When you first start learning photography, lenses can be a confusing aspect of your new hobby. Well, they were for me. So I thought I would pull together the things I have learned over the years. If you don’t know much about camera lenses yet, or you don’t know which lens to use and when to use it, here are the basics you need to know.
Types of Lenses
Firstly, there are several types of photography lenses that you will come across. Here are a few of the most common camera lenses, as well as a few more specialty lenses.
Wide-Angle
A wide-angle lens is fairly self-explanatory. It is a type of lens that takes wide angles of what you are shooting; for example, landscape photos are almost always taken with a wide-angle lens.
These lenses often have zoom functionality, but are typically they will offer you a wide angle of your subject and capture much more compared to a regular lens.
50mm
A 50mm, or a nifty fifty as they are often referred to, typically captures images that would be comparable to what your eye sees. The wide aperture of a 50mm lens lets you take photos with a shallow depth of field, or a bokeh background, making your subject far more crisp.
Portrait
Almost any type of midrange lens will allow you to take portrait photos. However, if you want something more specific, an 85mm lens is typically regarded as one of the best for taking portraits.
Telephoto
If you are wanting to take photos of subjects that are often very far away, such as wildlife, or even aircraft, you need a telephoto lens. These can be incredibly large, and allow you to focus in on a subject that is beyond the range of a regular lens.
Fish-Eye
A fish-eye lens is a wide-angle lens that has a very low focal length, creating a distorted image that has rounded edges. Many action cameras, such as a GoPro for example, have fish-eye lenses.
Macro
A macro lens is the opposite of a telephoto lens, as they are designed to capture crisp and clear images of small subjects very close up. For example, if you want to capture the pattern of the wings on a dragonfly, you would use a macro lens.
Tilt-Shift
A tilt shift lens moves up and down, and left to right on the camera body. This allows you to photograph an entire skyscraper in one shot, without changing your perspective. They also allow you to make large scenes appear miniature.
Focal Length
One of the aspects that you need to understand is focal length. The focal length of a lens refers to the field of view of the lens; in other words, it determines how much of the scene the lens can capture.
For instance, a wide-angle lens is typically 35mm, hence it captures far more of the scene. On the other hand, a telephoto lens can be anywhere between 600mm to 1200mm.
Aperture
The aperture of a lens is how much light is let in through the sensor. In simple terms, f/2.8 aperture makes the background of a portrait blurry, while an aperture setting of f/22 will make almost everything in the image crisp and clear.
What to Remember
When buying a new lens, there are a few important things you need to remember to ensure you are buying the right one for your needs.
Prime Lenses
A prime lens is one that doesn’t have any zoom capabilities. However, prime lenses have a greater aperture, meaning it is easier and oftentimes better to take photos in low light when you use a prime lens.
However, if you need a camera that can take more than one kind of photo, a prime lens shouldn’t be the only lens you own.
Zoom Lenses
Zoom lenses are self-explanatory, as they allow you to change the focal length of the lens with a quick turn. The standard range of a zoom lens is between 24mm and 70mm, but you can find lenses with different ranges, with zoom telephoto lenses ranging between 70mm and 200mm.
Quality
It cannot be overstated enough that the quality of the lens is directly related to the quality of the images you will capture. Many experts will tell you that if you had a camera budget, you would buy a reasonably priced camera, and then spend the big money on a lens.
Because of this, you should always do thorough research before making your final purchase, and be sure to buy the best lens you can, and not just buy one without a second thought.
Weight & Size
Finally, lenses can be quite large and heavy. For instance, some telephoto lenses can easily be over 100cm long and weigh over a kilo. The weight of a lens will be determined by its internals; for example, a zoom telephoto lens will be heavier than a prime lens.
Camera lenses can be confusing and tricky to learn about, but if you use this quick guide, understanding what each type of lens offers will give you the best idea of what kind of photos and photography style each lens is best for. Check out my other photography posts for more inspiration.
