Before the start of Mirth Films, we fell in love with using Canon cameras for making video like many others out there. During our years in college we used Canon 70D with our stock lens, the 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-S Zoom Lens for the majority of our products. The set up was perfect for run and gun. We even produced a full length documentary using the APS-C Canon DSLR. See Below:

Once we started to understand how to control light with the settings, we realized that we needed better optics. I started asking around and a friend suggested using the Canon EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM lens. At first I thought to myself, how could this flat non-zoom lens be something that I could utilize. But then I started to really use it.

Test Shots:

As you can see there is sharp apparent difference in focus between the foreground and background. This 24mm pancake lens has the advantage of being at an f-stop of 2.8 opening a great amount of light. For the price of about 150 dollars, this lens works as a great portrait lens and due to the compact size, you could even carry this lens around in your pocket.

For video, this lens excels for making short films and documentaries. This lens creates a a great image with the f-stop all the way open especially at 60 fps(frames per second). Also at 24mm, you are able to get close up to a subject for cool profile type shots. See Below:

With the cost at only 150 dollars, you cannot go wrong with having this lens in your bag.