In the modern world, every profession is important and plays a role in society. Anything can become such a profession, but today we’ll talk about photographers, and to be more precise, about their equipment - a camera and everything that is needed for it. What principles and recommendations do amateurs and professionals use when choosing lenses for their cameras?
Are lenses always needed?
Many novice photographers wonder what kind of camera to choose for them, but the question of choosing the right lens is equally popular. In the event that the lens is already built into your camera, for you this article is unlikely to be relevant. Then you can get comprehensive information about the types of lenses for SLR cameras.
But what if you own a digital SLR camera? Then choosing a decent lens will take a decent amount of time. There are a lot of types of lenses for cameras, but first we’ll analyze their types.
Types and types of lenses
Next, a whole list of various lenses, their characteristics, pluses and minuses in use will be provided. There are a lot of types of lenses and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. To begin with, far from all lenses have a focal length, in some there is not even a “zoom in” or “zoom out”. These are called fixed focal points - that is, with a fixed focus on the image. If you are going to buy a camera with this type of lens, be prepared for the fact that you have to come and go on your own relative to the object. The main types of lenses are listed below.
Constant focus
Let's talk about the pros of those lenses that have a constant focus. The advantage is that the image quality comes out better than in other cases. However, there are also disadvantages: the lack of the ability to zoom in and out, that is, that same zoom, so there is no "flexibility" in use.
Usually used in art shooting or where the most accurate picture is needed. Now consider other types of digital lenses.
Variable focus
The advantage of such lenses is, firstly, saving space, because you do not need to carry a few pieces with a constant focus. Secondly, it should be noted high versatility and ease of use.
But the flaws to some extent even surpass the virtues. The output is far from such a high-quality picture, as in the case of constant focus lenses, the image may have distortions, which happens quite often, and the reliability of such lenses is less.
Standard lenses
This type of lens is universal, it is quite popular. And all because the photos are obtained “as if alive,” there is practically no distortion, the image quality is excellent and there is a standard focus of 50 mm. It is with this distance that distortion can be avoided and the image improved.
This type of lens is used by both professionals and amateurs - it is equally good in both cases. One of the advantages of standard lenses is also ease of use and comfort in work and carrying. Often, standard lenses do not perform special functions, but they contain the main ones - necessary when working with photography.
Whale lenses
Many amateur photographers use whale lenses when they begin to practice. Different types of lenses usually come with the camera you are buying, so they do not incur extra costs (as is usually the case with professionals). This lens is used with a distance in the range of 18 to 55 mm. Quality, of course, leaves much to be desired, but this is the most universal option for those who are just learning to take pictures.
With the help of whale lenses, you can shoot portraits, landscapes, still lifes, events, holidays, and so on, despite the fact that these are digital or mirrored lenses. It is very cheap, which allows even an ordinary person to use it with ease. And also it will be the right decision for those who cannot decide on whether to be a photographer or give themselves to another profession.
Macro lenses
The macro function is located in absolutely all lenses by default, however it is not as powerful as in specialized devices. Such a function is necessary for high-quality shooting in proximity to a small subject. For greater convenience, you can use special macro lenses - they allow you to achieve much better results in macro photography.
The advantage of this lens is that it can be used in the same way as a regular one, that is, for portrait, landscape and other shooting. However, the quality will not be as excellent as when using a conventional lens.
Long focus lens
Most often, we shoot everyday life, portraits, photos of natural landscapes and so on. But there are also observers of the same nature who cannot come close to the predator in any way to capture it in the image. For such people, telephoto lenses exist with a distance of about 300 mm or more. With such lenses, they can shoot something that is not available close, and the longer the focus distance, the better the image at a certain distance.
But with all the advantages, in the case of such an approximate shooting, the photographer’s hands, even at rest, will tremble a little. Therefore, using tripods or a minimum shutter speed is recommended.
Short Focus Lenses
In addition to telephoto lenses, there are also telephoto lenses. They are also called wide-angle. Wide-angle lenses often have a focus distance of about 35 mm, so the range of use is not very wide. However, photographers prefer precisely such lenses when it comes to landscape or wedding photography - they have a fairly wide viewing angle, which allows you to make unusual pictures. The use of wide-angle lenses does not require professional skill, because the image has linear and perspective distortion.
The most common is the wide-angle fisheye lens, which allows you to distort the image to resemble a fisheye. Photos of this type are very appreciated by amateur photographers.
What to look for when buying a lens?
When buying cameras and lenses, you need to be guided by the advice of professionals and your own goals in use. But the main important things in any lens can be:
- Vignetting. This method of shooting means darkening the corners in the photo, and all because there is less light falling on the edges of the image than in the middle. This is due to the basic laws of optics and (sometimes) with the volume and design of the lens. Photographers believe that the image is much better and better if minimal vignetting is used. Sometimes they also resort to various effects.
- Aberration. It happens that you can notice ambiguous colors in the photo. The picture seems to be stratified into several colors, and this is due to the refraction of light in this type of lens. This effect is extremely undesirable, lens and camera manufacturers are constantly trying to fix this problem. Photographers resort to Photoshop.
- Focus speed. It all depends on your budget - cheaper lenses focus a little slower than those that are more expensive.
- Moisture protection. The cost depends on how protected your lens is from rain, fog and other moisture.
- Diaphragm hole. Experts advise using as much as possible for better image quality.
- Bayonet mount. At the discretion of the buyer - a tripod. It is much easier to work with him, photos are obtained without blur due to hand tremor.
Extra features
When buying the right lens, it is worth (in addition to the main ones) to be guided by additional features of the choice:
- Aperture. By adjusting this function, it becomes possible to shoot dark rooms or events without using an additional flash, which significantly improves image quality compared to a picture taken with the flash.
- Image stabilization. If at hand there is no necessary attribute for any camera - tripod, then this function is almost mandatory in every lens. It stabilizes the image (hence the name), avoiding any effects of camera shake.
- Full-frame or cropped lenses. Cropped lenses are used, as a rule, for amateur cameras, they do not imply a large image, make it more compressed. Full-frame ones are considered more professional in this case, because they significantly expand the boundaries of the image.
Thus, there are many more factors by which you can choose a decent lens, even budget or amateur.
Lens manufacturers
There are really many manufacturers, cameras and lenses (and not only) which you can choose. Here, the manufacturers themselves are divided into two groups: budget and expensive. Now we will analyze in more detail.
More budget ones include: Samayang, Kenko, Tamron. The quality of these manufacturers is not at a high level, but this is a great option for those who need to learn to take pictures, or just photography enthusiasts. But for those who want to try something more than just photographing on an amateur camera with a lens (and sometimes without), there are types of lenses "Nikon", "Samsung" and many others.
Manufacturers that are distinguished by their quality and price are, for example, Nikon, Canon, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Sigma, Pentax. All of them are of better quality, many photographers make purchases from these companies. Types of Nikon lenses, for example, have much better quality than Kenko.
It is worth noting that even the most expensive camera in the world will become nothing if it is used by an unprofessional photographer. Still, expensive cameras along with lenses are worth buying for those for whom photography is not only a hobby, but also a way to earn money and develop their professionalism. For example, the types of Canon lenses imply their use for high-end photography. In addition, you need to remember that any camera of an expensive brand will not fit the lens of another manufacturer.
The types of lenses and their functional differences always affect image quality. But there are also some points that affect the photo. Distortion, for example, is the distortion of straight lines that are located at the edges of the frame. Distortion can be divided into such types as “barrel” and “pillow”, that is, the lines in the photo are bent, becoming similar to these objects. The manifestation of distortions directly depends on the lenses themselves, so they should be selected very carefully. You can get rid of distortions using the Photoshop program, but manufacturers of equipment are also actively struggling with this manifestation of distortion.
Using cameras and lenses
For many, a photograph is simply an image with some object or person. But there are many people for whom a photo is a way of self-expression, a way to reveal beauty where no one sees it, or just capture those moments that you want to remember forever.
In the modern world, the use of professional cameras and lenses is typical for professional photographers, for whom photographing is just a job. Now lovers are more soulful for photographs, but who knows, perhaps this article will help some to realize more substantial dreams than photographing with cheap cameras.
There are as many types of lenses for cameras as there are cameras, maybe even more. To some extent, the right choice of equipment guarantees not only a high-quality image, but also ease of use, comfort of storage and transportation. This also applies to the types of lenses of video cameras - the better, the better the video will turn out.
Therefore, any business that you start, any business that you want to devote your time to, should be based on your skills and desires. And such things as help in choosing the same lens will always be in the public domain, so that all novice photographers can find this information useful to themselves.