Your Zoom Might Not Be What You Expect with Video

With a dSLR and a zoom lens, you might think that you could just zoom the lens in and out while shooting to get some of those effects that you have seen done with traditional video cameras. Unfortunately, this might not work with your zoom lens. Most zoom lenses for dSLRs are not made for continuous shooting so you sometimes will get an exposure change as you zoom your lens in or out. That exposure change can cause a flicker in light that can be very annoying in the video.

Moreover, your zoom lens probably doesn’t zoom in a linear way: if you rotate the zoom collar at a constant speed, the rate of the zoom may not be constant. You don’t notice little jumps in the zoom effect when shooting stills, but if you zoom during a movie shot, the effect will be noticeable.