6 Tips To Find The Right Camera Lenses For Your Photography

6 Tips To Find The Right Camera Lenses For Your Photography

Buying a camera can be easy, but finding the right lens for your photography is no child’s play. There’re many specs and technical factors to deal with, let alone the various manufactures, models, and varieties.

Whether you’re new to photography or not, you’ll need to understand the following factors to be able to pick the right cheap Nikon macro lens. The pointers below will help you in this regard. 

1. Understand Your Focal Lengths

Focal length is the general description of lenses. It shows how much is captured and the magnification of the subject being shot. Focal length is measured in millimeters (mm). The longer the focal length, the higher the magnification of your subject. The shorter the focal length, the lower the magnification. 

If you’re into landscape photography, therefore, you may be interested in lenses with short focal lengths. These usually range from 18-105mm. For close-up crops such as portraiture, you may be interested in lenses with higher focal lengths. These are usually from 55-300mm. 

2. Know Your Prime Vs Zoom Lenses 

There’re different types of photography, from studio photography to street photography. Whatever your type, you’ll need to understand the difference between prime lenses and zoom lenses. Knowing about focal lengths and what they’re designed together with this is a great starting point. You can check here  and on many other online platforms for options on prime and zoom lenses.

Prime Lenses

Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and generally wider apertures than zoom lenses. They’re also typically smaller than zoom lenses, which can be ideal if you want to travel. 

Prime lenses are also great for street photography and landscape photography. But fixed focal lengths mean that you may have to move further or closer to your subjects when shooting. Otherwise, you may need several lenses for different focal lengths. 

Zoom Lenses

Zoom lenses have a variety of focal lengths. They’re ideal for shooting landscape, sport, and portrait photography. Their versatility can allow you to have one lens for different types of photos, be it portraiture or landscape. 

Zoom lenses have the obvious advantage of being all-in-one, but they can cost quite a bit compared to prime lenses. They’re also usually considerably bulky, which can be a disadvantage if you’re traveling or doing street photography. 

3. Understand The Types Of Lenses

It’s important also to understand the different types of lenses. Here’re the common ones discussed below:

Standard Lens

The standard lenses are some of the most popular lenses because they’re not too far from the human angle of view. They range from about 50-60mm, and they’re typically the best choice for most photographers because of their versatility. They work for portraiture, landscape, and even in situations where there’s low light.  

Wide-angle Lenses 

Wide-angle lenses have a focal length that’s shorter than the standard lens. They can range from approximately 10-35mm. Wide-angles are mostly used for landscape photography and photos that capture as much of the background as possible. Group photos, interior photos, fashion photos, and photos taken in confined spaces will come out great with wide-angle lenses. These full frame lenses for Sony listed have some great options for wide angle lenses.

Telephoto Lens

Telephoto lenses range from about 55-200mm. They’re great for portraiture and other types of photography that may require close crops. Telephotos often offer zooming features that allow you to take photos even from a distance without interrupting the subject’s actions. This works well for wildlife and sports photography. 

Super Telephoto Lens

These lenses are perfect for wildlife and sports photography. They have a focal range of approximately 200-600mm. 

Macro Lens

Macro lenses are usually great for reproducing subjects at a 1:1 ratio. They’re normally used for close-up shots on small products, insects, and objects like flowers and so forth. If you’re into product photography and other professional photoshoots, this may be an ideal lens. The focal length for macro lenses is 60mm, 85mm, 105, or 200mm.  

4. Calculate Cropping and Sensor Type

Cameras have either crop or full-frame image sensors. Before selecting the best lens for your camera, it’s important to calculate its actual focal length. To calculate the effective focal length, you multiply the camera’s crop factor by the lens’ focal length. For example, if your camera has a 1.5x crop factor, its effective focal length will be 75mm if you get a 50mm lens.

5. Think About Aperture

Aperture is the determination of the amount of light your lens will let in through the sensor. Basically, the wider the aperture, the more light the lens will let in. If you intend to work in low-light environments, you may need to consider a lens with a wider aperture. Having a lens with a wide aperture also gives you faster shutter speed which could be ideal for shooting moving objects, perfect for travel photography.

6. Check Image Stabilization and Focusing

Most modern lenses come with image stabilization and automatic focusing, but it’s worth checking to ensure these important features are there on the lens you decide to buy. 

The Bottom Line

Choosing the best lens depends on the factors discussed above. What you need to use the lens for is what will determine the factors to consider. Just remember that lenses are as important as the camera itself, so you have to understand the aspects of photography you’ll need to maximize on. Good luck with your search.