Whether you’ve got an entry level camera or a professional DSLR, your camera is nothing without a lens. Photography ,

by its very nature requires light  in order to generate an image, and your lens is the means by which your camera gathers that necessary light.

While contemporary compact digital cameras and “bridge” or “super zoom” cameras are improving their fixed optics all the time, a digital SLR offers you the option of choosing which lenses suits your individual shooting requirements, with an ever increasing list of options unfolding.

A photographic lens is made up of several lens elements, arranged inside a barrel that move in order to focus beams of light onto your digital sensor. A diaphragm – much like the iris in the human eye – grows larger or smaller according to the aperture that you set, and subsequently allows more of less light to reach the sensor.  The performance of a lens depends largely on the type and quality of the components used in its construction. More expensive lenses include elements made from higher grade glass, while cheaper lens compromise lower-grade materials. Pricier optics  also tend to offer more advance forms of technology , from silent wave motors and internal focusing mechanisms to gyros that combat Camera shake and extra low Dispersion glass, producing sharper images with less distortion.

The Focal length of a lens determines your Angle of view – ie, how much of the scene will be recorded in a single frame – and maximum aperture effects the light gathering ability of a lens. Expressed as an “f-number” , the maximum aperture indicates how wide you can open up the diaphragm. A lens with a maximum aperture of f2.8 for example, is described as a “faster lens” that can gather more light than a equivalent lens with a maximum aperture of, say f5.6. Faster lenses are generally more expensive and produce higher quality and sharper images.

• Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and do not zoom. Because of this they are well engineered, fast and produce high quality images.
•  Zoom lenses greater versatility and cut down the number of lenses you need to carry around, but they do tend to suffer from more distortion than primes.
• Telephoto lenses are used widely by sports photography and paparazzi as they enable the user to get close-up shots from log distances.
• Wide-angle lenses are ideal for capturing vast scenes , from landscapes and panoramas to group shots.

Generally, when shopping for optics you get what you pay for. Lenses can be very expensive , but should stand the test of time and don’t depreciate in the same way DSLR’s bodies do.

Prime lenses remain and a constant focal length, the “standard” length being 50mm. They can be engineered with greater precision than zoom lenses as manufactures only have design then with one focal length in mind. Primes tend to have large maximum apertures making then “fast” lenses that are very efficient at light gathering. For this reason this type of lens tends to be used by photographers that demand the sharpest of images quality’s.

Zoom lenses on the other hand are very versatile covering  a range of focal lengths. They are also a good option if you want ot keep the weight down in your kit bag, or if you are working in surroundings where it could be detrimental to your camera if  you constantly have to change lenses – for example , in a dusty environment.  The downside is that zoom lenses are slower than primes, offering smaller maximum apertures. They also suffer acutely from chromatic aberrations and distortion at some focal lengths due to the complexity of the mechanisms required to shift the elements within the lens barrel along with the grade of glass used to manufacture them.

When deciding whether to opt for a prime of a zoon lens, you need to take in to consideration what you are going to be doing with you images and at what level. If you are an enthusiast that wants to create some prints at home or enter some competitions for example, a good quality zoom lens from reliable manufacture can generate excellent results. If you’re a professional user or you want to produce images or superior quality in order sell them, then a prime lens might be worth considering.

The world of macro photography can be fascinating, allowing insight into a hidden world that we would otherwise never witness. Is also an opportunity to create some really weird and wonderful photos allowing you to transform the familiar, and read the objects into alien abstracts and uncover details in items that you never knew existed. Those of you who looked at objects under a microscope who appreciates just held many secrets mother nature conceals from the naked eye and how fascinating duties to explore them. Macro photography allows us to look into the unseen world and reveal the hidden beauty of even the most mundane objects.

When taking macro photography, remember that you are not only magnifying your subject, but also any possible mistakes. For this reason you needed to make sure you have the right conditions and equipment to get it just right. You need a lot of light to the take a good, crisp macro photograph, so it makes sense to go for a fast lens and – if you’re a serious macro photographer – you may want to invest in some specialist lighting equipment, like the Nikon R1C1 creative lighting system. A tripod is also a must have accessory to combat camera shake and keep things a steady as possible.

Macro lenses can focus very close, allowing you to fill the frame with your subject. Lenses in the 50-60mm range are usually best for product photography and small objects. The 90-105mm range is popular for some insects and flowers, while the 150-200mm range allows you to work further away from the subject, making it an ideal choice for very nervous of delicate insects and small animals.

{styleboxop width=1} Wide-angle  {/styleboxop}

A lens with the focal length below the standard 50mm is classified as a wide angle lens. Such lenses offer a wide angle of view, making them ideal for taking photographs of sweeping landscapes for told trees and buildings. The world of wide angle lenses is broken down into several sub-categories of lens, mainly super or wide angle and fisheye lenses. 35mm, 28mm and 24mm focal lengths are classified as a wide-angle, 20mm to around 13mm are superb wide-angle and anything below that falls into the fisheye to category. Wide angle lenses delivered a large depth of field, making them great for situations where you want to keep the foreground and background in sharp focus. They also make great tools when working in tight spaces and are excellent for photograph in the interior of buildings. The one hand while back is that they are prone to distortion “bending” of objects at that age of the frame in wide vistas for making close objects’ seen enlarged and misshapen. This makes them less than ideal for taking flattering portrait, but effect they create can be used to creative effect. Emphasizing a person’s height by shooting them from the ground level with a wide-angle lens, for photograph and then from above and their forehead becomes bulbous and enlarged. They are not exactly complementary, but excellent for creative humour. Wide angle lenses are versatile tools that can be put to good use in a variety of situations. The do very in terms of the image quality they produce, so if you want top-notch performers you will need to make a greater investment.

Telephoto lenses deliver a narrower angle of new than a standard lens, magnifying and compressing distant objects and throwing close subjects atop focus. They also deliver a shower Depth of field in order to separate the main subject from the background, making then top choice of sports photographers, paparazzi and photojournalists.

Telephoto lenses allow you to get a closer look at your subject, without having to physically move closer. To this makes and them particularly useful for nature photography, where it’s obviously important not to alert you’re subject to your presence. Visa lenses are also handy for fans of candid portraits, has been allowed you to capture more natural shots of people who are unaware that they are being photographed, such as weddings or four street photography. You can also use Telephoto lenses to isolate certain patterns for objects in a busy scene, making your subject film the frame and excluding unwanted elements. Due to the shallow depth of field created when using these lenses, you need to be careful when focusing on your subject, ensuring that your point of interest is sharp, rather than some other random element in the background. Telephoto lenses are also particularly susceptible to the effects of camera shake – the longer the focal length, the more apparent any movement will be, making it important to take steps to ensure your camera and lens a stay still. Always try to shoot with a tripod or use some other stable structure to support your lens. Faster telephoto lenses allowed a little room for error, and some lenses include technology that counteracts movements made by the photographer, increasing your chances of guessing a sharp shot further still.

Lenses with the long focal length are more prone to the effects of camera shake, a problem that manufacturers compensate for by including the technology to combat it. Every manufacturer has a name for their own version this technology , Canon call it “Image Stabilization” (IS), Nikon has “Vibration Reduction” (VR), Leica call it “MegaOIS” and Pentax label there’s as “Shake Reduction”.

Camera shake is contracted to use of the floating lens element to compensate, resulting in sharper, shake free images at slower shelter speeds than is possible when shooting handheld with a more basic type of lens. Optical image stabilization technology is highly useful when shooting moving subjects in low light, but it comes at a price and is usually only found in high end lenses.