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Tips to Take Better Thanksgiving Food Photography
Mon, Nov 25, 24
How to Choose the Best Lens for Your Camera
If you’ve purchased a camera that uses interchangeable lenses, you probably intend to eventually buy another lens. To help with your search for the next lens, ask yourself what you photograph the most and what you really want to photograph more of. If you’ve found your kit lens to be limiting your creativity, is it because you’re not able to fill your frame with wildlife you see in the distance? Or is it because you’re not able to capture the vastness of a stunning landscape? Maybe you’ve found yourself trying to take close-up shots of flowers and insects, but your kit lens doesn’t allow you to capture every drop of dew glistening on a beetle’s leg. What now? You obviously need more lenses. Figuring out which lenses will suit your specific needs isn’t always easy. That’s why we’ve listed the important features to look for when comparing lenses.
Focal Length
The first thing to consider when choosing your new lens is the focal length. The focal length is given in millimeters and specifies whether the lens is a wide angle or telephoto. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. If you want to grow as a wildlife photographer or adventure sports photographer shooting athletes from a distance, you’ll want a longer lens. With a telephoto lens from Beachcamera.com, you’ll naturally get closer to subjects far away. Telephoto lenses are also preferred for portraiture as they protect the facial proportions better than a wide angle. With a telephoto lens, it’s much easier to get a blurred background since they have less depth of field than wide angle lenses. Telephoto lenses usually have lower brightness and are more vulnerable to blurriness during the shoot if there is any camera shake. These lenses are usually physically larger than the wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses, on the other hand, are fine for nature photography when you want to capture more of the landscape. They’re usually good both in brightness and depth of field. These lenses are usually physically smaller and lighter than telephoto lenses. On the negative side the wide angle is not ideal for photographing portraits of people. A wide angle gives an impression of greater distance between what is close and what is distant, and it can make it look like the model has a bigger nose and sunken eyes. You’re also more likely to get distortion with a wide angle lens. The straight lines begin to bend into the edges of the image.
Fixed or Zoom
For most, the most appropriate choice would be a zoom lens. You get several focal lengths in the same lens and therefore you can get away with fewer lenses to meet your needs. Zoom lenses from Beachcamera.com always have two focal lengths specified, for example 18-55 mm, indicating the zoom range of the lens. If you want this translated into compact camera language, you can just divide the largest number by the smallest, which in the 18–55 mm case gives a zoom of about 3x. A fixed lens, on the other hand, has some advantages. Fixed lenses are smaller and lighter and usually have better brightness than zoom lenses. It’s also easier to correct for various lens errors on a fixed lens than on a zoom. Therefor you’re likely to get improved image quality on a fixed lens.
These are some of the things you need to think about when it comes to choosing the best lens for your needs.
Focal Length
The first thing to consider when choosing your new lens is the focal length. The focal length is given in millimeters and specifies whether the lens is a wide angle or telephoto. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. If you want to grow as a wildlife photographer or adventure sports photographer shooting athletes from a distance, you’ll want a longer lens. With a telephoto lens from Beachcamera.com, you’ll naturally get closer to subjects far away. Telephoto lenses are also preferred for portraiture as they protect the facial proportions better than a wide angle. With a telephoto lens, it’s much easier to get a blurred background since they have less depth of field than wide angle lenses. Telephoto lenses usually have lower brightness and are more vulnerable to blurriness during the shoot if there is any camera shake. These lenses are usually physically larger than the wide angle lens. Wide angle lenses, on the other hand, are fine for nature photography when you want to capture more of the landscape. They’re usually good both in brightness and depth of field. These lenses are usually physically smaller and lighter than telephoto lenses. On the negative side the wide angle is not ideal for photographing portraits of people. A wide angle gives an impression of greater distance between what is close and what is distant, and it can make it look like the model has a bigger nose and sunken eyes. You’re also more likely to get distortion with a wide angle lens. The straight lines begin to bend into the edges of the image.
For most, the most appropriate choice would be a zoom lens. You get several focal lengths in the same lens and therefore you can get away with fewer lenses to meet your needs. Zoom lenses from Beachcamera.com always have two focal lengths specified, for example 18-55 mm, indicating the zoom range of the lens. If you want this translated into compact camera language, you can just divide the largest number by the smallest, which in the 18–55 mm case gives a zoom of about 3x. A fixed lens, on the other hand, has some advantages. Fixed lenses are smaller and lighter and usually have better brightness than zoom lenses. It’s also easier to correct for various lens errors on a fixed lens than on a zoom. Therefor you’re likely to get improved image quality on a fixed lens.
These are some of the things you need to think about when it comes to choosing the best lens for your needs.
