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Anybody that owns a DSLR has looked at a website like Henry’s or B&H Photo and browsed through page after page of lens and thought ‘Wow, where do I start?’ And its understand why there are so many questions when it comes to buying a new lens. (Well at least new to you, even if it was previously enjoyed by someone else.)
Where to start when trying to decide on a new lens? Macro? Fish Eye? Zoom? What the heck is prime? And are other lens non prime? Like almost everything else with photography it really depends on what you want to do with the lens. Yea, I can hear you saying ‘I want to make pictures with it, duh!’ Of course you want to make pictures with it, but what type of pictures?
ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
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| 28 mm |
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| 55 mm |
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| 200 mm |
I guess the first one to talk about, and I’m sure the most common type of lens is the zoom lens. What is a zoom lens? The easy way to type it is; A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied. By chancing the focal length of the lens you also change the angle of view for that lens. As the old saying goes a picture is worth a thousands words. So here are three pictures (does that equal three thousand words). All three pictures where taken standing in the exact some spot in the middle of the street in front of my house (glad I live on a quite street). The first picture was made at a focal length of 28mm (the widest this particular lens goes). The second picture is 55mm (the maximum zoom of most kit lens) and the third picture is at 200mm (the maximum zoom for this particular lens). As you can see in the pictures with the wider angle the field of view is much wider and the more one zooms the more of a close up you get.
W I D E angle
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| 55 mm |
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| 35 mm |
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| 18 mm |
A wide angle lens is a lens whose focal length is less then the focal length of a ‘normal’ lens. What in the world does THAT mean? Again, a picture is worth a thousands words (so three pictures should be worth three words). Again all three pictures are of the same scene, this time I’m using bottles on the bar in my basement. As you can see in the three pictures it APPEARS that the bottle move further apart the wider the angle used on the lens. Trust me when i say that the bottles never moved. (I didn’t have THAT much to drink that day). The distortion effect a wide angle lens offers can be a lot of fun to play around with. One day I’d like to get an even wider lens.
Prime Lens
Defining a prime lens is really very easy. A prime lens has a fixed focal length, or in other words does not zoom. There, enough said. Whats that? Why would someone buy a lens that only has one focal length and there for is not a versatile as a zoom lens. In a word. Quality. Prime lens often offer superior optical quality, lighter weight, smaller size and lower price. With fewer moving parts then a zoom lens, prime lens usually have a larger aperture then a zoom lens. (More on aperture in a future post). Common prime focal length are 20mm, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 105mm, 135mm, 200mm, 300mm, 400mm and 600mm.
Macro Lens
A macro lens is designed for close up pictures of very small objects. There are several different styles of macro lens. Some zoom lens come with a macro setting allowing for close up shots as well as far away shots (not at the same time). Another way of archiving the macro effect is with either extension tubes or bellows, thus moving the lens elements further away from the CCD sensor. Macro is something I hope to post about more in the future, once I've had a chance to play around with it some.
Fisheye Lens
A fisheye lens is a very wide angle type lens that takes in a broad panoramic image. First developed to study cloud formations the fisheye lens quickly became popular with photographers for their uniquely distorted appearance. This is not an effect that I personally am a fan of, but for the sake of this blog hope to spend more time with in the future.
Each type of lens that I have talked about really dissever there own post, and will get one in the near future. This is intended as a brief over few. There are other types of specialty lens as well that i may or may not talk about down the road.
What lens do you think you'll get next?
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