Anyone that’s experienced with photography will be well aware that buying a camera body is only the first step of the process. While there are many other pieces of photo equipment that can make taking photos that much better, none of it can happen without the camera and the lens.
A good lens will almost always be as expensive as the camera itself – if not more so – meaning that a beginner photographer will need to make sure they have enough capital to spend on both.
Choosing the right lens can be somewhat tricky to those that are new to it – so it’s a good idea to take the time and learn which characteristics of a specific lens may be more desirable depending on the type of photography that will be taking place.
Zoom Lenses
For most photographers, the best choice would be a zoom lens. Here, there are a number of focal lengths available, seaming that there’s less of a need of owning a number of lenses to get the perfect image.
Zoom lenses tend to have two focal lengths, such as 18-55mm, which shows the zoom range of that specific lens. When it comes to compact cameras and understanding zoom, the photographer will need to divide the largest number by the smaller, meaning that an 18-55mm lens has around a zoom of 3x.
Fixed Lenses
On the other hand, fixed lenses may have some different advantages worth noting. These tend to be much lighter and smaller than their zoom counterparts, and usually provide much better brightness.
Along with this, it’s much easier to correct any lens errors than what is possible when making use of a zoom. This means that image quality tends to be a bit better when making use of a fixed lens, although this can vary widely depending on the producer of the lens in question.
Many photographers believe that it’s much more correct to use a fixed lens artistically, but it’s really up to the needs of the photographer and what works best for them.
Aperture
The maximum aperture can usually be found printed on the lens, and it shows how much light the lens is able to get through to the sensor. The more light available, the better the quality of the image when taking pictures in darker conditions. Aperture is usually conveyed as a special number on the side of the lens, and usually looks something like this: f/1.8.
The higher the aperture number, the lower the cost of the lens, meaning more money to instead buy Bitcoin credit card. The smaller that the aperture number is, the more light that the lens is able to bring. The best aperture possible is a number that’s as close to 1 as possible, but in reality, it’s virtually impossible to find a lens that offers this, with the closes being around f.1.2. Most people will be more than happy with a lens that offer between f/2.4 and f/3.2.
