Tips for Purchasing a Digital Camera Lens
Your lens is an elemental element to excellent photographs. It's not just your camera. People spend thousands of dollars on a excellent camera and neglect the lens.
Change that around! Make sure you buy a excellent camera lens when purchasing a camera. Buy a excellent camera as well, but don't neglect a excellent camera lens.
Why? Your camera is just the 'holder' for the photograph. The lens is what your camera sees all your shots through. A excellent lens is elemental to clear and sharp photos.
With most compact digital cameras, you can't change the lens. So in that case, don't just buy a excellent camera, ensure it also has a excellent lens.
Avoid a plastic digital camera lens since it doesn't have the clarity of a glass lens.
What model of lens?
Stick with camera lenses from well known manufacturers like Nikon, Canon and Pentax. Ensure you buy a lens that works with your camera too. A Nikon camera lens usually won't work well with a Canon camera.
There are specialty lens manufacturers like Carl Zeiss, Leica and Leupold. If you're a beginner, don't worry about these lenses until you are more advanced as they come with very high prices and it's hard to give explanation for the price for the small boost in feature.
Types of Camera Lens
The most common lenses are : Wide Angle, Normal and Telephoto. The type of lens is single-minded by the Focal Length of the lens. See below. A Zoom Lens is simply a lens that can change Focal Length from a Wide Angle to a Telephoto (or somewhere inbetween).
There are a number of things to look for when purchasing a camera lens.
Lens Focal Length
The Focal Length of a lens determines the amount of enlargement and angle of vuew the lens can see. The Focal Length is measured in mm. It's the Focal Length that determines if the lens is a:
- Wide Angle; small enlargement, wide angle of view. 20mm to 35mm
- Traditional, or Normal; 50mm
- Telephoto; high enlargement, narrow angle of view; 105mm to 300mm.
- Zoom; A Zoom lens can change it's focal length to zoom in. A Zoom lens might have a Focal Length of linking 50mm and 150mm.
Some lenses are interchangeable linking film cameras and digital cameras, but you need to be aware that the unassailable focal length CHANGES linking film and digital. The focal lengths I describe above are for FILM cameras and need to be multiplied by 1.6 to get the unassailable focal length on a digital camera. So using a film 35mm lens on a digital camera has an unassailable focal length of 56mm.
What does this mean for you? It means that you won't get as wide angle on a digital camera as you would on a film camera using the same lens. A 35mm lens which gives a medium wide angle on a film camera acts as a traditional lens on a digital camera
This is a complex theme, so I can't go into too much detail here. If you need more help, the best person to speak to would be your local camera store's resident expert.
Lens Speed
The 'speed' of a digital camera lens also defines a lens. The speed is single-minded in f-stops and is similar to the f-stop aperture setting on your camera. Quicker lenses are more expensive and usually heavier.
Focusing Space
This is the minimum space from the camera lens that a theme must be to be in focus. Don't worry about getting a camera with a close focusing space. Concentrate on a telephoto instead.
More Advanced Facial appearance
More expensive lenses have more advanced facial appearance.
- Trembling Saving. A feature called 'trembling saving' keeps images sharper when shooting in low light. They help to counteract any trembling in the camera. Try to find a digital camera lens with this feature.
- USM USM stands for Ultrasonic Motor. This feature of Canon lenses gives you a high speed auto focus but the main benefit is the 'motor' is nearly silent, so you don't scare people around you when your camera is focussing.
- Filter Thread. When purchasing a half-decent lens, it should have a filter thread. This is a thread that allows you to screw on a filter (such as a polariser) to help when photographing hard situations. Even if you don't need filters right now. it's handy to buy a lens with a thread so you can add a filter later.
You get what you pay for
Generally the more expensive the lens, the better it is. More expensive lenses usually have a higher number of glass elements in the lens, which also makes them heavier.
Final Notes
While it is vital to choose excellent feature camera lens, for beginners it isn't as vital as excellent arrangement. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can only take a fantastic picture with an expensive top-of-the-line lens. A terribly collected picture won't look fantastic with a fantastic camera lens.
I don't mean to money off the importance of a excellent feature lens. A excellent rule is to only add to your lens collection only when you have a point need for a particular digital camera lens.
Do your research and your research first, and find the lens that suits both you and your camera.
Author: David Peterson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
