How to Choose a Lens

Posted on October 18th, 2009 by Marck

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Amateur and professional photographers alike invest a lot of money in lenses for single-lens reflex cameras. In the hands of a capable photographer, a lens can mean all the difference between a good picture and a bad one. Here are some tips to help you choose the right camera lens.

Lens Measurements

There are two measurements that you should look for when you’re buying a lens:

Aperture. The aperture measures the amount of light that enters the lens. The value of the maximum aperture can determine the brightness, hue, and contrast of the image. Aperture is especially useful if you’re using a film camera. The good news is that the aperture of many lenses can be adjusted.
Focal length. Focal length determines the viewing angle of a particular lens. The angle of view is determined in all three dimensions of the picture: height, width, and the diagonal distance.

Types of Lenses

The type of lens you need to buy depends on the measurements and features that you need:

Normal lenses are the lenses that already come with your SLR. It has a 50 to 53 degree angle on the diagonal angle of view. Normal lenses provide an image that is comparable to a person with perfect vision sees.
Wide-angle lenses are lenses that provide a larger panoramic view of subjects being filmed or photographed. It has an angle of 60 degrees, but the focal length is shorter than normal. The configuration of a wide-angle lens gives the photographer the ability to add perspective effects to an image while it is being photographed.
Macro lenses have a viewing angle of around 25 degrees, but have a longer focal length than the normal lens. Macro lenses are particularly useful for close-up shots and portrait photographs.
Telephoto lenses are long lens bodies that have a narrow viewing angle and a very long focal length. They are particularly useful for complete close-ups of distant objects that require the foreground to be much more defined than the background.

Most serious photographers will pay top dollar for a complete collection of lenses, but an amateur photographer can do well with a very good normal lens. With these tips, you can narrow down your choices to ones that you can use to take great still photos that will last for generations.