Which lens to use

Well, prime lenses offer just one focal length, such as 35mm, 50mm, or 85mm. So a standard prime falls somewhere in that 35mm to 85mm standard range.

In fact, back in the good old days of film, the most popular standard lens was a standard prime: the 50mm. When I was a student, everyone in the class started with a 50mm lens.

That said, whether you choose a zoom or a prime is up to you. Most people feel that zooms offer more bang for the buck these days. And prime lenses also tend to be cheaper than optically-equivalent zooms. Telephoto lenses get you close to a subject without actually approaching them. Working with a telephoto lens is like shooting through binoculars because they magnify distant subjects.

Now, more often than not, when I speak to new photographers looking to purchase their next lens, they want something on the telephoto end.

The most popular telephotos seem to be various flavors of mm or mm. These lenses are excellent when used properly. However, too often, telephoto zooms allow the photographer to become lazy.

Telephoto lenses also compress distance, making everything appear closer together, as opposed to wide-angle lenses, which distort perspective and make things look separate.

Kit that is small and lightweight is often the first choice for street photographers, which is why many prefer to use lenses such as 35mm or 50mm prime lenses. All of these lenses feature large apertures, which makes them great for working in low light conditions too.

As with portrait photography, lens choice has a big impact when photographing fashion. There are strong arguments for both prime and zoom lenses, with some of the most popular of each including the 50mm and 85mm fixed lenses, or mm, mm and mm zoom lenses. Lenses play an important part in crafting your images, which is why it's important to understand the different types of lenses and their effects.

To learn more about lenses and camera optics, take a look at some of our other classes and articles. You must be logged in to post a comment. The best lens for every type of photography. Included in this article: Choosing the best lens Portrait photography Product photography Food photography Landscape photography Wedding photography Sports photography Wildlife photography Street photography Fashion photography. Choosing the best lens. What is the best lens for portraits.

Image from 'Photographing portraits in the warm evening sun' class. Lens choice can make a big difference when photographing people. Karl demonstrates a variety of lenses, from 16mm to mm, showing the results of each and explaining which is best for portrait or beauty photography.

Watch Class. Join Now. What is the best lens for product photography. Image from 'Luxury watch product photography' workshop. What is the best lens for food photography. Image from 'Food photography with natural light' class. What is the best lens for landscape photography. Image from 'Coastal photography' class.

Popular focal lengths include mm, mm or mm, However, prime lenses also make great lenses for landscapes. What is the best lens for wedding photography. What is the best lens for sports photography. Image from 'Photographing creative action shots' class. When I talk about low brightness, I mean all situations where you will lack light and clearly, choosing the right photo lenses will be really important. Concerning the lenses, everything will depend on the type of photo you want to take.

For those who are passionate about landscapes at sunset and sunrise, for example, you can refer to the few references mentioned above.

For those who are interested in night photography or street photography and want to isolate the subjects and play with the blurred ones, I would often advise that you use either:. This is the last point of the article and probably the most important for many people. How to choose a camera lens? Many will say that it depends on the price too! Overall, everyone agrees that in photography, you generally get what you pay for.

Only you can determine whether it is acceptable to pay this or that sum for a camera lens. Keep in mind that there are, for example, very good camera lenses at a lower cost. To name just two for portrait photography, by Canon:. For Canonists, I suggest you take a serious look at the two lenses below if you are looking for quality photo lenses with large aperture, and at very affordable prices!

Perfect and very cheap! At the end of these five steps, you should be able to narrow down the selection of lenses according to your needs, current and future use and your budget. The key is to acquire photographic equipment that suits you and makes you feel at ease when capturing beautiful images. Once you have chosen your lens, all you have to do is read detailed tests on the quality, defects, advantages, use in the field, etc.

For example, you can go to the Dxo Mark website, which offers excellent quality tests of digital cameras. The latter are tested with several lenses, which are themselves independently verified. It is the main reference in this field.

See their Lens Review section for full details on the lenses. Well there you are. I hope that this article has given you more information despite its length and that it has helped you to understand how to choose a camera lens.

If you have any specific or technical questions about choosing your camera lens, please feel free to leave me a comment at the bottom of the article. If you want some help in choosing your lens, I am here to help!

If you are interested in photography, I invite you to come and look at how to choose your camera equipment for a safari photography and especially how to choose your DSLR and which model to choose? This article provides details about the which camera lens choose.

I enjoyed reading this article and would suggest others it as well. Thank you for this article! This is really very informative for us and look forward to more such in the future for all of us. Leave a Reply Cancel reply.

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Which camera lens to choose and how? Table of Contents. Technical terms for choosing a camera lens The focal length The maximum aperture Stabilization Brand specific terms Which camera sensor are you using? For which type of photo? Which brands to choose then? A camera lens according to your needs Which lens for landscape photography? A camera lens for portraits?

Which lens for sports or wildlife? A lens for low light? Choosing your camera lens according to your budget? Conclusion and summary. Technical terms to know when choosing a camera lens. Save this post on Pinterest and come back to it later!

The focal length or which focal length to choose for my lens? The diagram below summarizes this well, with the angles of vision at different focal lengths. In short, you see wider than what you would see with the human eye in the field. The field of view will be very wide and the perspectives will be greater.

This type of focal length is mainly used for landscape, architectural and street photography. Care should be taken to avoid vignetting and deformation with this type of focal length.

There are also so-called fisheye lenses that propose distorted visions of reality! This is more or less similar to what you see with your eye between 35 and 50 mm depending on the type of DSLR. This is often the first lens provided to start learning photography. No need to spend thousands on a very expensive lens when you first start. Telephoto lenses: All lenses above about mm are considered to be in this category e. This type of focal length is generally used to zoom in on a subject for which you want more detail, a magnification of the scene, or a larger image.

The most classic example is wildlife photography. Note that a teleconverter allows you to go even further. Depending on where you are, this is the type of photographic accessory that never leaves your photo bag. The maximum aperture of a camera lens.

In concrete terms, you bring in more light and this allows 3 things : To take photos of your subjects faster faster shutter speed , To be able to take photos in low-light conditions without having to increase ISOs or risk blurring the image, To blur your backgrounds and thus highlight your subjects.

This allows you to manage your depth of field, the focus area of the photo.