Types of Camera Lenses & Its Uses
INTRODUCTION
Photography is a skill that you should possess. The angles, the aesthetic sense of a scene should be clicked in a way which adds some extra beauty to the scene, are all part of the talent or set of skills that a photographer possesses. How do they acquire these skills? Are they born with them?
What should a person wish to be a photographer read? Anything you want to! But most importantly gain some theoretical knowledge on the different camera lenses that you might use as a photographer. As, a beginner you might not know what lens to use, but you need to know how and when to use a specific lens before getting to play with them on the field.
Remember, a camera without the lens is like a cake without cream. The very basic tool you need for photography is the lens. Without a lens, you can only click white pictures. A lens is a tool that gathers light at a fixed point.
Keep reading to learn more about the types of lenses that are fundamentally important to a photographer.
3 BASIC LENS TERMINOLOGIES
Focal length
The distance between the optical center and the camera’s sensor is called focal length in photography. A shorter focal length captures the wider angle view with less magnification, while a longer focal length captures a narrow-angle view with greater magnification.
Aperture/Lens ratio
Aperture is like an opening for light to let in. It is expressed using the term ‘F’. A smaller number of ‘F’ means a large opening. A lens with a low f-number allows you to capture the picture with better exposure, even in low light conditions. Any lens with f2.8 or lower aperture is considered a professional lens.
Depth of field
In simple terms, the depth of field is the sharpness or blurriness around your focus’s subject. This can be adjusted using an aperture. A shallow depth of field means a small focus area used for portrait shots. A deep depth of field means a larger focus area, perfect for landscape shots.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF CAMERA LENSES
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Prime lens
A standard prime lens is otherwise called a fixed lens. That makes it pretty self-explanatory, I guess! These lenses are available only at a fixed focal length. So choosing one of these means that you will have to do a lot of running around to get the perfect shot.
These lenses can be used in any kind of casual photography provided you can get into a comfortable position to make the perfect shot. They are available at a wide range of focal lengths ranging from 24mm to 135 mm.
PROS:
- Prime lenses are sharp, fast and lightweight.
- Their apertures are usually large. So, very useful for indoor and low-light photography/videography.
- Their construction looks very simple and so handling prime lenses are comparatively easy.
CONS:
- They don’t have any moving mechanism or zoom feature.
Zoom lens
Zoom lenses just as the name suggests are lenses that allow you to adjust focal lengths so that you can zoom in and out of a scene standing in one place. In a way, they are completely the extreme opposite of the prime lens.
They are really helpful and can support all kinds of photography. Especially the ones where you need to vary your focal lengths, like wildlife photography. Another exciting feature it possesses is that it can adjust its focus in any range quickly.
PROS:
- A single zoom lens can cover most of the ranges.
- You can slide it to zoom in and zoom out.
- Great for travel photography and videography.
CONS:
- Zoom lenses are not as fast as prime ones.
- They are bulkier due to the extra glasses added.
Telephoto lens
A telephoto lens is used when you want more focus on your main subject. You get multiple focal points in this lens. The lens is good to focus distant objects without getting close to them.
A telephoto lens has a long focal range that they can be used for wildlife photography, space photography, and in photographing games like cricket or football! Imagine your camera being able to click the game from a very long distance giving you a super clear shot!
PROS:
- Great for documentaries, portraits, sports and wildlife photography.
CONS:
- They are bulky and expensive.
Wide-angle lens
Just as the name suggests, the wide-angle lens is a type of lens that provides a wider angle of view. Photographers use this kind of lenses to get a landscape image perfect. It provides you with a blurry background because wide angle lenses have wide-apertures in general.
Wide-angle lenses are normally classified as regular wide-angle and ultra-wide angle lenses. But, before getting to know about them , let us see the advantages of using a wide-angle lens.
- The lens is so lightweight so very convenient for building and street photography.
- A wide-angle lens is perfect for capturing a large area in a single frame.
Regular wide-angle lens
A regular wide-angle lens has a focal length of less than 35mm. It can capture wide scenes with a large depth of field. You get good focus from foreground to background.
Ultra-wide angle lens
An ultra-wide-angle lens has a focal length of less than 20mm. The lens can stretch the perspective of the subject to capture ultra-wide shots. It can control barrel distortion and vignette. With an aperture of f/2.8, the ultra-wide lens is perfect for fast photography.
Fisheye lens
Again this kind of lens gets its name from the type of image it can produce. Just like the eye of a fish, the fisheye lens provides the widest angle view and thus can be used in abstract photography.
A fish-eye lens can capture the images in a 180-degree radius. You get a focal length between 7 to 16 mm in a fish-eye lens. The fish-eye lens curves the straight lines to get a beautiful circular effect in your pictures.
Not many of the photographers use a fisheye lens, but they are famous in the security department as security cameras because of the wide-angle view.
Macro lens
Have you ever seen images of insects or water droplets from a leaf or something dripping by focused so close and perfect? The macro lenses are the ones that are responsible for such images that are captured using a perfect macro photography camera.
They are known for its detailing and thus are used in such close range photography or jewel photography. Especially the cuts and luster of diamonds can be captured at its best quality.
Although they are limited to a few situations and can be expensive, the quality of the image makes it worth it.
NOTE:
- The focal length of macro lenses ranges from 50 mm to 200 mm.
- Macro lenses are used to take close-up shots and nature photography.
Standard lens
Standard lenses are mostly preferred by photographers who want to capture things just as they appear to human eyes. These lenses are good for realistic photography. The focal length of the standard lens ranges from 35 mm to 50mm.
Kit lens
The kit lens is the type of lens that could be preferred for general photography purposes. Usually, when you buy your camera, you will be provided with an extra complimentary lens for free. Kit lenses are the ones that are given away as such. This is because they are inexpensive, and the focal length of kit lenses lies between 18-55 mm.
The lens is compact and hence lighter in weight when compared to others on the list. The quality of pictures is also pretty decent up to a particular focal length but are not satisfactory.
As the camera manufacturer itself highlights by providing it as a free complimentary lens, the kit lenses are the best ones for photography beginners.
Tilt-shift lens
You have ever seen shots that make you feel so huge? Architectural marvels like the Eiffel tower may seem too small in such pictures? These kinds of images are being shot on tilt-shift lenses.
They are mainly used in architecture photography or fine art photography. These lenses offer tilt, shift, rise, and fall movements to its lens that allows you to capture such amazing shots. Also, they provide an excellent focus and contrast to the images.
Infrared lens
This is the unique kind of lens on the list! While the others play with perspective, this one plays with light. They use the concept of capturing infrared light that is impossible for the human eye to catch. They produce a unique visual effect.
FOCAL LENGTH SIZE GUIDE
1. If the lens has a focal length of 60mm+, then it is a telephoto lens.
- If the lens has a focal length range of 85mm - 135mm, then it is called a short-telephoto lens.
- If the lens has a focal length of 135mm+, then it is called a medium-telephoto lens.
- If the lens has a focal length of 300mm+, then it is called as super-telephoto lens.
2. A lens with a focal length of <35mm, is called a wide-angle lens.
- If the focal length is <24mm, then it is called an ultra-wide angle lens.
3. Macro lenses are generally in the range of 90 to 105mm. Sometimes, lens with focal length less than 60mm (like 40mm, 50mm etc) are also designed with macro capabilities.
4. Lenses with a focal length range between 35mm to 80mm are considered as standard lenses.
5. Fisheye lenses cover a range between 4mm - 14mm.
CONCLUSION
So these are the significant types of camera lenses being used in photography as of now. If you are planning on building a career in photography, then you should be familiar with these lenses and their types.
I hope the articles help you in knowing the types and their function in brief. Happy photography!!
