Today, I want to discuss lenses, the different types, and what they do.
Wide angle lenses have a few practical uses. They include more of the scene in front of the camera than a regular lens. They can be useful in small enclosed spaces, and for landscape photography. There are three types of wide angle lenses: Wide angle, Ultra Wide angle, and Fish Eye lenses. The more wide the angle of the lens is, the more linear distortion your photos will show. The images seem to almost bubble, like those weird greeting card animals, with the big round crazy eyes.
Long focus lenses are the opposite of a wide angle. Sometimes they are called telephoto lenses. These are used to make subjects that are far away appear closer.
Portrait lenses are between 85 and 135mm. These get you close enough to get a nice picture, bit without the distortion, the caricature like effect that you would get from a wide angle lens.
Macro lenses are used to get very close up to an object. A true macro will reproduce an image on the film exactly the same size as the subject. They can focus much closer than a standard lens will. You can also use close up filters to achieve a similar effect (though not exactly the same!).
Zoom lenses are lenses where you can change the focal length, but not have to change lenses. These are sometimes not as sharp as a “prime” lens (that is, a lens with a fixed focal length). Certainly the most common lens these days, but you can get a sharper image with a prime lens, and it’s worth having one, unless you need the versatility of being able to change the focal length of the lens. With a zoom, you don’t have to worry about carrying several lenses around with you.