Optical zoom - Less zoom and shooting closer or more zoom and shooting further away

Starkam wrote:

Hi there, Im pretty much a beginner using a

Canon EOS Rebel SL1 camera with a ef-s 18-55m f3.5-5.6 IS STM lens

Im using it to shoot video of stuffed animals in front of an led tv (which is the background with whatever digital graphic is in the background) and Im trying to figure out how to optimize video quality.

Is it better for me to use less optical zoom and position the camera closer or go for maximum optical zoom and have the camera further back?

How does lighting affect video quality?

Would it matter what color the background is relative to the color of the stuffed animal in terms of how the quality of the video would be affected?

What other things might a newb like me need to know?

Thank you!

I’ll start...

Less zoom and closer and your picture will look less compressed and less focused on your subject. Also, the subject may look distorted due to wide angle although at 18mm on a crop sensor camera you won’t get so much of a wide angle.

More zoom and your subject will become more of a portrait and the background will look like more compressed.

Also, the more you zoom, the less light enters the lens, meaning higher ISO or slower shooting speed.

Also, more zoom will also affect the clarity of the background (bokeh) depending on the aperture (wide aperture or stopped down).

There is no good or bad setup but it all depends on the effect you are researching. I’d say that you should experiment and compare. A good book about aperture vs speed vs focal length vs ISO is also a good book to read. This is the basics of photography.