To regularly take excellent photos, one must have a solid understanding of focal lengths in photography. Although the figures don't provide a whole picture, they do provide us with some crucial information. These focal length figures indicate where a lens falls on the wide-angle, standard, or telephoto scale, depending on the format of our camera. It's also crucial to understand the differences between the terms "wide-angle," "telephoto," "zoom," and "normal" lenses. What qualities may we anticipate from utilizing these lenses? What impact will they have on our pictures?

First, we must match those figures to the format that we are employing. Let's start by examining a 50mm lens as an example. The full-frame 35mm digital or film format is the only one that truly fits the description of the "Nifty Fifty" normal lens. It is telephoto if we use a 50mm focal length with an APS-C or MFT format camera. Wide-angle lenses, like the 50mm lens designed for medium format cameras, are exceptionally wide-angle on big format. Therefore, a key consideration when choosing a lens for your photography is the format you intend to use. We will also explain why not all lenses are able to cover the different formats. We'll look at the differences between wide-angle, telephoto, regular, and zoom lenses in this guide. Let's begin with standard lenses.

In any case, what is normal?
A normal lens, as it relates to photography, has a focal length equal to the diagonal measurement.The film frame's 24 by 36 mm rectangle has a diagonal measurement of roughly 43 mm for 35mm film photography. Therefore, according to this definition, a full-frame 35mm lens is 43mm. What makes a 50mm lens the most popular standard focal length for this format, then? Saying that it mimics what the eye perceives is only one part of the solution. Because the human eye itself is a complex piece of equipment. Although the eye's field of vision is incredibly broad, our brains have a tendency to ignore unnecessary information.

You are currently gazing at the screen of your computer or other device as an experiment. What you are looking at is a quite small field of vision. Your peripheral vision is still rather broad, though, if you take the time to observe. As a result, it is inaccurate to define normal as what the eye perceives. However, we are not paying attention to our peripheral vision. Most of the time, it is essentially simply background noise. As a result, our real field of view and our field of focus are very different.

The Nifty Fifty
The 50mm lens is back. A 50mm lens produces an image in full-frame 35mm photography that is very similar to what we would anticipate seeing in an undistorted perspective of the scene. This encompasses both angular field of view and perceived perspective. The simplicity of the optical formula is another benefit of using a 50mm lens for 35mm photography. Additionally, the scene as seen via the viewfinder of a 35mm DSLR or mirrorless ILC seems nearly exactly as it would appear to your eye. All of this debate and practical implementation led to the 50mm focal length for 35mm film photography being referred to as a "normal" lens. The Nifty Fifty. The Nifty Fifty is compatible with all contemporary full-frame 35mm digital cameras, including the Sony a7R, Nikon D5, Canon EOS 1DX, and others, since they share the same format as 35mm film.

According to the same logic, a 4x5 inch film or digital format camera would need 150mm, a medium format camera like the Hasselblad X1D uses 80mm as standard, and 35mm lenses would be standard on cameras that use the smaller APS-C digital format, such the Fujifilm XT-3. The optical equations used for regular lenses also have the benefit of making it very easy to develop low-cost lenses that work with cameras. It is also possible to make these lenses faster while staying within what many of us believe to be a fair pricing range.

Expert Advice
Having a fast normal lens is a wonderful option if you can only bring one lens. Any apparent limitations will be solved by skillful technique and creative camera positioning. Determining what normal is aids in defining other focal lengths. Wide-angle: what is it? Telephoto: What is it? What is a zoom?

Definitions for Lens Focal Length
Now we may informally construct various lens types while keeping in mind crop factors and their computations for whichever format we're using. To keep things simple, we will assume that full-frame 35mm film or digital is our preferred format in this post. One could think of wide-angle lenses as having a shorter focal length than typical lenses. The previously indicated 43mm focal length provides a significantly larger angle of vision because we're defining 50mm as standard. Therefore, the normal range for our definitions will be between 40 and 60 mm. We do get a larger field of vision using lenses that are shorter than this focal length. A 35mm lens will have a little wide angle, a 24mm lens will have a considerable wide angle, and a 15mm lens will have an exceptionally wide angle.Objects appear less magnified in the film view compared to our naked eye perception. A fisheye lens presents a very distorted extremely wide angle of view.

Pro Tip
Since 35mm lenses aren’t very wide-angle, some photographers will use 35mm as their normal lens. Many small, fast, reasonably priced 35mm lenses are available in various camera lens mounts. A telephoto lens (long focus) will have a narrow angle of view and will magnify objects in the image frame. In technical terms, telephoto refers to a specific optical design for long focus lenses. Since few photographers make that distinction nowadays, we’ll stick with the label telephoto.

Zoom Lens
Zoom simply means that the focal length of the lens is variable. In popular speech, people refer to “zooming in” on something, which is one correct use of the term. It can be confusing to beginner photographers, though. Simply put, a zoom lens does not always mean telephoto or great magnification. It actually specifically refers to the fact that the focal length can be changed. A lens can be a wide-angle zoom, such as the 17-24mm. Or a telephoto zoom, such as a 70-200mm. One common lens is a normal range zoom such as a 24-70mm lens, also called a wide to short telezoom or multi-use lens. This is the range most kit lenses are, too.

Pro Tip
Prime lenses, or single focal length lenses, are preferred by some photographers over a zoom that has the desired focal length. Reasons include superior image sharpness, faster lens speed, and smaller lens size. Your mileage may vary. Several manufacturers, including third-party lens makers, have a trio of fast and sharp zoom lenses that can cover a wide variety of photographic situations. Look at examples similar to the 14-24/2.8, 24-70/2.8, and 70-200/2.8 lenses from Sony, Nikon, and Canon. Some photographers will prefer a 16-35/2.8 at the wide end. Fast enough for most uses, very sharp, and heavy duty construction make them a desirable ‘Holy Trinity’ of zoom lenses.

Wide-Angle Lens
Wide-angle lenses provide a wider field of view compared to a normal lens. This also means that things appear further away due to less magnification. A wide lens is often used for situations where we want to show more of the scene in front of us in the final image. Some examples are a scenic vista of a rural scene, an interior room for a real estate listing, or a group portrait of an office staff. You could also use one for a creative look at a subject. Since wide-angle lenses can deliver a very large depth of focus, it opens up subject placement close to the camera while still having the background in focus.

Let’s talk about depth of field. All things being equal, a smaller f-stop or lens aperture will give us more things in focus in front and behind the focus point. Things are not equal when you start changing focal lengths. From the same camera location, you will have more depth of field with a wider lens. However, magnification is less, so subjects look smaller or further away. Interestingly, optical science states that if you keep the image magnification the same, the depth of focus stays constant, too. This requires changing camera position though.

Pro Tip
Using hyperfocal distance calculations helps you maximize or minimize depth of field. A DOF calculator that you can access on your smartphone is a handy tool. One of the other aspects of wide-angle lenses is the apparent perspective effects and distortion seen in certain images. This is especially evident in portraits and closeups. Moving in close to fill the frame when using a wide-angle lens will make subjects look distorted. For instance, a frame-filling closeup of a person’s face with a wide-angle lens will make the subject’s nose, forehead, or chin appear disproportionately large compared with the rest of the image. Generally, this is not a flattering look for portraits. This can be a very useful technique for other types of photography, such as landscapes or architecture.

Extreme Wide-Angle Lens
Somewhere between the common wide-angle lenses and specialty fisheye lenses are lenses that have an extreme wide angle of view without a whole lot of distortion. They are sometimes referred to as rectilinear wide-angles, meaning they reproduce straight lines instead of curved lines in the image. These lenses tend to be somewhat expensive, but they are worth the price to those that need the undistorted coverage.

Fisheye Lens
Optical designers usually tend to try to minimize distortion in their wide-angle lenses. A fisheye lens is an extreme wide-angle lens with little or no distortion correction. Without the constraints of attempting correction, a lens design can cover an extremely wide angle of view. While well-corrected wide-angle lenses can cover 100 degrees or so, a fisheye lens often covers a full 180 degrees. Some fisheye lenses can cover even more. The Nikon 6mm fisheye covers 220 degrees!

Pro Tip
Fisheye lenses are wonderful tools for spherical panoramic images and for astronomy, science, and industry. You can also use them for other images, including fun photos.

Short (Portrait) Telephoto Lens
A short telephoto lens is a longer lens than a normal lens, but not much more than two or three times the length. They are often referred to as portrait telephotos, though you can use them for any type or imaging. A focal length of 85mm, 100mm, or 135mm is common for this type of lens. The apparent perspective of short telephotos is what makes them desirable for portrait photography. Just as a wide-angle used up close tends to exaggerate and elongate facial features, using a short telephoto lens from a further distance tends to foreshorten perspective, resulting in a pleasing perspective. Short telephoto lenses at a wide aperture are also capable of limiting depth of field. This is another factor that makes them great portrait lenses, but it also makes them a good choice for other types of photography.

Pro Tip
Isolating a subject from the background will emphasize the subject by reducing distractions. A fast short telephoto will allow you to do this easily. Besides the perspective issues and depth of field concerns, using a short telephoto lens lets you highlight part of a scene over other parts. This is useful in architectural and scenic nature views, as you can emphasize the interest you wish to convey.

Telephoto Lens
Focal lengths longer than about 135mm are a little bit more little limited in use than lenses closer to normal range. For some photographers, though, these lenses are their most used tools. What type of photography benefits from longer telephotos? Sports and wildlife come to mind, for sure, but travel photography can make good use of longer telephoto lenses as well. Anytime you, as a photographer, need more magnification or subject isolation, a longer telephoto lens is a good choice. A telephoto lens in this range can be used to isolate a portion of the view in a landscape or cityscape for a powerful image.

Since there is noticeable foreshortening or compression by the time you get into this range of lenses, you can use that creatively for interesting perspective. You can make good use of this optical property in portraits. Wildlife and sports photographers will appreciate these lenses, especially if the lenses are fast. A fast telephoto will be bigger, heavier, and more pricey, but you can get around all of those drawbacks if you really need a fast telephoto. Good shooting techniques, versatile camera supports, and a workable budget will provide what you need.

Long (Super) Telephoto Lens
Super telephoto lenses are a specialty genre of lenses that have largely been out of reach for the average photographer. With the exception of some third-party and OEM lenses with very simple construction and slow f-stops, many of these lenses have historically been huge, heavy, and very expensive. A 400mm lens used to be quite the exotic lens choice but is now a very common focal length. Lenses from about 600mm to 1200mm and even 2000mm are firmly in the realm of the super telephoto label. Things have changed quite a bit concerning this type of lens. Many very affordable, lighter weight, and superb performing lenses in very long focal lengths are currently available from various lens makers.

The primary considerations when using a super telephoto lens are accurate focus and having a stable platform. Some of the newest lenses are even able to be handheld because of technology such as special glass elements allowing for compact designs and improved image stabilization. The same issues of limited depth of field and compression can either be a drawback to overcome, or a property to take advantage of for amazing images. Regardless of physical size or being able to use handheld, the narrow field of view is an optical property that is always going to be a factor. If you’ve ever tried to center a star in a telescope, you know how much work this may entail. Especially with regards to sports and wildlife photography, you need to develop great techniques to enable you to use super telephotos for any action.

Pro Tip
In order to make very long focal lengths in a compact size, lens makers have designed mirror lenses, also called catadioptric lenses. If you only need an ultra telephoto lens on rare occasions, and are willing to cope with the special properties of mirror lenses, take a look at this type of lens.

Multi-Use Zooms and Kit Lenses
We’ve already discussed zoom lenses above, but this is a type of zoom lens that many photographers find extremely useful. This lens will cover from moderately wide-angle, through the normal range, and on up to short telephoto, sometimes including macro focusing as a feature. Low-cost, lightweight versions are often packaged with a camera body as a ‘kit’ lens. In the full-frame 35mm format, lenses with focal lengths of 35-70mm, 28-70mm, 28-85mm, 35-105mm, and 24-120mm are some examples of lenses in this category. There is another category that also fits this use – all-in-one zooms. Focal lengths of 24-200mm and 28-300mm are a few of the options. Most all-in-one zooms are a little slow in regards to maximum f-stop, but they are a fantastic type of lens to take on a personal vacation. This type of lens seems to be more popular in APS-C and MFT formats than full-frame.

What makes a lens fall into the ‘kit lens’ category? Opinions can vary, but if it’s small enough and cheap enough to be offered in a budget-friendly package deal, I would see it as a kit lens. A kit lens is usually made with lighter duty materials, such as substituting plastic for heavier metals, and tends towards slower f-stops. To illustrate the differences, let’s look at two normal range zooms from one brand. The Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS versus the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM. The OSS lens with a variable maximum aperture is 1/3 the weight and about 1/4 the cost of the f/2.8 GM lens. Both are very sharp, but the less expensive lens sacrifices being robust and having a fast maximum aperture for being smaller, lighter, and lower cost. The same things can be found across the brands, including third-party lens makers. By the way, there are also telephoto zoom kit lenses and a few ultra-wide zoom kit lenses. The weight and price is usually a good indicator of whether or not it’s a kit lens.

Pro Tip
In terms of sharpness, kit lenses are often very fine performers. If you need faster aperture or heavier duty construction, though, you may need a pro series lens from your preferred brand.

Macro Lenses
A macro lens can be any focal length. Macro simply means that the lens has been designed specifically for ultra-close focusing and will often have optical corrections for the issues associated with close-focus work. Many zooms will be labeled as macro zooms. This usually is referring to close focus capability only and not special optical corrections, except for a few notable lenses. Two of the most common focal lengths for true macro lenses are 50mm and 100mm. The 50mm macro lenses are often smaller and faster than 100mm macro lenses. But the 100mm focal length gives you more room between camera and subject, which can help a lot with lighting.