Should YOU Get a 24mm Lens

Top eight reasons why you should consider a 24 millimeter lens. Now this lens topic is more for full frame camera users, so if you're shooting with an APS-C crop sensor camera, then a 16 millimeter lens will do the same exact thing for you. Now obviously you don't have to buy this lens, but this is one of my top favorite focal lengths, so I just wanna show you some of the reasons why I love it and why you might too. By the way, shout outs to PPA for sponsoring a portion of this video. More on that later. Reason number one, versatility. Hey, I get it, buying a new lens can be a huge investment. You're probably asking, well, how often am I gonna be using this lens? But the good news is that the 24 millimeter focal length is so general enough that you can pretty much shoot anything with it. Landscape, cityscape, street, environmental portraits or family shots, fashion and lifestyle, it's a great video lens as well. I like to call this my quantity lens just because I get so much mileage out of it. In my last recommendation video, I talked highly about the 85 millimeter lens. This one right here is a lot more limiting, but you do get more quality shots out of it simply because it's a much tighter focal length and it forces you to compose your shot better. When combined, these two become an unstoppable force. You see, the 24 millimeter can capture the wide perspective of the scene and the 85 millimeter can highlight something specific in that same scene and centers the attention on it. Having that duality can help you illustrate the story that you're trying to tell in your photos and videos. Now, of course, you don't need an 85 millimeter lens to have that duality perspective. You can pretty much solo it with a 24 millimeter lens. Use it to capture the wide scene and if you can walk up to a specific subject or object within that same scene to highlight it, then that works too. The 24 can be used so generally that you don't have to worry about it being in your bag or the shelf for too long. Let me go ahead and put this back. Moving on to point number two, it's an amazing environmental portrait lens and I use portrait here very loosely because it doesn't have to be a human subject. It can be an object as well. This lens gives a lot of context. It tells the audience where the subject is. However, it places a greater emphasis on the environment. Now, I often get asked what's the difference between a 24, a 35, and 50 and that's because the other two lenses are fantastic environmental portrait lenses as well but where they place their emphasis is very different. Again, the 24 millimeter places a greater emphasis on the environment. The 35 has a more balanced emphasis on the environment and the subject and the 50 millimeter places a greater emphasis on the subject. Now, that's not always the case but 90% of the time that's how I approach my photography and videography and that's how I get a lot of great shots. So the 24 millimeter is gonna be terrific for outdoor peeps, vacation goers, hikers, people who enjoy being outdoors, nature-y, all that stuff. Travelers who aren't too focused on themselves but them being in the environment with a greater emphasis on the environment. Moving on to number three. But ha ha, reverse uno. Remember when I said it's not always the case with the emphasis on the environment and the subject? Now, that's not always the case but 90% of the time that's how I approach my photography and videography and that's how I get a lot of great shots. The other 10%, I like to force myself to favor the subject to make them feel larger than life. Thanks to perspective and the lens' minor distortion, you can make objects look a lot more interesting in the environment that it is in. This is as simple as walking up closer, working your angles and taking your shot. Much like how you would approach a stranger when you think they're cute. Just really quickly, if you guys are enjoying this video, do me a favor and give it a like unless of course you are watching this on your big screen TV. If that's the case, hello mom and dad, hello kids. Tell your wife and husband I said hello. Moving on to number four, this lens is great for tight spaces. Not the tight spaces that you think I'm insinuating, you bum hoe. You know, your family's watching this video too, you know. But you might wanna cue up my Laowa probe lens video for later because that's the lens that you want for those tight spaces. Anyways, just kidding, I don't have a video like that. Sometimes you don't have the luxury of backing up to get your shot. This is where a wide angle lens can come in handy because it typically pushes things a little further out because that's its job, it's to capture things in a wide perspective. So it actually comes in handy in tight spaces where things are a bit too physically close to you. For example, I was photographing from the top of the observatory and there were certain areas that were really narrow, but the 24 allowed me to still get everything I needed without backing up. Even inside of this small booth of a ramen shop, I didn't have to awkwardly get out of my seat and take the photo. I just got it and I was on my way slurping on some good news. Hey, it's editor-in-remote Jason Fong here. If you guys are enjoying this video and you wanna support the work that I do, the best way to do that is just to simply listen to what my sponsor PPA has to say. Believe it or not, it really does help me make more helpful content like this. PPA is a membership-based community for photographers at any level. They have a library full of great resources in not only leveling up your skills with the camera, but also on how to run your business. This month they wanted me to let you guys know that you can save hundreds of dollars using their PPA sample contracts, whether it's for weddings, events, cancellation notices, model releases, and copyright transfers. I didn't go to law school, so these are gonna help me a whole lot. Not only that, but PPA has exclusive membership discounts with their partner vendors and service providers like Dell, B&H, Lensrento, and more. So you can save a lot of money on gear, software, and accessories. To learn more about how PPA can help you, check out the link down below and use my code for a special discount if you decide to sign up. Thanks for listening, guys. I really do appreciate it. Now back to editing this video. Number five, is it wide enough? Yes, it's wide enough. There is such a thing as too wide sometimes, you know? But the 24 is just right. It hits that sweet spot. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm pushing it. I'm gonna stop, I'm taking this too far. Anyways, the 24, yes, it's just right, okay? It can help certain objects view not too far away. For example, if you're shooting scenic views that aren't terribly far landscape, it can do a really good job putting the attention on both the environment and the subject. It captures just enough of everything that you need in a wide scene without leaving too many empty spaces. Which leads me to a video point, the great debate. Is the 24 millimeter lens wide enough for vlogging? Honestly, it's debatable, but if you ask the internet, they will likely tell you no. But honestly, if you have a good story and the topic that you're presenting is interesting enough, then it really doesn't matter what lens you use. I've seen YouTube channels 20 times my size having really shaky camera footage, cameras pointed up their nose, and the audio is absolute garbage, getting 100 times more views and more money than me, so you tell me if it matters or not. Anyways, totally not salty or anything, but yeah, 24 millimeter, definitely vloggable, especially when you have it on a tripod set up like this, backed up a little bit further for these talking head style YouTube videos, hell yeah. But if you're not planning on vlogging and you're thinking about using this lens for general videography, then hell yeah. Slap this on a gimbal, boom, solid. Moving on to number six, distortion is your friend. And I talk a little bit about this from point number three. And in fact, this is the reason why I love the 24 lens over the 35. And that's because with the 35 millimeter focal length, that's when the distortion starts to take a leave. Now distortion isn't always a bad thing, depending on how you use it to your advantage. If you're shooting like close up head shots, then obviously that's a no-no. But on other things like objects, space, and buildings, distortion can help you. It can help emphasize or exaggerate scale. Look for leading lines especially. The edges will accentuate your shot. I personally love finding foreground elements or other objects that help me add additional framing into my shots. Again, anything wider would have pushed shots like these in the center way too far. But the 24 millimeter makes it just right. So really challenge yourself to take advantage of the distortion to help make a shot uniquely yours. Number seven, prime lens advantage. Because we are talking about a prime lens, it shares all the ideals of using a prime lens. Typically the 24 millimeter prime lens are gonna be sharper than what you would get from a zoom lens that has a 24 millimeter focal length, especially on the edges. Plus, there's gonna be less vignetting as well. Size wise, the 24 millimeter lenses can be fairly lightweight and small. So it would be a breeze to bring around. And depending on the aperture you get, you might have more low light or bokeh flexibility like my F1.4 right here. Which leads me to my last point. Number eight, price. Don't worry, you don't need an F1.4 version of the 24. There are a ton of great budget value options out there. Truth be told, some of the best images that I've shown you in this video weren't even shot at F1.4. In fact, some were even shot at 24 millimeter off of a zoom lens at F2.8 or narrower. So if money is an issue right now, there are 24 millimeter F2.8 prime lenses out there that are incredibly tiny and still have pretty good quality. So start off with the F2.8 first and when you're ready to graduate to an F1.4 in the future, you already know what this focal length can do for you and the F1.4 will just elevate it to the next level. But honestly, if you have the money to ball hard, you might as well ball hard and ball straight for the 24 millimeter F1.4. It is magical, you won't regret it. It is incredibly helpful in low light and did I mention the bokeh? Let me know in the comments down below which lens you'd like me to cover next. And if this video has helped you out, don't forget to give it a like and subscribe for more content like this. Super appreciate you guys for watching and we'll see you guys in the next video. Peace.