What makes lenses good

Now, more often than not, when I speak to new photographers looking to purchase their next lens, they want something on the telephoto end.

The most popular telephotos seem to be various flavors of mm or mm. These lenses are excellent when used properly. However, too often, telephoto zooms allow the photographer to become lazy.

Telephoto lenses also compress distance, making everything appear closer together, as opposed to wide-angle lenses, which distort perspective and make things look separate. This can be useful for landscapes when you want the sun or moon to appear large in comparison to other objects in the image. In this shot of the Shenandoah Valley at sunset, the telephoto lens compresses the scene, making the layers of mountains and mist look almost flat:.

Of course, telephoto lenses are also excellent for sports, nature, and wildlife photography, where it can be difficult to get close. Sports, however, presents its own set of challenges. To be able to stop action without blur, you need a fast shutter speed. Typically, faster telephoto lenses are required. These lenses are great for getting you closer to the action, but you need to be sure your shutter speed is fast enough!

But always remember that a lens is just another tool on the camera. What lens is best for you? This makes them popular for portraiture. Another big advantage is that they often have faster apertures, meaning that they can capture better images in low-light situations, making them good for night and sports photography.

A fast aperture also means you can shoot with a shallower depth of field, giving your images a nice bokeha soft, creamy background. And, of course, no moving parts means that they can be quite a bit cheaper than zoom lenses, not to mention smaller. When should you use a prime lens? Anytime you want to get a sharp, high-quality picture. Traditional uses for primes include portraits, night photos, and action shots. You can get them in every focal length, though, so you can find a prime lens for any type of photography that you're interested in.

Professional photographers often use 58mm lenses on a crop sensoraround 85mm on full frameto shoot portraits. It's a good idea to keep a few lenses in your camera bag so that you can cover as many different focal lengths as possible. A wide prime lens, a kit lens, and a superzoom make for a good starting point.

Ultimately, though, you need to match the lens to the type of the photo you want to take. Our guide to the best camera lenses for different type of photography has got everything you need to get started.

And don't forget that you can use lenses even if you're mostly a smartphone photographer. See our list of the best smartphone camera lenses to see our recommendations. The command prompt is still a powerful Windows tool. Here are the most useful CMD commands every Windows user needs to know. Andy is a former print journalist and magazine editor who has been writing about technology for 15 years.

In that time he has contributed to countless publications and produced copywriting work for large tech companies.

He has also provided expert comment for the media and hosted panels at industry events. What Lens to Use: The Basics Before we get into the different kinds of photo lenses, it pays to know a bit about what makes them so different. Share Share Tweet Email. Andy Betts Articles Published. Subscribe to our newsletter Join our newsletter for tech tips, reviews, free ebooks, and exclusive deals!

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