Digital Cameras and Lens Options

This entry will attempt to cover points common to all digital SLR's and Digital Bridge cameras. The detail of camera lenses is already covered in the H2G2 guide, Photographic Lenses so for the technicalities please refer to this excellent entry. This entry is intended as a guide to what is available and makes no recommendations other you think carefully about what you need for your photography.

Digital Bridge Cameras

Digital Bridge cameras have a hybrid lens that attempts to combine all the features of several lenses in the one lens.

The best start fixed lenses begin with a wide angle capability and work up through lens magnification to stop at a 40X zoom, or better. This is more than adequate for most users. If you decide to buy a bridge camera check the what the lens is capable of, and make sure it has the capability of doing what you want, plus a bit more.

Lenses fitted to digital bridge cameras now can have amazing a range from a Fisheye* wide angle and ranging to 56X zoom. As the cameras focus is automatic and any zoom function may be powered it is relatively easy to use. However remember that extreme zoom is not practical in low light without a tripod.

DSLR Cameras

A new Digital SLR will come with a lens packaged by the manufacturer or dealer. It will normally be a good useful lens. This lens will be able to do nearly all your day to day photography. You have the choice of lenses, so discuss your options with your dealer before you decide what to buy. Remember ask the dealer's advice, if he is enthusiastic when you ask questions, it is a good way of judging future help and service. If they show interest in you its a good indication they care.

However the point of a DSLR is its ability to use a range of interchangeable the lenses, in order to extend the cameras range of uses.

So if you buy one you have chosen a good middle range lens with your camera. What other lenses you buy depends on what you want to do. One thing to remember is that a DSLR is capable* of producing better results especially with prime lenses.

The Camera Choice

The main question you should ask yourself is, Do You Need A DSLR And Extra Lenses be honest and your answers could save you some money.

The Standard lens supplied with a DSLR are normally of a useful and variable focal length from ordinary view lens plus a limited zoom capability. To be honest for an average user there may be little point in buying a camera that needs many supplementary lenses. Think carefully it could be you might possibly be better off buying a digital bridge camera, the lenses on these are now excellent.

Why buy a DSLR? A good Digital SLR will cost the equivalent of almost 5 Digital bridge cameras. Plus the range of extra lenses you may want to buy. Any difference in quality between the two is hard to see in print form or on a PC screen. However put a top range prime lens costing a few thousand on a DSLR and you will notice a difference if you compare prints.*, but most people do not.

If you are a professional and want to sell your work the choice is easier and a DSLR will be your choice. If you see a shot that makes you think Wow! The odds are it was taken by a DSLR.

Remember there are some excellent used DSLR and Bridge cameras for sale at reputable local dealers.

Tripods

Why do you need a tripod? There are 2 main reasons. The first and most important you must remember the camera can't focus properly unless the image in the viewfinder is still and stays still.

Second as a human, in poor light conditions you simply will not be able to hold your camera still enough to take an un-blurred photograph.

This will make the extreme zoom difficult to handle, or unusable, particularly if you want to do a lot of long lens work such as wildlife photography. A tripod of the Benbo type, with a smooth operating tilt/pan herd would be an excellent choice, but get a good solid tripod. This will give you the ability to take a photograph of a subject such as a crescent moon that will fill the frame. The image will also be in perfect focus.

Interchangeable Lenses

Prime Lenses

Prime Lenses often known as fixed focal length lenses, they have no magnification capability and are set at a ranges between 50mm to 800mm or higher. The 50mm to 100mm were the most common as they were once a (standard) only option prior to the arrival of the zoom lens¹ Due to the quality of the optical elements and the faster shutter speed of prime lenses they have now become very expensive². The zoom lens has become the most popular as it replaces several more bulky prime lenses. If you use a zoom lens there is a trap you must try to avoid. Many people get carried away and zoom in to far, sometimes cutting off sections of the subject (photographs of trees are particularly vulnerable to this accidental cropping.) ³, and in the past if you bought a basic camera and lens that's what you got, often maligned as uninteresting they took a similar view of the world as you do through your eye. However what they force you to do is compensate for their limited adjust-ability making by you think about the composition and moving around to get the best view and avoid unwanted elements in your photograph often by getting closer to your subject. However there is a plus side the quality of these lenses is superb, and so it is often the professionals choice.

A simple explanation of focal length and the equivalent magnification.

As some people find this confusing, just a word to dispel the mystery of the term X times magnification and mm focal length. There is no mystery it is just elitism. To discover the X zoom of a 100 mm lens is simple just divide by 50, therefore a 100mm lens has an approximate magnification of 2X.

So for example a 50 to 400 zoom provides a normal view with a magnification up to 8 times.

The Zoom Lens

The variable focal length telephoto lens, or to give its common name, the zoom lens. This lens will allow the user the benefit of combining several lenses of various focal lengths into one lens. Allowing the photographer the ability altering the magnification of the image, this is commonly referred to as zoom capability. These lenses often give you a small amount of wide angle.

How does a zoom lens work? A zoom lenses it is one lens that replaces a series of fixed focal length lenses (see prime lenses), producing a telephoto effect by moving the lens elements and the

magnification of the image. By this method the lens has the ability to cover a series of focal lengths. However, you can often pay for that convenience with increased weight and compromised optics – prime lenses generally produce sharper pictures and have faster maximum apertures.

When you consider zoom lenses the choice widens. Think seriously about what you want to do, are you a casual photographer who wants to be ability to get a good range of results.

The the safest and most cost effective choice is to supplement the lens that came with your camera with some carefully chosen interchangeable medium zoom lens. A 60mm to 350mm lens from the your camera manufacturer's own range, would probably be the most useful.

Benefits of the standard lens was excellent clarity deep depth of field making it easy to use and focus. But as soon as the reasonably price zoom lens appeared they fell from favour, as a 500mm was 2/3 of a meter in length and not much fun to carry around. Remember a manual zoom is the easiest to use.

Wide Angle Lenses

For landscape photography a good wide angle lens is often very useful. The choice will range from - medium to Ultra wide angle ⁴ make sure you need this or it could just gather dust in a cupboard.

What is a Wide Angle lens? It is a lens that reproduces the human binocular view of the world. How? the best way to explain is to ask you to do a little experiment. - We humans see in wide angle, a normal camera lens has a limited width of view, Now if you use a standard wide angle lens it will return that extra width, and that's all a wide angle dose, it gives back the natural view to our photographs. If you want an example of standard and wide angle, look at the horizon find a tree or something to be the centre of your view. Now without moving your eyes, note what you can see on the far left and right, that is a wide angle view.

Now do the same focus on your fixed point with both eyes, now close one eye the field of view narrows that's a normal lens view.

Extreme wide Angle lenses AKA Fisheye lenses

Extreme wide angle lenses will curve the image away to the left and right. Ultra wide angles will produce a circular image and of limited practical use but do produce excellent shots of the night sky, or novelty images that soon lose their charm.

Portrait or Studio Lens

For Portrait photography a 35mm to 50mm lens is quite a good choice. It name is a little misleading as it is useful for event/crowd and street and gallery and exhibition photography.

The Macroscopic Lens

The true macroscopic, macro or close focus lens is a lens with properties of extreme magnification. It has limited use for the average photographer so the macro ability has now become a feature of many standard production lenses. Nearly every modern bridge camera has a good ultra closeup or macro ability built into its lens. If you have an interest in taking the hairs on a bees back, ask your dealer there will be example photographs, from the popular makers in all photographic stores. DSLR cameras will have a similar range available again ask the dealer if you will find a good choice. Remember if your original image is sharp enough, you can always try increasing the magnification in a PC editing session.

Mix and match Lenses the way of the enthusiast

It is not recommended that you try this! There is a possibility that in the end you may save very little money and the quality of your photography might suffer. There will always be those who love to follow a different path. If you are an experimental Photographer you can collect a variety of lenses to explore all aspects of photography. It will depend upon finding an adapter(s) expensive things adapter rings! You will need these to get these lenses to fit your camera even if the body and lens are from the same original maker. But it will provide you with a choice of some wonderful used and new fixed focal length or zoom lenses, and specially lenses such as tilt-shift. Remember as the camera will not fully connect to the lenses these will not focus automatically and you will need to make sure that they are manual focusing lenses. Beware if you go down this route you risk serious damage to your camera, and no warranty will cover that, so if you must try buy and experiment with a used digital SLR you are prepared to throw away. Remember you have been warned!.