Digital SLR Camera Lenses

!: Digital SLR Camera Lenses

Understanding how to use the lens is fundamental if you want to get the best out of your dSLR camera and take breathtaking photographs. Combined with the aperture and shutter speed the lens is one of the key components on the camera.

As the focal length of the camera increases, the subject will appear larger and the angle of view will decrease. Not only that the background of the image loses sharpness so the only object in focus in the frame is the subject.

Standard Lenses

In today's market most cameras come fitted with a zoom lens. A standard lens is 50mm and will show the subject within the photograph similar to what can be seen by the naked eye. The standard lens will therefore give a natural view of the subject and are suitable to use for still life photographs.

Wide Angle Lenses

The wide angle lens includes more of a subject than can be viewed with a standard lens and are extremely powerful when taking landscape photographs as more of the scenery is captured within the frame. They also provide an excellent depth of field as both the foreground and background will appear in focus.

Wide angle lenses can also be effectively used for photographing confined spaces as more of the scene is captured without having to move back.

Telephoto Lenses

The telephoto can make a subject far away appear close in the frame. The telephoto lens allows you to take photographs of scenes where it isn't feasible to get close to the subject for example photographing wild life. As the depth of field is also reduced with the telephoto lens they can be ideal for portrait photography as the background will be out of focus providing no distractions from the subject which will be sharply focused.

Macro Lenses

Macro Lenses are used at close focusing distances so that small subjects can appear large in the photograph. The macro lens can make the subject appear life size but still have the zoom functionality allowing you to photograph far away subjects. Powerful for photographing small subjects such as insects, but can also be used to isolate a particular aspect of a larger subject.