new camera lens question?

Question

basicly what are all these and the differences, (one focal length) wide angle, normal, and telephoto, same with zooms. There are macro and other specialized lenses

Answer 1

ok... pay attention. the smaller the number the wider the lens coverage from side to side. (roughly) a 35mm lens is wide angle, 80 - 135mm is a short zoom 200mm is a telephoto..

as the focla length gets longer, the area of view decreases, 35mm you see everything, at 300 mm you see the guys nose...

macro lenses compress the depth of field (or whats in and out of focus) and have very short operating lengths..

as a rule, the longer the focal length teh slower the lens.

and theres fisheyes, or 180 degrees viewing..

plus a few others... a fixed focal length is a primary lens, one with variable focal lengths is a telephoto zoom.

a good lens will go from F2.8 to F22...
short zooms are around F3.5 F16
longer telephoto lenses are around F4.5 to F16

my Olympus E500 goes from F1.4 to F22

Answer 2

ok... pay attention. the smaller the number the wider the lens coverage from side to side. (roughly) a 35mm lens is wide angle, 80 - 135mm is a short zoom 200mm is a telephoto..

as the focla length gets longer, the area of view decreases, 35mm you see everything, at 300 mm you see the guys nose...

macro lenses compress the depth of field (or whats in and out of focus) and have very short operating lengths..

as a rule, the longer the focal length teh slower the lens.

and theres fisheyes, or 180 degrees viewing..

plus a few others... a fixed focal length is a primary lens, one with variable focal lengths is a telephoto zoom.

a good lens will go from F2.8 to F22...
short zooms are around F3.5 F16
longer telephoto lenses are around F4.5 to F16

my Olympus E500 goes from F1.4 to F22

Answer 3

Fixed lenses are generally better in quality and gather more light for low light shooting than Zooms.

Wide angle lenses are good for landscapes, crowds of people and taking pictures with minimal focusing because they work from 4' to infinity They do,however, distort perspective so if you take a head shot the nose will be larger than the ears.

Normal lenses are faster in speed for lower light and offer the sharpest images.

Slightly telelphoto lenses work best for portraits as they provide a flat field and help you blurr the background so just the person is in focus.

Telephoto lenses bring in distant objects closer, but they have poor light gathering power.

Zooms cover slightly wide, through normal, through slightly telephoto, but that zooming element lowers the sharpness and makes the lens slower so you need more light.

Macro lenses are fast lenses with flat fields that are designed to focus in from 2" to 12" for close up work on objects like coins.

The larger the front element of a lens the more light gathering power, which is expressed as a ratio of the front element diamter in millimeters divided into the focal length of the lens.

A 55 mm normal 35mm lens that is f/1.4 would have a front element that is about 45 to mm wide

A 55mm normal lense that is f/2.0 would have a front element 28 mm wide

A 55 mm normal lens that is f/1.2 would have a front element that is 50 mm wide.

For a 200mm Lens to be f/2.0 it must have a front element 100mm wide or almost 5" wide, which makes for a HUGE and heavy lens, thus most 200mm lensea are more like F/3.8 and have a 60mm front element (2.4" wide)

Going from F/1.4 to f/2 is like changing the shutter speed from 1/60th to 1/125th which means you lose about half an hour of sunlight or a few feet in flash distance.

Going from f/1.4 to f/3.5 is light going from 1/60th to 1/250th and you lose a hour or more of sunlight and about 5 feet in flash distance.

Answer 4

hi...
in the beginning we have to define the focal length which is the distance from the optical center of the lense and the digital camera sensor when the view is in focus.

i'll divide lenses into 2 main categories((depends on the numbers u c on it)):
1.lenses with 1 or fixed focal length (prime lenses)....in which we will find only 1 no. on it ((38mm,,50mm,100mm...etc.)) with these lenses u will have just 1 view(no zooming in and out)) so if u wanna zoom u have to be closer to ur object and vice versa.
2.lenses with variable focal length (zoom lenses)....in which we will find 2 numbers ((18-70mm,,75-300mm,,28-55mm....etc)) with these lenses u can zoom in and out .

now it's all the matter of numbers u c on the lense((regardless being a prime or zoom lense)) to divide it into the following;
1.wide angel ((28mm or lower)) it's good for landscapes & interiors.
2.normal or standard ((between 35mm and 85 mm)) good for portraites.
3.telephoto ((between 100mm and 300mm)) portraites and sports.
4.super telephoto ((300mm or higher)) sports& wildlife(coz u don't wanna get close to a tiger or elegator to take a close up pic) .

good luck

Answer 5

Fixed focal length lenses were called 'Prime'. Try to look for 'Apo' or Aprochromatic zooms, which also correct all 3 colours onto the film plane correctly - ''Luvly'' but expensive. But shop around on that well-known auction site, combining by researching the details of lenses on 'net. Don't worry too much about age or cosmetic condition, small scratches acceptable on front element - will not affect result (but reject scratches from rear element). If can handle lens before buying, check condition - focusing/zoom action - is it smooth? is aperture Iris 'stopping down'/clicking properly? Check lens fitting - is it compatible with your camera?

N.B. Put a filter on front of lens(es) - UV or Skylight 1A (colour) or yellow (Black & White). This will protect your purchase from serious damage.

Answer 6

A camera lens is round so that the camera can record the world as the human eye sees it. If the eye were some other shape, the lens would be that shape too.

Answer 7

Fivetoze has it down! Nice answer IMHO!

Do bare in mind that there some differences if one looks into 'Digital Photography' (DP). DP has become accepted as a type of photography, but it really is not 'photography' at all. But that's another story.

To learn more about photography (presuming you have the funds available) - check out the New York Institute of Photography.

The Ol' Sasquatch Ü

Answer 8

The lens focuses the picture. You need to read a book on the subject. Check out also the iris (f number), the shutter speed and the speed of the film (Digital indicator) They all work together to bring you the ideal photograph.

Answer 9

Read the link...which tells you all about focal lengths and their suggested uses.

Answer 10

yes