Camera Lenses
Next to the camera body, your camera lenses are the second most important part of your camera. Selecting the right lens (or lenses) is essential for getting the shots you want. Selecting a new camera lens requires time and research because you have to consider several factors; desired focal length, lens speed, compatibility with your camera, and budget.

In this article on Camera Lenses Explained, our goal is to arm you with the information you’ll need to choose the most suitable lens for your needs. At some point in time, you may find yourself shopping for a new lens for either practical or creative reasons. The first step in the process is to determine the variables you need to take into account when selecting your new lens.

Camera Lenses
Next to the camera body, your camera lenses are the second most important part of your camera. Selecting the right lens (or lenses) is essential for getting the shots you want. Selecting a new camera lens requires time and research because you have to consider several factors; desired focal length, lens speed, compatibility with your camera, and budget.

In this article on Camera Lenses Explained, our goal is to arm you with the information you’ll need to choose the most suitable lens for your needs. At some point in time, you may find yourself shopping for a new lens for either practical or creative reasons. The first step in the process is to determine the variables you need to take into account when selecting your new lens.

The focal length of a camera lens, usually represented in millimeters or mm, is a description of the lens, but is not a measurement of the actual length of the lens. Focal length is a calculation of the optical distance from the point where light rays converge to form an in-focus image of the subject to the digital sensor in the camera.

The focal length of a lens is determined when the lens is focused at infinity. It basically tells us the angle of view, or how much of a scene will be captured, and the magnification (how large elements will be in the image). Longer focal lengths have a narrower angle of view and higher magnification. Shorter the focal lengths offer a wider angle of view and the lower or smaller the magnification.

Here are five apertures and their most common use;

17mm – Extreme Wide Angle (Architectural and landscape photography)
21-35mm – Wide Angle – (Landscape photography)
35-70mm – Normal Zoom (everyday photography)
70-135mm – Telephoto Zoom (Portraits)
135-300mm – Telephoto (Wildlife, Sports, and Bird photography)

Camera Lens Types

Keep in mind that depending on your needs, your lens selection can vary greatly. For example, a landscape photographer will need a different lens than a portrait photographer, and a photojournalist may need a different lens than a wedding photographer. Each section below will break down which lens is best for which style of photography.

You need to familiarize yourself with are the various types of lenses available for your camera and the various definitions. Before we go any further, we’re assuming you have or plan to purchase a digital camera the accommodates removable interchangeable lenses. There are five general categories of camera lenses;

Prime Lens

A prime lens has a single focal length. They are smaller and lighter than other lens. The most popular focal length is 50mm, which is supposed to be a close match to the magnification of the human eye.
For those who aren’t familiar with what a prime lens is, it is any lens with a fixed focal length. This category includes lenses such as the 50mm f/1.8, 35mm f/1.8, and the 85mm f/1.8.
Prime don’t zoom in and out due to their fixed focal length. But they produce sharper high quality images than zoom lenses.

Zoom Lens

Unlike a prime lens with a fixed focal length, zoom lenses have a variable focal length that can be adjusted. Some of the most popular zoom lens focal length ranges are 24-70mm and 24-85mm.
Wide-angle zoom lenses are usually 14-24mm and 16-35mm. Telephoto zoom lenses are typically 70-200mm.

If you are wanting to step up your image quality, you’ll want to find a faster lens (a lens with a faster aperture, i.e. f/2.8). Both Canon and Nikon offer a 24-70mm f/2.8. This wider aperture will give you the ability to shoot with a smaller depth of field. For more information on depth of field, click here. While this lens does have a similar focal range to the kit lens, the aperture advantage will greatly increase the quality of your photos.

These faster lenses contain higher quality internal components to produce much sharper images, bringing your photos from amateur to professional in no time. Having this versatile lens in your collection will allow you to capture a large variety of images from fairly wide landscape shots, down to close up macro-type photos.

Wide Angle Lenses

Similar to a Prime lens, a Wide Angle lens has a fixed focal length. These lenses have a short focal length (usually around 35mm) and a wide field of view. Ultra-wide angle lens are about 24mm or wider.
Wide-angle lenses allow your camera to capture more of the scene than a normal lens can and are ideal for landscape, nature, architecture, real estate, and interior photography.

Telephoto Lenses

A telephoto lens has a long reach, which allows you to shoot a subject that is far away. A lens is considered telephoto if it has a focal length of at least 60mm. Telephoto lenses come in a number of focal lengths from medium telephoto (70-200mm) to super telephoto (longer than 300mm).
These lenses can be either zoom or prime lenses. Telephoto lenses make your subject appear closer to your camera and they help emphasize a blurred background.

If you plan on focusing on sports or close-up nature photography, for example, then you should consider purchasing a telephoto zoom lens. These lenses fall in the range of 70-200mm f/2.8, depending on the brand, and can be extremely helpful when you are trying to capture your child on the soccer field, or take a photo of a far away animal in the woods.

One problem that may arise at the longer focal lengths is that it can become difficult to hold the camera steady enough to get a clear and sharp shot. Many of these lenses have built in optical image stabilization (sometimes referred to as vibration reduction) to help alleviate this problem. While it may cost a little more to purchase a lens with this feature, it will greatly increase the quality of your photos in the end.

Macro Lenses

A macro lens is for extremely close focusing distances and are capable of taking highly detailed images of tiny microscopic sized subjects like flowers, insects, products, jewellery, coins, and wildlife.
Macro lenses allow you to focus extremely close to your subject so it appears large in the viewfinder and image.

Another use for macro lenses is portraits (especially headshots and studio portraits). It is hard to beat the stunning sharpness of a macro lens.