The Essential Guide to choosing the lens that's right for you

Having trouble choosing what kind of lens to buy for that new slr?
Confused by the numbers and focal lengths?
Well no more! You've come to the right place.

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This instructable is necessary especially for beginners, but also has tips for even experienced photographers in search of a new lens.

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If you liked this instructable, or if it helped you make your decision, then please vote for me in the photojojo contest! thank you

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ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!! 4/9/92!!!
is there some sort of instructables birthday package? ahah just kidding
happy instructabling!

Step 1 Overview:

In this instructable, you'll learn

• about lenses
• what focal lengths mean
• about the different kinds of lenses and their relation to focal length
• how to narrow down your choices and buy the lens of your dreams!

Comments

[jj3502]

thanks!
helped heaps iv am going to by a Nikon D90 and i needed to workout what lenses to get.

10/10 A++++ on your instructable

[totos]

you didn't mention lenses with changeable focal length. other than that, this instructable is very nice! 4.5/5!

[doxx]

I think your wording is misleading "Focal Length is basically a measure of how strongly light is focused onto a given point" -- focal length does not change the lighting on your subject - but yes, longer lenses tend to be slower...

[RichardBronosky]

When you don't have money for a variety of lenses, it is instinctive to buy a lens with a wide range. Once you've used the lens for a while, you should go back and poll the meta data from your images to see what focal length you use the most and invest in a lens that is excellent at that. Lenses, like people, are best at doing one thing when they don't try to do a bunch of others. When you spread your effort too thin, you suck at everything.

[GorillazMiko]

Cool.
Fisheye lens are awesome.

[gmoon]

Nice job. One small point, really more an academic one:

It's common usage: telephoto = long focal length is technically incorrect.

Telephoto actually means that the theoretical nodal point of the lens falls somewhere physically outside of the optics (either in front of or behind the glass.) With multiple compound optical elements, it's pretty commonplace. Almost all wide angle lenses are also "telephotos."

The nodal point is that theoretical point where the light / image begins being inverted by the lens.

(anyway, I'm gonna plus ya and vote for it, too.)

[alvincredible]

hahah thanks, i did not know that! ahah I'll update my instructable soon, but right now i gotta go ;-). but thanks for the input and the vote :-)

[gmoon]

Sure. It might be more correct to categorize the wide angle as "retro focus," although my photo teachers in college used "retro" and "telephoto" interchangeably, as both have nodal points outside of the optics.

But you get the idea--a long focal length lens isn't necessarily a "telephoto." Like I said originally, this is more academic than practical--people will continue to call the long lenses "telephotos," no matter what...

See this source, the second entry.