Choosing the Right Lens for the Right Photograph

A SWISS Army Knife is a terrific tool that is useful for a lot of tasks, but don’t try to tile a kitchen with one. Some jobs require specialized tools. And so it is with camera lenses.

FUNNY FACE This pic was shot with a fisheye lens.

Fisheyes are used for offbeat pics and to shoot restricted spaces indoors or wide expanses outdoors.

Macro lenses are used for small subjects like insects at close range.

The lenses that come with most digital single-lens reflex cameras are competent at a variety of shots, but not outstanding at any one of them. If you want to take extraordinary portraits, close-ups, landscapes or you-name-it, a fast route to success is to purchase a specialized lens.

Which lens to purchase depends on what kind of shots you intend to take. Shorter lenses take in a wider panorama for things like interiors. Longer lenses bring distant objects closer for photographs, say, of wildlife.

In general, the more light a lens lets in, the better it is. That extra light makes it possible to photograph in low-light situations, like taking shots around a campfire at night. You can tell low-light capability of a lens by its “f” number. The lower the number, the more light it takes in, and the speedier it is stated to be, the more it usually costs. So an f1.8 lens takes in more light than an f2.8 lens.

A lens actually contains a collection of several lenses. Manufacturers often save money by using some plastic lenses, but all-glass lenses are better. The weight of a lens is a tip-off; the heavier it is, the better. While cost alone is no guarantee of good quality, lenses of similar size can have wide differences in price — sometime in the thousands of dollars. Generally, the more costly lenses are faster and have optics of higher quality.

Finally, whether buying a wide-angle or telephoto lens, a digital camera’s sensor creates a complication. Back when people used 35-millimeter film, all cameras gave the same magnification from a lens of a particular length — a 200-millimeter lens was a 200-millimeter lens.

But that magnification was based on the relationship between the size of the film (or sensor) and the length of the lens.

Most sensors on digital S.L.R.’s are smaller than 35 millimeters, so, in effect, the lenses act like they are longer and magnify more than the 35-millimeter equivalent. That means wide-angle lenses have to be wider to get the same result they did on film. Long telephoto lenses will act as if they are longer.

To grant an apples-to-apples comparison, companies offer a conversion number that tells digital users what the equivalent lens would be on a 35-millimeter film camera. For instance, if the conversion number is 1.5, a 200-millimeter telephoto lens will have the effect of a 300-millimeter lens on a 35-millimeter camera.

Here is a description of some lenses and the kinds of photographs they take.

FISHEYE Extreme wide-angle lenses, some fisheyes take in a 180-degree view. This distorts what is in the frame but is useful for capturing small, cluttered spaces indoors or vast expanses outdoors. They can also be used for comical portraits.

WIDE-ANGLE These are called “the story-telling lens.” Less wide than fisheyes, they still capture a lot of territory and because of the short focal length, they can keep the foreground and background in focus at the same time. Useful for travel photos.

PRIME Prime lenses have no zoom mechanism. Because they have fewer elements and moving parts, high-speed prime lenses can be purchased for much less money than zoom lenses of similar speed. The advantage of speed is twofold. The lenses are better in low light and it is easier to take pics where the subject is in focus and everything else looks artfully blurred. These lenses come in everything from wide-angle to telephoto, but the most popular length is the 50 millimeter, which is great for portraits with a digital S.L.R. camera that has the most common size sensor.

MACRO Macro lenses let photographers capture little subjects at close range. They are commonly used for close-up work like photographing flowers or insects.

TELEPHOTO A telephoto lens brings distant objects close. It is the lens to use for bird-watching as well as field sports, or the occasional passing jet formation.

source : www.nytimes.com

Choosing the Right Lens for the Right Photograph

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