Photo Lenses - Choosing a lens

Choosing Camera Lenses - an Informed Choice

When you walk into a camera store or look at a catalogue you'l probably be overwhelmed by the choice of lenses for your new camera.

There are two basic choices to make;

1 - do you want lenses from the manufacturer (often higher quality)

2 - do you want an alternative makers lens (cheaper)

Before you make that choice though decide if you want :

A; a PRIME lens (thats one with a fixed focal length which will give you sharper clearer pictures0

B: A Zoom lens (often in two ranges - about 28mm to 70 mm and 70mm to 200 or 300 mm)

The first one is for fairly closeup work like portraits,groups and pictures of houses and nearby trees.

The longer zoom lens is for mostly sports,animal and wildlife pictures.

There is a third kind of zoom lens which is quite popular - a 28mm to 300mm zoom - that will cover most things.

Zoom lenses from top camera companies like Nikon,Canon,Olympus,Leica etc are of very high quality. They are also expensive.

Prime lenses from the same companies are usually less expensive and give maginally better results. It may be possible to use lenses from non-digital cameras of the same make on your digital camera. This can be less expensive.

Third Party lenses from companies like Sigma and Tamron are about on a par with top manufacturers but are a little cheaper.

Third party lenses from less well known companies may not be up to the high optical standards set by the previously mentioned companies.

If you are buying a new camera outfit then ask if there are any deals available for a complete outfit with wide-angle and telephoto zoom or prime lenses.

There are excellent bargains available on 500mm film camera lenses (for wildlife photography) and you'll see these mostly on Ebay.
However you REALLY need a Tripod to use any long lens and not get camera shake (blurred photos)

If you mainly want to photograph things to sell on Ebay or to photograph closeups of wildlife then go for a Macro lens - either 55mm or 105mm .

Some zoom lenses come with a macro option but these are often not of quite as good quality.

So it's really up to you to think what you want to do with a new lens.

People pictures - wide angle zoom

Portraits - 105mm or 200 mm lens to avoid making the nose look bigger.

Wildlife - between 200 and 500mm lens

Architecture - You really need a wide angle shift lens that will prevent the verticals appearing to meet - these are very expensive.

A list follows of a number of lenses that I recommend

Do you need a new macro lens ?

Devices for taking close-up photos

Sometimes it can be cheaper to buy a new camera than a new lens (especially with digital cameras.)

For instance, the Fuji digital slr was recently being offered at £ 125 including lens and this camera also had macro and short video capability. As the cheapest quality macro lens is more than double that , it's obviously cheaper to buy the Fuji camera rather than a macro lens.
Look for bargains like these on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk or Ebay and you'll get a really good deal.

If you only need a macro lens rarely, it is MUCH cheaper to buy a close-up lens for your slr camera (I don't recommend using a close-up lens for anything other than an slr camera.)
You'll get close-up shots of fairly good quality for a minimal outlay - around $ 20 if you shop around.
The snag is that you get a limited depth of field (area thats sharp) and some distortion (OK - lots of distortion !) at the corners of the pictures. But its worth a try anyway.
The third way to get closeup pictures is to use extension tubes or lens reversers. Extension tubes ar a small tube that screws between your lens and the camera body. These work but the picture gets dark and they are very hard to use without a tripod.
They are not available for all cameras and you MUST use the manufacturers extension tubes to avoid damaging the linking mechanism between your lens and the camera body. The same goes for reversing rings. Reversing rings crew onto the front of your lens and have a thread or fitting on the othjer side that connects to your camera body. Again it's possible to damage your camera body if you use the wrong one (reversing rings for film camera will often NOT fit onto digital camera bodies)

If you are in ANY doubt about fitting these the go to one of the major photo-forums or a large dealer and seek advice. Do not trust the word of a shop assistant - they may only have been working there for a week ! (I know - I've worked in several camera shops !)

Macro Special !

The Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX Macro delivers superb, distortion-free images throughout its broad focus range, from infinity telephoto to 1: 1 (life-size) macro, as close as 12.3" without accessories. Its non-rotating front lens group makes it easier to work with polarizing filters and has a focus limiter. A "focus-free" mechanical design allows the lens to auto focus without any interference from the manual focus ring. This makes it easier to hold the lens without affecting the speed or normal operation of the autofocus function. Rugged mechanical construction also makes it durable enough for even the heaviest use required by professional photographers. The Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX Macro features the new deluxe external EX finish. These features and other Sigma optical advances, including an uncommonly broad range of focus, make this an ideal lens for a wide variety of applications, from nature photography to portraits. A handy screw-in type metal sunshade makes it easier to rotate a polarizing filter.

Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Medium Telephoto Macro Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $381.75 (as of 07/26/2008)

Spy and Wildlife Lenses !

Both spies and Wildlife photographers have a similar problem - how to photograph a subject from a distance without being killed or scaring away the subject (in the case of wildlife photographers it's usually big cats or elephants !)
The answer is a telephoto lens - these start at 200 mm and go up to thousands of millimetres focal length. The higher the number,the longer the lens and the nigger the image in your camera.
Long lenses jiggle about and the longer the lens,the lmore they jiggle - which gives you fuzzy blurred photos. You can counteract this with a tripod (best but has to be a heavy one to work properly) or a monopod (ok but wavers around a little unless you stick it into the ground - but better than nothing ) A monopod can also be used to smack muggers across the shins - it really DOES stop them in their tracks.(Don't go for the body or they'll grab the monopod and hit YOU with it !) The shins REALLY hurt....and they can't walk after for about 5 minutes. Back to the subject - distance photography.
If you have a Canon,Nikon or one of the other major brands of camera you can get a convertor to use a telescope or binoculars to your camera. The results will depend on the quality of the telescope or binoculars but can be excellent - again use a tripod. With that setup you can also photograph the Moon and some planets...
Always set your camera to a high asa setting to minimise camera shake (although picture quality will suffer a little)

Sigma Telephoto Lens Offer for Canon SLRs Save 70$

Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG Macro Lens

The Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG Macro Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras is a telephoto lens that offers excellent cost performance and is optimized for use with digital SLR cameras. Capable of macro photography, this lens has a 1:2 maximum close-up magnification at the 300 millimeter focal length. It's the ideal high performance lens for portraits, sports photography, nature photography, and other types of photography that frequently use the telephoto range. The lens features a switch for changeover to macro photography at focal lengths between 200 millimeters and 300 millimeters, with a maximum close-up magnification from 1:2.9 to 1:2.

The multi-layer lens coating and lens design reduce flare and ghosting, which is a common problem with digital cameras, and it also creates an optimum color balance through the entire zoom range. The minimum focusing distance is 59 inches at all zoom settings. The lens features a switch for changeover to macro photography at focal lengths between 200 millimeters and 300 millimeters with a maximum close-up magnification. Without changing the distance between camera and subject, you can change the shooting magnification.

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Filters on eBay

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Essential Filters

Protect your new lens with a filter

When you buy your new lens you'll want it to stay in prime condition - thats only natural. But in the excitement of getting the GREAT SHOT - its possible that you'll just slip it into your camerabag with all the other junk (oops - essential accessories) you keep in there. This could include car keys,lipstick,other lenses,flashgun etc etc. These can SCRATCH the front element of your lens and this can SERIOUSLY degrade the quality of the photo you get. Othere things can scratch the lens too - like banging it on a wall,your kids putting peanut butter and jelly on it and your new puppy biting it (all have happened !).

The answer is a UV Filter and this is really just a flat piece of optical glass that screws on the front of yur lens.You'll need the right size of course and this is either on the rim of your new lens or in the manufacturers manual/sheet of paper/website.

BEWARE - not all filters are the same. Manufacturers filters are best (but a bit expensive) . I use Hoya filters and have found these good. Some manufacturers may have slightly tinted glass especially on the cheap filters) and if you are buying in a store then just take a piece of white paper with you and lay the filters on it side by side - you may be surprised at the variation (and save yourself lots of time in Photoshop !)
German,French and Japanes manufacturers are generally equal to manufacturers in quality .
So save your lenses with a filter.
(You generally don't need a filter for the back of the lens as this is usually well recessed in the lens body .)

Bargains on Amazon

Lens and digital camera Bargains

Fujifilm Finepix S700 7.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom

Amazon Price: $154.00 (as of 07/26/2008)

Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $222.94 (as of 07/26/2008)

Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $1,360.00 (as of 07/26/2008)

Wide Angle Lenses - do you need one ?

A wide angle lens gets more in your photos

That is, it will usually show you more than the angle you can see with your naked eye.
A typical standard lens is around 45mm for a digital camera (remember that digital camera lenses are slightly different from film camera lenses as they tend to use only the central portion of the film plane. A 45 mm lens will show you roughly the view you would see yourself. Wider angle lenses will go down to about 10 mm and these will give varying angles that will show more of your subject
(what's the point of that ? - you may want to photograph inside a room or the outside of a building in a narrow street and a wideangle lens enables you to do that)
Generally speaking the wider the lens,the more distorted your picture will be - any lens less tha 20 mm will often give you very strange looking corners (I call them bendy corners !) There are wide angle lenses called shift lenses and these mechanically move the lens up and dow or side to sid to counteract this. They are really expensive... do not try to use one for a film camera on a digital camera or you may have a huge repair bill,

A good compromise is a wide angle zoom lens and these are usually good quality. I have a 24 to 59mm zoom lens and this covers 90% of my needs.You can buy one of these on ebay at a reasonable price - try to get the manufacturers lens or one by a major lens company like Sigma or Tamron.
Lense that screw onto the front of your own lens will alter the focal length of your lens but you will be disappointed in the results from them.
Stick to a fixed focal length or a zoom lens.
You can take advantage from the slight distortion that wide angle lenses give in some subjects - for instance any speed picture taken with them ( a race or a rollercoaster for instance) will appear even more active and give the impression you are actually inside the picture.

Canon Wide Angle Lenses on Amazon

Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX DG IF HSM Aspherical Super Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLRs

Amazon Price: $710.00 (as of 07/26/2008)

Tamron Autofocus 17-35mm f/2.8-4 DI LD Super Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Canon

Amazon Price: $299.00 (as of 07/26/2008)

Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM Wide Angle Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $420.00 (as of 07/26/2008)

Sigma Zoom Super Wide Angle AF 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro Autofocus Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $399.00 (as of 07/26/2008)

Nikon Wide angle lenses on Amazon

Wide angle lenses give better results with PRIME lenses (a prime lens is a fixed focal length)
Zoom lenses are more useful for general use though.

Nikon 35mm f/2D AF Wide-Angle Nikkor Lens for Nikon 35mm and Digital SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $299.99 (as of 07/26/2008)

Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX DG IF HSM Aspherical Super Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $305.30 (as of 07/26/2008)

Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $273.84 (as of 07/26/2008)

NIKON 14MM f/2.8D ED AF Ultra Wide Angle Nikkor Lens

Amazon Price: $1,299.95 (as of 07/26/2008)

Nikon 24mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Amazon Price: $305.83 (as of 07/26/2008)

14mm Lens for Nikon

NIKON 14MM f/2.8D ED AF Ultra Wide Angle Nikkor Lens

Technical Details

* Hybrid aspherical lens elements and ED glass elements
* RF (Rear Focus) system for superior performance
* Rectilinear design provides straight line subject rendition
* Built-in flower design lens hood
* F-Stop Range - 2.8-22

Amazon Price: $1,299.95 (as of 07/26/2008)

Sigma 14mm f/2.8 EX HSM RF Aspherical Ultra Wide Angle Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras

This large aperture F2.8 lens has an angle of view of 114 and it makes high quality images a reality.This large aperture lens offers an outstanding cost performance and has an angle of view of 114.Equipped with SLD lens glasses and aspherical lenses for high image quality. 2 elements of aspherical lenses and 2 elements of SLD glass is being used to compensate aberrations and vignetting.It has minimum focusing distance is 18cm(7.1in.), and maximum magnification ratio of 1: 4.5.The HSM models for Sigma, Nikon and Canon mount provide ultra quiet high-speed autofocusing as well as full-time manual focus override. An inner focus system provides high performance and convenience. The lens also incorporates a built-in lens hood and a gelatin filter holder behind the rear lens element.

Amazon Price: (as of 07/26/2008)

Wide Angle Lenses on eBay

There are usually hundreds of wide angle lenses on ebay. Be careful about buying any lenses that are scratched on the front element as this is often a sign that the lens has been droppped and can give inferior quality

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Buy or Sell Microstock Photos at Big Stock Photo

UV Filters on eBay

UV filters prtect your expensive lens from harm

It's cheaper to buy a new filter than a new lens - ALWAYS keep a uv filter on each of your lenses.

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Great Stuff on CafePress

Photo Gear

Photo Related Sweatshirts etc

Tiger Cub Large Poster

This really Cute Tiger Cub makes this a Super Gift for anyone who likes Tigers

Price: 22.99

Cute Cocker Spaniels Mousepad

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Cute Cocker Spaniels Postcards (Package of 8)

Postcard Cocker Spaniels It was THIS wide

Price: 8.99

Great Lens deals on eBay

You can get great deals on lenses on Ebay.

Choose the lens to suit your camera not the other way round !

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New Guestbook

Janet21

Very thorough and helpful lens. Nice job!

Posted March 13, 2008

flowski

Excellent tips for selecting a lens for your SLR camera, thanks for the informative guide!

Posted December 04, 2007

klapskie

very nice lens, I love photography also. For me, I prefer conventional cameras than the digital ones. More stars!
muchos kudos!

Posted July 31, 2007

Nikon D50 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor Lens

18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED Lens / D50 is the smallest, more...0 points

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Photo Lenses - Choosing a lens

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Choosing Camera Lenses - an Informed Choice

Explore related pages

Do you need a new macro lens ?

Devices for taking close-up photos

Macro Special !

Spy and Wildlife Lenses !

Sigma Telephoto Lens Offer for Canon SLRs Save 70$

Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG Macro Lens

Filters on eBay

Essential Filters

Protect your new lens with a filter

Bargains on Amazon

Wide Angle Lenses - do you need one ?

A wide angle lens gets more in your photos

Canon Wide Angle Lenses on Amazon

Nikon Wide angle lenses on Amazon

14mm Lens for Nikon

Wide Angle Lenses on eBay

Buy or Sell Microstock Photos at Big Stock Photo

UV Filters on eBay

UV filters prtect your expensive lens from harm

Great Stuff on CafePress

Photo Gear

Great Lens deals on eBay

You can get great deals on lenses on Ebay.

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