Shooting with a Long Lens

If you´ve ever dreamt of filmming snow leopards or capturing an amazing lion kill, you may have wondered what special considerations exist when your job is to shoot video of far off animals? Herein, we'd like to propose a few things to consider for the wildlife filmmaker. We'll discuss the camera, the tripod, and the lenses needed to start this sort of filmmaking.

In a very basic sense, and this might seem too simplistic, you can summarize the goals of a wildlife filmmaker that needs to shoot distant objects like this: they want to get as close to a subject as possible. When they can't get as close as they might want, they need a steady camera with a long lens that will help them get closer than they can physically get. Thus, it all boils down to a camera that can accept a long lens, and a steady tripod to make it look beautiful.

Cameras

Unfortunatly, the general rule of thumb is that the more money you spend, the better the camera is going to be at getting a quality lens that can zoom to far off distances. Yet, even high end cameras are built for different purposes. Most cameras are built to be somewhat of a generalist camera - allowing for everything from macro-photography to telephoto photography. Thus, if your goal as a filmmaker is to capture extreme telephoto shots, it's important to find a camera that will allow you to change lenses. This way you can find a lens that is appropriate for the long distance shooting you're wanting to do.

Cameras with Interchangeable lenses

One of the most important factors in choosing a camera for long distance work, is it's ability to change lenses. These interchangeable lense cameras give you the ability to add lenses and telephoto adapters to extend the reach of your existing camera. Most of the time, cameras like this will have adapters that will allow you to add all sorts of glass, such as the high-end Canon and Nikon lenses used on still cameras. 

Even though cameras on the market tend to change dramatically from year to year, I thought it worthwhile to point out a few of the current options. In fact, I'm adapting this from a writeup by wildlife filmmaker Barry Clark. These are the cameras he listed as the most valuable to the wildlife filmmaker in 2011. 

Lenses

The fact of the matter is that very nice lenses do look better when looking at the end product. So what is it that you're looking for in a lens? Most cameramen are looking for good glass that will allow the most light to come in and minimum to no distortion of the image.

The distortion factor won't be printed on the lens, so you'll have to depend on reviews of the lens.

The other factor is how much light a lens lets in. One of the best indicators of the quality of the lense is the f-value. The f-value is an indicator of how much light the camera lets in. Cheap lenses will generally only allow enough light to get an f-value of f5.6 or so. The lower the f-value the better. Good prime lenses (lenses that don't zoom) might get down to f1.1. Telephoto lenses, by their very nature, are difficult to get a good, low, f-value.  The best ones have giant optics, like the ones you're likely to see the media have at the endzone of a football game. 

We recommend buying at least one high quality telephoto lens for your first job. Honestly, if you're not a professional already and know what lens to buy, you can easily get by on the lower quality zoom lenses first. Then, as you progress, you'll really notice the difference. Plus, it will allow you to practice on a cheap lens.  

Tripods

The further you zoom the camera, the more a small shake in the camera is amplified.  In fact, a light breeze, as subtle as it might seem to us, will wreck a shot. Thus, the quality of the tripod is extremely important. Unfortunately for would-be remote filmmakers, the best tripods for long-lens filmmaking are also generally extremely heavy. The heavier and more sturdy the tripod, the more stable the shot is going to be.

The bare minimum tripod that a wildlife filmmaker will need to purchase will cost about 500 dollars. Very nice systems for higher end cameras start around 2000 dollars. This includes collabsable legs, and a fluid head. The "head", where the camera is mounted is the most imporatant piece, even though the two end up working together to make a great tripod. These high quality heads are called fluid heads. They allow nice fluid movement in panning shots across the horizon, when you're following a soaring eagle in the sky or as you're tracking a lion across the savanna. When you buy the legs, make sure the legs are a kind intended for field shoots. Many tripods are intended for studio shots, where the ground is always level. These sorts of legs do no good in the rugged terrain of a field shoot. 

For more information specifically about tripods, check out our gear guide and/or read up on reviews from B&H photo.