Lens News

People often ask me, “What sort of lens should I buy as my second lens?” and my answer is always the same: “What sort of pictures would you like to take?”  I’m getting that question a lot right now because a zillion people got new cameras over the holidays. There are so many options I’ve decided to deliver the answer in two installments. But first, let’s take a close look at that kit lens that came with your camera.

Last week we wrote about What The Lens, a new website designed to help Canon shooters choose the lens that’s best for their style of photography. If that brand-specific tool left you in the dark fear not, because the video below provides some great advice on lens choice regardless of the camera you own.

Yesterday, we posted our new video featuring Shutterbug photographer Jordan Matter who explained three reasons why he thinks you need to get a telephoto zoom lens now. And then, lo and behold, popular photography vlogger Peter McKinnon just posted his own video on why he thinks every photographer needs a telephoto lens.

An aperture set at f/2 is twice as big as one set at f/2.8 and four times larger than f/4. What’s Pi got to do with f/stops, and why do we use such a seemingly arbitrary numbering system? Continue reading to learn the answers to these and a few more arcane aperture facts. 

When shopping for a wide-angle lens, presented for your approval, is a collection of our favorite (mostly) zoom lenses to expand your view of the world.

I really like extreme lenses. Extremely wide, extremely fast, and extremely long lenses will all allow you to create unique images that stand out from the crowd. When I heard about the Sigma 8-16mm lens I wanted to get my hands on one and start shooting, so I asked my editor if I could borrow one from Sigma for testing. He wanted to know what I was going to do with it, so naturally I told him: take portraits. You might, as he did, find this a little odd—taking portraits with a wide-angle lens, and a very wide lens at that. After all, don’t photographers usually use long lenses for portraits?

Why are photographers taught to use long lenses for portraits? There are four basic tenets behind this reasoning: narrow angle of view, shallow depth of field, flattering perspective, and a comfortable working distance between you and your subject. However, flip these “rules” on their head and you’ll see why I like working with wides: wide angle of view, great potential depth of field, unique perspective, and, oddly enough, working right in your subject’s face. In short, I use the special nature of a wide lens to give my portraits a new and unique look.

If you stumbled upon a rare Novoflex 600mm pistol grip “bazooka lens” at a yard sale for $17, we imagine you’d lay down your cash, grab the case, and quickly head for your car. That’s exactly what our weird lens guru Mathieu Stern did recently in Paris.