There is a variety of different types of camera lenses that can add that creative twist and varying perspective to your photography. The advantage of a SLR or DSLR camera is the ability to switch between those lenses to suit your changing needs. There are countless choices available to photographers in the market today and we’ll discuss the basics of interchangeable camera lenses in this article.
Telephoto lens – This type of lens is often called long lens, simply because they are long and provide longer than normal focal lengths. The lens magnifies the subject, bringing it closer than normal lenses can, making it useful and suitable for times when you can’t or won’t get close to your subject.
Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR
This type of lens is ideal for use in sports and wildlife photography where distance needs to kept from the subject. However, just as telephoto lenses magnify the subject, it magnifies movement too. A tripod becomes necessary to hold the camera along with the long lens in order to achieve sharp photos.
Wide-angle lens – Sometimes called a short lenses due to the shorter than normal focal lengths, they allow you to take photos in a dramatic wide view. The lens captures a panoramic view of the scene and is often used in landscape, interior, street and architectural photography.
Zoom lens – Unlike telephoto and wide-angle lenses, the focal length can be adjusted, making it a convenient all-in-one lens to carry around. It has the ability to change from wide-angle to normal and normal to zoom, and in effect change the focal length, depth of field and image size. Zoom lenses can be heavy though, as it requires additional glass layers to help focus the light at various focal lengths.
Prime lens – These are the opposite of zoom lenses. They are fixed in focal length but have wider apertures to capture better images in low light applications. Many photographers use a prime lens for portraiture type of photography.
Macro lens – Macros are essentially the same as normal lenses except for its ability to focus in much closer to the subject. The image size is often as large as or larger than the original subject. They are often used in close up situations such as with insects and dew drops.
Fish-eye lens – These lenses offer an artistic view of the subject by creating a magnified wide-angle effect with a centre that diminishes in size and clarity. This type of lens more than often provides a 180 degree view but there are some that provide as much as 220 degrees in view. The resulting image often looks like the image one sees when looking through a door peephole.
Tilt shift lens – Now here is a rather complex lens that offers the photographer finer mechanical controls. With the shift movement, you can move the depth of field to the left and right, altering the image’s centre of perspective. The tilt movement allows you to shift the focus up and down so that it moves away from being perpendicular. The tilt and shift movements result in a wedge-shaped and cropped wide-angle image, often seen in architectural photography. Tilt shift lenses are also often used in miniature faking applications.
Choosing the right camera lens for any given application requires both knowledge and experience. The specific effect that you’re after, composition and subject matter also determine the right choice. The good thing is that each type of lens is removable and interchangeable, making it simple to switch as your circumstances change.
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Telephoto lens – This type of lens is often called long lens, simply because they are long and provide longer than normal focal lengths. The lens magnifies the subject, bringing it closer than normal lenses can, making it useful and suitable for times when you can’t or won’t get close to your subject.
Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX Nikkor Zoom Lens for Nikon Digital SLR
This type of lens is ideal for use in sports and wildlife photography where distance needs to kept from the subject. However, just as telephoto lenses magnify the subject, it magnifies movement too. A tripod becomes necessary to hold the camera along with the long lens in order to achieve sharp photos.
Wide-angle lens – Sometimes called a short lenses due to the shorter than normal focal lengths, they allow you to take photos in a dramatic wide view. The lens captures a panoramic view of the scene and is often used in landscape, interior, street and architectural photography.
Zoom lens – Unlike telephoto and wide-angle lenses, the focal length can be adjusted, making it a convenient all-in-one lens to carry around. It has the ability to change from wide-angle to normal and normal to zoom, and in effect change the focal length, depth of field and image size. Zoom lenses can be heavy though, as it requires additional glass layers to help focus the light at various focal lengths.
Prime lens – These are the opposite of zoom lenses. They are fixed in focal length but have wider apertures to capture better images in low light applications. Many photographers use a prime lens for portraiture type of photography.
Macro lens – Macros are essentially the same as normal lenses except for its ability to focus in much closer to the subject. The image size is often as large as or larger than the original subject. They are often used in close up situations such as with insects and dew drops.
Fish-eye lens – These lenses offer an artistic view of the subject by creating a magnified wide-angle effect with a centre that diminishes in size and clarity. This type of lens more than often provides a 180 degree view but there are some that provide as much as 220 degrees in view. The resulting image often looks like the image one sees when looking through a door peephole.
Tilt shift lens – Now here is a rather complex lens that offers the photographer finer mechanical controls. With the shift movement, you can move the depth of field to the left and right, altering the image’s centre of perspective. The tilt movement allows you to shift the focus up and down so that it moves away from being perpendicular. The tilt and shift movements result in a wedge-shaped and cropped wide-angle image, often seen in architectural photography. Tilt shift lenses are also often used in miniature faking applications.
Choosing the right camera lens for any given application requires both knowledge and experience. The specific effect that you’re after, composition and subject matter also determine the right choice. The good thing is that each type of lens is removable and interchangeable, making it simple to switch as your circumstances change.
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