## Part 4: How YouTube's Playback Speed Controls Work?
YouTube has an added feature known as ‘playback speed.’ This feature allows you to select a speed from 0.25x to 2x the normal speed. With this YouTube’s speed control , 1 is the normal speed, with 0.25 being one-quarter (1/4th) of the actual speed and slowing the video. In the same vein, 2x is twice the average speed, increasing the video speed.
However, in as much as YouTube speed control slows or speeds up the video, it does not change the pitch of the video. All it does is either expand or compress the video samples while still maintaining the video or audio pitch. It would still sound like the podcaster or video blogger is just talking faster or slower.
Music would still maintain the same musical key and pitch while playing faster or slower.
If you are watching a presentation or interview that seems like everyone is talking like they have all the time in the world, you can fast forward YouTube video by using the feature.
Also, you can slow down a tutorial or the video you are watching if you feel they are too fast using this YouTube speed control .
Conclusion
YouTube speed control has made it easier to change YouTube playback speed to either speed up or slow down the video. This enables you to capture important moments or information you may miss if the video was fast. Also, you can save time and get to the information you are searching for as soon as possible by speeding the YouTube video.
02 How to Change Video Speed with Keyboard Shortcuts on YouTube
03 How to Change YouTube’s Video Playback Speed on Mobile
04 How YouTube’s Playback Speed Controls Work?
05 How to Change a YouTube Video’s Speed Online
Part 1: How to Change YouTube’s Playback Speed on Computer To fast-forward YouTube playback videos or slow it down on the computer, you must follow the proper steps. Changing YouTube’s playback speed on a computer is not a complex thing to do. You can achieve it if you follow the steps we will show you.
On the website, you can manually alter the YouTube video’s playback speed with your computer while watching it.
To start, at the bottom right corner of your YouTube video, click the gear wheel icon there. You’ll see a list of other settings like quality, subtitles, and playback speed.
Select playback speed, and you will see a list of speeds from 0.25x, 0.5x, 0.75x, normal, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75 x to 2.0x.
![change youtube video playback speed option](https://images.wondershare.com/filmora/article-images/change-youtube-video-playback-speed-option.jpg)
These are preset speeds. If they are not suitable for you, you will have to select a custom speed, but they must be in the same range of 0.25x to 2.0x.
To do this, go back to playback speed. Select custom in the top-right side of the pop-up menu**,** then adjust the speed using a slider that you will see there.
Related : How to Make a YouTube Video .
Part 2: How to Change Video Speed with Keyboard Shortcuts on YouTube If you are watching a YouTube Video on your computer and want to adjust the playback speed, you can change the speed with keyboard shortcuts.
Here’s another way to adjust the playback speed of YouTube videos more quickly.
To fast-forward the YouTube video, press your shift button and hold down, then tap your greater than(>) symbol on your keyboard. Your YouTube playback speed will increase by 0.25 as you keep tapping.
To reduce the playback speed YouTube videos, the reverse is the case. Press and hold down the shift tab, then tap less than the (<) symbol.
Changing the playback speed using these keyboard shortcuts increases by 0.25 increments. You have to use custom if you want other values, as earlier mentioned.
The best thing about this method of changing the speed is that you can do it while watching the movie or while paused.
Part 3: How to Change YouTube’s Video Playback Speed on Mobile If you’d like to know how to speed up YouTube videos on your Android, iPhone, or iPad, here’s it.
First, you must open your YouTube App on your device and play the video you want to watch.
Then tap the video once, and it will bring up the toolbar.
At the top right corner, select the vertically aligned three dots. This will bring out a menu for you—select playback speed.
Then you will see a list containing the preset speed provided by YouTube.
1 is the average speed. Any value below than 1 will slow down the video, while any value above it will increase it.
Once done, close the menu, and the video will resume from where it stopped.
Part 4: How YouTube’s Playback Speed Controls Work? YouTube has an added feature known as ‘playback speed.’ This feature allows you to select a speed from 0.25x to 2x the normal speed. With this YouTube’s speed control , 1 is the normal speed, with 0.25 being one-quarter (1/4th) of the actual speed and slowing the video. In the same vein, 2x is twice the average speed, increasing the video speed.
However, in as much as YouTube speed control slows or speeds up the video, it does not change the pitch of the video. All it does is either expand or compress the video samples while still maintaining the video or audio pitch. It would still sound like the podcaster or video blogger is just talking faster or slower.
Music would still maintain the same musical key and pitch while playing faster or slower.
If you are watching a presentation or interview that seems like everyone is talking like they have all the time in the world, you can fast forward YouTube video by using the feature.
Also, you can slow down a tutorial or the video you are watching if you feel they are too fast using this YouTube speed control .
Conclusion
YouTube speed control has made it easier to change YouTube playback speed to either speed up or slow down the video. This enables you to capture important moments or information you may miss if the video was fast. Also, you can save time and get to the information you are searching for as soon as possible by speeding the YouTube video.
02 How to Change Video Speed with Keyboard Shortcuts on YouTube
03 How to Change YouTube’s Video Playback Speed on Mobile
04 How YouTube’s Playback Speed Controls Work?
05 How to Change a YouTube Video’s Speed Online
Part 1: How to Change YouTube’s Playback Speed on Computer To fast-forward YouTube playback videos or slow it down on the computer, you must follow the proper steps. Changing YouTube’s playback speed on a computer is not a complex thing to do. You can achieve it if you follow the steps we will show you.
On the website, you can manually alter the YouTube video’s playback speed with your computer while watching it.
To start, at the bottom right corner of your YouTube video, click the gear wheel icon there. You’ll see a list of other settings like quality, subtitles, and playback speed.
Select playback speed, and you will see a list of speeds from 0.25x, 0.5x, 0.75x, normal, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75 x to 2.0x.
These are preset speeds. If they are not suitable for you, you will have to select a custom speed, but they must be in the same range of 0.25x to 2.0x.
To do this, go back to playback speed. Select custom in the top-right side of the pop-up menu**,** then adjust the speed using a slider that you will see there.
Related : How to Make a YouTube Video .
Part 2: How to Change Video Speed with Keyboard Shortcuts on YouTube If you are watching a YouTube Video on your computer and want to adjust the playback speed, you can change the speed with keyboard shortcuts.
Here’s another way to adjust the playback speed of YouTube videos more quickly.
To fast-forward the YouTube video, press your shift button and hold down, then tap your greater than(>) symbol on your keyboard. Your YouTube playback speed will increase by 0.25 as you keep tapping.
To reduce the playback speed YouTube videos, the reverse is the case. Press and hold down the shift tab, then tap less than the (<) symbol.
Changing the playback speed using these keyboard shortcuts increases by 0.25 increments. You have to use custom if you want other values, as earlier mentioned.
The best thing about this method of changing the speed is that you can do it while watching the movie or while paused.
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Part 3: How to Change YouTube’s Video Playback Speed on Mobile If you’d like to know how to speed up YouTube videos on your Android, iPhone, or iPad, here’s it.
First, you must open your YouTube App on your device and play the video you want to watch.
Then tap the video once, and it will bring up the toolbar.
At the top right corner, select the vertically aligned three dots. This will bring out a menu for you—select playback speed.
Then you will see a list containing the preset speed provided by YouTube.
1 is the average speed. Any value below than 1 will slow down the video, while any value above it will increase it.
Once done, close the menu, and the video will resume from where it stopped.
Part 4: How YouTube’s Playback Speed Controls Work? YouTube has an added feature known as ‘playback speed.’ This feature allows you to select a speed from 0.25x to 2x the normal speed. With this YouTube’s speed control , 1 is the normal speed, with 0.25 being one-quarter (1/4th) of the actual speed and slowing the video. In the same vein, 2x is twice the average speed, increasing the video speed.
However, in as much as YouTube speed control slows or speeds up the video, it does not change the pitch of the video. All it does is either expand or compress the video samples while still maintaining the video or audio pitch. It would still sound like the podcaster or video blogger is just talking faster or slower.
Music would still maintain the same musical key and pitch while playing faster or slower.
If you are watching a presentation or interview that seems like everyone is talking like they have all the time in the world, you can fast forward YouTube video by using the feature.
Also, you can slow down a tutorial or the video you are watching if you feel they are too fast using this YouTube speed control .
Conclusion
YouTube speed control has made it easier to change YouTube playback speed to either speed up or slow down the video. This enables you to capture important moments or information you may miss if the video was fast. Also, you can save time and get to the information you are searching for as soon as possible by speeding the YouTube video.
A Compreenas Guide to Choosing Ideal Lenses for Filmmaking 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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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).
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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.
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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?
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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.
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.
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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.
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