Filmmaker’s Choice: Selecting Perfect Lenses for YouTube Creation

A Vlogger’s Guide To Camera Lenses

Richard Bennett

Nov 01, 2022• Proven solutions

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.

Part 1: Three Focal Length Groups: Wide, Standard, Telephoto
Part 2: Vlogging With Each Focal Length Group
Part 3: Crop Factor
Part 4: Focal Length Equivalency Table
Part 5: Aperture
Part 6: Vlogging With a Fast Lens
Part 7: Optical Image Stabilization

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).

Click here

![Crop Factor](https://images.wondershare.com/filmora/article-images/camera-lenses-crop-factor.jpg)

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

Click here

![Camera lenses Aperture](https://images.wondershare.com/filmora/article-images/camera-lenses-aperture.jpg)

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

Mastering the Art of Viral Video Marketing

YouTube is one of the most popular sites for all social media users and it has recently launched a concept of YouTube shorts features in its app. As the name suggests YouTube shorts are the shorter version of crisp and clear video content. From its launch, only YouTube shorts have gained a lot of engagement of the users and grown up very fast. There are many ways to make your YouTube shorts famous and one such medium is using hashtags. Thus using relevant hashtags can boost YouTube Shorts, Shorts Videos more.

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Part 1: What are YouTube Shorts Hashtags and Why Do They Matter?

YouTube shorts hashtags are in a simple manner tags which are being added to the title of your YouTube shorts and descriptions to showcase a category of your video topic. Such hashtags for YouTube shorts help increase the views and improve the discoverability of your YouTube short videos.

There are many good reasons behind using YouTube shorts to make your channel grow. Here are some of the benefits of the YouTube shorts:

It helps in categorizing your videos for viewers
It lets YouTube understand what your video is about
It helps more users find your content

One of the easiest ways to tie videos from your channel together… without creating playlists. You can also get inspiration for YouTube shorts from the Filmora User Gallery column, which brings together ideas from many video creators.

Part 2: 30+ Best Hashtags for YouTube Shorts in 2024

Most people are aware of the concept of using hashtags for YouTube shorts but do not understand the importance of using the right one to use in shorts. Most people search YouTube shorts hashtags for views 2024 on the internet.

Here are some of the best hashtags for YouTube shorts in 2024 make you boost up your YouTube short views:

#shortsclip
#shortscraft
#youtube
#youtuber
#subscribe
#shortsadoptme
#shortsroblox
#shortsanity
#shortsbeta
#shortsfunny
#shortsasmr
#shortsart
#shortscooking
#shortscrochet
#shortsbyamritamam
#shortschallenge
#shortscomplitition
#shortsblackpink
#instagramyoutube
#youtuberlikes
#youtubevide
#shortscomedy
#shortstiktok
#shortsfortnite
#shortsbts
#shortsbhaiveersinghji
#shortsbgmi
#shortsassam
#shortsads
#youtubegrowth
#youtubeusers
#instavideo

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Part 3: How to Add YouTube Shorts Hashtags to Videos

Being a content creator your goal would always be to make your YouTube shorts more searchable. One such medium is using hashtags which helps in growing your account with less time and effort.

Best hashtags for YouTube shorts can be used in both titles as well as in descriptions. Putting hashtags on descriptions would make them visible to viewers automatically.

Here are the steps to add the best hashtags for YouTube shorts:

Step 1: At first when you begin you need to do some research to find out which hashtags have quality videos based on the content type.

Step 2: Then choose a minimum of 3 hashtags to the end of your description in your video and add them.

Step 3: Once you are done with adding save your description. Here the added hashtags would appear as a blue link.

Step 4: Lastly, you need to click on save and check your title to see if they show up above it.

That’s it! It’s done!

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Using the best hashtags for YouTube shorts would help boost your views only if you follow the right tips and strategies.

Let’s discuss some of the effective tips to find trending hashtags for YouTuber shorts:

One of the most effective ways to find trending hashtags for YouTuber shorts is to check out trending videos. You can check out some of the trending video categories to see what type of content is on-trend right now.

2. Popular Competitor Videos

Then you can think of taking an idea of your rival’s all-time best performing videos. Here you can check out the viral hashtags for Youtuber shorts they have used and make a note of it.

3.YouTube Suggests

One of the most popular ways to find the best hashtags for YouTuber shorts is to write “#” into a YouTube search and once done it would show you hashtags that are the most used and trending ones. You can also type in “#a”, “#b” etc. to find unique hashtag ideas.

4. Create A Branded Hashtag

If you create branded hashtags and any users click on any of the hashtags, then the search results are dominated by your videos… not videos from other channels. So once you click on those hashtags you get a list of more videos from their channel.

Conclusion

Thus we could say that using hashtags for YouTube shorts would surely help in gaining popularity and engagement. Here keep in mind that those hashtags should not be random rather they need to be relevant as per your YouTube short content. Here we have discussed the best hashtags for YouTube shorts and most trending hashtags for YouTube shorts altogether. So now choose the most ideal one for you and make maximum use of it.

02 30+ Best Hashtags for YouTube Shorts in 2024 [+ Your Vote!]

03 How to Add YouTube Shorts Hashtags to Videos

04 How to Find Trending Hashtags for YouTube Shorts to Boost Views?

Wondershare Filmora - Best YouTube Shorts Video Editor

Try It Free Try It Free

Try It Free >>

5,481,435 people have downloaded it.

Edit YouTube Shorts Videos quickly with a wide range of popular effects.

Easily record a video on PC and Mac.

Rich video templates and resources for YouTube videos.

Export to MP4, MOV, MKV, GIF and multiple formats.

Learn user-created content from User Gallery to empower YouTube video creation.

Part 1: What are YouTube Shorts Hashtags and Why Do They Matter?

There are many good reasons behind using YouTube shorts to make your channel grow. Here are some of the benefits of the YouTube shorts:

It helps in categorizing your videos for viewers
It lets YouTube understand what your video is about
It helps more users find your content