So how do you get the best out of a kit lens? My approach is to think of it as two lenses in one. If you have a kit lens that ranges from 18mm to 55mm the standard kit lens focal length , then treat it as an 18mm lens and a 55mm lens in one body. The 18mm is a moderate wide-angle lens that is great for landscapes , architecture , and environmental portraiture.
The 55mm end makes for a short telephoto lens , ideal for compressing perspective when taking portraits or closing in on small details. But by sticking with the short and long end of the lens, you will learn how those focal lengths behave. Image stabilization lets you take photos at slower shutter speeds than would otherwise be possible. You can see how I got in close to the subject, sometimes even tilting the lens backward to take advantage of the effect of the converging verticals.
They have a completely different quality, thanks to the compressed perspective and limited depth of field.
At some point, you will bump up against these limitations. Running into limitations is not a bad thing. Slow autofocus: The autofocus on kit lenses tends to be slower and noisier than autofocus on more expensive lenses. If you want your photos to look natural, standard is the way to go. A 50mm lens is generally considered to be the closest to what the human eye sees, although some will argue a 35mm is closer. Regardless, both produce beautiful, natural-looking photographs.
Additionally, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm are common focal lengths for inexpensive prime lenses especially 50mm. This is great because it's a way to find lenses with wide maximum apertures e. If you're looking to take portraits or close-ups of nature, a 50mm offers the most options. Many prefer 85mm for portraits, however, as it flattens the depth of the image even more and depth isn't particularly flattering to the human face—just look what a fish eye lens does and you can see. Regardless of what you choose, everyone should have a lens in the standard range.
While they may not offer special features, they're rarely a bad choice for most types of photos. When you need to get closer but can't, you pick up a telephoto lens. While you have the great advantage of getting closer to your subject without physically moving, telephoto lenses flatten depth to the point where it may look a little unrealistic. Consider this example: if you photographed two people walking towards you and one was many meters behind the other, a telephoto lens could make it look like both people were almost next to each other.
Flattened space isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's important to know a telephoto lens causes it so you can take that into account before using one. As you can see in the example to the right, telephotos can isolate single subjects beautifully even when they're far away. If you choose a telephoto lens, make sure to spend the extra money and get one with optical stabilization.
Everything is magnified by a telephoto lens, including the small movements of your hands and body when holding the camera. You'll end up with a lot of motion blur if the camera isn't stabilized, and since you won't have a tripod with you at all times you can save yourself some ruined images if the lens can help stabilize itself.
Super telephoto lenses can shoot the moon. When you want to photograph something that's really far off, this is the type of lens you need. Super telephoto lenses have the same pros and cons of regular telephoto, but to more of an extreme. If you're not aiming as far away as the stars, you can achieve some cool effects such as those seen in the example to the right. The background is, essentially, obliterated and reduced to an incredibly smooth blur.
Because telephoto lenses flatten space more than any other type, you can achieve beautiful selective focus in your images. Some lenses offer additional features on top of their focal length that can create interesting effects. Macro lenses allow you to focus on an object that's incredibly close—often times closer than the human eye can see. Tilt-shift lenses selectively focus on an area of the image and create a miniaturization effect. These two types are the most popular, but you'll find more if you start exploring.
For example, Lens Baby offers its own brand of selective focus lenses that can create blur in parts of the image that a standard lens cannot achieve. Special lenses can be a lot of fun, but since you're just starting out you'll likely want to avoid them. They not only add more cost but more complexity to the process of capturing an image.
When you're purchasing lenses, start with the basics. Once you have more control over a regular lens you'll be able to do more with a lens that has a special feature or two. If you want to learn more about the basics of photography, you should also check out our night school course. There's a lot to learn, but you can pick it up quickly if you keep practicing.
The great thing about photography is that you can do it almost anywhere. Enjoy whatever new lens or lenses you choose and have fun testing their possibilities. My Nikon D50 kit came with an 18 - 55 and a 55 - I quickly learned that I was taking a ton of pictures where I wanted a focal length between about 35 and 75 mm.
I was swapping all the time or missing pictures. So I upgraded to an 18 - f3. I really like the overlap - much less switching and the new ones had vibration reduction tech which is important especially at long focal lengths since the glass obviously isn't all that fast.
These do not mount on Canon cameras with mirrors. These letter combinations are unique to the manufacturer. Here are a few ways different lens makers abbreviate lens specifications.
Many lenses have buttons and dials that include numbers and letter abbreviations. On a zoom lens , you will have a ring that changes the focal length. Sometimes you will also have an aperture dial on the lens. Twist the dial to change the aperture. Some lenses let you turn on and off image stabilisation. Landscape photographers often turn this off when mounting a camera on a tripod.
You may alter the focusing distance or toggle between auto and manual focus on the lens. It is important to know what all the letters and number of your camera lens mean. Each lens manufacturer has a unique way of labelling lens features. At the least, you can expect to see the maximum aperture f-stop and focal length labelled on the lens. You may also see other features of the lens, including the mount.
When buying a new lens, look carefully at every letter and number. Each holds valuable information. Leaving your camera on its default settings will produce blurry results. Share with friends Share. Show Comments 12 Hide Comments. Related Articles. If you're interested in taking pet photos, a photography cheat sheet is very helpful. Although pet photo shoots are a lot of fun, they can…. What Is Exposure in Photography? And Why it Matters!
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