Selecting the right lens can greatly impact your photography results. This article compares the differences in cinema vs consumer lenses, including build, image quality, control, and cost.

Build Quality:

Cinematic Lenses are built to withstand the rigour and harshness of professional use, their high quality materials and construction ensure that they will be reliable in these more intense environments. Whereas consumer lenses are built for much more casual use. They tend to be lighter and less rugged. They often have more simplified features to make them more accessible to the casual user.

Image Quality:

Cinema lenses are designed to produce high-quality images with accurate colour representation, precise focus, and minimal distortion. Consumer models sacrifice some of these qualities in favour of compact and more affordable designs.

Control:

Cinema lenses often offer more manual control options such as aperture and others. This allows for greater creative control of the outcome. Consumer lenses on the other hand, offer more automatic and simple controls which make them more accessible to the casual user.

Cost:

Cinema lenses typically cost more than their consumer counterparts. This is reflective of their higher quality materials and technically advanced builds. Consumer lenses lack these features and their price reflects that.

Overall if you're looking for a lens that will deliver industry quality and price is no object, you’ll want a cinema lens. However if you're a casual shooter, a consumer lens would be perfect for you.

Some consumer lenses we love:

Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L USM (£800-£1000) This is a multi-purpose lens that is ideal for a range of photography genres, including portraits, sports, events, and natureSigma 24-70mm (£800-£1000) This is a versatile standard zoom lens that is ideal for a range of photography genres, including events, landscapes, photojournalism, and commercial photography. Canon EF-S 24mm f2.8 STM (£90-£200) This is a versatile wide-angle lens that is ideal for landscape, cityscape, street, interior, and environmental portrait photography, among other genres.