Today in TechPhotography Tips: Lenses 101
Post by Katherine Gray: Okay, so you're ready to upgrade from a compact point-and-shoot camera to a digital SLR. You've decided on a camera body… and now a whole new, confusing world of lens choices has opened up. Zoom, prime, fisheye, macro… What the heck does it all mean? Read on for a basic primer on different types of lenses and the things you should look for when buying them.
Kit lenses
First things first. What about the basic lens that comes with your camera body? Most entry-level cameras such as the Nikon D60 or the Canon Rebel XS come in a standard kit that includes an 18-55mm lens. These lenses are, generally speaking, perfectly fine for most uses. Their quality is good, they're pretty versatile, and they'll work for just about any situation except extreme close-up or distance photography. In short, if you're not sure what you're doing and how much use you'll actually get out of your new DSLR, go with the standard kit lens.
If you find yourself wanting to branch out, keep reading!
3 basic lens types
There are three basic types of lenses: wide, normal, and telephoto. A normal lens will produce an image that looks the most like what you see with the naked eye. A wide lens makes the foreground look closer and the background look farther away, and a telephoto lens does the opposite.
These can also be described by their focal length, which is usually described in millimeters. A wide angle lens is generally between 21 mm (or less) and 35 mm; a normal lens is between 35 and 70 mm; and a telephoto lens can range from 70 to 300 mm and higher.
While the question of which lens to use for what type of photography is largely based on personal preference, each type is particularly suited to some applications more than others.
Wide angle lenses are good for photographing architecture and landscapes, because they offer a wider field of vision. This is great for getting more of a building into the picture or showing a sweeping expanse of land.
Normal lenses are typically used for general snapshots and documentary-style photography, since they most closely recreate what you see outside the camera.
Telephoto lenses are great for both portraiture (because they allow you to be farther away from your subject and also give nice bokeh) and for sports and nature photography (because you can zoom in close to see subjects you can't physically get close to).
The versatility of zoom
Zoom lenses come in a huge variety of ranges, but the most common is the 18-55 mm or 28-80 mm that probably came with your camera body. These are great lenses because they offer incredible versatility and convenience — you don't have to worry about switching lenses between photographing the flower 3' away and the child playing 30' away. Purists might argue that a zoom lens is a sort of "jack of all trades, master of none," but the truth is that the quality of zoom lenses has increased so dramatically that they have largely become the lens of choice for general shooting.
The downside of zoom lenses is that they usually have smaller apertures (lens openings), which means that less light reaches the camera sensor. This in turn means that they aren't very well suited to low-light situations. There are zoom lenses with larger apertures to make up for this, of course, but they can get very pricey.
The purity of prime
Unlike zoom lenses, prime lenses have a fixed focal length. These used to be the standard for professional photography, because zoom lenses sacrificed a great deal of image quality. Now that that's no longer the case, why would you want to use a prime lens instead of a zoom lens?
The largest advantages are cost and speed. Prime lenses tend to be significantly cheaper than zoom lenses, and you can thus buy a higher-quality lens for the same or even less money. More importantly from a photographic perspective, though, is the fact that prime lenses have a much larger maximum aperture. By allowing more light through, these lenses are excellent for shooting in low-light situations.
Specialty lenses
Macro and fisheye are two types of specialty lenses. Macro lenses have become somewhat obsolete with the advent of the macro setting, but they do still have advantages. Both the setting and the lens itself allow the camera to focus on the small details of already small objects such as flowers, pebbles, or jewelry. A macro lens also lets you zoom in very close to something while you and the camera remain farther away, which makes it easier to photograph things you can't physically get close to.
Fisheye lenses offer a full 180-degree viewing angle, but the image is distorted so that the center looks like it's closer to you and the edges look like they're receding. It's a fun effect but definitely distinctive. A fisheye lens will probably not become your standard use lens!
Most photographers would agree that a good lens is as important, if not more so, than the camera body itself. When you're shopping for lenses, pay attention to maximum aperture (a larger aperture means a faster lens), in-lens stabilization (especially important for larger, heavier lenses), and the quality of the glass itself, which affects the way the light refracts through it. There are a lot of options out there, so when in doubt, talk to a professional and get some good advice before spending a lot of money.
[Image credits: Richard Fisher, Håkan Dahlström, Miki Yoshihito, K. Gray, Andrew Blight]
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