CASTLEFORD CAMERA CLUB

1. A BASIC GUIDE TO LENSES CASTLEFORD CAMERA CLUB

2. There are numerous advantages to a DSLR, but it is the ability to change lenses that makes the DSLR so versatile Lenses are grouped into four primary categories. Lens Type Focal Length Wide Angle 28mm or lower Standard Anything from 35mm to 85mm Telephoto Anything from 100mm to 300mm Super-Telephoto 300mm or higher

3. WIDE ANGLE LENSE USE Wide angle lenses are ideal for photographers who want to capture all of the scenery in front of them. These lenses can capture virtually everything that your eyes see in front of you - from the ground at your feet to that mountain in the distance. This is why they work well for landscape photographers who really want to draw the viewer into the photograph. Wide angle lenses are not great for portraits because they distort facial features: Can make noses look HUGE which is not terribly flattering for your subject.

4. Standard Lens Use Standard lenses are great for a wide range of photographic subjects, but excel at portraits. Lenses in the 50mm to 75mm range create natural-looking portraits without the facial distortion that you get using a wide angle lens. While you can certainly use lenses in this range for landscapes, the resulting photo just won't have the same impact as it might with a wider view.

5. Telephoto Lens Use Telephoto lenses also work well for portraits but also cause some distortion: the longer the focal length of a lens, the more it compresses the visual space This means that it's harder to tell the distance between objects when you use a telephoto lens. Telephoto photos just have less depth and three-dimensionality than lenses with wider focal lengths. What are they really good at? Getting you up close and personal with subjects that are far away.

6. Super-Telephoto Lens Use These lenses are almost exclusively the domain of professional photographers, and are extremely expensive They are used by wildlife photographers, where getting up close is not an option. They are also the lenses you see at any professional sporting event. A super-telephoto lens really compresses visual space, and requires a lot of skill to use effectively.

7. The Importance of Maximum Aperture Your Low-Light Companion The maximum aperture of the lens you choose can have a significant impact on the types of photos you can take with your digital SLR camera. Why? Because the wider the lens gets, the more it costs (and I'm not talking pennies here). All lens apertures can be narrowed as much as you want. For example, every lens on the market today - regardless of manufacturer - can be set to f/16. The reverse is not true - every lens on the market CANNOT be opened up to f/1.4.

8. PRIME LENS OR ZOOM LENS? The maximum aperture of a Prime lens is straightforward: there’s only one. But with some zoom lenses, there can be TWO maximum apertures. Example: you've got a standard kit lens that came with your digital camera and it's an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom. The reason that there are two numbers is because your zoom lens has a variable maximum aperture: At 18mm the maximum aperture is f/3.5 At 55mm the maximum aperture narrows to f/5.6

9. Focal Length (mm) 13 15 18 21 24 28 35 43.3 50 70 85 105 135 180 200 Diagonal (°) 118 111 100 91.7 84.1 75.4 63.4 53.1 46.8 34.4 28.6 23.3 18.2 13.7 12.4 Vertical (°) 85.4 77.3 67.4 59.5 53.1 46.4 37.8 31.0 27.0 19.5 16.1 13.0 10.2 7.63 6.87 Horizontal (°) 108 100.4 90.0 81.2 73.7 65.5 54.4 45.1 39.6 28.8 23.9 19.5 15.2 11.4 10.3 Five images using 24, 28, 35, 50 and 72mm equivalent zoom lengths, portrait format, to illustrate angles of view