03.12.2011 28575 reference Information 0
The modern camera has undergone very few changes compared to those large-format machines that the world saw in the form of the creations of Niepce or Prokudin-Gorsky. Yes, they became smaller, got autofocus, an image stabilizer, and then the photographic plate was replaced by film, which itself became a victim of a digital matrix ... but globally nothing has changed: the image continues to be projected onto photosensitive material using a lens, which has always been the main factor creating an image.
Cool photographers have the opportunity to try everything, but, of course, they shoot with the lenses they like the most - and for some reason they like, as a rule, quite expensive optical devices. Enthusiasts have been collecting lenses for years, clinging to one system, changing some specimens in the collection from year to year for a number of reasons ... but all these are people who already know the taste of photography. What should a beginner do?
Indeed, when buying a camera, a person is rarely guided by his own sanity and does not understand the words “wide-angle” and “long-focus”, but he buys well for “zoom”, sincerely believing that the larger it is, the better the lens. Meanwhile, the situation is rather the opposite - however, it all depends on what is put at the forefront. From the standpoint of versatility, a high magnification zoom is indeed better, but for quality the situation is the opposite - a larger zoom leads to large optical distortions.
Focal length
A little theory first... The most common camera system in the world is based on 35mm film ("type 135"), which is exactly the Kodak you shot with when you were film cameras. That is why this standard has become a benchmark for photo producers in the consumer sector, and it is about it that we will talk in the article below, “forgetting” that there is also a medium and large format.
Today's lenses, one way or another, are tied to the 35-mm format, despite the fact that cameras today are farther from it than ever - less than 1% of all cameras that are guided by this standard are produced for a similar frame size (24 × 36 mm). . Moreover, the vast majority of produced cameras (more than 90%) are compact, in which the size of the photosensitive matrix is 4-6 times smaller than the area of the same film frame. And yet, in order to follow at least some standard, 35 mm film has become a benchmark for everyone.
If you look at the lens of a compact device, you can often see two scales on it, for example 8-24 mm f / 2.8-5.0 (38-114 mm), where the designation in brackets corresponds to the focal length (note that this is not the size of the lens), recalculated in 35 mm equivalent. It is on this basis that the lenses differ (all other parameters are not as important as they are said to be).
To understand this, let's imagine two cameras: an old film "soap box" and a modern digital compact with a resolution of 10 megapixels. We shoot the same frame on both at a focal length of 38 mm from the same position and print it on a 10x15 format. Looking at the frame and not paying attention to the difference in quality, we understand that there are practically no differences in the space covered - and therefore, is there any difference for us that the matrix is 4 times smaller than the film frame, but in fact the focal length is only 8 mm ? That is why the focal length (FR) is simply multiplied by the appropriate coefficient (“crop factor”), which can be obtained by dividing the size of the film frame diagonally by the corresponding size of the matrix - this is the effective focal length.
However, for DSLRs the situation is reversed: sincerely believing that their owners are extremely experienced people who understand the essence of the issue, none of the lens manufacturers for DSLRs bother to calculate the EGF for them. Meanwhile, there are not so many full-frame devices - mostly professional models, of which no more than a dozen have been released by all manufacturers today - and the vast majority of DSLRs existing today have a matrix 1.5 times smaller, for which a lot of lenses that do not support coating have already been released full frame. Nevertheless, the indication of focal lengths even on them remained standard for “reflex” lenses - the user simply needs to multiply the focal length by the corresponding crop factor (×1.5) in each case. By the way, if you crop a picture in the editor, you also change the EGF (if it is, of course, interesting) - after all, you print the picture on paper of the same size or watch it on the network at the same monitor resolution ... For example, if you shot a 50 mm frame, multiply by 1.5 (crop factor), crop, for example, by 30% and, accordingly, multiply by another 1.33 - it turns out 100 mm.
We hope this is all clear, so further we will talk just about the effective focal length, and for mirrors we will indicate both numbers - it will be more convenient for everyone, and what you shoot with is completely unimportant. It’s just that in a DSLR you can always choose the appropriate lens, but for a compact it will be quite difficult to set the appropriate focal length - so do it at random. However, the article is addressed just to beginner "mirrors".
What are lenses for?
Let's arrange the lenses in a table, from the minimum focal length to infinity, and describe their main characteristics and purpose (conditionally, of course):
Now let's take a closer look at why we need each type of lens separately - this will help determine whether it is worth buying them and for what purpose.
Fisheye, ultra wide angle lens
Fisheye lenses are characterized by a very wide angle of coverage of the surrounding space - with a standard 180 ° diagonally cropped frame, they simply have no competitors. In this direction, the record holder is Sigma, which released a lens with a focal length of 4.5 mm and a relative aperture of 2.8 - of course, it costs fabulously, but it also gives a picture that covers more than 180 °.
However, for such a wide angle of coverage (practically everything that our eyes can see without moving, along with peripheral vision) you have to pay a good price. No, we don’t mean those fabulous money for the Sigma we mentioned, everything is much simpler: due to the ultra-wide coverage, the optical distortions of the lens become almost the same as the bend of its front lens - it’s not for nothing that it was called the “fish eye” (apparently, the inventors were aware of the peculiarities of fish morphology). However, photographers did not suffer from this for long, having learned to use these weaknesses to their advantage - the lens perfectly distorts the perspective and has an almost infinite depth of field from half a meter already at aperture 5.6, i.e. you can shoot a person from a level of 20 cm above your head, and the head in the frame will be huge, and the legs will remind us of dwarfs. It also distorts linear objects in an interesting way - the columns on the sides of the frame bend outward, only the circles remain circles (at worst, ellipses), but all other objects “float”.
In general, the lens is considered more of a good entertainment (almost 100% of its use is in experiments) than a serious tool - which is true, even in a cramped room, a person will not like to be arched at the edges of the frame, albeit with columns.
wide angle lens
"Shirik" - essential tool landscape photographer and reporter who shoots intimate corporate events or parties. EGF here starts from 15-16 mm (the example shows Tokina 12-24, which is 18-36 mm), allowing you to cover 90 ° and even a little more, which is “behind the eyes” enough to shoot even in a room. It is usually argued that a “big hole” of 2.8 is completely optional for the width - however, corporate professionals who often have to work, except perhaps in pitch darkness, will hardly agree with this, and you can meet different people here, including those who are afraid of daylight , with which they can confuse the flash pulse.
The advantage of a conventional linear wide-angle over a fisheye is that the picture is almost distortion-free (the higher the price, the less spherical distortion and the larger the relative aperture), and the disadvantage is an almost half the coverage angle.
The lens can also be used to distort the proportions of objects - when shooting objects from an angle, up close, it visually “compresses” them (if you have seen how a 16:9 picture is shown on a 4:3 TV, you will understand), since the eye perceives the picture as normal (taken with a "normal" lens), and it is wide-angle. However, this effect also occurs in some computer games.
Note that people standing at the edges of the horizontal frame only noticeably get fatter and lose weight as they approach the center of the frame.
normal lens
In film times, a “fifty kopeck” was considered a “normal” (standard) lens, but with the advent of the times of reduced matrices (after all, a full frame is now expensive for an enthusiast), it is being replaced by a 35 mm lens, although many continue to use fifty kopecks, even if their coverage angle was reduced completely to a moderate portrait lens.
There is not much normal in the lens - if we exclude human peripheral vision, a 50-mm lens gives exactly the same picture that a person sees, and therefore all proportions are respected (wide-angle ones differ in this - they simply capture part of the field from peripheral vision). Actually, before that it was enough - then it was just “zoom with your feet”. Today it has been replaced by a real zoom.
In fact, of course, there is nothing to replace fifty kopecks with - this is the very line between a wide-angle and telephoto lens, on which more than one generation of successful photographers has grown up. Usually they make it fast enough, about f / 1.8, and for ridiculous money, about 100 bucks, which many people go for - however, when everything around is with zooms, the lens still loses in terms of versatility, but quickly teaches the photographer how to play within the frame. In other words, lenses of this type are more for training than for everyday use in different situations- and the angle is not enough for the room, and you can’t take a normal portrait very well.
Universal lens kit
When buying your first DSLR, be sure to take it complete with a "whale" - manufacturers are doing a tricky move aimed at marketing their own, "native" glasses, reducing the price of a staffer below its market value (i.e., if you buy such a lens new separately from the camera, in total the difference will be 100-200 dollars, which can be spent just for fifty dollars). The quality of the staffer is not so hot, but you will see it only after a year or two of shooting, and even then, if you are lucky - and by that time, maybe its plastic case will not serve as well as in the old days.
In fact, functionally regular zooms have replaced the standard fifty dollars - EGF 50 mm today is in the middle of their range (in the case of 18-55, of course). It turns out that the same fifty dollars was simply expanded with the possibility of zoom, and that's all, leaving the fifty dollars itself. See the number 35? This is what he is.
The advantage of the “whale” over the “fifty kopecks” is in functional terms, since it allows you to shoot the situation in the room, and good portraits come out of it, you just need to twist the zoom ring. The disadvantages are also obvious - it always loses in quality, however, this is at the beginning creative way you can safely discard it, since you can’t find a better lens for study.
portrait lens
Don't look for the inscription like portrait on this lens - there are none. A portrait lens simply has an EGF focal length of 85-120mm, depending on the taste of the photographer. The reason is simple: when communicating with a person, most of us look at the interlocutor with both eyes, and therefore we are used to seeing a completely certain angle, and only people with one-sided visual impairments see opponents differently - however, no one has ever considered a minority, and cynics - photographers are no exception. To understand these people without changing your position, close one eye with your hand and see how much the angle has changed: the cheekbones have expanded, the ears have hidden, the nose has spread ... like it? And the reason is simple: looking with two eyes, the light from the object (naturally reflected - during life, few people glow personally) spreads in one direction, practically not converging, and with one we force it to converge to one point at an angle. The situation can be corrected by making this angle sharper so that the extreme rays are closer to parallel lines, which we have when looking at the object with two eyes - not a fountain, of course, but this is the best of what we have ... because the lens has only one organ of vision.
Naturally, portraits are taken from a certain distance (again, we recall the “zoom with our feet”), depending on what you need: close-up, chest, half-length or full-length - the narrow lens coverage angle will itself “bring” us closer to the object.
Please note that there are a bunch of different portrait lenses - they have their own technical specifications macro lenses are similar, but the requirements are different in both cases: a “portrait lens” should not only give a sharp picture in the focus area, it should also blur the background beautifully (if you know what “bokeh” is, you will understand), while "Makrika" only requires sharpness.
macro lens
Macro photography is almost the only direction in photography where everything or almost everything depends on the technique used for shooting. Of course, artistic flair is important here, but a good lens will do its job much better for you - which is why many beginners start with macro. A macro lens is any lens labeled "macro" or "micro" that not only makes it stand out as a tough kid, but simply allows it to focus from a closer distance. If you look at the lens characteristics table, you will see the “minimum focusing distance” parameter, which for modern lenses can be 35-38 cm, and for macro lenses - 5 cm or less. Naturally, what kind of lens does it have and how it works in macro - if you don’t want to do a lot of shamanism in Photoshop with fine-tuning the results, buy a good one right away, although macro games probably shouldn’t be made a hobby for life either.
Of course, it’s good to have a fast focus motor, but it’s not at all necessary - you won’t be able to catch a bee on the fly even with fast autofocus, and you need to use prefocus and its lock function, coupled with burst shooting. But the open aperture here plays a dual role: the “big hole” allows you to shoot in poor light, but does not give the desired depth of field required for macro, so the hole still needs to be clamped. However, in some cases, the ultra-small depth of field, characteristic of macro, gives good results. Please note that the most budget lens models (like the one in the photo) “soap” the picture, i.e. does not give the clarity that macro is valued for - yes, this can be compensated in the editor, but it will still not be the same.
In theory, a macro lens, like a portrait lens, simply does not have the right to be universal - both have a very narrow application and, as a result, features of design and quality, and therefore should be bought only for these purposes. Naturally, it’s bad manners to shoot portraits with a macro lens, but if there is no other, who will forbid it? Personally, I didn’t buy a macro shotgun for myself - I just used the one that I got from the film era.
Long lens, telephoto lens
A lens that often allows you to "get closer" without doing it - as a rule, such lenses, in themselves, are longer than all of the ones we've talked about above. They are often measured by photographers, although it would seem that there is no point - well, you shoot a bird in the sky or the moon there, and then you go to any hosting and upload it there, providing it with the appropriate tags, but then, sorting by these tags, you will get a couple more thousands of similar frames from other users, and the ego will suffer greatly. Yes, reporters will disagree with us - they are fed by such lenses (not the same as in the photo, but longer and thicker - size matters in their work), because they allow you to get closer to the president and puff his forehead with a powerful strobe not to everyone.
However, no one bothers to buy this toy - in the end, there are things that you need to get sick yourself: this is chickenpox, puberty and men's "measures". Even if you don’t get rid of it later, you will still be satisfied.
They shoot with this lens, as a rule, statesmen, fashion shows, neighbors from the house opposite in negligee and without it :). Oh yes, also the moon and the birds - after all, we so rarely see them in life.
Blenda
It would seem that this is another useless thing in the photographer’s arsenal, since, on the one hand, it makes a completely non-compact camera even more non-compact, and is not quickly removed, despite the fact that it practically does not interfere with catching sunbeams (and this is what it was made for, it would seem that). It happens either simply in the form of a small cylinder screwed into the mounting thread of the filter, or advanced, with a bayonet connection and on plastic lenses, with which many people displaced the front moving part, trying to remove it from them, especially from new ones (the connection is strong, reliable and undeveloped, and hands are not used to it yet) - in fact, this is an opportunity to earn extra money for workshops for the repair of optical instruments and manufacturers of these, who will gladly sell new ones.
However, there is still a benefit from the hood: although it is inconvenient to put a cap on the lens with it, the hood can sometimes protect the lens from damage (when they forgot to put it on), sometimes even with a low fall, or from children's fingers. Moreover, it gives the lens the appearance of a more serious optical device and immediately gives out a beginner in the photographer, since for most people who use the lens for more than a year or two, it is lost, gathering dust on a shelf or has a broken mount.
In many cases, it can be used on tours that often do not take tripods - when you need to substitute something under the lens so that it does not fall down when the device is placed on slippery stones.
By the way, it is better to remove an unused hood and, turning it over, do not fix it on the lens, although there is such a possibility - you will lose in efficiency, because. it tends to cover the zoom or manual focus ring, depending on the lens design.
5 biggest misconceptions that prevent you from choosing the right lens
1. Aperture is better than Image Stabilizer
Let's figure out what the stub does and what the aperture ratio does. Firstly, the stabilizer helps to get sufficiently long shutter speeds by classical standards (rule 1: EGF), without blurring the picture. This feature is very useful in the tele-range. Secondly, lenses with a stub often have a special mode for panning, i.e. The stabilizer only works on one axis. Thirdly, the stub works regardless of the selected aperture, and therefore does not affect the depth of field. Fourthly, the stub does not affect the subject in any way, and even if it helped not to blur the whole thing, it is not able to prevent the sudden movement of the subject. Aperture allows light to pass through the lens faster, forming an image faster. In this case, the more the aperture is open, the faster the image is formed, and the smaller the depth of field. Aperture that gives fast shutter speeds helps, for example, to freeze an object in motion. But in general, to tell the truth, comparing a stub with aperture is the same as comparing skis and a snowboard. These are two different tools that can show their strengths depending on the specific task. It is convenient when both instruments are available in one lens.
2. The steeper the lens, the more expensive it is
Many modern budget lenses can compete with much more expensive lenses in sharpness, but this is not the only parameter for a lens. Today, manufacturers pay a lot of attention to the functionality of lenses - they equip them with a stub, a large range of focal lengths, dust and moisture protection. Moreover, in the face of fierce competition, they often deliberately degrade the quality of the design and try to reduce the cost of the product through the use of cheaper materials. The presence of a plastic bayonet mount on a lens is not so uncommon today.
There are great lenses when it comes to optical quality, but when it comes to durability, they'll end up at the bottom of the list. A very striking example of this is the Canon 50mm 1.8 Mark II. The image is simply amazing. It is they who speak of him as a “hidden elk”, but the quality of this lens is not impressive - there is no focal length scale, there is a very cheap and noisy motor, there are only 5 aperture blades, automation often smears with focus, a bayonet mount made of plastic and so on, but at $100 it's just a great lens that I think every user of a Canon system should have.
When we buy a lens, we pay not for the pictures that we then shoot, but for the optical quality and workmanship + functionality. If we buy an expensive model, then all three parameters will be at a high level, but not the fact that they are at the highest level. If we buy a relatively inexpensive lens, we certainly make a compromise. It can be anything - workmanship, functionality, optical quality, aperture ratio, focal length range, or even a brand. Therefore, it is important to prioritize and buy exactly what you need, while trying to compromise on optical quality as a last resort.
3. Native Canon and Nikon optics are much better than third-party brands Sigma, Tamron, Tokina
There are many examples when third-party optics turn out to be at least as good as native lenses. And to say that Sigma, Tamron, Tokina are rubbish is just stupid. It's all about the market positioning of specific brands. For example, Sigma, which has earned fame in the past as a relatively unreliable manufacturer, is focused on the production of cheap zooms with low aperture and mainly for cropped cameras. AT recent times the manufacturer has significantly improved quality control and expanded the lineup their lenses. Now the assortment includes excellent quality and constructive fixes Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM and Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM. The optical design of these lenses is proprietary. Another manufacturer Tamron also pleases with the excellent quality of the top line products. The pride of the company is fast zooms with a constant relative aperture. The excellent Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 XR and Tamron SP AF 28-75mm F/2.8 XR Di LD zoom lenses are a huge market success, and the Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di macro lens is considered one of the best in its class. . Much less well known to the general public, Tokina is perhaps the only quality-focused third-party manufacturer that competes directly with the best lenses from Canon and Nikon. The only drawback I can name is a relatively small range of products. To be honest, it’s even a little insulting for a worthy brand that is so underestimated by the photographic community, although it produces lenses of an “elec” level.
4. Fix is better than zoom
No that's not true. Perhaps it was possible to say so once, but now - definitely not. Previously, the quality of zooms was much lower than now. Today there are such excellent zooms as Tokina AT-X 16-28 f/2.8 AF PRO, Tokina 50-135mm f/2.8 Pro DX AF, Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S, Canon EF 70-200mm F2. 8 L IS II USM, which in their range give a much better picture than many fixes. Not in vain, best zooms jokingly referred to as a "set of fixes".
True, fixes also have a number of advantages, for example, the same aperture ratio, weight, design, price. Zooms are more versatile and this versatility can be useful in certain conditions. There are situations when a large aperture is needed, then it would be preferable to use a fix. There are also tasks where you need to use the super telephoto 800mm, for example, for shooting wildlife. Then the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6 L IS USM fix is indispensable, and no zoom can adequately replace it. The situation is similar with specialized macro lenses and tilt-shifts.
5. The more you hold the aperture, the better the sharpness, and on the open - always soap
This is the most common misconception for beginner photographers. Firstly, it’s far from always soap at an open aperture, and secondly, the main thing is that each lens has its own “sweet points”. For the vast majority of lenses, at the maximum covered aperture, the sharpness index drops significantly even in comparison with aperture 8. This is to blame physical phenomenon as diffraction (the phenomenon of deviation of light from the rectilinear direction of propagation when passing near obstacles).
Most often, the peak of lens sharpness appears when the aperture is covered by 2-3 stops. But this rule should be taken very conditionally, because. there are a great many exceptions.
A telephoto lens is a great tool that allows you to get great shots where other lenses are simply powerless. What are its features, advantages and disadvantages? Let's figure it out.
What it is?
A telephoto lens is a device for a camera whose focal length is much larger than the diagonal of the frame. In this case, the angle of view can be from 10° to 39°. The purpose of lenses with such a focal length is to shoot distant objects, because they are able to significantly bring the subject closer and noticeably enlarge the image. They are indispensable if the photographer does not have the opportunity to come close to the subject, but it is necessary to take a photo on a large scale, to focus on a small nuance or close-up.
The magnification of the subject will be the more noticeable, the greater the difference between the focal lengths of the standard and telephoto lenses, and the perspective of the photograph will seem more compressed. That is, the distance to distant objects will seem much less.
What are they used for?
Shooting with a telephoto lens is indispensable for hunting for large and small animals. Another area of application for such a device is portrait photography, but it has its own characteristics. So that the proportions of the face are not distorted in the photo, the photographer needs to shoot from a sufficiently large distance (1.5-2 m). Wide-angle and standard lenses produce small images when shooting at this distance.
First Feature
What are the features of long-focus optics?
First, it enlarges the image. For example, an optic with a focal length of 200 millimeters will be almost four times the focal length of a standard lens (50 mm). Accordingly, the image scale will be four times larger. From this it follows that you can find out the magnification by dividing the focal length by 50. For example, the Soviet long-focus lens MTO-1000A has a focal length of almost 1100 mm, respectively, the magnification is 22.
The ability to significantly zoom in on the subject is one of the most valuable features of such lenses for photographers, because this is the only way to make beautiful shots of wildlife or any other objects that for some reason cannot be approached.
However, one of the main drawbacks of such optics follows from this - size. "Powerful" lenses with high magnification are heavy and bulky, they are almost impossible to use without a good support. She most often serves as a tripod.
Another negative feature that should be taken into account is that long-focus optics make visible all the shortcomings caused both by the quality of the lens itself and by camera vibrations. It is almost impossible to avoid with a large weight of the device. Because of this, many telephoto lenses cannot match conventional lenses in terms of image sharpness, but are much more expensive than the latter.
Second feature
Another important feature of telephoto optics, for which photographers love it so much, is the ability to highlight the subject against the background, that is, a beautiful blur. This is very useful if, for example, the animal is standing against the background of vegetation. What causes a strong background blur? The fact is that a telephoto lens has a small angle of view (for example, for a device with a focal length of 400 mm, this is only 5 °), and the depth of field is less than that of standard samples. Thus, if the aperture is fully open, then the depth of field is a narrow strip, so everything but the subject itself is in focus.
Third feature
There is another feature that is also associated with a shallow depth of field. It is of particular importance when photographing fauna. Objects, both behind and in front, will be out of focus and blurry. This means that various fine vegetation, which will be clearly visible in a photograph with a standard lens, will be practically invisible in a photograph with a telephoto optic.
aberrations
Aberrations are photo deviations from the norm. In the case of long lenses, we are talking about a specific type of aberration - distortion, that is, the curvature of geometry. This means that the scale of the photo will change from the center to the edges. Straight lines can become bulging or tend to the edges of the photo, in which case this is the so-called barrel distortion. If the lines become concave and tend to the center, then this is pincushion distortion.
In some cases, chromatic aberrations can also occur, which appear as a color outline effect on the object. This can be eliminated after shooting, using graphic editors. The process will be easier if the photographer shoots in RAW format.
Shooting genres
Let us dwell in more detail on the use of telephoto lenses.
- Sports events. Photographers in such cases, as a rule, are hindered by fences, and the distance to the subject is quite large. The "telephoto" in this case is simply irreplaceable, but it is worth remembering that the image is quite easy to "blur", so the shutter speed should be set to 1/1000 second and use a monopod or tripod.
- Architecture. It is not a problem to examine and capture all the details of this or that architectural building if there is long-focus optics. If with a standard lens from a distance you can only shoot overall plan, then the "telephoto" will highlight the part of interest.
- landscapes. Standard lenses can be inconvenient in landscape photography because they give too wide a shot. A long-focus lens will "take" a mountain peak, a seething waterfall and any other objects that are at a sufficient distance.
For Nikon
An example of a popular telephoto model Nikon lens is the Nikon 70-200mm f/4G ED VR AF-S. Photographers call it one of the best lenses in many ways, which, however, does not include the price. On the this moment its minimum threshold is 90 thousand rubles.
This is an excellent long-focus optic, having a constant aperture, the parameter of which is 4. Its huge plus is the sharpness of the image. That is, the shots taken by him are not inferior in sharpness to standard lenses with similar parameters. Compared to its “brothers”, it has a small weight, and few representatives of this type of optics can boast of this. There is an excellent image stabilizer and focusing is quiet.
A more budget-friendly option is the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR.
For Canon
An example of a Canon telephoto lens is primarily the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. This telephoto lens is very heavy, weighing 1.5 kg, which greatly affects the physical condition of the photographer during long shooting. It will not fit in every bag, so you will either have to pick it up specially, or carry the camera in your hands or around your neck.
The lower threshold of cost at the moment is 125 thousand rubles.
This high-quality optics has two modes of operation of the stabilizer, almost silent and very fast autofocus. Its protection is high enough, so the photographer has the ability to take photos in bad weather conditions such as snow and rain. There are chromatic aberrations in the photo, but they are at a low level, but vignetting will appear at an open aperture, which can ruin the frame a little. A tripod leg is included with this Canon telephoto lens.
Telephoto lenses are lenses that have a focal length that is noticeably longer than a standard lens. Among optics designed for a 24x36mm frame, it is customary to classify lenses with a focal length of 70-80mm or more as long-focus lenses. The term "telephoto" properly refers to telephoto lenses of a particularly compact design. The rear component of telephoto lenses is a negative lens, due to which their length can be significantly reduced. However, the term "telephoto lens" has now taken root quite well in relation to any long-focus lenses, so we will also not fundamentally divide long-focus optics into lenses built according to traditional schemes and according to the telephoto scheme.
At the very "beginning" of the telephoto range of optics are lenses, often referred to as "portrait" lenses. This name of lenses with a focal length of about 85-135mm is directly related to their use for portrait photography. The increased focal length of portrait lenses compared to the standard one allows you to properly compose the picture without getting too close to the person being portrayed. After all, it’s more common for us to remember the facial features of a stranger somewhere from one and a half to two meters, and not from 50 centimeters? And the lenses of the portrait range just make it possible to compose a picture well, while maintaining a minimum distance of one and a half to two meters, which is “safe” for the usual perception. Therefore, it is portrait lenses that most correctly (more precisely, habitually for our perception) convey the proportions of a person's face in portrait shooting.
Long-focus lenses with a focal length of 200-300mm or more fully justify the name "telephoto lens" by the fact that they allow you to shoot at a fairly large scale without getting close to the subject. Such a need arises, for example, in reportage and spy photography or wildlife photography. Self-respecting squirrels, hares or birds usually do not wait for the photographer to come closer to them in order to make a good close-up shot for fifty dollars. In addition, there are many objects that cannot be approached close, even with all the desire. For example, to make the sunset on the frame a huge red ball, and not a small white hole in the sky, you need a lens with a focal length of 300mm or more. By the way, the rule of thumb is that on the negative, images of the Sun and Moon have a diameter about a hundred times smaller than the focal length of the lens. Therefore, you can get the sun "in the whole frame" only with ultra-long-focus optics with a focal length of at least 1000-2000mm.
The use of long-focus optics is interesting not only for the possibility of "approaching" distant objects. Telephoto lenses convey the perspective in a completely special way, "flattening" it and reducing the distance between the foreground and background. Closest to our perception is a road crowded with cars, a path lost in a haze, railroads going into the distance or an even row of house facades, it is best and easiest to convey it with the help of long-focus optics. In addition, telephoto lenses are extremely good for focusing on some small details and close-ups of the subject, cutting off and blurring the unwanted background beyond recognition.
When using telephoto lenses, it should be remembered that they are much more sensitive than wider-angle optics to the slightest trembling in the hands or vibration of the device, resulting in "blurring" of the image. Therefore, when shooting with telephoto cameras, the use of a tripod (monopod) and setting sufficiently short shutter speeds improves (sometimes - even radically!) The sharpness of photographs. Another option for solving the problem of "blur" when shooting with telephoto optics is offered by Canon and Nikon - these are lenses with a built-in optical image stabilization system (IS - Image Stabilization and VR - Vibration Reduction, respectively).
Lens- This is an optical system consisting of a certain number of lenses (and in some cases, mirrors) that forms an image. The lens is the basis for obtaining high-quality images for the camera. To date, there is a huge selection of a wide variety of lenses that are offered to us by manufacturers of optics and photographic equipment. Below, let's look at the whole variety of choices, as well as what lenses are designated and what they are used for.
First of all, let's consider the main characteristics (and alphanumeric designations) of lenses. It is worth highlighting the following:
1) Bayonet type;
2) Focal length (or distances - if it is a zoom lens);
3) The maximum aperture ratio of the lens.
TYPE OF BAYONET
Every major manufacturer of photographic equipment, before starting to produce lenses, develops bayonet. A bayonet is a mounting unit, a system for attaching a lens to a camera.
There are dozens of bayonet mounts that are not compatible with each other (for example, you cannot screw a CANON lens onto a NIKON camera and vice versa). In addition, major manufacturers of photographic equipment (CANON, NIKON, SONY, PENTAX and not only them) have several types of mounts that are developed for different types of cameras. For example, CANON has three types of mounts: EF EF-S EF-M- for mirrorless cameras. NIKON also has several types of mounts: FX- for full-frame cameras, DX- for "cropped" cameras with APS-C sensor and Nikon1- for mirrorless cameras.
In addition, there are large so-called "third-party" manufacturers (such as SIGMA, TAMRON, TOKINA, SAMYANG), who do not make their own cameras and, accordingly, do not develop mounts, producing lenses for other people's systems. Often, third-party lenses may not be fully compatible with certain cameras - autofocus may not work, there may not be the ability to record frame information (EXIF), distortion or vignetting control ... in general, not without “nuances”.
Therefore, when making a choice, make sure that the camera and lens are compatible with the mount, and it is also desirable to find out if all the functions will work. If, for example, autofocus is not supported, it is better to know about it in advance, and not get a "surprise" after purchase.
When we have decided what type of mount the lens belongs to (by the way, if the lens is from third-party manufacturers, the task can be complicated by the lack of marking), consider those characteristics that are always marked on any lens - this is the focal length and aperture.
FOCAL LENGTH
Focal length shows how far we can “zoom in” on the object being photographed, or how far we can cover the area being photographed. Focal length is indicated by numbers in millimeters.
Often, on older lenses, you can see the designation of the focal length in centimeters. You won't find this on today.
A single number (for example - 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 100mm, 135mm) denotes lenses with fixed focal length. You can also find other names - FIX or DISCRETE lens.
Two numbers separated by a dash (for example - 17-40mm, 28-80mm, 70-200mm, 100-400mm) denote lenses with variables focal length- from the minimum to the maximum possible. There are names - ZOOM lens, VARIO LENS.
It must be taken into account that:
Focal length designations are in full frame equivalent. And if you have a camera equipped with a “cropped” sensor, then in order to find out the real focal length, you need to multiply the values \u200b\u200bon the lens by the appropriate coefficient - the so-called. That is, the actual focal lengths of a 10-22mm lens for a camera with an APS-C sensor (crop factor - 1.6) will be 16-35.2 mm.
MAXIMUM LENS APERTURE HOLE
They often say DIAPHRAGM or LIGHT POWER. But the concept of luminosity, in this case not quite right, because this designation is applicable to determining the physical size of the hole created by the aperture, and aperture is a physical term, the value of which is influenced by many factors and the aperture is only one of them.
The designations are as follows (these are examples, the actual numbers indicated on specific lenses will vary):
1) 1:1.4 - found on both fixed and zoom lenses.
2) 1:3.5-5.6 - found on zoom lenses.
For example, if a lens says 50mm 1:1.4, then it has a fixed focal length of 50mm with the widest possible aperture of f/1.4.
If we see a similar designation - 28-70mm 1: 2.8-4, this means that the maximum aperture value for a focal length of 28 millimeters will be - f / 2.8. But for a focal length of 70 millimeters, the maximum aperture will be - f / 4.
And finally, if we see something like 70-200mm 1:2.8, then this means that for any focal length from 70 to 200 millimeters, the maximum aperture value can be - f / 2.8.
It must be taken into account that:
1) For a variable aperture for fixed lenses, its maximum value, when the focus is increased, will accordingly change by one stop. For example, the maximum aperture for a 10-22mm 1:3.5-4.5 lens at a focal length of 15mm would be f/4.0.
2) The MINIMUM aperture value on lenses is not always indicated, although this is also an important parameter. You can see it only on lenses equipped with DOF SCALE. The maximum numbers that are indicated on it are the minimum aperture values.
On lenses from different manufacturers, you can find different spellings of the focal length / aperture bundle, but the essence of this will not change. Examples below:
The main characteristics of lenses have been described above. But there are additional clarifying ones, which are much more. Usually, alphanumeric markings of these additional. Each manufacturer has its own specifications. You can get information about them on our website in the relevant articles of the section of our website.
CLASSIFICATION OF LENSES BY THEIR APPLICATION
- WIDE ANGLE a lens (they also say a short-focus lens or “wide”) is a lens with large viewing angles from 60 °, and a focal length ranging from 10 to 35 mm. Often used for shooting landscapes, shooting in confined spaces, such as interiors.
- Often, isolated separately - ULTRA WIDE lenses with very large (more than 85 °) viewing angles and a very short focus - from 7 to 14 mm. Due to the fact that they give significant geometric distortion (barrel shape) and have an exaggerated transmission of perspective, they are often used to give the image additional expressiveness.
- FISHEY (FISHEYE - Fisheye) are lenses with a field of view angle of 180° or more. It is characterized by a very pronounced distortion inherent in them (spherical barrel distortion), without which such viewing angles cannot be realized. Two types of fishies can come across - CIRCULAR (with an image in the form of a circle), and DIAGONAL - with a regular full-frame image, and a 180 ° diagonal field of view (these are actually the most "ultra-wide ultra-wide-angles"). Such lenses are used only for creative photography, to create interesting geometrically distorted images. Fisheye can have a focal length of 4.5 to 15 mm.
- NORMAL a lens with a focal length of 37 to 70 mm and an angle of view of 40° to 60°. It is believed that the perception of the perspective of a picture taken with a normal lens is closest to the normal perception of the perspective of the surrounding world by the human eye. At the same time, the most popular value, which eventually became the standard, is 50 mm. Every manufacturer of photographic optics has 50mm lenses, and often with very different characteristics and price tags.
- PORTRAIT a lens whose focal length is intermediate between normal and telephoto. You need to understand that the very concept of a portrait lens is very relative, and the border between a portrait lens and a telephoto lens is arbitrary. The standard focal length is 85 mm, although "portrait" focal lengths can be from 85 to 150 mm. At smaller and larger focal lengths, lenses give foreshortening distortions that change the proportions of the face. For a portrait lens, in addition to technical parameters, the nature of the optical pattern and bokeh is important.
In fairness, I must say that a portrait lens can be any normal or telephoto lens ... it all depends on what result the photographer wants to achieve and how he sees the result of his work. There are famous photographers who shoot portraits with 50mm and even 35mm lenses, and the "humanoid faces" that are obtained in the pictures are regarded as a creative move.
- LONG FOCUS lens - lenses with a focal length of more than 70mm and an angle of view of 39° or less. These lenses are designed for shooting distant objects ( wildlife, sports competitions - all events that do not allow you to get close to the subject). Often allocate SUPER LONG FOCUS lenses. These are lenses with an angle of view of less than 9° and focal lengths greater than 300mm.
All of the above classification is based on the focal length of the lenses. But in addition, you may also encounter the following types of lenses:
- MACRO LENS- a lens designed for taking close-up shots of small objects. A feature of this type of lens is that they are able to focus at very short distances (up to several centimeters), while they have a focal length, usually from 60mm or more and a maximum aperture of f / 2.8 or more. In addition, a good macro lens shoots with an optical zoom of at least 1:1. All of the above characteristics (short focus distance, long focus and large apertures) bring us to the main feature of macro lenses - the ability to create a VERY shallow depth of field. a good macro lens can have less than a millimeter.
- TILT SHIFT LENS(TILT SHIFT)- These are expensive specialized lenses that have the ability to correct the image perspective by tilting (TILT) or shifting (SHIFT) a group of lenses relative to the optical axis. Designed primarily for shooting architecture and interiors, as well as for creating panoramas and interesting artistic photos with a “miniature effect”.
At the end of the article, we also mention CATADIOPTRIC(or, as they are also called - MIRROR) lenses ... because of their unusual design and appearance. Pay attention to the mirrored cylindrical element in the middle of the structure. These lenses use a combination of curved mirrors and glass elements. SLR lenses are telephoto lenses, but at the same time they have very small dimensions and the ability to focus at short distances. At the same time, there are also disadvantages: these are only fixed lenses (it is technically impossible to create a zoom), they have a constant and low aperture, they are not autofocus.
In this article, we will not dwell on the narrow specialized solutions, such as soft focus lenses, monocles, cine lenses, since these are topics for separate articles, we will simply mention that they are.
Summing up, I would like to explain certain points that you may encounter when choosing a lens.
Usually, the more you pay, the better lens you get. This is generally true, because buying a very expensive professional lens, you will not be disappointed with the quality you get (both the quality of the lens itself and the quality of the image it produces). But the selection criteria are different for everyone:
- someone needs a compact lens and image quality is less important than size and weight,
- someone is important for the ideal accuracy and sharpness of the image,
- someone first of all looks at the bokeh,
- for someone, the maximum approximation is important, etc.
Here, the topic of image quality is not specifically touched upon, since the very concept of quality is very relative - everyone sees and evaluates differently. In order to understand what suits you, you need to decide what you plan to photograph, study the photographs taken by certain lenses (you can find many examples of work on the Internet) ... and of course, try. Only by practicing will you come to understand what is best for you.
normal lenses.
Normal lenses are those lenses whose focal length is equal to or 10 - 20 percent greater than the length of the diagonal of the frame. The image field angle of these lenses is almost always in the range of 45 to 55 degrees.
Typically, the focal length of 35mm cameras averages around 50mm. For digital cameras, however, this distance is much smaller, this is due to the rather small dimensions of digital matrices compared to a 35 mm standard frame. Perform a zoom-in or zoom-out operation on your camera. In every model digital camera provided for its own way of carrying out such actions. Very often, a special lever or two separate buttons are used for this. When the action (zoom-in) is activated, the lens is extended, increasing the focal length, and in the LCD monitor we see how the image increases in size, as if “running into” us. At the same time, on the contrary, when the action (zoom-out) is activated, the length of the lens decreases, while reducing its focal length, and in the LCD monitor we observe how the image, decreasing, moves away from us. With a bit of experimentation, we can get the size ratio of objects on our LCD monitor screen to match the actual proportions of the scene we're shooting. In this case, we can say that the focal length of our digital camera corresponds to the focal length of a normal lens.
Reduced (zoom-in) and enlarged (zoom-out) image of the same object.
Normal lenses are called that because the proportions in the images obtained with their help correspond to the proportions of objects that exist in the real world, i.e. exactly as they are perceived by the human eye.
With all this, normal lenses are not the most popular with professional photographers. Many of them use wide-angle lenses, which have a wider field of view and greater depth of field.
These giraffes look the same when you look at them with the naked eye and in a picture taken with a camera with a normal lens. In this case, this type of lens does not introduce any distortion when displaying the real world.
Wide angle (short throw) lenses.
Wide-angle, or short-focus, lenses are those whose main focal length is smaller and the image field angle is larger than that of normal lenses, that is, their focal length will be less than the diagonal of the matrix. The following subgroups can be distinguished from the line of wide-angle lenses - ultra-wide-angle lenses, which are characterized by a large field of view angle, it can be equal to two or even more normal angles (in the literature this value is more than 83 degrees) and a subgroup of the line of fisheye lenses, which have a field of view angle of 120 degrees or more.
Short throw lenses are used when shooting in tight spaces, in cases where it is impossible to move far enough away in order to obtain an image of the selected space. They are also used for shooting indoors or outdoors, when it is impossible to depict the entire selected composition in the frame with a lens with a normal focal length.
In order to fully capture the space being filmed (in this case, the scene in the museum premises), it is necessary to use a short throw (wide angle) lens.
Wide-angle lenses are also used when shooting underwater. Among other things, this type of lens gives the greatest depth of field. This is what makes them most popular for reporting street events and displaying demonstrations. Therefore, if you decide to take this kind of shooting, then perform the operation (zoom-out) in order to increase the angle of view, so we will have at our disposal a focal length that will correspond to a wide-angle lens.
At the same time, a short focus will allow us to get as close as possible to the subject, allowing us to get the effect of the necessary perspective on the resulting image, which can give our image a great artistic value. An object that is directly in front of the lens will be much larger than other objects in the background.
Such distortion can give the scene some surrealism, which will surely attract the attention of your viewer. Along with wide-angle and zoom lenses, special attachments are sometimes also used, which allow you to further increase the viewing angle.
Amazing 180-degree world: The ultra-wide-angle fisheye lens is globally superior to human vision.
Long and telephoto lenses
Long-focal or telephoto lenses are lenses that have a longer main focal length and a smaller image field angle than normal lenses.
In appearance, a lens that has a variable focal length after the zoom-in operation will resemble a telescope (therefore, these lenses are also called telescopic lenses). In this zoom position, the lens will have all the advantages and disadvantages of a telescopic lens.
The AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR is a handy and economical lens with a coverage that allows you to shoot almost any subject, both near and far.
Telephoto lenses are used in cases where it is not possible to get close to the subject at the required distance to obtain a large image scale, for example, it can be a report of sporting events, hunting photography or portrait photography.
It is known that birds do not let the photographer get close, therefore, in order to take a good picture, you need a camera with a telephoto lens.
The effect of using a telephoto lens can be compared to the effect of using binoculars. If instead of a lens with a normal focal length of 50 mm, you shoot with a lens with a large focal length of 300 mm, then the image scale on the frame will be 6 times larger - 300/50.
The depth of field for telephoto lenses will be much smaller than for normal and even more short-focus lenses, so when shooting with this type of lens, you need to be more careful when focusing on the subject.
Moreover, when the camera “zooms in”, the space of the displayed scene is visually compressed and the distances between objects decrease, as a result, they seem to be located much closer friend to a friend than it is in reality.
As you can see in this picture taken with a long lens, at a great distance, the distance between people and the aircraft is hidden, and it seems that they are at the same distance from us.
The main inconvenience when shooting with a telephoto lens is the need to set small apertures. In this case, we have to deal with a slow shutter speed, that is, with a low shutter speed, and if the objects we shoot are significantly enlarged, even the smallest camera shake will cause an image blur effect. Therefore, it is recommended to use a special compact tripod, which will allow you to quickly shoot by resting it on the belt.
Pay attention when using telephoto lenses or zoom lenses acting as them, when carrying out portrait shooting, that is, when photographing a person's face close-up. For the following requirements:
- your lens should not have perspective distortion;
- it should create a soft, low-contrast pattern that will hide minor facial defects;
- the lens should have a narrow enough field of view, which will allow you to move away at a sufficient distance from the subject, while creating comfortable working conditions, while minimizing perspective distortion;
- should have a shallow depth of field, which will allow you to blur minor details and the background of the portrait, highlight psychologically significant ones.
When shooting a portrait, the advantage of a telephoto lens is that it allows you to photograph a person not staged, but spontaneously. At the same time, a person lives his own life, expresses feelings, sometimes without even realizing that he is being photographed. It turns out very sincere.
All these requirements are exactly met by telephoto lenses with focal lengths from 80 to 200 mm for a 24 x 36 mm frame. The softness of the picture in the lenses is achieved by specially introduced or uncorrected residual aberrations. Quite often, for these purposes, especially when using a lens with a high resolution, additional attachments can be used to increase light scattering.
It is very convenient to use a telephoto lens in cases where a person feels uncomfortable in the presence of a camera or when it simply annoys him. You will understand this yourself if you have to face the problem of photographing capricious children. Despite the large distance, the result will be exactly the same as if you were shooting a person at close range with a camera with a normal lens.