During my interaction with customers the most common question which pops up is "Which is the best lens I should buy?" To this question my answer generally is that all
lens are best till the time they fulfill the purpose you have bought them for.
However I can understand that with over 65 current Canon lenses to chose from (plus those made by third party manufacturers) that can be confusing enough. Therefore,
this time I thought of writing on the consideration one should consider while buying a lens for a specific genre photography.
The history of Canon Lenses has undergone several transitions from the range finder to the R Series, the FL Series, the FD series, and now the EF series. No matter the
age, Canon has always focused on development that pursues further evolution.
Let's start our discussion with specific Genres in photography like:
Portrait Photography: Photography that takes advantage of the superiority of large aperture lenses.
1. Focal length: Which focal length to use depends on the communication between the photographer and the model?
a) To keep this reason into consideration lenses between 50mm and 135 mm are often used in portrait photography
2. Large Aperture: To achieve an impressionistic background blur effect one would need a large aperture lens.
- EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
- EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
- EF 100mm f/2 USM
Above lenses are some of the good choices for portrait photography. This might not be achieved with the standard kit lens as the max aperture there is 5.6
Using f/5.6 Using f/2.8
3. Autofocus motor: The extremely shallow depth of field offered by large aperture lenses when used at maximum aperture means that you have to be extra careful with focusing.
a) Check for lenses which has USM or STM motor which are noise free, faster focusing and full time manual focusing
4. IS lens: Portrait photography is not always done outside or in a studio with professional lighting. Some great photos come in low light. There are certain places where tripod is not allowed.
a) With IS lens, handheld photography becomes easy.
Macro photography: The beautiful world of Macro Lenses
Many people think they can photograph flowers and the like with their standard lens. True enough many common standard zoom lenses come with a macro function and are designed for close-up photography.
So what's the difference???
1. It's a completely a different experience which comes due to the higher photographic magnification which only come with macro lenses.
a) Macro lenses maintain high image quality during the high magnification photography of life size, 0.5x to 5 x magnification.
b) As Macro lenses can focus up to infinity, and not just close distance, so they can be used like normal lenses for landscape and portrait photography
c) Most of the macro lenses have maximum aperture which provides a greater blur effect for background.
Choosing a macro lens by focal length:
1. Which focal length macro lens to buy will depend on the subject you would click E.g. taking pictures of insects and other living creatures that are likely to flee at the sight of a photographer.
EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro
EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro
EF 100mm f /2.8L Macro IS USM
EF 180mm f /2.8L Macro USM
MP-E65mm f/2.8 Macro Photo
Choosing a macro lens by magnification:
1. Photographic magnification is how much larger the subject appears on the film or photographic elements than in real life.
EF 50mm f/2.5 with 0.5x magnification
EFS 60mm f/2.8 with 1x magnification
EF 100mm f /2.8L with 1x magnification
EF 180mm f/2.8L Macro USM
MP-E65mm f/2.8 with 1-5x magnification
Comparison of magnification ratio:
Landscape photography: Selecting a lens for its mobility
It's done with a broad array of lenses, from ultra wide angle to ultra telephoto. While looking for scene in nature, you will find yourself climbing mountains and trekking along snow trails, using a lot of energy.
1. The main consideration out here is carrying light equipments
a) Therefore, for these situations selecting zoom lenses for their mobility and ease of carrying is the most effective answer
b) Zoom lens with fixed aperture not only gives you the flexibility of choosing a variable focal length but also gives you the advantage of brightness having a large aperture.
- EF 16-35mm f/2,8L II USM
- EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM
c) If further you are looking for some light weight equipment then you can choose amongst
- EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
- EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
- EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Wildlife photography:
Living in the wild naturally makes animals cautious and difficult to approach, so a telephoto or super telephoto lens is a prerequisite for obtaining stunning wildlife photos.
1. Using a telephoto or super telephoto lens to capture wildlife from afar
a) Super –telephoto lenses often require a stable tripod. However, should you chance upon an animal while in a moving vehicle, immediate response is what matters most.
- EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM
- EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM
Above lenses are very light, nicely balance and equipped with an image stabilizer (IS) that allows shooting handheld up to 4 shutter speed steps slower than without IS
2. Unfortunately, wild animals don't always appear in the most convenient places
a) Shallow depth of field, an important characteristics of telephoto lenses use aperture priority (Av) or manual (M) mode
b) Keeping price focus is important because using a shallow depth of filed, the slightest motion by the animal may be enough to throw eyes out of focus.
3. You are bound to encounter animals that are, to varying degree, surprisingly tolerant of humans or not.
a) Zoom lenses may provide an excellent deal of compositional flexibility where footing is unstable.
- EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM
- EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM
4. Composition plays an important role in creating dramatic photo
a) EF 300mm f/2.8L IS II USM is a particularly good choice for framing several animals together in order to capture interesting social interactions.
b) Skillfully employed, even EF600mm f/4L IS II can also be used to get good shots.
c) If subjects are comfortable with your presence then move close to shoot wide angle shot EF 16-25mm f/2.8L II USM is ideal for creating grand, striking powerful photos.
5. Camera-shake compensation- indispensable for wildlife photography:
A super telephoto lens puts you face to face with dangerous beasts and helps overcome obstacles like a river or cliff that may impede access to an animal's habitat
Due to long focusing distances, however, wind can cause camera-shake blur even if using a tripod.
1. IS lenses are the ideal choice which not only helps reduce camera-shake blur, but are also great when panning on moving animals.
(a) IS Mode 2 is an ideal choice for capturing the elegance of a swan in flight
(b) IS Mode 3 is an ideal choice for animals that move unexpectedly
6. Fluorine coating keeps lens surface clean.
1. Shooting in wild exposes lenses to dust and moisture. Either of which can negatively affect image quality. The time it takes to clean a
lens can cause you to miss a shot.
Hence it is vital to keep lenses clean and always ready to use
(a) The latest L-type EF lenses, including EF600mm f/4L IS USM have a fluorine coating for front and back elements that prevent dust or moisture from adhering to the lens.
(b) Fluorine-coated lenses are excellent for wildlife photographers since they markedly increase lens "uptime" while decreasing the chance of an ill-timed blot running a shot.
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