Lately I’ve had a lot of people asking me about what lenses to get now that they’ve purchased their first SLR for the purposes of taking better photos. I’d say that one of the first issues to address is that although more and more people lately have been getting their hands on their first ever SLR, most fail to take advantage of what they’re really capable of. I thought I’d take some time to explain how you use your SLR to its fullest, and after that I’ll give my scoop of what recommended lenses for different genres of photography. Although the terminology I’ll be using below apply mostly to Canon cameras, the principles apply to both Canon and Nikon.
1. Stay away from your camera’s “basic zones” and learn how to use the “creative zones”.
I’m referring specifically to that dial located on the upper right hand corner of your camera which controls the picture settings of your camera. It’s where you find that green rectangle and the pictures–landscape, portrait, macro mode–that represent the basic zones; and the letters–AV (aperture priority), TV (shutter speed), M(anual)–that represent the creative zones.
Whether you’re aware of it or not, this is one of the reasons you purchased your SLR because these settings aren’t present on the majority of point & shoot cameras; therefore, it’s a huge waste if you’re going to stay forever within your “comfort zones”. Although I can’t really go into much detail here (you have your manual for that), the creative settings allow you to manually control things like aperture size, shutter speed. I’m guessing that one of the main reasons you bought your SLR was because of that cool out of focus effect that these cameras are capable of achieving right? Well, learning to adjust the aperture on your camera (AV mode) is the first step to making that happen.
For myself, I barely even touch AV or TV mode let alone go near the basic zones. The reason is because 99% of the time I’m shooting in the manual setting, which gives me complete control of aperture size and shutter speed. I’m not saying this is what you should do. It really depends on how much you want to be in control.
There’s obviously a whole lot more to talk about then this, but for now I’ll just leave you all with that. Moving onto camera lenses…
2. What lenses should I get?
It all depends on what you want to shoot and how you want to shoot it. I myself don’t believe in any “all-purpose-lens” when it comes to photography, even though those types of lenses do exist. They’re the lenses with the really long range like the canon 18-200 mm. Sure it’s nice having such a broad zoom range, but as the saying goes, what you win in quantity you lose in quality. Lenses with such wide focal ranges also don’t perform as well under low light settings.
For what I shoot, my main arsenal consists of a 50 mm, an 85 mm, and a 28-75 mm zoom lens, and whenever I do require something beyond what I have I’ll either borrow it or rent it. When it comes to other genres of photography I may not be the first person to go to, but here’s what I’d recommend:
Fashion:
The classic approach when it comes to fashion photography is to make your subject look as tall and slim as possible, so the longer your lens is the better. Head over to my photo tips series part IV to see why this is the case. Although my longest lens at the moment is an 85 mm, I usually borrow a 100 mm or longer if the shooting space permits. I’m willing to bet that the photographers who shoot for magazines like Vogue shoot with nothing less than a 135 mm in most cases. That being said I’ve seen some impressive fashion photography work done without zoom lenses, but more often than not wide lenses just don’t seem to do the trick.
Headshots:
The same principles apply as to fashion photography, although in this case you might not need something as long as a 200 mm as it might make the subject look too flat. With headshots you want some dimension around the face in order to accentuate facial features. I will use anything from an 85 mm to a 135 mm for headshots.
Portraiture:
Because portrait photography does not have the same commercial based restraints that fashion and headshot photography usually do, the rule regarding using long lenses need not apply here. Your choice of lens should be based on style and personal taste. I myself prefer to stick with primes again because of sharper pictures and more realistic perspectives.
Weddings:
Zoom Zoom Zoom. With so much going on during a wedding, you really can’t afford to always be moving around with a prime lens in order to get in the right spot to take a shot. First off because you need to be shooting all the time. Second, moving around and drawing everyone’s attention is something you should try to avoid. This is why you see many wedding photographers carrying two camera bodies with different lenses.
A good lens combination for weddings is a super wide angle like a 17-40 mm (on a 35 mm sensor) to capture those wide angle group shots + a mid-range lens like a 24-70 mm for everything else. Just remember that if you’re shooting with the shortest end of the ultra wide then you better make sure the bride is in the center of the frame otherwise she’ll be unforgivably distorted. The 70-200 mm is also an amazing lens, but most photographers tend to get tired after carrying around that big canon (like my pun?) for so many hours.
Prime lenses also work well and may be necessary depending on how much ambient light there is (unless you’re going to rely on a flash). You just need to keep in mind that you will need to switch your lens sooner or later. It’s best to work with another photographer in this case so you could simply switch lenses with them instead providing they have what you need.
Outdoor Photography:
Outdoor conditions usually provide for the best shooting conditions because of all the available light, making it possible to keep your ISO low, your shutter speed high, and your aperture at whatever size you want for different effects. Again generally speaking, if you’re interested in landscape, you’ll want a wider lens like a 17-40 mm. If you like to shoot animals, you’ll want to get a tele lens which features a long zoom. My friend who shoots birds owns a 100-400 mm lens and most of his pictures are shot at the 400 mm end. If you’re shooting bugs or flowers, you’ll probably want to get a good macro lens like the 100 mm 2.8.
All of this goes back to what I said earlier, it all depends on what you want to shoot and how you want to shoot it. The suggestions I listed above are what works for me, but who knows if it’ll work for you. If you’re a total newbie in the field of SLR photography and know nothing about lenses, you might want to try borrowing or renting them.
However, in spite of what I said about lenses, I’m going to leave you with this very important saying: DON’T GET HOOKED ON BUYING LENSES. Having thousands of dollars worth of lenses is nice (if you can avoid burning a hole in your wallet), but if you’ve somehow acquired the idea that you need an expensive lens to shoot good pictures, know that this is about as true as saying you need to spend thousands of dollars on clothing in order to look stylish.
