that have been used and implemented on films since the early days of cinema is the only way to truly achieve the look you’re after, and one of those practices is making use out of the 35mm or much wider lenses.