When a lot of of us talk agenda cameras, we allocution megapixels, ISO, angel noise, shot-per-second acceleration and angel processing. We're tech geeks. But really, none of that accepting affairs as abundant as your camera's lens.
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The lens is, afterwards all, your camera's eyeball—the angel sensor or blur can alone almanac what comes in through the lens. It's what defines the picture's perspective, accuracy and way more.
Lenses are in fact a absolutely complicated affair to allocution about—if your job was to beacon photons through tunnels of continued glass, humans would alarm you complicated too—so we're gonna try to accumulate it to acreage basics, you should apperceive to get around, rather than dive into the crazy physics and algebraic ratios and stuff.
Lens Terminology
Before we get into the basal lens types, you should apperceive the two aloft numbers you're searching at you if you allocution about lenses: Focal breadth and aperture.
Focal breadth is the distance amid the optical centermost of the lens and the point breadth it focuses the ablaze advancing into the lens (when a attempt is in focus, that's the angel sensor or film). The diagram above, from Cambridge In Colour shows, actual simply, what focal breadth refers to, and how it affects your pitchas. Here's addition pretty excellent, simple to accept explanation, with pictures assuming the after-effects of application altered focal lengths on the aforementioned shot.
Practically, what you charge to apperceive is that focal breadth abstinent in millimeters, and that's breadth you get, say, an 18-55mm lens, a 400mm telephoto or a 28-560mm lens begin in a super-zoom camera. (You apparently apperceive this, but if you see "20x zoom lens," the blueprint refers to the arrangement of the longest focal breadth to the shortest—so 560 disconnected by 28.) Basically, the best the focal length, the added abstract or "zoomed in" your photo can be.
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Aperture is the added aloft blueprint on a lens, and something you accord with a lot of on DSLRS. The aperture is the breach that in fact lets the ablaze into the camera, and you accomplish can accomplish it bigger or smaller. The admeasurement of the breach is bidding in agreement of F-stops, or as you ability see a lot F/2.8 or F2.8 or F8 or F11 or whatever.
The bigger the F number, the abate the aperture, or hole. The abate the number, the bigger the hole, which agency the added ablaze it lets in. The acumen that's acceptable is that agency you can shoot with a faster bang speed, so you don't get bleared photos, or if you're cutting in low light, aback added ablaze can get through, which agency you're not affected to accept amid cutting dark, bleared things or badly chapped photos as you crank up the ISO (light sensitivity) to atone for the abridgement of light. So, if someone's talking about a "fast" lens, they're talking about one with a big aperture, like F/1.8—easy to remember, you can shoot with faster bang speeds with beneath light.
With a big aperture, you aswell accept a shallower abyss of field—subjects in focus are sharp, but aggregate about it is bendable and blurry. A tighter breach (higher F-stop number) lets you focus added at once, as you can see in the diagram aloft combined from Wikipedia. There's added on abyss of acreage here. Overall, we're blockage on the easy-to-swallow side, but if you've absolutely got a ache for F-stop knowledge, here's a crazy abundant explanation.
Lens Types
Having fun yet? There are a few basal types of lenses, and of course, a accomplished agglomeration of specialized ones aloft that, like macro or angle lenses. But actuality are the basics.
A normal lens is one with a angle that looks a lot the angle of the animal eye. With a 35mm or full-frame camera, that's about a 50mm lens, admitting it varies depending on the admeasurement of the blur or angel sensor. For instance, this 35mm Nikon lens is for their DX cameras, DX acceptation it has a sensor that's not "full" (equal to 35mm film). If that lens is absorbed to a DX camera, it's the agnate to a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera—making it normal.
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A wide-angle lens is, a lot of basically, one with a focal breadth that's way beneath than a accustomed lens (which, again, varies depending on the admeasurement of the blur or sensor). Advanced angles are advantageous for yield advanced shots—-panoramas, or just aggravating to clasp a huge accumulation of humans in a individual account after accepting 10 ablaze years away. You can aswell do admirable baloney tricks—a fisheye is just a crazy affectionate of wide-angle lens. Example Image: Ekilby/Flickr
A telephoto lens is one with a absolutely continued focal breadth (like 400mm). Aback they're advised like telescopes, they are physically added bunched than their focal lengths, but they can still get appealing abuse massive. They're acceptable for cutting accepting far, far away. Example Angel Shiny Things/Flickr
A prime lens is just one with a anchored focal length—you can't zoom in or out—and about they aftermath bluff pictures than all-but-the-priciest zoom lenses. Any of the aloft lens types can be prime lenses, or zoom, below. This fisheye is a prime lens.
A zoom lens is one you can acclimatize the focal breadth on—zoom in and out—so you can shoot a array of accepting with a individual lens. The breach tends to alter based on the focal length, unless you get a absolutely cher zoom lens that's aswell "fast."
Lens Brands and Compatibility
But, even searching at one aggregation at a time, lenses are complicated and sticky. Yield Canon, for instance. They've got a actor altered kinds of lens mounts (where the camera and lens fit together) for their single-lens reflex cameras, depending on how far aback in time you go. Currently they've got two aloft kinds of lens mounts: EF (electro-focus because the absorption motor activity is congenital into the lens) and and EF-S. The closing is for their entry-level to mid-range DSLRs only, because it's fabricated for their abate (not full-frame, i.e., not 35mm equivalent) angel sensors. Standard EF lenses will plan on cameras with an EF-S mount, but EF-S lenses will not plan on cameras with a approved EF mount. And afore that, there was the FD mount, which absolutely doesn't plan on DSLRs without an adapter.
Nikon isn't absolutely as bad as here—they've had the aforementioned F-mount for over 40 years, so all their lenses with physically fit on the camera, but with their DSLRs, you've gotta watch out for their FX lenses (full-frame lenses like for the D700) vs. their DX lenses (like Canon, meant for their cameras with abate APS-C sensors). If acclimated on full-frame cameras, DX lenses will block out the corners of the account aback they're declared to awning a abate angel area. But overall, with Nikon you accept the advantage of accepting able to use earlier lenses in a way you can't with Assize gear. Ken Rockwell has a absolute album about Nikon lenses and types for more.
The Top Amount of Optics
Okay, great. Here's a absolute question: Why are lenses so goddamned expensive? Well, as Steve Heiner, Nikon SLR-division abstruse business manager, told us, "You're paying for abstracts and the action of creating the lens," which, as you ability guess, improves angel quality. Faster apertures—which crave beyond bottle elements in pro zoom lenses—heavier abstracts like metal, for durability, and touches like a nano-crystal blanket that minimizes reflections for low-light cutting are things that accomplish lenses amount hundreds or bags or dollars. As a rep from Assize told us, there's no absolute accepting cheaper over time, like a lot of added automated components. Precision optical bottle just doesn't plan that way.
Materials are aswell what abstracted abominable lenses from acceptable ones, which is why bargain lenses in cellphones suck—they've gotta be cheap, absolutely tiny and absolutely ablaze and well, you can't change physics—and why even bargain DSLR lenses aren't as acceptable as expensive-as-hell ones. Update: Daniel acicular out this appealing accomplished video assuming how lenses are made, which shines added ablaze on why they're so abuse pricey:
At the aforementioned time, there is a lot of advance in lens tech happening—look at all the ultra wide-angle lenses bustling up in point-and-shoots now. Assize says that's could cause you've got abate angel sensors (which as we acclaimed above, changes the affiliation of the focal length), added aspherical lens elements (which are cheaper to make), a new affectionate of ultra top refractive basis aspherical optical bottle (uhhhh, don't ask me) and the miniaturization of automated locations like AF motors.
There's a lot we had to leave out, like chromatic aberration and lens flare, but we achievement we gave you a appealing acceptable starting point to apprentice about lenses. Absolute camera pros, feel chargeless to leave added in the comments.
Still something you still wanna know? Send any questions about lenses, upskirts, or crazy awe-inspiring Japanese photographers who army cosplayers to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the accountable line. Also, acknowledgment to Nikon for the lens diagrams!
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