Photography techniques - Lenses
Jan 27th, 2007 by Andy
The information below is a small selection taken from ‘Photo Tips 101′ at decorphoto.com
There is a pile of basic information and though based around traditional photography can easilly be applied to digital photography too.
Photography instruction,photography techniques,Photo Tips 101
Lenses
There are 4 types of lenses to talk about:
- Wide Angle
- Normal
- Telephoto
- Zoom
All lenses are measured in ‘focal length’ - the length in millimeters (mm) of the internal focusing lens itself. This is written somewhere on each lens usually on the front glass. As you know, lenses vary in length within each category above. For instance, the focal length for wide angled lenses can range from 24mm to 38mm. A normal lens can range from 50mm-58mm. Zoom lens and telephotos range from 70mm to 1200mm. The longer the focal length, the more magnification you get from the lens.
Wide Angle:
These take in a lot of the scene from side to side .. more so than with any other lens. Because of their rather short focal lengths, they also shrink the scene. This shrinking often disappoints the photographer when the prints come back. So …. unless your subject can fill the frame or at least half the frame when looking through the camera, don’t take the shot (in most cases).Normal:
These are called ‘normal’ lenses because the render a subject at the same scale that we see the subject. Usually, these are the lenses that come with the camera - range is about 48mm to 58mm.Telephoto:
These are the so called big boys. They have a fixed focal length like the other two lenses just mentioned but because of their long and extra long focal lengths, they have greater magnification too. Telephotos usually start at 100mm and continue 200mm, 300mm, and up to 1200mm or more. A tripod is recommended for shutter speeds of 1/125 or less.Zoom:
A zoom lens is a telephoto that can change focal lengths and thus change magnification too. Zoom lenses are easily identified because they show a range like 70mm-230mm or 100mm-300mm.
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