What lens do I need? expert advice needed :)

HI waffle, I removed you duplicate post just like this and kept the lens question in the lens thread,
Can you help some of us out in what kinda results you are getting ?
Also what differences between the video and yours are you noticing?

It's really hard to know what issues you are having, but I don't believe the lens is the primary issue.
What makes a good video lens.... Quality glass, usually meaning something pretty sharp, well built and rugged so it survives continuous use. A pro grade lens is ideal but not a must. Also a fast lens that allows plenty of light is a great idea, if you can get 1.8 or 2.8 for shots when you want shallow depth of field its very handy.
***Getting that above in a zoom lens allows you to have some freedom to crop the scene as you like between different shots and angles.

The perfect lens for video otherwise doesn't exist. It mostly preference. In the video above it was probably shot at 5.6 on a lens close to 100mmm but there are lots camera formats that could have been used so its hard to saw what they had.

 

its refocusing on

Focus is based n the focus point, and if its tracking your hand it will refocus. How much is in focus is the aperture, if you have it f2.8 you are very shallow DOF if you stop down you'll have more Depth Of Field, and it will not be an issue. Also you can switch focus to manual, dial it in and then it wont track movement and keep changing.

If you have the lens so close it is in macro mode you probably will have almost no window for it to not change and get blurry if its constantly tracking movent. You may want to move the camera further back and show more of the building.

Long Term, You may need a few lenses depending on what kinda closeness you need. for different shots, that or a good zoom.

 

try a manually focused video and step back 2 feet tell me if you have same issue. The focusing would happen with any lens if your too close.

 

ijust realized you posted this, i didnt expect 2 posts back to back. Yes it shouldn't be the lens itself as you can see i asked exactly what you tried. 1/10 is a very very slow shutter, you can raise the ISO can you not? also had LED lighting lia a light pannel will give you more freedom with f stops and shutter.

You can tel in that video he had bright strobe or LED panel lighting of some sort, see the light fall off behind the lego sets?

 

If they mentioned the nifty 50mm 1.8 i wholehearted disagree, its a fine lens but generally soft wide open which you would not be shooting it wide open for video.

Now do i think a 50mm could help, yes wider lens will help, in fact I think having a range of lens lengths would be good for video. The only thing your really going to gain is some perspective differences by changing lenses. That and if a lens is a bit sharper or softer you may notice that ever so slight difference as well between lenses.

Regarding the going soft, assuming you stopped it from tracking the focus change as you add pieces. The issue you are having with foreground and background softness is depth of field (DOF) and that is simply a math equation between lens length distance to subject and the aperture. It does not matter what lens you have you still have to control do have a close screen with a wide range of focus you need a large DOF .... I will over exaggerate here, a portrait shot at f1.8 will have the ears going soft where the nose is sharp because it has INCHES of a DOF, its a very narrow window. where as a landscape image shot at f16 will have yards of in focus. When you see Ansel Adams famous photos those were shot at f64 on a large format camera.

How does this apply to your video? If you have something setup on the table and you are a few feet away .... without taking exact measurements I would expect regardless of my lens to live in the 5.6-8 f stop range that would get me some decent depth of feild so the object being built is generally in focus without going so far down that you have zero usable light. (each stop will take 2 times as much light as the one before 4 -> 5.6 -> 8 ->11 etc)

Your issue is a lighting issue and a settings issue much more than a lens issue. Why did they suggest a 50mm?? Its a bit wider perspective if you in the same spot as your 100mm, but you can step back and get the same view if you have the room to "zoom with your feet". The 50mm is brighter and wider in aperture wide open, but i would expect you will not be happy with it at 1.8 or for that matter eve f4. I would suggest if you get a 50mm just going straight to the 1.4 as it is a significantly better lens for the money and performs well when shot wide open.

What would i have personally picked up for video? the 24-105 L f4.0 in EF mount. I have EF mount you have a RF, but you can get the EF ones used cheaper especially the earlier version at a fraction of the new one. Otherwise the price brand new is similar with the RF one. And it appears you already have the adapter.

Why,

• because the fixed f4 is through the range on the one I am referring to, meaning you could shoot that wide if wanted no matter the zoom.
  
• Its L glass
• you can zoom rather wide and all the way up to the same perspective of the macro you have which is 100, it gives you a lot of freedom to get multiple clips at different perspectives and angles without swapping between 3 or 4 lenses.

Your biggest issue is going to be lighting so that you don't have to use a high ISO. Your baseline for the settings should be like 1/100 and 5.6 but you will need lighting. You can look at videos like this and get feedback and examples of good LED panels for your setup.


I don't have a personal recommendation as of today, as i shot zero video and i have speedlights for still shooting. But I wanted to point you in the direction of what i would research for video lighting. You can easily color balance LEDs and they can pack a punch at $100 bucks. Do research form guys on youtube that have tested multiple ones and what they like.

 

So at 100mm, 3feet away from subject you have 0.7 inched that will be in focus. roughly .35 in from and .36 behind the focus point.

Hopefully you will see what i mean, but yes a wider lens will definitely help.



it almost doubles at 7.1

stepping back helps quickly,


Shooting wider also gives you more room to work with DOF




Here is the DOF calculator i used...
https://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

 

Yes a new one in you cameras native mount would be the best fit so that lens would be a very versatile lens for you to have in your kit.

But you do have options, you could pick up the older version of the EF lens you can get those used for a little over 400, you can read reviews comparing the EF version and your RF version, The old one came out in ~2005 and ~215 they updated it with a few minor optical improvements as technology advances. The new RF is on par with the new EF version II one but built to you native camera mount and will be a lil smaller and lighter than those EF versions. Not by much but this compares them before an adapter...

 

here is the link to b&h for the older ef ones if your interested in getting a used on and saving some cash till you decide if you like this sorta lens for your video work. There are other locations that sell used B&H is just very well known, they all list a price and a rating on how the condition is based on its amount of wear.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/used..._tuXgRLyWjaJ2LtfdAG6m8RKUNJLECZxoCq4AQAvD_BwE

 

regarding should be able to do the job comment, any lens will do the job, but you have to work with the science behind the focus.

As mentioned in this and the other thread you are way to close to the legos and have basically zero depth of field , you need to study up on depth of field and play with that calculator, watch some tutorials on the topic. I suggested this lens rather than you having say a 24 or 35mm, plus a 50mm and the 100mm and switching lenses constantly, with a zoom like this you'll be able to adjust more on the fly to what mm range makes sense as you are changing shots throughout the build.