One of the benefits of owning a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera is the ability to change lenses. This allows you to build a versatile system to photograph anything from a small postage stamp to a Cheetah moving at over 60 miles per hour across the grasslands of Central Africa. Choosing the right lens to meet your photography needs can be daunting. To help make this process easier, I’ve composed a list of the different types of lenses, a brief description of what they can do as well as the different terms you may hear when shopping for a new lens.

Normal Lens

Approximates the same perspective as what’s seen by the human eye. The normal lens is a general purpose lens to use for every day situations.  The lens that comes with your camera which is sometimes called the “kit” lens, is usually a normal lens.

Telephoto Lens

Magnifies the subject so that it appears closer than it really is which is similar to looking through a telescope or a pair of binoculars. Telephoto lenses are popular for photographing wildlife because they allow you to get “closer” to a wild animal without alerting the animal to your presence. They’re also great for sports photography because they allow you to get close-ups of the action without being in the way.

.Wide Angle Lens

Has an increased field of vision to view a wide area at one time.  This is a great lens for landscape photography and to use when shooting in confined spaces such as a room in a house. Extreme wide angle lenses create distortion that can create a different or artistic perspective to your image

Micro/Macro Lens

Allows you to get extreme close up photographs. True micro allows you to photograph an object at a reproduction ratio of 1:1(life size) or larger. Macro usually refers to a reproduction ratio of 1:2 (1/2 life size) up to 1:10 (1/10 life size). The length of a micro/macro lens determines the “working distance” or the minimum distance between the end of the lens and the subject. The longer the lens, the more distance you can be from the subject and still produce the maximum reproduction ratio.  A 50mm macro lens will have approximately a 4 inch minimum distance while the minimum distance for a 180mm macro lens can be over 2 feet. If you’re photographing stamps or coins, then a 50 or 60mm macro will probably be the best choice. If you’re photographing insects that can be startled easily, then a 180mm macro lens will give you more distance from your subject. Some telephoto zoom lenses have macro capabilities of up to a 1:2 reproduction ratio but a dedicated micro/macro lens will produce sharper images.

Prime Lens

A prime lens does not zoom but always stays at one focal length.  This can range from a very wide 8mm to an extremely powerful long telephoto lens such as 600mm and more. Prime lenses have a reputation for producing very sharp images. For this reason, they’re used by many professional photographers. The wide prime lenses are good for landscape. The medium length lenses (50mm to 100mm) have a reputation of being good for portraits and the long lenses are primarily used for wildlife and birding.

Zoom Lens

Unlike a prime lens, a zoom lens has continuous adjustable focal lengths within a given range. The lens is usually described by the focal lengths that it covers. A lens that starts on the wide end at 70mm and goes to 300mm would be described as a “70mm to 300mm telephoto zoom lens.” Zoom lenses are very popular because of their versatility. They offer fun and creativity by allowing the photographer to choose wide, telephoto and even close-up compositions without changing lenses. One of the most popular zoom lenses on the market is the 18mm to 200mm macro zoom lens because it’s a single lens solution to the needs of many photographers.

Fast Lens

This is a lens designed with a large aperture opening or “F-stop” to allow more light into the camera at one time. The result is that the camera can use a faster shutter speed under lower light conditions. Faster shutter speeds help eliminate blurry pictures caused by camera and subject movement. You may have noticed that you’re getting great images at a soccer game outdoors on a sunny day. But when you try to photograph a basketball or volleyball game in a gymnasium, your pictures are blurry. This is because the lens you’re using doesn't allow enough light in under lower light conditions to give you a fast enough shutter speed to stop the movement of the athletes. When you’re outside on a sunny day, the lens doesn’t have to open as far to gather enough light for the fast shutter speed.  The fast lens is a great lens for indoor sports and wildlife photography because the faster shutter speed stops motion or action resulting in a sharper image.

Stabilized Lenses

Some lenses are designed to mechanically counterbalance small hand movements that occur naturally when handholding a lens. Some of the different manufacture descriptions for this feature are “IS” (Image Stabilization), “VR” (Vibration Reduction), OS (Optical Stabilization) and “VC” (Vibration Compensation). A lens equipped with this type of technology helps you get sharp images in low light environments with much slower shutter speeds than you’d normally want to use without a tripod. When taking extreme close-up and long telephoto photos, camera movement is magnified so this technology also helps in these situations.

If you’re thinking about purchasing another lens, use the information that I’ve given you as a starting point and do even more research online. Then ask yourself the following two questions to narrow down your choice:

What are you primarily going to be photographing?

How much money do you want to spend?

One of the benefits of shopping at a Cord Camera Store is that the sales associates are trained in the newest technology and can help you make the right decision. Bring your camera to your local Cord Camera Store and try out some of the many lenses available. You’ll soon discover which lens will help you produce those prize winning images.