Canon T3i

Generally in narrative you don't zoom. There ARE moments/styles when it's a good technique (before everybody beats me up), but in general tends to look amateurish. What you do instead is push in using a dolly or slider.

The main problem with doing it on a T3i (zooming) is that the zoom lenses you can afford aren't "Constant Aperture". That 18-55 3.5 to 5.6 kit lens will, in the middle of your zoom will say "Oops, I'm at 28mm zoom now, I can't maintain 3.5 anymore switching to 4.0". At which point your picture will suddenly darken. They make constant aperture zooms. They just cost more than your camera.

To echo the above... try not to zoom. Or at least try to use it in a creative way that doesn't read "I just zoomed for the sake of it."

Perhaps a POV shot from a spy on top of a building or something. ...though in that case you'd normally see the person looking, and then an already-zoomed (or shot from a telephoto prime) shot of the subject they are watching. Hope that makes sense.

That said - and to sound contradictory - I actually like using zooms. It's just that I know how they are perceived in general. (We're talking about traditional "cinematic" filmmaking here. Documentaries are another story.)

And if you do... a constant aperture lens is the way to go. But, as stated... they're expen$ive.

Avoid digital zoom, which basically has the same effect as zooming in on the frame in your editing software. It essentially decreases resolution.

Awesome thanks for the tips guys, I appreciate them!
You are right, I should not be zooming.... I think I'll just get to work on a dolly of sorts. Anyway, I have a 18-55mm lens, 55-250mm,28-80mm, and 150-300mm. So needless to say, I have plenty of options for any distance, so I won't zoom. I was just curious what others were doing. Thanks guys!

Also, unlike cine lenses, DSLR lenses don't hold their focus when zooming. Forgot the term for enses that do but DSLR lenses will shift focus as you zoom.
Luckily digital zoom makes up for the practise of zooming in to focus but there's no real solution (except for smaller apertures) for zooming in while shooting

Chrisk said:

Also, unlike cine lenses, DSLR lenses don't hold their focus when zooming. Forgot the term for enses that do but DSLR lenses will shift focus as you zoom.
Luckily digital zoom makes up for the practise of zooming in to focus but there's no real solution (except for smaller apertures) for zooming in while shooting

Click to expand...

The name for that is parfocal - there are a few SLR lenses that do this, but you're right in saying that cine zooms are parfocal while the majority of stills zooms aren't.