What kind of lens do i need

The two exceptions are Micro Four Thirds, which was developed jointly by Panasonic and Olympus, and L-mount, a full-frame collaboration between Leica, Panasonic and Sigma.

Most companies are now focusing their efforts on their Mirrorless camera mounts, so this is where the newest and most advanced lenses are emerging. Many DSLR-mount lenses can be adapted to work on the mirrorless cameras made by the same brand older designs are less likely to offer a full range of functions but lenses for mirrorless cameras cannot be used on DSLRs.

A number of third party manufacturers, including Tamron, Tokina and Sigma make lenses for other makers' lens mounts, with the older DSLR mounts benefiting from the widest support. Sony allows some third-parties to make lenses for its mirrorless E-mount system but Nikon and Canon have, so far, been protective of their new Z and RF mounts, meaning there are fewer third-party options available.

Zoom lenses have become almost ubiquitous over the past few years, and at first sight buying a lens which is restricted to a single angle of view might seem pointless. But prime lenses still have some very real advantages; compared to zooms they tend to be smaller and lighter, have faster maximum apertures, and give sharper, cleaner images.

These factors make them extremely useful for specific purposes, for example low light shooting or blurred-background portraiture where a large maximum aperture is advantageous. Almost counterintuitively, the restrictive nature of using a single focal length can encourage creativity by forcing you to visualize your composition before you shoot.

For instance, a long focal length, shot from a distance can compress your subject and the background, whereas a wide-angle lens placed near your subject will exaggerate the distance between it and the surroundings. A standard zoom is a general-purpose lens that covers a range of focal lengths from wide-angle to moderate telephoto.

The most obvious example is the kit lens that came with your camera generally something like an mm for APS-C or a mm for full-frame. It offers versatility but can become limiting when you find yourself wanting to get more creative. The kit lens can be upgraded to an optic with more range or a faster F2. Often the second lens that photographers buy, a telephoto zoom effectively allows you to 'get closer' to your subject by enlarging it within the frame.

It's therefore useful for photographing such things as sports, wildlife, distant nature scenes, or children running around playing. By narrowing your field of view, a long lens can have the effect of compressing your subject and background, often making it appear as though the background is magnified and closer to your subject.

Superzooms are all-in-one lenses which cover a full range of focal lengths from a moderate wide-angle to long telephoto. In one package they combine the range of the kit zoom that came with the camera, plus that of a telephoto zoom, and therefore make perfect general purpose travel lenses.

The technical image quality is often not quite as good as two separate lenses, and the maximum aperture tends to be small a higher F-number , meaning worse low light performance and less ability to achieve shallow depth of field. However, for many users this is more than made up for by their convenience. A wide-angle zoom extends the angle of view out beyond that captured with the standard zoom, allowing you to capture broad sweeping vistas or architectural wonders.

It's therefore a popular choice for landscapes, cityscapes, architecture, interior shots, and night- and astro-photography. Some zoom lenses use 'macro' in their name to indicate closer-than-usual focusing ability, but true macro lenses tend to have fixed focal lengths. In general, the longer the focal length, the further away you can be from your subject. Nikon calls these lenses 'Micro' or 'MC' lenses instead, which is technically more accurate. Fast prime lenses come in all focal lengths, from wide angle to ultra-telephoto, but what they share in common is the ability to capture a lot of light, blur backgrounds and offer high optical quality.

We've traditionally found 35mm or the equivalent 23mm or 17mm on APS-C or Four Third sensors to be a pretty good do-everything focal length, in terms of not being too wide or too zoomed-in.

An F1. Wider-angle and longer focal length primes are also available, as are lenses with even faster maximum apertures F1. There are a few other aspects of build and operation which you may wish to consider when buying a lens:. Autofocus performance can vary significantly between lenses, and autofocus performance can make a huge difference between capturing the perfect moment at a sports event or social occasion and having a frustrating photographic experience.

Mirrorless camera systems are still relatively new, and there's a subtle interplay of optical design and focus motor that effects performance. For instance the ring-type ultrasonic motors that were great for focusing on DSLRs aren't as well suited to focusing on mirrorless cameras, particularly for the smooth, subtle movements required for video autofocus.

As such, it's difficult to make generalizations, so it's worth checking reviews of the lens you're planning to buy. Many modern lenses have no physical connection between the focus ring and the focusing lens elements, as was the case in older SLR and DSLR lenses. Many cameras use this to provide speed-sensitive manual focus, where a quick turn of the focus ring results in a bigger focus jump than a slow movement.

This lets you jump quickly to the part of the focus range you want, but can be awkward if you're trying to manual focus while shooting video. To get round this, some cameras offer a 'linear' focus response mode, where the focus always moves by the same amount in response to how much you turn the focus ring: letting you practice and anticipate the amount by which you need to turn the ring.

Although modern autofocus is excellent, there is still a huge number of manual focus lenses on the market. These include designs optimized for shooting video and traditional, high-quality designs, through to unusual, specialist lenses that would be near-impossible to make autofocus along with the creations of small companies without the experience or access to lens mount protocols to manufacture AF lenses.

Ultra-wide angle lenses, tilt-shift lenses and some very expensive lenses designed to be mechanically simple but optically excellent are out there, and are worth considering. As a general rule, the more expensive a lens is, the better built it is likely to be. The kit lenses that come with cameras tend to rather lightweight and plastic in construction. If you spend a bit more, you can get something more durable. Some lenses incorporate environmental seals against dust and water; in general this tends to be towards the top end of the price spectrum, but Pentax and Olympus in particular offer a decent range of mid-priced sealed lenses.

One last word. When choosing a camera system to invest in, it's important to appreciate that the lens has just as great an impact on the image quality as the camera.

Lenses tend to last longer than cameras too, becoming obsolete less quickly than bodies, so it can be worth spending a little bit extra to get the quality or flexibility you really want.

But, while DSLR systems are much more extensive, most new lens development is focused on Mirrorless cameras, so these may prove more future-proof. Bear in mind that most mirrorless lens systems are still only a few years old, so they may be missing the type of lens you want, for now. That said, the system with most options isn't inherently any better than a smaller system that includes all the lenses you need.

Even if you don't have a very specific application that needs specialized lenses or other accessories in mind, it's worth doing some research before committing to one system or another. Oh, and once bitten by the lens buying bug, many enthusiasts find it hard to stop; you have been warned Angle of view - Describe the view offered by a lens, measured as the angle between the furthest extremes of the lens's coverage.

If this is confusing, imagine the view in front of you as a semicircle of degrees: a 'wide-angle' lens can see a bigger segment of the semicircle than a 'long' telephoto one. Depth of field - This describes how much of the scene in front and behind the point of focus appears acceptably sharp. An image with shallow depth of field leaves the background and foreground appearing blurry and out-of-focus.

An image with deep depth of field contains a greater amount depth of sharp detail. Focal length — Expressed in millimeters, focal length describes the angle of view of a lens. Telephoto lenses have a long focal length, and wide-angle lenses have a short focal length. The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the more zoomed-in it appears. Long lenses are more zoomed-in, while wide lenses are zoomed-out and capture a wider angle of view. This system includes some high-end video cameras.

APS-C - A common sensor format used by interchangeable lens camera manufacturers. Full-frame - A sensor format the same size as a frame of 35mm film - the dominant film format of the 20th and early 21st Centuries. Despite the name, sensor larger formats do exist, in sizes known collectively as 'medium format'. Prime lens - A lens with a fixed focal length, which cannot zoom in or out. A technical term not to be confused with Amazon Prime. A fisheye lens is basically an ultra-wide-angle lens, offering an enormous field of view.

They are useful if you are photographing indoors or using your camera for design work. An ultra-wide-angle lens can have a focal length as low as 8mm. In conclusion, there are different types of camera lens for almost any situation you could find yourself in as a photographer.

Knowing which lens is best for what scenario, will set you on your way to becoming a much-improved photographer. Different types of camera lenses and when to use them. Focal Length. Type of Lens. What is it used for? Abstract, creative. Wide angle.

Landscape, architecture. Street, travel, portrait. Short telephoto. A professional would establish your requirements first by asking you questions. How many miles do you drive a year?

How many people does the car need to transport? Do you need lots of storage space? How important is fuel economy? What is your budget? And so on. When the answers to are known, the salesperson can make a recommendation. My needs are different from yours because we are different people with different priorities and requirements. Some readers quite correctly pointed out that the convenience of zooms makes them invaluable in certain situations.

I realized that I was imposing my preferences on other people. If you could only own three lenses, which ones would they be?