
Compare prime lenses with fixed focal lengths to zooms covering 15–40 mm; primes are sharper with fewer moving parts, while zooms offer flexible framing and may need more light.
Explore the evolution of camera lens mounts, from bayonet and PL to universal adapters, and learn about back focus, shims, and intelligent mounts with lens data.
Explore the difference between t-stops and f-stops, how iris markings and light meters guide exposure in cinema lenses, and why precise stopping matters in bright vs dark scenes.
Understand how lens coatings steer light for clarity and reduce reflections, while protecting coatings from moisture, fungus, and scratches. Compare coating types and manufacturer approaches and their aesthetic effects.
Evaluate lenses with a lens projector calibrated to 52 millimeters at six feet, adjusting the shim to achieve correct focus and assess edge softness and resolution patterns.
Explore Zeiss regular speed prime lenses, compact and lightweight with coatings, and note their limited coverage. Pulling the focus pin enables close-focus macro work, yielding options for scouting and rental.
Zeiss super speed prime lenses are vintage cinema glass with larger elements for more light and higher stops, featuring matched coatings, tight tolerances, and PL mounts.
Explore wide angle lenses, including flat field versus non-flat designs, how curvature affects lines and flare, and how to match lens choice to a project’s weight, price, and sweet spot.
Zeiss ultra prime lenses are a newer generation of older primes rebuilt into uniform modern housings, offering a wide focal length range for easy field-of-view matching and consistent image quality.
Zeiss variable primes form a three-lens set covering 16 to 30 mm, 29 to 60 mm, and 55 to 105 mm without zoom, delivering high-quality glass for studio work.
Discover Cooke S4 cinema lenses, their warm to neutral character, evolution to intelligent designs and anamorphic variants, and how metadata chips affect camera compatibility and focus.
Explore telephoto lenses, their mounts and filter strategies for cinema use, including PL and back-mount conversions, filter placement, and temperature-driven infinity calibration.
Learn how cinema zoom lenses cover wide focal ranges, their calibration and back-focus challenges, weight and payload considerations, and the dance between dolly movement, focus, and zoom for cinematic shots.
Explore vintage Baltar super boltar lenses with Michale mount adapters to B and C PL mounts. Savor their soft flare as it suits modern cameras, echoing Star Wars and Hitchcock.
This lecture surveys vintage Canon K35 lenses from the 70s, f/1.4 to t/2.0, covering 15, 18, 35, and 55 mm, offering soft, contrasty, or sharp looks on modern cinema cameras.
Explore the swing and tilt cinema lens system with super 35 coverage, keystone correction, and pan-tilt control for selective focus, widely used in the 80s and 90s music videos.
Master the Century swing and tilt system with quick, intuitive adjustments across tilt, pan, and focus axes, and use a Dutch head to create edgy, warped frames for artistic effect.
Explore fisheye lenses, creating warped, funhouse-mirror perspectives from low angles to near infinity, with built-in filter options, used in major films, music videos, and beach scenes.
Explore low angle lens rigs and prism systems to achieve ground-level, dramatic perspectives, including periscope options and underwater housing for creative shots.
Explore vintage JTAC anamorphic lenses, front and rear squeeze methods, and how anamorphic design preserves data, creates signature flares, and widescreen imagery for film and digital cameras.
Discover how super 16 lenses deliver 35mm-class image quality on today’s cameras, with bayonet and peel-mount options from Zeiss, Canon, Cooke, Angenieux, and aluminums.
Join over 30,000 students learning from our courses!
Are you a filmmaker who is clueless when it comes to lenses?
Do you want to speak to your cinematographer in his/her language?
Do you want to know how to choose the right lenses for your shots?
Do you want to make your films stand out from the crowd?
Then this one of a kind course is for you.
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Welcome to the Cinematography Database: Cinema Camera Lenses Masterclass. After getting many requests for this information instructors Alex Ferrari (Indie Film Hustle) and Egon Stephen Jr. (Cine Video Tech) decided to put together the DEFINITIVE Educational resource for anyone interested in CINEMA LENSES.
They DON'T teach you this in Film School!
This course includes:
2.5 hours of talk-to-camera discussions about the entire filmmaking process - from concept to planning to filming to post to distribution - divided into 21 lessons plus a few bonuses.
An exclusive look at rare lenses and camera rigs
Hands-on explanation of difficult concepts but told in an easy to understand manner
Go inside the CVT lenses workshop
Mobile access
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Important information before you enroll:
In case you find the course useless, don't forget you are covered by a 30-day money back guarantee, full refund, no questions asked!
Once enrolled, you have unlimited, lifetime access to the course!
I will give you my full support regarding any issues or suggestions related to the course.
Enroll NOW and let's get started!
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What people are saying about our courses:
"By far, the best director and cinematography course on the Internet." - Nate Carroll
"I really enjoyed taking this class. It wasn't just that the subject was interesting to me, but the teacher also made the class intriguing. I would gladly recommend this class to anyone who would be interested." - Leah Ames
Very helpful. Adds depth to your understanding and intuitive insights which you surely had if you happened to play with video shooting and editing without doing any learning beforehand. It's enriching. The movie samples are great as the clarify the points. Love it! - Yosi Tsitsu
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So what are you waiting for? Whether you are fresh out of film school, a cinematographer who wants to get a better understanding of cinema lenses or a director who wants to know how to pick the right lens for the shot this course is for you. Join over 20,000 students that have already taken Indie Film Hustle filmmaking and screenwriting courses.
Enroll NOW and learn all about cinema lenses and make your films stand out from the crowd! Let's get started!
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About your instructors:
Egon Stephan Jr.
“Like father, like son” they always say, yet nowhere has this cliché been truer than when you apply it to the love of filmmaking shared between Egon and his father. Egon began his professional career at an early age, eventually running the camera rental department for his father at the ripe young age of sixteen!
After a six-year stint as the camera rental manager of CineVideoTech, he pursued his love for film in the field, running up an impressive list of credits. He worked his way up from technician to second assistant, second to first, first to operator, operator to second unit Director of Photography, second unit DP to Director of Photography on his first feature film, “Jungle Juice”, starring Christopher Walken, Morgan Fairchild, Robert Wagner and Rutger Hauer.
Shortly after this achievement, Egon’s father fell ill and his duty to continue the legacy his father had begun took precedence over his own successful career. He took over the helm at CineVideoTech in 2002 and has since been busy recreating the company that has launched so many successful careers into a vision of what is to come.
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Alex Ferrari
Alex began his career as an editor and quickly moved up the ranks as a colorist, post-production, and visual effects supervisor. Coming from a visual effects/post-production background, this versatile director combines his passion for storytelling and visual effects experience with a unique visual style. Alex exploded onto the indie film scene with his award-winning short film BROKEN. The film went on to screen at over 200 international festivals and has been reviewed by over 250 news outlets worldwide including famed film critic Roger Ebert. "Broken is essentially a demonstration of the mastery of horror imagery and techniques." - Roger Ebert.
Through self-distribution, the BROKEN Special Edition DVD has also sold over 5000 units worldwide. Produced on a budget of $8000 and boasting over 100 vfx shots, BROKEN is one of the most celebrated shorts in recent years.
Alex Ferrari's work runs from stunning live action to animation, from visually gripping and stylish worlds to comic gems that will have you rolling on the floor. His body of work, highlighted by commercials spots for Comedy Central, a music video for the Three-Time Grammy Award Winning group Ozomatli (guest-starring Comedian Gabriel Iglesias), and the stylish Lipstick and Bullets, a compilation of your of his short film.
Being frustrated in seeing how his fellow filmmakers were being "chewed up" by the film business, Alex decided to start Indie Film Hustle, a website dedicated to educating filmmakers and artists on to survive and thrive in the film business. He also launched a podcast focusing on filmmaking called The Indie Film Hustle Podcast. Within three months of its start date, the show became the #1 filmmaking podcast on iTunes.