Camera Lenses for Your SLR CameraClick here to see my favorite lenses An SLR lens is one of the most important pieces of equipment for a camera. A good quality lens is essential to capturing exceptional images. Unfortunately, a lens can cost almost as much as a camera,and in some cases more. Okay, what makes a good quality lens? 1) The name brands, Nikon, Canon, Pentax and Olympus are usually more expensive than off-brands because of their superior quality control. Sigma, Tamron and Tokina are improving their lenses however, and should not be disregarded. They are a lot less expensive than a name brand lens. 2) The material used to make the lens. Lenses are manufactured with either a plastic or metal bayonet mount. The plastic lens will be cheaper and will not last as long as a metal lens. 3) Ability to focus manually as well as automatic. There will be times when you will need to focus manually so make sure the lens you purchase has this mechanism. 4) Image Stabilization or Vibration Reduction (IS or VR) are newer features which are becoming standard in new lenses. Reviews on these features indicate that they really do work. It is possible to hand-hold your camera and shoot as slow as 1/15 sec. and still have a sharp image. 5) The focal length of your lens should provide you with a working zoom that you are accustomed to using in your professional or personal use of your camera. One of my favorite lens is a fixed focal length of 50mm, which I refer to as the "Nifty Fifty". I prefer this lens because it opens up to 1.8 so I can shoot wide open and blur out the background. The beauty of this lens is not only in its quality, but it's price - $125. Also a 50mm lens is about what the eye sees, so is very true to life. (see link above) 6) A super fast auto focus: Nine times out of ten you will be using auto focus. Your lens should be able to focus quickly in regular light and low light. If your lens does not focus quickly you will miss important shots. Look for a USM lens (made by Canon). They guarantee fast and quiet auto focus so you could use it for a wedding, bar mitzvah, or other events. 7) A fast lens: Do not confuse this with fast auto focus. A fast lens has a maximum aperture of at least 2.8. Lenses in this category cost more because they are more expensive to manufacture. If you are a professional you should own at least one lens that opens up to 2.8. Some lens open up even more to 1.8 or 1.2 My favorite lens in the world is the Canon Zoom Telephoto EF 70-200mm f/4.0L IS USM. The price is $1200 but it compares to nothing. The majority of zoom lens have an aperture that changes with the zoom. The lens may open up to 2.8 if you are using a wider focal length, however once you zoom out, say to 150mm, the speed changes to 5.6. This is typical for a kit lens, however a lens that has a fixed speed throughout the entire zoom is superior.
What do those funny numbers mean?The focal length of the lens is always indicated on the lens barrel. It will look like this: __mm - __mm for a zoom lens.So for example, if you have an 18-55mm kit lens that means the focal length of your zoom lens ranges from 18-55. The lower the number, the larger the angle of view. The larger the number, the lesser the angle of view. So a lens with a focal length of 18-55 would be wide angle to normal angle of view. A lens with a focal length of 70 - 200mm would range from portrait to a telephoto angle of view. The other set of numbers looks something like this:3.5 - 5.6. This means that at 18mm, the largest aperture is f/3.5. When you zoom in to 55mm, the largest aperture is f/5.6.
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