A complete beginner's guide to different types of camera lenses.
Standard zoom lenses like the 24-70 or 24-105 have a versatile range that makes them great “walk-around lenses” and a good fit for many types of photography, such as portraits, landscapes, and travel. Photo by John Tunney.The Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II is a cheap kit lens that comes bundled with Canon’s entry-level APS-C DSLR cameras.
Superzooms have a bit more reach than a standard zoom, usually going from around 24mm or so out to around 200mm, though there are lenses that go well beyond this range too. This makes them more versatile than standard zooms, but what you gain in flexibility you lose in quality. Superzoom lenses often aren’t as sharp as standard zooms, especially in the corners of the frame. However, many people find them to be sharp enough, especially if all you’re doing is posting your pictures online.
Wide-angle lenses also exaggerate the size of things in the foreground. They make the things closest to you look big and things further away look small. You can use this effect creatively when composing your images. Wide-angle lenses can also distort the shape of things if you get too close. This can be a problem if you use a wide-angle lens for a close-up portrait. For example, the picture of the horse above was shot with a 24mm lens. Notice how big the horse’s nose appears in comparison to its legs. Photo by John Tunney.
Use a telephoto lens when you’re trying to photograph something in the distance and can’t get close enough, like with the picture of the surfer. Photo by John Tunney. However, if birds and other wildlife are a priority, you’ll be better off with a 100-400mm or 150-600mm lens. These are the workhorse lenses for wildlife. The 100-400 in particular is a versatile range. In addition to wildlife photography, the lens is found in the bags of many landscape photographers.
As mentioned, the advantage of prime telephotos over their zoom cousins is that they tend to be sharper and faster. For example, the fastest f-stop of the Canon RF 100-500 is f7.1 when fully extended. The Canon RF 600mm lens goes down to f2.8. This means it captures more light, so you’ll get less noise and be able to use a faster shutter speed.
Telephoto lenses also produce a shallower depth of field than other lenses. Consequently, the area in front of and behind your subject is likely to appear somewhat out of focus even if your subject is sharp. Use this effect creatively when composing. For example, if you want to take a picture of a flower and have a soft, blurry background, use a long lens.
Macro lenses are for close-up photography when you want to photograph small things or small details of things. Photo by John Tunney. Photos captured with a rectilinear lens and a curvilinear lens . Notice the straight lines in the rectilinear lens photo. Photo by Illya Ovchar.Fisheye lenses go in the opposite direction. They are ultra-wide angle lenses that intentionally distort the image by creating very curved lines.
When photographing a tall building, the vertical lines lean inward and converge near the top. A tilt-shift lens prevents this effect by letting you manually shift the lens, altering the plane of focus, in relation to the sensor. This makes the top of the building look as wide as the bottom, so the edges are straight parallel lines and don’t converge. You can achieve a similar effect in Photoshop or Lightroom, as was done in the image on the right. Photos by John Tunney.
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