Choosing Focal Lengths
There are so many great lenses on the market today. Most people’s budgets are finite, so we can’t buy every lens that looks interesting. Even if we could, we would run into a problem with storage and transport. Yet the ads and the photo magazine lens write ups make lenses look so inviting. Then a friend or acquaintance shows off a new lens that makes us want it. Lens choice is not a simple option. There are lots of reasons for buying a lens.
However, focal length considerations are important and not only affect what you can capture with your camera, but they also affect the way you photograph. You know the saying that goes something like, if you have a hammer, the whole world looks like it is filled with nails. If you have a wide-angle lens, you may find the whole world is filled with wide-angle landscapes.
On the other hand, you may have a number of lenses and discover that you are naturally drawn to certain focal lengths. I don’t think that is a bad thing at all. In fact, recognizing how you see the world through photography, your vision, your style can be a very good thing.
Some photographers love to have all sorts of focal lengths, some prefer to limit their choices to a few focal lengths. Jay Maisel used to answer the question of what focal lengths he had with, “All of them.” On the other hand, another pro, Burk Uzzle used to shoot everything, including major assignments with two lenses, a 35mm wide-angle and a 105mm telephoto (or something close to those). Both photographers are superb pros (I am not sure if Uzzle is still alive) and did wonderful work.
So it truly comes down to how you photograph, your subjects and what is important to you. That is really a key to choosing the right focal length, either buying a new lens or keeping your packing of a camera bag simpler. There is little sense in packing a lens that you will never use. But what do you need? And how do you know what you need?
I like to tell photographers to look at how they shoot and to think about when they feel limited. If they feel they constantly want to get more of a scene in their images, then a wide-angle is important. If they feel they constantly need to get “closer” to a distant subject, then a telephoto is important. If they constantly use one end of a zoom, whether that is wide or tele, that can give an indication that maybe the zoom range is not appropriate and they should look into a different zoom that has a range featuring the focal lengths they do use. If they feel that they need close up images they can’t capture, then they need close up gear.
If you want to travel light, a small, lightweight wide-angle zoom plus a small, lightweight telephoto zoom can be perfect. Shorter zoom ranges are easier to manufacture than big range zooms, often have higher image quality and are usually smaller, even if the latter means just one lens. That can mean less weight and better balance for the camera around your neck. In addition, big range zooms tend to be very slow (small maximum f-stops) at the telephoto end of the zoom.
If you want to do wildlife photography, you need a long telephoto, at least 300mm and often more. If you want to do available light photography indoors, you need a fast lens (a lens with a wide max aperture. If you want to do people photography, a moderate telephoto works well. If you like doing landscapes, a wide-angle zoom or wide to moderate telephoto can be important.
Bottom line for choosing focal length is that it all depends on your needs. I know at this point, that probably seems self-evident, but from looking at a lot of student’s backpacks and how they are shooting, I often see that they carry more gear than they really use. Sometimes they really have the wrong lens for the way they like to shoot. I strongly believe that you must like your gear, including your lens choices, if you are really going to enjoy photographing with it.
October 28th, 2009 at 3:43 am
Thank you. For a long time my only lens was a Nikkor 105mm micro with which I photographed everything. As I told one instructor it is the way I see. That was with film. Now in digital I am using a 50mm macro on the Olympus E3, or a 60mm macro lens on the Nikon D300. (90-100mm equivalents in 35mm)
I have tried a zoom, but end up shooting everything at around the same focal length anyway.
Everytime I have attended photo workshops, instructors say I need to used more lenses–wide angle and telephoto. I have always thought I would never become a good photographer unless I did that. You have made me feel better about myself.
Thank you again.
October 28th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mark Olwick, Jeff Lynch. Jeff Lynch said: A great article on choosing focal lengths by Rob Sheppard: http://bit.ly/4pGQDw [...]