What is the purpose of cameras having removable lenses?

Answer 1

Different lenses for different types of pictures, distance, light, & effects. etc.

What a dumb question.

Answer 2

Different lenses provide different perspectives. A wide angle lens, example, will allow you to take in more of the landscape while a telephoto lens will allow you to draw in something that is in the distance closer to you, for a candid shot of someone or wildlife photography where the subject will fly or run away or the subject may attack and hurt/kill you if you get too close. A macro-photography lens will allow you to take an extreme close-up of something like an insect, or a flower... while some lenses are better for portraits. There are also zoom lenses but these are usually not as "fast" (do not have the very large maximum aperture as "prime" one fixed range lenses). Lenses are used for different situations; they provide you with more options and serve different functions, depending on what you're shooting.

Prime lenses normally have faster maximum shutter speeds, and they normally yield superior quality images. Next in line are the "faster" short zoom lenses. Then the medium zoom lenses insofar as image detail quality. The worst ones are the "super-zoom" lenses.

"Super-zoom" lenses are those all-in-one lenses, like 28-200mm or 28-300mm are really among the crappiest ones around! They have too many problems at both extremes of the lens insofar as aberrations and distortions, and these are most prominent when you enlarge beyond 6" x 8" and are usually for those once-in-a-while photographers that brings their cameras out for vacations or special holidays... not for avid amateurs or the more advanced photography enthusiasts. The "convenience" does not justify the poor quality of image detail.

The problem does not have anything to do with brand names but the immense difficulties involved, even with today's computers to do the enormous calculations involved in the engineering of the glass and barrel specifics, and even with the computerized robotis and today's technological advances in manufaturing... it's just an inherent problem that is germaine to engineering of such lenses; it is a problem that has yet to be worked out.

Today's zoom lenses and even the prime lenses are FAR superior than those used yesteryears, because of the special coatings and today's superior engineering and manufacturing advances in quality control.

Likewise, if you have a very good camera, using a generic is simply not a bright idea; those lenses are poorly made and do not retain a good re-sale price because of their inferior barrel build and the inferior glass formula used. Buy used if you cannot buy new but make sure that you buy brand name lenses only! You get what you pay for.

In photography, knowledge is power!

Answer 3

Because, until recently, zoom lenses didn't work all that well and/or were expensive to manufacture. This is still the case somewhat. For example, you could not have a 12-400 mm lens and have it perform well at all its different focal ranges. There do exist things like 28-300mm lenses that work well.....and cost a bundle of cash. No lens does it all but many lenses do quite alot....some more than others. The better performers cost lots of money and it's often much more economical to buy seperate lenses.

Answer 4

The purpose of the removable lens is to change to different lenses, add filters. Then there is the point and click camera - for novice photographers.

Answer 5

there are a million different types of lenses that you can put on cameras... one example is a telephoto lens - the ones that paparazzi or sports photographers use - it can be up to 2 feet longer than a regular lense that comes with a camera.

Answer 6

removable lenses enable you to change the maginficationof the camera. By doing this you can take pictures that are either up close or far away.

Answer 7

Each lens has different properties, it does different things to the light that passes through it.

In addition to magnification, which allows you to photograph things far away as if they were close, you have depth of field, which means you can focus on something like your wife's face at the dinner table, and the candle in the middle of the table isn't all blurry.

You can also have different light-gathering ability, which means being able to use a faster shutter speed in low-light than a "normal" lens.

Then there's other things like polarization, to prevent a picture of a streetlight from causing glare in the picture that you can't see with your eye, or to cause that glare to be enhanced for a magical effect.

Answer 8

Good cameras have rermovable lenses so that other lenses from macro lenses to telephoto lenses can be fitted.

Answer 9

so you can change the way you see the world thru your lens! You can attach a high powered lens and get clear photos from a very long distance. You can attach another lens that is fuzzy or colored...I know you can do this all with photoshop-that is for computor photographers, changing lenses is for film or digital photography without extra digital work.

Answer 10

You have different sized lenses for different things.
The telephoto lens gets you close up to an object that's far away. A wide angle lens gives you a broader look, etc

Answer 11

Diffrent lens can do diffrent things, I carry a fixed 50mm 1.8, a fast lens (can take pix in low light), then a 20mm to 80mm 4.5 lens needs more light but can zoom in and out alittle for in field cropping, then a 130mm to 200mm 4.5 needs about the same light as the one before but can zoom in more like across a football game, then the big and $$ one 100mm to 450mm 2.5 great for say an airshow you can zoom in and see the pilot in the plane as they fly by.