Deciding on your Digital Camera Lens needs
When using a digital camera that uses interchangeable camera lenses, you will be able to have more control and creativeness over the picture taking process. What's more, your digital photographs will look better, be more stunning, and look more professional.
Digital camera lenses can be categorized into three types: standard digital camera lenses, wide-angle digital camera lenses, and telephoto digital camera lenses. Choosing the right digital camera lens varies upon what type of pictures you are going to take.
Standard Digital Camera Lenses
Think of a standard digital camera lens as replicating a perception comparable to the human eye. For the most part, a standard, or normal, digital camera lens will meet your requirements for general, everyday picture taking situations such as snapshots, group photos, travel photos, and individual photos.
Wide-angle Digital Camera Lenses
A wide-angle digital camera lens gives you a wide angle of view, offering a superior, sweeping view and better depth of field and reproduction than a standard digital camera lens. They are best for covering large subject areas. Look for a wide-angle digital camera lens if you want to take pictures of landscapes and nature, outdoor scenes, buildings, or large groups of people. Because a wide-angle lens enhances the depth of the image, it is good for photos with a strong foreground, too. Additionally, you can use a wide-angle lens to capture indoor scenes and close-ups.
Zoom / Telephoto Digital Camera Lenses
As opposed to the wide-angle digital camera lens, the telephoto digital camera lens is a narrow angle lens. It appears to narrow the image, which is important when you are not able to get close to your subject. Appropriate for long-distance situations, a telephoto digital camera lens is indispensable for photographing sporting events, animals in nature, and far-off landscape features.
Close-Up / Macro Digital Camera Lenses
If you are interested in extreme close-up photography, consider a macro digital camera lens that allows for extremely sharp focusing at very short distances. In general macro digital camera lenses are used for science and nature photography, but can also be used for taking pictures of collectibles, such as coins and stamps.
Fish-eye Digital Camera Lenses
Selecting the Right Digital Camera Lens Features
When shopping for a digital camera lens, there are some important features and technical considerations you’ll want to keep in mind.
Focal length
Measured in millimeters, this represents the distance between the optical center of a lens and its focal plane. The lower the focal length, the wider your angle of view is. The higher the focal length, the narrower the angle of view is.
The focal length for the three lens types generally breaks down as follows:
· Standard lens: Standard camera lenses typically have a 50mm to 55mm focal length
· Wide-angle lens: Wide-angle camera lenses have a 18mm to 35mm focal length. Fish-eye lenses range from 6mm to 16mm.
· Telephoto lens: Telephoto camera lenses have a 80mm to 500mm focal length.
Zoom lens
Lenses have either a fixed focal length (35mm, 50mm) or zoom lenses, where focal length changes. For example, the Canon EF zoom lens offers a zoom from 75mm–300mm. Zoom allows you to get closer to your subject by magnifying the image; you move a ring to changer the focal length and zoom in or out.
Auto focus and manual focus
Auto focus (AF) lenses do the focusing for you automatically. Manual focus (MF), on the other hand, allows you to manually focus the digital camera lens. The auto focus obviously provides ease and simplicity, while the manual focus is good for focusing in low light and when you need to focus in very accurate increments.
Some digital camera lenses offer both types of focus functionality. Auto focus can be turned off or on, letting you manually focus whenever you want.
Aperture
Aperture indicates how much light a digital camera lens lets through to the focal plane. The smaller the aperture number (f/2.8, for an example), the more light a lens will let in, therefore better controlling the brightness of the exposure. And the more light a lens allows through, the faster the shutter speed.
Ensuring Digital Camera Lens Compatibility
When considering a new digital camera lens, you will want to make sure you select one that is compatible with your camera type and brand
Digital and Film Camera Lenses
Lots of people own a film camera and digital camera. So, for photographers who use interchangeable lenses, the question certainly arises: can I use a digital camera lens on my film camera, and can I use a film camera lens on my digital camera?
Newer digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras are designed with camera lens interchangeability in mind, adding to the camera’s lure. Therefore, it’s becoming easier to use film camera lenses on digital cameras. The Nikon SLR, Minolta SLR, Fuji SLR, and Olympus SLR all accept preexisting lenses, including 35mm film lenses. Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel, for instance, accepts all Canon EF lenses.
Camera manufacturers like Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Leica, Sony, Pentax, and Fuji all produce their own lenses. Most often, you’ll need to match your lens with your camera brand.
It is also possible to purchase a lens from a specialized lens manufacturer. Lenses from Tamron, Sigma, and Vivitar are compatible with different camera brands.
Regardless of the brand, be sure to protect your lenses with lens caps and lens hoods.