The Many Types of Camera Lenses and When to Use Them

Alihszk
7 min readSep 10, 2023

Photographic lens types are one of the most influential factors for recording high-quality photos in any genre and hence photographers use them in different branches of photography, which I introduce in this article.

In fact, the lens of a camera is its eye and different lens types are produced for adjusting the light entering the camera. Moreover, each lens has its unique specifications and features.

different types of camera lenses include the following categories:

• Fish eye lens

• Wide lens

• Macro lens

• Normal lens

• Fix lens

• Telephoto lens

  • Super telephoto lens

In this article, we intend to introduce the best photography lens types. Therefore, introducing photography types of lenses and knowing about them will help you choose the right lens for your photography branch.

Fisheye photography lenses

The fisheye lens is one of the specialized photography lens types. So, you can create creative and artistic images using these lenses. Also, these products have a viewing angle of 180 degrees, and their usage is in artistic, industrial, scientific, and research cases. Fisheye lenses are also called ultra-wide and super-wide.

Using these lenses, you can take photos with an ultra-wide angle of view. So, they are broadly used by nature photographers and industrial and advertising photographers. Moreover, These lenses can create wide shots of natural landscapes and the sky. With the fisheye lens, you can take close-up photos of industrial factories and petrochemical facilities.

In many cases, photographers use these lenses to take creative photos of city buildings or the interior spaces of buildings as well as in sports competitions and making attractive photos. Also, they have two main types circular fish eye lens and full frame fish eye lens, each of which has its uses. Different brands produce these lenses, for example, Sony, Nikon, and Canon.

The best fisheye lens types include the following:

• Canon EF 8–15mm f/4L Fisheye USM

• Nikon AF-S 8–15mm f/3.5–4.5E ED Fisheye

  • SONY MK-6–11MM F/3.5 FISHEYE LENS FOR

Wide-angle photographic lenses display a wider angle of view than usual. Generally, the lenses have a viewing point of 35 mm. Meanwhile, the wide lens has a field of view of approximately 65 degrees. Wide lenses have many uses in professional photography. These features help you capture a lot of a scene in one image.

Wide lenses are the best option for landscape and nature photographers. Also, they have a significant effect on the size of the image. Usually, the difference in the size of close subjects compared to far ones in these lenses is more than the Normal lenses and telephoto lenses. Furthermore, the medium to far-distance objects appears much smaller than reality. The captured photo is very different from what we see. In most of these lenses, the option of stabilizing avoids photo blurring when shooting on hand.

When photographing small indoor environments, wide lenses are the best choice. These lenses will help to cover almost all the frames in front of you. Sometimes photos taken with wide lenses look a little surreal. For example, if you take a portrait with the shortest focal length, you will see a deformed face and a big nose. Therefore, they are not suitable for some types of photography. Some of the wide lenses available in the market are Sony, Nikon, and Canon.

The best wide lens types go as follows:

  • Canon EF 11–24mm F/4L USM
  • NIKON 14–24mm f/2.8G ED
  • Sony FE 12–24mm f/2.8 GM

Macro lens types

The macro lens is also well-known as one of the specialized photography lens types. This lens is used to take super close-up photos of the subject. Undoubtedly, you have seen large-scale and high-resolution images of small objects such as insects. These images take with a macro lens. Most macro lenses take pictures at a distance of about 10 to 30 cm. Other lenses are not able to magnify tiny objects with this scale.

Macro lenses have many uses, which mention below:

• Nature photography of plants

• Photography of insects

• small products such as jewelry

• Advertising photography of food

• portrait photography

Photographing details of objects

  • Scientific and research photography

These are just some of the uses of macro lenses for photos. Macro lenses with the correct aperture are an ideal selection for still-life photography, portrait photography, and even day photography. The best feature of macro lenses is that they can shoot with 1.0x magnification or 1:1 at the closest focus point.

The best macro lenses in different brands:

  • Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
  • Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8 G IF-ED VR Micro
  • Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS

Normal lens types

Normal lenses have a viewing angle almost equal to the viewing angle of the human eye. It means images using these lenses are similar to the real world. This factor is one of the main features of these lenses that make everything look realistic. Normal lenses have a focal length equal to the diameter of the sensor in digital cameras. The lenses with a focal length between 40 mm and 60 mm are known for full-frame cameras, and lenses with a focal length between 25 mm and 40 mm are known for crop sensor cameras.

50mm lenses are popular among photographers as Normal lenses for full-frame cameras. The amount of image realism using these products is very high. These lenses have many uses. Just take your Normal lens camera and take pictures of everything you see around you. By using these lenses, it is possible to provide you with portrait images and realistic perspectives. These lenses have a wide aperture that creates an attractive bokeh in portrait photography.

So, Normal photography lenses are the correct choice for making social documentary photos. But they are not designed for shooting broad landscapes or zooming. If you are new to photographing, Sony, Canon, and Nikon Normal lenses are a good option.

The best Normal lens types:

  • Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 STM
  • NIKON 50MM F/1.8 AF-S G
  • Sony FE 50mm f/1.8

Fixed lens type

Fixed lenses are known as the sharpest lens types among photographers. These photographic lenses have a fixed focal length and viewing angle. Using this kind of lens, allows you to get a horizontal viewing angle of 74 degrees. These lenses consist of a small number of lenses and will provide higher quality.

We use Fixed lenses when the angle and depth of view are precisely determined. Different focal lengths are produced for different branches of photography. The range of these lenses starts from 14 mm and continues up to 1200 mm. These lenses usually have a large aperture as well. Using these lenses, it is possible to use high-speed shutters in low light. The best lenses are produced by Sony, Canon, and Nikon brands. we cannot introduce a specific lens due to the diversity of these lenses in different focal lengths.

Telephoto lens types

Telephoto lenses are the favorite of many photographers. Photographers in different genres can take better photos in specific conditions. These lenses have a long focal length. So you can take close-up images of distant objects.

With telephoto lenses, you can magnify objects in your frame. Most lenses whose focal length is 60 mm or more are known as telephoto lenses. Using these lenses will make your desired object closer to the camera. You can also use these lenses to photograph sports competitions. In these lenses, the stabilizer option prevents the blurring of the photo.

For example, you can stand next to a football field and take pictures of the match. Telephoto lenses are also a good choice for wildlife photography. You can take standard portrait photos using these lenses. Among the most popular types of these lenses, we can mention Sony, Canon, and Nikon telephoto lenses.

The best lenses, in this case, are 24–105 and 200–200 with Sony, Canon, and Nikon brands, which are known as the most popular telephoto lenses.

Super telephoto lens

Super telephoto photography lenses are other types of popular and widely used lenses in photography. These lenses have a long focal length. The most important use of these lenses is photographing special events and scenes of sports competitions. You can also use them in wildlife photography. In wildlife photography, where it is not possible to get close to many animals, super telephoto lenses are a powerful and professional tool. Many professional or even amateur photographers use these products to photograph stars or create other works of art.

The use of these lenses is mostly when you intend to maintain your distance from your surroundings or take pictures without the need to approach dangerous situations. When working with super telephoto lenses, a camera shake may occur, so it is necessary to use a tripod or monopod. One of the best types of these lenses is super telephoto lenses from Sony, Nikon, and Canon.

source : https://photograph-mastery.com/different-lens-types-cater-to-different-needs/

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