Specifications

your subject and still be in focus. The shorter the number, the closer you can get. It also describes how

much more of the background you can get into the frame.

One example of a great use for a wide-angle lens would be if you were shooting a large group

photo of a wedding party. With a wide angle lens, you can position the camera much closer to

the group and yet at the same time get more of the full group to fit horizontally in the frame,

whereas with a lesser wide angle you would have to stand back further and would lose

sharpness as a result.

Wide angle lenses tend to be fixed in length, though there are plenty of wide-angle zoom options as

well, and often have maximum apertures on the larger end of the scale.

Typically, wider the angle and/or larger the aperture, the more expensive the lens is likely to be. And

the closer you can get to your subject, which is useful in portrait photography and product photography.

For example:

This Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens costs approximately $200 on Amazon and offers an

aperture of 1.8.

While this Nikon 35mm f/1.4 Nikkor AI-S Manual Focus Lens is closer to $2000. The .4 on the

aperture sure made a difference! Of course, other features came into play as well. But you will find that

lenses with f1.4 aperture will be typically pricier.

Telephoto Lens

A telephoto lens is pretty much the opposite of the wide-angle lens. A telephoto lens is useful for

photography when you CAN’T get too close to your subject, such as in sporting event photography,

news journalism photography, and nature photography.

If you are into shooting wildlife for example, and want to capture fine details of a not-so-cooperative

subject, a bird let’s say… you’ll need to zoom in closely on that bird in the tree without climbing up

there, right?

That’s where a telephoto lens with a max focal length of anywhere from 200mm-800mm, or even

2600mm like this super telephoto lens Opteka 650-2600mm High Definition Telephoto Zoom Lens, will

come into play.

Most telephoto lenses are zoom lenses with ranges around 18-200mm like this Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-

5.6G AF-S ED VR II Nikkor Telephoto Zoom which is moderately priced around $600 or this Canon EF 28-

300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM Lens priced at the higher scale at over $2500.

Fish Eye

A fish eye lens is for fun! A fish eye lens is basically one that has a SUPER wide focal length, like < 20mm

and distorts the photo subjects like a funhouse mirror or like a fish bowl.

It can also make for artistic, creative, and memorable candid photos, again a great example would be

wedding photos. It’s a common thing now for the to-be-married couple to want “journalistic” or