Building a digital SLR system: Looking at the Canon Digital Rebel

Exit, Nikon D40, Nikon D80, and EOS 5D cameras

By Philip Green spun
Digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras are the standard tool for serious photographers. With the introduction of
cameras such as the Nikon D40 and the Canon Digital Rebel Exit the market for digital SLR cameras has
expanded tremendously. A point-and-shoot compact digital camera can offer reasonably good image quality, but a
digital SLR, which usually looks a lot like an old standard 35mm film camera and may use the same lenses, offers
the following advantages:

accurate, large, and bright optical viewfinder

fast operation and large controls

excellent image quality in low "available" light situations when its

necessary to use higher ISO speeds

interchangeable lenses

For more information on what to consider when purchasing a DSLR, including details on lens compatibility,
system expandability, size and weight, ISO settings, noise levels, etc., take a look at Bob Atkins' article on
Factors to Consider when Choosing a Digital SLR Camera.
With the digital SLR you have a good idea of what you're going to capture by looking through the viewfinder.
When you press the shutter release the camera captures the image immediately. If you need to zoom or focus
manually there are large rings that you can operate quickly by feel. If you see a beautifully-lit scene you can
capture that beauty instead of using an on-camera flash to blast everything with harsh white light. If you need to
make a specialized photo, you can buy or rent specialized lens and attach it to the camera.
This article explains the different kinds of digital SLR cameras available, how to choose the right one for you, and
what to do once you get it home from the shop. A digital SLR camera system, complete with lenses and
accessories, can cost anywhere from $600 to $10,000. This article shows you how to choose and buy the basic
items first and the more expensive and hard-to-use components later.
[If you don't want to read this article and are impatient to get started immediately, get a Canon Digital Rebel Exit
(review) and Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC for Canon, $439; if you must have a zoom, the Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS
USM, $990 (review)is a good choice.]

What is a single-lens reflex (SLR)?

The single lens reflex (SLR) is most folks' idea of a serious camera. "SLR" means that
the same lens is used for viewing and taking pictures. A mirror in the body directs the
light from the lens up into a prism for viewing, and then flips up out of the way just
before an exposure is made. The standard photojournalist's Nikon from the 1960s or
1970swas an SLR with a roll of 35mm film behind the mirror. When the mirror came
up the light passed through to the shutter, which opened to expose one frame of film
for perhaps 1/60th of a second. A Canon Digital Rebel or Nikon D80 looks very similar

and works in almost the same way. The only difference is that instead of a piece of film behind the shutter there is
an electronic sensor.
The mirror and optical viewfinder are what enable a photographer to frame images more quickly and accurately
than with a point-and-shoot camera. Regardless of what lens or filters you have attached to the camera you see
what the sensor will see. The same can be said for held displays on the back of a $200 point-and-shoot camera but
those displays are difficult to interpret in sunlight. The typical digitally camera viewfinder offers additional
information underneath the image, including all the most important camera settings.
The SLR is much larger and heavier than the point-and-shoot camera. If you are leaving the house to socialize and
want a camera to keep in your pocket just in case an interesting photo presents itself, the SLR will seem
cumbersome. If you are heading out specifically with a photographic project in mind you will appreciate how the
SLR and its controls fit into your hands.

Because digital SLRs are more expensive than point-and-shoot cameras the
manufacturers typically put in faster computers and better autofocus systems.
This makes the cameras more responsive and you are more likely to catch the
"decisive moment" as the baby's face lights up with a smile, the soccer ball leaves
the player's foot, or the dog catches the Frisbee.
A digital SLR may offer the same number of megapixels, individual image elements, as a high-end point-andshoot. Not all pixels are created equal, however. Resolution is important if you intend to make large prints but
dynamic range, the ability to capture detail within bright highlights and dark shadows, is more critical in many
situations. The sensors in digital SLRs are typically much larger than those found in point-and-shoot cameras. The
main advantage of a larger sensor is better performance in dim light. If there
are 8 megapixels spread out over a sensor that is 4 times larger than the
sensor in a point-and-shoot camera that means more photons of light will fall
on any given pixel. If during an exposure 50 photons would fall on the small
sensor then 200 photons would fall on the big sensor. If there is a small
change in the light from one part of the scene to another the sensor in the
point and shoot camera is trying to notice a single extra photon; the electronics in the camera with the big sensor
have four extra photons that are much easier to detect.
First-time consumers of digital SLR cameras focus on the body. Long-time photographers, however, look at the
system. An SLR system includes a body, multiple lenses, flash units, and various connecting cords. For most
photographers the investment in lenses will come to dwarf the cost of a body. It is thus important to choose a
system whose manufacturer makes the lenses that you need for all of your potential projects and, ideally, whose
system is popular enough that you can rent special-purpose lenses for uncommon situations. Each camera system
has its own lens mount design and a lens that works on, say, a Nikon camera cannot be attached to a Canon body.

Who makes digital SLR cameras?

The same companies that made 35mm film SLRs make digital SLRs. If you have a lot of Canon EOS lenses from
your days as a film photographer, for example, you will probably want to buy a Canon EOS digital camera, because
those lenses from the 1990s will work just fine on the new digital camera.

The market leader in the professional/advanced amateur photography world is Canon. If you don't have a major
investment in lenses you will probably want to buy a Canon digital SLR. The number two spot is occupied by
Nikon, which is also a reasonable choice. Fuji and Kodak have made digital SLRs that accept Canon- and Nikonmount lenses. Once you get beyond Nikon and Canon it becomes very difficult to rent lenses and the companies
that make the more obscure systems don't have a large enough market share to invest enough money to build
competitive bodies. Leica, Minolta, Olympus, Pentax, and Sigma are the small vendors in the digital SLR market.
Unless you have an enormous investment in lenses for one of these brands the only one of these worth considering
for purchase is Olympus, due to its innovative Four-Thirds system, discussed below.

What kinds of digital SLRs are available?

There are three kinds of digital SLR systems being made as of September 2005:
1.

big lenses, big sensor

2. big lenses, small sensor

3. small lenses, small sensor
We will discuss each in turn.

Big lenses, big sensor. Canon and Kodak have taken the most obvious approach to the
challenge of transitioning from film to digital: build a digital sensor exactly the same size as
one frame of35mm film. The result is a chunk of silicon 24x36mm in size, which is vast
compared to the sensor in a point-and-shoot digital. The benefit of this vast sensor is
reduced noise, which looks like grain, in lowlight/high-ISO situations. The drawback of a
vast sensor is that manufacturing a flawless piece of silicon this big is very expensive.
Consumer-priced cameras in this category include: Canon (review), Canon EOS 5D Mark II
(review),Nikon D700, $2350 (review), Nikon D3 (review), and Sony, $2500 (review). If you
have a strong back and an unlimited budget, the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, $6079 (review), is a great choice. It is
probably the best digital camera made and produces image quality that rivals medium format film (e.g., 6x6cm
Hasselblad).
The only other full-frame digital SLRs made were the discontinued Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n and SLR/c bodies. The
Kodaks were cheaper than the Canon, but not quite as functional and the fact that they were discontinued is a
good illustration of why you want to buy a digital SLR from a market leader. I own a 5D and have written a full
review of the Canon EOS 5D.
Big lenses, small sensor. In order to keep the cost of the body within a range of $700-1500 and allow
photographers to use their old35mm system lenses most digital SLRs fall into this category. The front of the body
has the same lens mount as an old film SLR. The back of the body has a sensor that is smaller than the 24x36mm
standard frame of an old film SLR. The result is a camera that looks the same as the old film camera but multiplies
the magnification of all the lenses. Having smaller sensor is like cutting the center out of a drugstore proof print.
You don't capture all the information on the left and right and top and bottom of the frame. It is as though you
took the picture with telephoto lens. The viewfinder has been adjusted so that what you see optically is what is
captured in the digital file. If you're coming from the film world you will need to do a mental adjustment. A
50mmnormal perspective lens on a big lens/small sensor camera behaves like an 80mm telephoto lens on a film

camera. A 20mm ultra wide-angle lens behaves like a 30-32mm slightly wide angle lens on a film camera. Nearly
all the popular digital SLRs fall into this category and their various merits will be discussed below.
Small lenses, small sensor. The biggest problem with the "big lens, small sensor" situation is that
photographers are forced to cart around lenses that are much larger, heavier, and, theoretically, more expensive,
than they need to be. A big heavy Canon telephoto lens Is big and heavy mostly because it is built to cast an image
circle large enough to cover a 24x36mm frame but the Canon EOS 30D body's sensor is only 15x22mm in size. Any
engineer would look at this "big lens, small sensor" situation and say "Why not come up with a standard
reasonable sensor size and then make lenses that are just large enough to cover that sensor with an image?" That's
precisely what the Four Thirds consortium did. Olympus and Kodak seem to be the originators of the standard but
Fuji, Panasonic, Sanyo, and Sigma have signed on as well according to www.four-thirds.org. This seemed like a
great idea at the time (2002) but four years later only three Four Thirds system bodies have been built, all by
Olympus, and only a handful of lenses, all from Olympus and Sigma.
If you have a robust checking account and/or a lot of Canon EOS film camera lenses an unlimited budget the "fullframe" CanonEOS-5D (big lenses/big sensor; medium weight; $2900) is the obvious choice. If you don't need stateof-the-art performance and value compactness above all, the Olympus E System is a reasonable choice(see my
review of the Olympus E1for more detail; the current best buy is a complete starter kit with the E-500 for $630 from
amazon). More than 90 percent of photographers, however, will find that the engineering compromise of "big
lenses/small sensor" fits their budget and needs. This has led to the introduction of lenses that have the big lens
mount for a 35mm film camera but optically cover only the small sensor of a mid-range digital SLR. These are sold
as "digital-only lenses" or "digital camera lenses" but in fact they won't work on a full-frame digital SLR--the corners
of the image would be black. Canon denotes these lenses as "EF-S", Nikon as "DX".

Which big lenses/small sensor digital SLR to buy?

Canon is the strongest competitor in the digital SLR market. Their current (2006) big lenses/small sensor options
include the following

cameras:

Canon Digital Rebel Exit (review); 485g; called "Canon EOS 400D" outside the U.S.; introduced fall 2006

Canon EOS 30D (review); 700g; introduced May 2006

These bodies are very similar in performance with sensors that are about the same size and 8-megapixels in
resolution. The 30D offers better performance in low light, more responsive operation, and a rear control wheel that
makes for faster operation in manual or limited-automation modes. The Digital Rebel is lighter and less bulky.
If you have a substantial investment in Nikon-mount lenses you might wish to stick with the Nikon system when
buying a digital SLR. At many points in time Canon makes slightly more advanced bodies, but in virtually every
photographic situation you'd end up taking the same picture with either the Canon or Nikon big lenses/small sensor
body. Nikon's current (2007) options include the following:

Nikon D40, 18-55mm kit (review)

Nikon D80 (review); 600g; introduced fall 2006 but based on the D70,which was introduced in early 2004

Nikon D200 (review); introduced in March 2006

Nikon D2Xs (review); 1070g; introduced early 2005;

All of Nikon's digital SLR cameras use the same size 16x24mm sensor, which multiplies lens magnification by 1.5.
The D2Xs is the heavy professional 12-megapixel model. The D200 is the advanced amateur10-megapixel model.
The D80 is the mid-range 10-megapixelmodel, much lighter in weight due to its plastic body. The D40 is a delightful
light compact 6 MP camera with an intuitive user interface. The D40 is the only SLR camera that shows example
photos to illustrate the appropriate use of different settings.
Before you consider buying anything other than Canon or Nikon, remember that a 300/2.8 telephoto lens, the
standard tool of sports and wildlife photographers, will cost around $4500 to buy and $50 to rent for a weekend.
You can rent lenses for Canon and Nikon, or a backup body, in any larger city.
Get a body and normal lens

Lenses are specified by focal length in millimeters and aperture, a ratio between the
diameter of the lens and its length. The longer the lens, the greater the magnification. A
50mm lens gives approximately the same perspective as normal human vision. A 400mm
lens gives a view like looking through 8X binoculars and a 20mm lens is a dramatically wide
angle lens. Lens apertures or f-stops have the following full steps: 1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11,
16, 22. Each step represents half as much light being admitted to the sensor. "50/1.4" is
shorthand for a lens that is 50mm long and has a maximum aperture of f/1.4. Zoom lenses
are specified with the focal length range followed by the aperture range, e.g., "24-105/2.8-4"
is a lens that goes from a wide 24mmperspective to a telephoto 105mm perspective while the maximum
apertureavailable goes from f/2.8 at the 24mm end to f/4.0 at the 105mm end. A"fast" lens is one with a wide
maximum aperture, e.g., f/2.0. A "slow"lens is one with a physically small (though numerically large)
maximumaperture, e.g., f/5.6. The slow lens will require a more brightly litscene in order to deliver adequate
illumination to the sensor.
You've bought, or rented, a digital camera.
It is rather unsatisfying to fool around with a camera unless you canform images on the sensor and therefore you
need a lens. The cheap zoomlenses that come packaged with a Canon Digital Rebel or Nikon D50 kit arepoor tools
for building photography skills or making compelling images.The novice photographer who starts with a zoom lens
typically uses it inlieu of backing up or stepping forward. An experienced photographervisualizes the scene first,
chooses a focal length, then gets into theappropriate position to capture the scene with that focal length. It ismuch
better to get a lens with a fixed focal length, learn to recognizescenes where that lens can be used effectively, and
then add additionallenses once that focal length has been mastered. So even if you havethe $1000+ to buy a high
quality zoom and the muscles to lug it aroundit is probably a poor choice of first lens.
The $100-200 lightweight zoom lenses that come bundled with digital SLRbodies have some additional limitations.
Being a good photographerstarts with the ability to recognize a scene that looks attractive underits current lighting
conditions. You need a lens with a wide enoughmaximum aperture, typically f/2.0 or f/1.4, to capture that scene
evenwhen the lighting is fairly dim, as it will be indoors or near the endof the day. Inexpensive zoom lenses will have
a maximum aperture of between f/4.0 and f/5.6. At an aperture of f/5.6 you will need 8 times as much light to take a
picture as you do at an aperture of f/2.0. Thus the cheap zoom will force you to use the on-camera flash, which casts
an ugly flat light and in any case will render the scene completely different than it looked to your naked eye. Flash

can be useful, especially with multiple strobes in the studio or as a fill-in light to reduce contrast outdoors, but
mastering flash photography is a separate challenge.
The final problem with a cheap zoom lens is image quality. There is no free lunch in this world and when an optical
engineer cuts cost and weight the sharpness and contrast are reduced. In fact, you might get a better quality photo
with a point-and-shoot digital than with a heavy expensive digital SLR with a cheap light zoom lens attached.
What you want for a starter digital camera lens is a high-quality" prime" lens with a fixed focal length. You want a
"normal" perspective so that the relative sizes of objects in the image will be roughly what you experience with your
normal vision. For a 35mm film camera or a full-frame digital SLR (Canon EOS-1Ds; Canon EOS 5D), the normal
focal length is 50mm. For a Canon Digital Rebel or similar "big lenses/small sensor" camera the normal perspective
is afforded by a 35mm lens. For a Four Thirds camera such as the Olympus E1, the normal
lens is 25mm.

In the Canon system there are two kinds of autofocus motors available in the various lenses.
The best kind of autofocus motor is ultrasonic, denoted by the "USM" designation on a lens.
With USM the pure autofocus will be faster and it is also easier to let the camera do most of
the focus work but manually change the point of focus if desired. For theEOS-1Ds or EOS5D, I recommend the Canon 50/1.4 because it has the USM motor, unlike the cheaper
Canon 50/1.8.
For the Canon small sensor DSLRs, e.g., the EOS 30D and Digital Rebel Exit, the Canon 35/2 lens is an economical
lightweight choice, but sadly it lacks a USM motor. Canon makes a very fine 35/1.4L USM that lets you work in light
only half as bright as the 35/2 (the "L" designation means that it is part of Canon's expensive lineup of lenses and
will have superb optical performance and mechanical construction). This lens costs more than $1000, however, and,
at 580 grams, is heavy. Generally speaking, "third party" lenses such as those made by Sigma, Tamron, and toking,
are not worth considering compared to Canon-brand lenses. The remarkably cheap wide-range third-party zooms
deliver terrible image quality. The high quality third-party prime lenses or fast zooms aren't much less expensive
than high quality Canon- or Nikon-brand lenses. Sigma's 30/1.4 digital-only lens is an exception. Because it does not
cast an image large enough to cover a 24x36mm film frame, the lens is much lighter (422g) than the Canon 35/1.4
and less than half the price (check it now).It has an ultrasonic motor, denoted "HSM" by Sigma, and has delivered
superb optical performance in magazine tests.
With Nikon, your choices are simple. Nikon currently offers 2full-frame sensor cameras: Nikon D3 (review), and
Nikon D700, $2350 (review), in addition to their line of small-frame sensor cameras. They only make one 35mm
prime autofocus lens, a 35/2. The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC for Nikon, $439 is probably a better choice due to its
extra f-stop of light gathering capability and ultrasonic motor.
Olympus makes very few prime lenses and none with a 25mm "normal" perspective. Olympus does offer a choice of
three zooms, however. The best image quality and fastest aperture is a 14-35/2.0. The "reasonably good" mid-range
zoom is the 14-54/2.8-3.5. The cheapest Olympus zoom for the Four Thirds system is the 14-45/3.5-5.6, only
suitable for sunny days due to its small maximum apertures.

As noted previously, expensive digital camera bodies are often sold in kits with cheap slow zoom lenses that sell
separately for a maximum of$100. If the kit is the same price as the body alone, by all means get the kit and put the
included lens aside until you are letting a clumsy child experiment with your camera system. But also shop for a high
quality lens of some sort.

Get some accessories

Big digital SLR cameras take not-so-very-compact Compact Flash (CF) memory cards. Often
the camera body does not come with a CF card or the supplied card will only hold a handful
of images. A RAW photo from an8-megapixel digital SLR occupies roughly 10 MB of space
on the card, which means that a 2 GB card will hold approximately 200 images. The RAW
files from the Canon EOS 5D are approximately 13 MB in size, which means that you can get
300 images on a 4 GB card. In addition to the size of the card, it is worth looking at the
maximum writing speed. A card labeled "60X", for example, can theoretically read or write 9
MB per second or one RAW 8-megapixel image per second (folks who've measured the write times of various cards
in real cameras never get more than 6 MB per second, even from cards that are supposed to support 20 MB per
second). The camera has a memory buffer allowing you to capture 20or more images in rapid sequence, and then it
writes them to disk as fast as the card allows. Even with a large buffer, however, you want a fast card so that the
camera is responsive to requests to review recently captured images. You don't want to leave your subjects standing
around for two minutes while the camera writes to the card and then you figure out whether you've gotten the
images that you need. The SanDisk Ultra II cards are nearly as fast as the fastest available cards and nearly as cheap
as the cheapest available cards. Don't pay extra for Lexar "write-acceleration" cards if you're using a Canon body;
Canon doesn't support whatever these cards need to write faster. You can buy SanDisk cards at our vendor partner:
8 GB;4 GB;2 GB;1 GB. Serious photographers don't generally use cases for SLRs. If you're out taking pictures, you
want the camera available for immediate use. If you're not taking pictures, you can stuff the camera anywhere. If you
are going to be taking the camera out in the rain, however, or tossing it into a backpack with a lot of rocks, I like the
Zing neoprene "action covers".
A "UV haze" filter, appropriately sized to fit the front of your lens, can be useful if you're taking pictures in a dusty or
wet environment or if you're lending your camera to a careless person. For maximum contrast and image quality,
however, don't leave the filter on the lens when doing a project in a clean environment.
As far as cleaning accessories go, the most useful is a microfiber cloth. Remember to drip the cleaning fluid onto the
cloth and then wipe the lens; do not drip cleaning fluid directly onto a lens. Also never try to clean an SLR mirror
yourself. Dust on the mirror will not appear on your images and it is very easy to damage the mirror surface. Zeiss
makes some good lens cleaning products, including their pre-moistened wipes.

Where to Buy
In the old days you saved a lot of money by buying camera equipment from one of the big New York City retailers.
These days, however, prices for digital cameras are about the same all over the Web. You'll get about as good a deal
at amazon.com as anywhere else, sometimes better. The main problem with buying digital SLR cameras and digital
camera lenses at a non-specialty store is that they won't have the serious lenses. You'll be able to get the cheap
popular zooms but not the prime lenses, the professional-quality zooms, or unusual accessories.

Get some knowledge

Please take a moment to read this article on photographic light (written for the film era but still valuable). Read the
owner's manual that came with your camera a couple of times.

Project: Friends and Family at Home

Set the camera to ISO 400 or ISO 800 and learn to make satisfactory images with
available light indoors. Since you will usually find people indoors, you might as
well include them in your pictures. The normal perspective lens is wide enough to
show a person plus some part of the activity in which he or she is engaged.
If you got your digital SLR camera as a kit with a cheap zoom lens this would be a
good time to compare the utility of the slow zoom lens with the fast prime lens. Try the same portraits indoors with
the kit lens and the 35/1.4 or 50/1.4 lens. See if the small maximum aperture of the kit lens forces you to use either
very slow shutter speeds (blurry due to camera shake) or very high ISO speeds (lots of digital noise in the images
when viewed later on a computer screen).

Gets some image editing software?

On the computer side, you need to come up with a plan for storing and selecting
photos. My personal strategy is to start with directories named YYYYMMDDsubject, e.g., "20050813-newport-jazz-festival".Prefixing with the date in that
format ensures that the directories, sorted by name, will appear in chronological
order. The really bad photos I move into a subfolder called "rejects". The better
photos I rename to something more descriptive than the camera-generated serial number. All of this can be done
within the Windows XP file explorer, even for camera RAW images, if you download the free "Microsoft RAW Image
Thumbnail and Viewer for Windows XP". The latest versions of Macintosh OS X also provide support for viewing
RAW images.
The Picasa system, which was purchased by Google and is free (Linux/Windows-only), does almost everything most
people want for image organization and editing. Picasa works with RAW-format files.
Adobe Photoshop CS2 is a great system but it is more of a professional graphic artist's tool than a photographer's
tool. If you want software that can handle all of your requirements as you gain experience, Photoshop is it. I
personally do all of my browsing, renaming, and editing in Photoshop and have developed scripts for processing
camera images into JPEGs with copyright info for the Web.

Project: Shadows

Set the camera to ISO 50 or 100 (the lowest numerical setting, which will be the highest quality) and walk around on
sunny days looking for interesting shadows. Photograph the shadows either by themselves or in conjunction with the
objects casting the shadows. One of the goals here is to train your eye to look for interesting shadows.

Project: Low-angle
Set the camera to ISO 400 and walk around on an overcast day looking for interesting
pictures that you can take with the camera no more than one or two feet off the ground.
People tend to make nearly all of their photographs while standing erect. It is good to train
yourself to experiment with crouching or even lying down to get a different perspective.
When photographing dogs and children, it is particularly important to consider the effect
you'll have on the picture by standing over your subject.

Get a tripod
Many interesting pictures require keeping the shutter open for several seconds,
much longer than human beings are capable of holding still. A tripod will enable
you to fix the camera in a compositionally satisfying position and take 30 second
or longer exposures.
Read our tripod primer and buy whatever fits your budget. Rest assured that as you get serious, you'll probably end
up with another tripod or two.

Some good tripod choices for typical digital SLRs:

reasonable quality: Bogen/Manfrotto3001 legs and Bogenball head with quick release

high quality: Bogen190MF3 legs and Bogenball head with quick release
More expensive tripods are either lighter or provide better dampening of vibration or both.

Project: City at Night

Drive to the nearest city with interesting buildings that a illuminated at night. Set
the camera to ISO 100 (the relatively slow speed is irrelevant now that you have the
tripod) and bracket your exposures. In addition to learning about low-light
metering and the use of the tripod, you want to see the aesthetic effect of differing
exposures. There really isn't a correct exposure for night photography. Do you want

the building to look sort of dark and mysterious? Bright and inviting? It is your
choice with a flip of the shutter speed dial. Note that none of your slides will
record the full range of tones in the original scene. Some parts of the building
that you could see with your eyes will register on film as pure black. Some parts
that are close to street lights will be blown out into pure white.

Get a wide-angle lens

You should be comfortable with the normal lens now and have a pretty good idea of when you
can successfully use it. The uninteresting and obvious thing that a wide-angle lens does is
capture more of the surrounding scenery on film (something that you could achieve with the
normal lens, simply by backing up). The non-obvious thing that a wide-angle lens does is
change the relative prominence of objects in a scene (see the image at left, which was taken
with a 14mm extreme wide-angle lens on a 35mm film camera).
As a growing photographer, whenever you're using a wide-angle lens, you have to learn to look
for interesting objects to fill the foreground. If you don't find one, you'll end with a flat postcard-like image. If you
do find an interesting object, move in close so that it fills at least one-third of the frame. The interesting thing
about the resulting image is that your viewers will get a good look at the object you've selected but will also see a
wide swath of background.

In the image at right, note how the foreground log and ferns are the main
subject but you can still see a lot of the background forest. This was taken with
a 20mm lens on a film camera (and a tripod, in the rain, with a towel over the
lens, exposure for almost 1 second).
For comparison, below right is an image that was not taken with a wide-angle lens. In fact, it was made with a
telephoto (narrow-angle or high-magnification) lens, about 200mm long on a film camera. Note that foreground
and backgrounds trees all have roughly the same relative prominence. That's because the foreground trees aren't
much closer, percentage-wise, to the camera than the background trees.

How wide a lens to get? Technically 35mm on a 35mm camera is wide but it is the
same focal length as most point and shoot cameras so I don't recommend it. If
you're going to lug an SLR around you want something at least a little bit dramatic.
I recommend starting with a lens that is gives a 24 or 28mm perspective on a film
or full-frame digital camera, which means a 16-18mm lens on a mid-range Canon
EOS or Nikon D80digital SLR. After you've made a lot of images with which you're happy(i.e., where you
successfully found a good object for the foreground),then consider widening out to 16 or 20mm, which translates
to 10-14mm one "big lenses/small sensor" digital SLR.
In practice it is difficult to find reasonably priced ultra-wide prime (non-zoom) lenses. There isn't a very large
market for a 14/2.8lens and therefore they are built almost by hand. It therefore makes sense to buy a wide-angle

zoom lens. A good place to start experimenting in the Canon small-sensor world is the Canon EF-S 10-22mm
f/3.5-4.5 USM, $720 (review). This is unfortunately a little bits low, with a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at 10mm
and f/4.5 at 22mm.However with a digital camera you can always push up the ISO when the light gets dim and
compensate for the lack of lens speed, albeit with an increase in noise. In the Nikon line, I recommend the Nikon
14-24mm f/2.8G ED AF-S, $1785. Olympus makes an Olympus 11-22mm f/2.8-3.5, $600, for the E-system.
If you're using a full-frame Canon EOS 5D, the professional choice is the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM, $1420
(review).

Wide Project: People in the City

The most common example uses for wide-angle lenses are all dramatic landscapes. I don't
like this for learners, though, because (a) it is time-consuming for most people to have to
drive to a dramatic landscape,(b) photojournalists make frequent and brilliant use of wideangle lenses to illustrate people interacting with each other or with their environment.
So get out there with your new wide-angle lens and get up close to your subjects. You need
to learn how to stick a camera 12 inches from your subject. Remember that the ruder your
personality, the better a photojournalist you will make. Here are a few examples to
motivate you.

Get a telephoto lens

With the wide lens, you've explored the possibilities in showing a subject plus
its environment. With the telephoto lens, you must learn to find good
compositions where you isolate your subject from its environment. Telephoto
lenses accomplish this isolation first by having higher magnification than a
normal perspective lens. So without you having to move forward, the lens will
record a smaller portion of the scene on film. The telephoto lens compresses perspective. As in theatre image
above, foreground and background objects won't be given dramatically different prominence. However, if you
don't stop the lens aperture down, background objects may be so out of focus as to be unperceivable by the viewer.
With the image at right, taken with a300/2.8, the viewer's eye is immediately led to the subject because everything
else is out of focus.
Note that depth of field, or what is in and out of focus in the scene, is a function of the absolute length of the lens
and the aperture used for exposure. Thus to get this kind of background blur with a mid-range digital SLR you
would still need to use a 300/2.8 lens even though the same magnification and subject scale could be achieved
with a 200mmlens.
It is probably worth buying a prime telephoto lens equivalent to100-150mm on a film or full-frame digital SLR.
This is short enough to be cheap and long enough to be noticeably different from your normal lens. Note that
100mm was typically considered the ideal lens for portrait photography on a 35mm SLR. An excellent lens for the
Canon EOS system is Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM, $431 (review). If you must have a zoom telephoto, restrict
yourself to the L-series, the cheapest of which is Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM, $636 (review). Although this
lens is a full f-stop faster than the cheap zoom telephotos, which are usually f/5.6 at their long ends, it is two f-

people don't look their best in contrasty bright direct sunshine. In the Nikon system look at the Nikon 85mm
f/1.8D AF Nikkor, $429. There are no high quality lightweight medium-speed zoom telephotos in the Nikon line as
of December 2005. Your only optically reasonable option is the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR, which is
an incredibly large and heavy lens. To experiment with telephoto photography on a sunny day, and wait for the
day when Nikon makes better lenses specifically for their small-sensor cameras, spend $250 on the Nikon 55200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR, $220. Note that, due to its small maximum aperture, this lens will not
produce a blurred background for portraits.

Telephoto Project: Portraits

Park your subject near a window, traditionally north-facing, that provides indirect sunlight. Get a piece of white
cardboard to reflect light back from the window onto the side of your subject facing away from the window. Put
your camera on the tripod. Take pictures. When you're done, you'll be a "window-light portrait" expert. Here's
some inspiration (only one of these was taken by window light).

Get a camera bag

You now have enough stuff for your first
camera bag. Read the photo.net camera
bags primer. Go to a good camera shop
and see which bag comfortably holds all
the stuff you've got plus maybe one
smaller item. Don't get a bag that is too
big. Even as your system expands, you'll still want a bag that is just right for a body plus three lenses.

Take a breather
You've now got a comprehensive digital SLR camera system. Stop buying stuff. At this
point, you need only buy or rent stuff in the context of trying to realize a particular
photographic project. Remember that no matter how much equipment you lug around
you will never have the right lens for every picture at every moment. One needs to accept
that some great photos will slip by without being captured.
If you feel that you have to buy something new, here are some good project-based
excuses.

Macro lens project: Think Small

If you want to explore the world up close (real close) then you need a macro lens. Read my macro photography
primer and get a lens that suits your desired working distance from the subject. Then head out into a flower
garden with your tripod. An overcast day is probably best. Below is some inspiration from my Hawaiian flowers

Some good macro lenses for digital cameras:

small sensor Canon: Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8

Macro USM, $392 (review) -- will not work on a full-frame

camera

full-frame Canon: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro

USM, $519 (review)

small sensor Nikon: Nikon 60mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Micro, $540

Wide-to-Tele Zoom lens project: Photojournalistic Wedding

If you care about quality, zoom lenses are heavier, more expensive, and never quite as sharp
or contrasty as fixed ("prime") lenses.
If you're rich and lazy, you can get professional zoom lenses simply to avoid having to change
lenses. The cost is $1000-2000 per lens and the quality loss is small. If you're poor and
quality-conscious, you're much better off sticking to prime lenses.
When does a zoom lens help you accomplish a photographic objective? Event photography.
The one constant of photojournalism is that your subjects probably won't wait around for you
to set up a tripod or change lenses. It helps to be fleet of foot and unencumbered by a huge camera bag full of
lenses. It helps to be ready with the right focal length lens on your camera
instantly.

Anyway, if you're going to take pictures at your cousin Shlomo's wedding, that's a
good excuse to buy a zoom lens covering 24-85mm(full-frame digital SLR or film
perspective) or so. If the official wedding photographer is delivering images in
color, you can really impress Shlomo and the rest of your family by delivering all of
your images knocked down to black and white. Unless your family is very chic, their mutual color coordination will
probably be ineffective. Theyll look better in black and white and remember that you'll be free to take pictures
using incandescent and fluorescent light sources without worrying about adjusting the white balance.
For the Canon EOS-1Ds and 5D, the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM, $1300 (review), is the lens of choice. For
the Canon EOS 40D/50D and Canon Digital Rebel Exit/XSi, the Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM, $990 (review),
is a high-performance lens offering roughly the same range of perspectives. For the Nikon D3 and D700, the
Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S, $1700, and Nikon, $1785, are the top lenses. For a Nikon "big lenses/small
sensor" digital SLR you want the Nikon, $1360.

Find the Best Digital SLR Lens

If you think that finding a good SLR camera is tough, try to find the best digital SLR lens to go with it.
If you felt there were plenty of cameras to choose from, the number of available lenses is going to be
overwhelming.
Digital SLR lenses come in all manner of shapes and sizes, and vary massively in price.
Some are built for the demanding needs of professionals and others are just right for the everyday snapshot
photographer.
Faced with all these alternatives, what's a newcomer to the world of SLR photography to do?
Just follow the 6 steps that I outline below and you'll find your way to the best digital SLR lens for your
camera.

What Brand Is Your SLR?

Before you even get started down the road of selecting a lens, you have to know the brand of digital SLR camera
that you're going to get.
Here's why: lenses are not interchangeable.
A lens designed for a Nikon camera is not going to work on your Canon camera - that's what all those Canon
lenses are for.
The reason is that modern day lenses have an electronic connection with the digital SLR camera. This connection
relays information from lens to camera so that you can change setting on the lens (like aperture) from the camera
body itself.
These connections are proprietary and vary between the camera makers.
The key to understanding which lens will work with your digital SLR can be summed up in two words: lens
mount.
The lens mount is the point of connection between a lens and your digital SLR. A Pentax lens mount is different
from a Nikon lens mount which is different from a Sony lens mount.
This is especially important if you eventually want a lens from a third party manufacturer (more about this later).
The key thing to remember right now is that you can get the exact same lens made by a third party company like
Sigma, but with different mounts (one for Nikon and one for Canon).

The 6 Steps
I use the 6 steps that I'm about to introduce you to every time I go out looking for a new lens.
Each step is designed to reduce the number of lenses you have to compare by half, which is why it's good to follow
the steps in order.
By the time you get to the last step, you should only have to compare 2 or 3 lenses rather than 30.
So here we go - 6 steps to help you find the best digital SLR lens:
1. Determine the focal length you'll need
2. Decide if you want a prime or zoom lens
3. Select a maximum aperture
4. Choose between first or third party lenses
5. Evaluate any extra features
6. Read reviews and narrow your options

When You Wish Upon a Lens

Here's the easiest way to find the best digital SLR lens: write down your decisions as you go through each step of
this digital SLR lens guide.
What you are creating is something I call a digital SLR lens wishlist.
A wishlist is really just several questions (one for each step) and the answers that you provide help to identify
your ideal lens.
Rather than writing down what you'd like on a piece of paper, I've put together a free PDF wishlist that you can
download. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it, but you probably already have it installed.
You can find out more about wishlists or download your wishlist now.
Got your wishlist printed and ready to go? Fantastic! Now let's go find you the best digital SLR lens.

Find Your Focal Length

Before I get too far into my discussion of focal length, I'd like to provide you with a definition of the term.
Focal length is measured in millimeters (mm) and it represents the distance from the optical center of a lens to
the digital camera sensor when the subject of the photo is in focus.
That's the textbook definition, but it really doesn't explain too much about why focal length is useful.
Here's the plain-English translation:

With a short focal length you have to be close to your subject for a close-up
With a long focal length you can be far away and still get a close-up
A zoom lens has a variable focal length
A prime lens has a fixed focal length.

How do you decide which focal length lens you need? It all comes down to what you want to photograph.

Focal Length Scenario

Let's say that you have a short 50mm lens. In order to get a close-up of your friend you stand 5 feet away.
You switch to a long 200mm lens. Now you must stand farther away from your friend (say 15 feet) to capture the
same image.
Let's simplify further: you're taking a photo of a kitten. You use a lens with a short focal length because you can
sit right next to the kitten.
Now you're taking a photo of a Bengal tiger in the wild. Do you want to sit as close as you did to the kitten?
Unless you are a real thrill seeker, the answer is probably no.
For those of us who don't like to live on the edge, a lens with a long focal length will get us up close and personal
with that tiger even if we keep our distance.

Lens Types
Lenses specialize in specific focal lengths.
Let me put it this way: you won't find a do-it-all lens that covers the entire focal range from 11mm to 600mm.
They don't exist.
Instead, lenses are grouped into four primary categories based on their focal lengths:
Lens Type

Focal Length

Wide Angle

28mm or lower

Standard

Anything from 35mm to 85mm

Telephoto

Anything from 100mm to 300mm

Super-Telephoto

300mm or higher

This is why the very first decision you should make when purchasing a new lens is what focal length (or focal
range in the case of zoom lenses) you'd like it to cover.
In the scenario above, I mentioned that you want a lens with a long focal length if you want to stand far away
from your subject but still get a close-up.
This is why lenses with different focal lengths have different uses in the world of photography. Let's add some
additional information to the focal length table:
Lens Type

Focal Length

Best Use

Wide Angle

28mm or lower

Landscapes and Interiors

Standard

Anything from 35mm to 85mm

Portraits

Telephoto

Anything from 100mm to 300mm

Portraits and Sports

Super-Telephoto

300mm or higher

Wildlife and Sports

That's the quick summary, but let's dig a bit deeper.

Wide Angle Lens Use

Wide angle lenses are ideal for photographers who want to capture all of the scenery in
front of them.
These lenses can capture virtually everything that your eyes see in front of you - from
the ground at your feet to that mountain in the distance.
This is why they work well for landscape photographers who really want to draw the viewer into the photograph.
They also work well for anyone who photograph indoors a lot, since you don't have a lot of working room. Let's
say you want to photograph an entire room full of people - the only way to do it is to back into a corner and use
the widest angle lens you can get.
Wide angle lenses are not great for portraits because they distort facial features: the most noticeable problem is
that they make noses look HUGE which is not terribly flattering for your subject.

Standard Lens Use

Standard lenses are great for a wide range of photographic subjects, but excel at
portraits.
Lenses in the 50mm to 75mm range create natural-looking portraits without the facial
distortion that you get using a wide angle lens.
While you can certainly use lenses in this range for landscapes, the resulting photo just won't have the same
impact as it might with a wider view.

Telephoto Lens Use

Telephoto lenses also work well for portraits but also cause some distortion: the longer
the focal length of a lens, the more it compresses the visual space.
This means that it's harder to tell the distance between objects when you use a
telephoto lens. Telephoto photos just have less depth and three-dimensionality than lenses with wider focal
lengths.
What are they really good at? Getting you up close and personal with subjects that are far away.
This is why they are ideal for non-pro sporting events - you can stand on the sidelines, but still get a close-up of
the game winning goal.

Super-Telephoto Lens Use

These lenses are almost exclusively the domain of professional photographers, and are
extremely expensive.

They are used by wildlife photographers, where getting up close is not an option.
They are also the lenses you see at any professional sporting event: those massive ones that require daily
strength training to tote around.
A super-telephoto lens really compresses visual space, and requires a lot of skill to use effectively.

Focal Length Examples

I'm a visual learner, so here are some examples that should help you really understand focal length.

Wide Angle
Focal Length: 28mm

Standard
Focal Length: 75mm

Telephoto
Focal Length: 200mm

Super-Telephoto
I don't own a super-telephoto lens, so I don't have any good examples.
Don't worry, I've got you covered.
Scotch Macaskill runs a web site called Wildlife Pictures Online with some exceptional examples of wildlife photos
taken with super-telephoto lenses.
I recommend that you take a look at his site, not just for the great photos, but also for the detailed information
about taking wildlife photos on African safaris.

What's Next?
Before you move on to the next section, have in mind the type of focal length you'd like in your lens.
Even if you don't have an exact range, rely on the knowledge of what you want to photograph. Here are some
examples to get you thinking:

Landscapes Wide Angle 10 to 28mm

Architecture Wide Angle 18 to 28mm
Flowers Standard 75 to 100mm
Portraits Standard 50 to 100mm
Sports Telephoto 200 to 300mm
Birds Super-Telephoto 400 to 600mm

Why is this important?

If you can decide right here and now that you really want to take great landscape shots, then you won't have to
evaluate every single lens out there.
Just focus on the Wide Angle lenses, which will make the following steps significantly easier.

Lens Hunt Example

In order to demonstrate my 6-step process to finding the best digital SLR lens, I'll use a concrete example to help
you out.
Chris has just purchased his first digital SLR camera: a Nikon D40 with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens.
The kit lens works well for landscapes and portraits, but Chris really wants to take photos of his son's little league
games.
Since he wants to get close to the action, Chris decides to go looking for a Telephoto lens with a Nikon mount.
Chris starts his search for a digital SLR lens by adding these two items to his wishlist:

Lens mount: Nikon

Lens focal length: Telephoto

In the next section he'll add even more

Prime and Zoom Lenses

Step two on your path toward finding the best DSLR lens requires a decision between prime and zoom lenses.
Since you've already made up your mind about what focal length you'd like, choosing between prime and zoom is
further narrowing the field of digital SLR lens options.
Each lens type has advantages.
The decisions that you make about which kind to get will depend a lot on what sorts of pictures you want to take
with the lens: clearly, a gigantic heavy zoom lens is not going to be your best option if you'd like to travel with
your camera.

What's a Prime Lens?

A prime lens has a fixed focal length.
The focal length of the lens is set to one number and cannot be changed. If you want to change your angle of view
when using a prime lens, you must physically move the camera back and forth.
If you want to use several different focal lengths, then you'll need a variety of prime lenses.
If you enjoy taking photos at 28mm, 100mm and 300mm you'll need 3 lenses, one for each focal length.
So why would anyone want multiple prime lenses when a couple of zooms could cover the same range?

They're High Quality

Ask any professional photographer about the benefit of a prime lens and the answer will be the same: it takes
clearer photos.
Since they don't have a lot of moving parts like zooms, the glass inside of a prime lens is very precise.
In the early days of zoom lenses, there was a big difference in quality. Today a high-end zoom can capture images
that have the same quality as a prime.
But there is a difference in cost. If you want to get a zoom lens that performs as well as a prime, you're going to
spend a lot of money.

They Don't Weigh a Lot

Advantage number two: prime lenses are pretty light.
An 80mm to 200mm zoom lens can add a lot of weight to a digital SLR camera that is already bulky to begin with.
If you want a digital SLR camera with maximum portability, just attach a really nice 50mm lens to it and go on
your way.
Small prime lenses paired with small sized digital SLR cameras are the perfect tool for the digital SLR
photographer on the go.

They Aren't Expensive

Here's the best part: you don't have to break the bank to get a superior lens for your digital SLR camera.
Since they have been around for so long, and since their construction is simpler (remember, less moving parts)
you can get a great prime lens for a fraction of the cost of even a basic zoom.
You can also get reasonably priced prime lenses with wide apertures that let in a lot of light. These are the perfect
lenses for photographers who want to photograph in low light without using the flash.

What's a Zoom Lens?

A zoom lens has a variable focal length.
These are the most common types of lenses available for digital SLR cameras today. In fact, the standard lens
packaged with many new digital SLRs is an 18-55mm zoom.
It makes sense: the flexibility offered by these lenses is very appealing to photographers who are just starting out
with an SLR.
Flexibility is the key selling point of all zoom lenses. Unlike primes, they tend to be expensive, heavy and don't
always use the highest-quality glass.
They offset all of these disadvantages by allowing you to stand in one spot and get exactly the composition you
want.

Zoom Designation
Since a prime lens doesn't change its focal length, it can be described using one focal length number (i.e. 50mm).
But zooms cover a range of focal lengths, so any zoom you look at will always reference two numbers: the wide
angle setting and the telephoto setting.
For example, a 28-135mm zoom can be described like this:

Wide angle setting: 28mm

Telephoto setting: 135mm

The greater the difference between these two number, the more powerful the zoom.
Zoom power indicates how much focal range a particlular lens can cover.
For example, a 28-300mm zoom is said to be more powerful than a 28-135mm zoom. The 28-300mm covers a
wider range from wide angle to telephoto.

Zoom Specialties
In Step 1 of this digital SLR lens guide, I mentioned that there are 4 primary classes of lenses: wide angle,
standard, telephoto and super-telephoto.
Turns out the zoom lenses also fall into similar groups:
Zoom Class

Range

Example

Wide Angle to Wide Angle

10mm to 28mm

Pentax 12-24mm

Wide Angle to Telephoto

28mm to 300mm

Canon 28-135mm

Telephoto to Telephoto

100mm to 600mm

Nikon 70-200mm

Super Zoom

18mm to 300mm

Tamron 28-300

While the last category (Super Zoom) might seem like the obvious choice here (put one lens on your camera and
never take it off!) the super-zooms do not yet have the same optical quality as the specialty zooms.
While a super zoom is a good lens to get started with (since it gives you a wide range of photographic
opportunities) once you discover what you love to photograph, then I recommend getting a specialty zoom that
just covers the range you use the most.

Lens Hunt Example

In Step 1, I introduced you to Chris, who's looking for a good lens to photograph his son's little league games.
Chris owns a Nikon and has decided that he wants a Telephoto lens.
Because the action at a little league game can move around a lot, he opts for a telephoto zoom, because this will
give him more freedom to zoom in and out from the sidelines and capture all the action.
His digital SLR lens wish list now looks like this:

Lens mount: Nikon

Lens focal length: Telephoto
Lens type: Telephoto to Telephoto Zoom

Up next: maximum aperture.

The Importance of Maximum Aperture

The maximum aperture of the lens you choose can have a significant impact on the types of photos you can take
with your digital SLR camera.
However, you have to make sure that you don't get carried away and get a lens with a wider maximum aperture
than you need.
Why?
Because the wider the lens gets, the more it costs and I'm not talking about pocket change here.
Since maximum aperture is directly related to aperture, let's talk about that one first.

Aperture
Imagine that you're standing inside a dark room with a circular window. There's a crank inside the room that lets
you adjust the size of the window to let in more or less light.
If you crank the window wide open tons of light spills into the room, and if you narrow it down then only a small
beam gets in.
The aperture of your lens works exactly the same way: it's a circular opening in the lens, and you have control
over the size of the opening.
There is a standard scale for aperture numbers, and it looks like this:
1.4

2.0

2.8

4.0

5.6

8.0

11

16

22

32

This scale has completely confused many beginning photographers. That's because the numbers are the inverse of
what you'd expect:

Smaller Aperture Number (2.8) = Wider Aperture = More Light

Larger Aperture Number (22) = Narrower Aperture = Less Light

And here's a graphic that shows the relationship between the opening of the lens and the aperture number:

See? As the numbers get bigger, the opening gets smaller.

It's important to really understand this inverse relationship before you tackle maximum aperture.

Maximum Aperture
All lens apertures can be narrowed as much as you want. For example, every lens on the market today regardless of manufacturer - can be set to f/16.
The reverse is not true - every lens on the market CANNOT be opened up to f/1.4.
The limit to how wide a lens can be opened is called the maximum aperture.
For example, lens A might have a maximum aperture of f/2.8 while lens B will have a maximum aperture of f/4.
While both lenses can be set to an aperture of f/8 (narrower than the maximum setting) the f/4 lens cannot be
opened up to f/2.8.
Bottom line: a lens with a wider maximum aperture lets in more light.
What are the benefits of lenses with wide maximum apertures? There are a three.

1 Natural Light Photos

No flash with a max aperture of f/2.8

A digital SLR camera sensor needs light to create an image.

There are two ways that it can get the light that it needs: it can keep the shutter open for a long period of time or
open the aperture as wide as possible.
Let's say that you hate taking photos with flash, because you know how washed out they look.
You're indoors and your camera tells you that with your aperture set to f/4, your shutter speed will have to be
1/30 of a second. That's not going to be fast enough to take a shot of your child rampaging in the living room.
You're going to have to use the flash, or get the kid to sit VERY still.
If you had a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 (which lets in double the amount of light of f/4) then you can
use a shutter speed of 1/90, which means that you can get clear photos without the flash.

2 Fast Shutter Speeds

A fast shutter prevents motion blur

You're taking photos on an overcast day of a flower in the backyard. A strong breeze is blowing, and that flower is
moving all over the place.
You set the aperture on your lens as wide as it can go (let's say f/5.6), and check the shutter speed. The camera
tells you that you can use a shutter speed of 1/125 of a second.
That's not fast enough to get a clear photo of the flower. You're stuck.
If you had a lens with a wider maximum aperture you could get the shot. With a wider aperture (say f/2.8) your
shutter speed could be 1/500 of a second.
Since the wide aperture lets in so much light, the shutter doesn't have to stay open as long.

3 Reduced Depth of Field

Wide aperture = shallow depth of field

Lenses with wide maximum apertures have shallow depth of field.

Without getting into a discussion on depth of field (that could take awhile), I will just refer to the photographic
example at right.
This shot was taken with a lens set to f/3.2. Notice that the background is completely out of focus even though the
ball in the foreground is clear?
This is shallow depth of field.
Nature and portrait photographers use this all the time to reduce the impact of a busy background.
If you have a lens with a maximum aperture of f/5.6, you can't reduce the depth of field as much as you can with
a wider aperture.

How to Tell the Maximum Aperture of a Lens

If you've been comparison shopping for lenses, you've probably had to wade through a whole lot of numbers.
For example:

50mm f/1.8
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
28-300mm f/3.5-6.3

The first set of numbers represent the focal length or focal length range.
But it's the second set of numbers we're most interested in right now: these indicate the maximum aperture of the
lens. Remember, there's really no point in marking the MINIMUM aperture on the lens, because that's pretty much
the same for all lenses.
Wait one second though...in some of these examples there are two numbers instead of one - what's up with that?

Constant Maximum Aperture

The maximum aperture of a prime lens is straightforward: there's only one.
But with some zoom lenses, there can be TWO maximum apertures.
Example: you've got a standard kit lens that came with your digital camera and it's an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom.
The reason that there are two numbers is because your zoom lens has a variable maximum aperture:

At 18mm the maximum aperture is f/3.5

At 55mm the maximum aperture narrows to f/5.6

Somewhere in the middle of the zoom range (30mm) you'll get a maximum aperture number somewhere in the
middle - say, f/4.
Zoom lenses like this are a real problem for professional photographers who control their cameras manually. This
is because with a variable max aperture zoom, exposure settings constantly change as you zoom in and out.
The good news: there are plenty of zoom lenses with constant maximum apertures.
On these lenses, the maximum aperture is the same, regardless of how much the lens is zoomed. How can you tell
which lenses have constant maximum apertures?
The answer is simple: if you see a zoom lens with only ONE aperture number then it has a constant maximum
aperture.
Example: 28-70mm f/2.8 (2.8 is the max aperture at both 28mm and 70mm and everywhere in between)

So What Max Aperture Do You Need?

The answer to this question depends a lot on where and when you want to take photos.
If you have a knack for pulling out your camera in the dimmest lighting conditions, then you're going to need a
lens with an extremely wide maximum aperture.
If - on the other hand - you only take photos in broad daylight, then a wide maximum aperture isn't as crucial.
Zoom lenses with constant maximum apertures are a HUGE benefit to photographers who want to take more
manual control over their SLRs, but not as useful tho those who keep their cameras in AUTO mode.
The following quick chart should give you a ballpark sense of the maximum aperture that's best for the lighting
conditions:
Lighting

Max Aperture

Rationale

Indoors

f/1.4 - f/2.8

If you want to take photos indoors without a flash, you need to get a lens with a very
wide maximum aperture to let in plenty of light

Overcast

f/2.8 - f/3.5

Overcast days are especially challenging for sports photographers, who need to use fast
shutter speeds to freeze motion

Shade

f/3.5 - f/5.6

Shade is not as dim as a cloudy day and you have a bit more leeway when it comes to
the maximum aperture

Daylight

Any

In broad daylight it really doesn't matter what the max aperture of the lens is - you
probably won't be using it because it lets in too much light and over-exposes the image

Please also realize that the maximum aperture you need is directly related to the speed of your subject matter.
Remember that benefit #2 of a wide maximum aperture is faster shutter speeds?
If your photos succeed or fail based on having a fast shutter speed (so that they don't all turn out blurry) then
you're going to want to find a lens with a nice wide max aperture to help you get blazing-fast shutter speeds
regardless of the amount of natural light.

Lens Hunt Example

In Step 1, I introduced you to Chris, who's looking for a good lens to photograph his son's little league games.
Chris is building his digital SLR lens wish list one feature at a time.
He has already decided that he wants a telephoto zoom lens that he can attach to his Nikon digital SLR camera.
Based on his understanding of maximum aperture, he makes two additional decisions: first, he wants a wide
maximum aperture so that he can freeze motion regardless of how sunny it is outside. Second, he wants a lens
with a constant maximum aperture, so that his exposure settings aren't changing around all the time.
Here's how his wish list looks now:

Lens mount: Nikon

Lens focal length: Telephoto
Lens type: Telephoto to Telephoto Zoom
Maximum aperture: f/2.8 (would settle for f/4)
Zoom aperture: Constant

Chris is getting closer to identifying his ideal lens. Just a few more steps to go...

First vs Third Party Lenses

When it comes to first vs third party lenses for digital SLR cameras, there's usually a tradeoff: price vs. quality.
Many of the third party lenses are not as expensive as those made by camera manufacturers and when it comes to
lenses you do get what you pay for.
However, many of the third party lens companies have recently produced exceptional lenses that aren't matched
by any similar first party companies.
This makes them a tempting alternative for those who don't want to spend a week's salary on a camera lens.

First and Third Party Defined

Before I get too much futher into this analysis, I figured it would be good to clarify the different players involved.
When I talk about first party lenses, I am referring to lenses made by the camera companies themselves: Canon,
Nikon, Pentax, Olympus and Sony (a.k.a. Konica Minolta).
A couple of important points:
1. First party lenses are NOT interchangeable with cameras from different manufacturers: a Canon lens will
not attach to a Pentax camera and vice versa.
2. The lenses are interchangeable with different camera models from the same manufacturer: a single Canon
lens will work with every Canon digital SLR camera.
When it comes to third party lenses, there are really only three major players: Sigma, Tamron and Tokina.
The third party lenses don't play by quite the same rules as the first party lenses. The same third party lens can
be attached to cameras from different manufacturers, so long as the lens mount is correct.
For example, the Tamron 28-70mm f/2.8 zoom comes with a Canon mount (to attach to all Canon digital SLRs)
and a Nikon mount (to attach to all Nikon digital SLRs).
However, once you've bought a lens with a specific mount type it won't attach to cameras that don't share the
same lens mounting system (so you can't swap your Tamron lens with a Canon mount out for a Nikon mount at a
later date).

First Party Advantages

When the battle is waged between first and third party lenses, the first party lenses have the advantage on two
fronts:
1. Quality - the build quality of first party lenses (especially those made by Canon and Nikon) is part of the
reason why many professional photographers don't use anything else.
2. Compatibility - since all modern lenses are electronic, it makes sense that the camera manufacturers are
the one who can make lenses that are most compatible with their cameras.
Please don't take this to mean that third party lenses fall apart in a week or aren't compatible with the major
digital SLR cameras.
They are - but if you were to evaluate the exact same lens type from a first vs third party company, the first party
lens should come out on top.
Since these types of tests are usually only done in a lab, it should be hard for the average consumer to tell the
quality difference between a first and third party lens.

Third Party Advantages

Not to be left out of the game, third party lenses come with some advantages of their own:
1. More Options - camera manufacturers can't make a lens to suit every need, which is why the third party
companies are able to step in and fill the gaps.
2. Lower Prices - in order to be competitive with the big camera companies, many third party lenses don't
cost as much as the first party alternatives.

Think of the third party lenses as off-brand merchandise - they're like that generic box of cereal at your local
grocery store.
Since the third party companies don't have to advertise quite as much as the big players (they're only selling
lenses not cameras), they pass the savings on to you.
The quality of third party lenses has also improved, so many of them are now indistinguishable from a similar first
party lens.
The most significant drawback to third party lenses is that they favor the two leading manufacturers: Canon and
Nikon. If your digital SLR is made by Pentax, Olympus or Sony, it will be much easier to find a first party lens.

Which One To Choose?

While it's important to know the difference between first vs third party lenses, it should not be a make-or-break
decision for you right now.
Here's the best advice I can give: wait until you've completed your digital SLR lens wish list.
At the very end of this process, when you have a complete picture of the lens you would like to have, see what's
available.
If a third party lens is a closer match to your ideal lens than a first party, then I would recommend you buy the
third party lens without hesitation.
However, if there is a first party lens that is also a strong contender, then compare the two side-by-side, keeping
in mind some of the advantages that I mentioned above.

Lens Hunt Example

Way back in step 1 of this digital SLR lens guide, I introduced you to Chris, who is looking for a good lens to
photograph his son's little league games.
Chris is putting together a digital SLR lens wish list - a complete picture of his ideal lens.
When it comes to first vs third party lenses, he decides that he really doesn't care one way or the other, and just
wants to find the lens that is the closest match to his wish list.
This means that his list now looks like this:

Lens mount: Nikon

Lens focal length: Telephoto
Lens type: Telephoto to Telephoto Zoom
Maximum aperture: f/2.8 - f/3.5
Zoom aperture: Constant
First vs Third party: Undecided

Chris must now decide what "bonus" features he'd like the lens to have before he's ready to make a purchase.

Digital SLR Lens Features

Before you make a final decision about a lens, it helps to be familiar with all of the extra digital SLR lens features.
Think of it like this: when you buy a new car, you can just get something that will let you drive from point A to
point B.
That's the basic approach...but you can also deck out your new ride with a sunroof, power windows, heated seats,
alloy rims and a grab-bag of other enhancements.
While these extra features aren't really essential, they certainly add to your enjoyment every time you get behind
the wheel.
These "extra" digital SLR lens features aren't all that different.

Digital SLR Lens "Extras"

Here's the complete list of bonus features that manufacturers pack into modern digital SLR lenses:

Silent autofocus
Full-time manual focus
Non-rotating front element
Crop reduction
Superior optics
Image stabilization
Internal zoom

I'll discuss each one in turn: what it's good for, and why it's a feature that you might like to have on your lens.

Silent Autofocus
When some lenses focus, they make a grinding noise like a bad transmission.
If you enjoy taking discreet photos or don't want your subjects to be aware that you've got a camera aimed at
them, this type of focus will give you away every time.
Some lenses come with silent autofocus systems.
Common names for this include Ultra-Sonic Motor (USM) and Hyper-Sonic Focus (HSF). All that these really means
is the lens is dead quiet when it is focusing.
Quiet focus is also an essential tool for wildlife photographers, where a skittish deer would be alerted to your
presence with the autofocus motor grinding away.

Full-Time Manual Focus

This feature is less essential, more nice to have.
On most lenses, if you want to switch from autofocus to manual focus you have to flick a switch on the lens.
Want to go back to autofocus? Flick the switch.
There are a special set of lenses that feature full-time manual focus. This means that even if the autofocus for the
lens is engaged, you can still focus manually to make fine-tuned adjustments.
Since autofocus systems don't always get it right, having the ability to focus manually all the time is helpful.

Non-Rotating Front Element

On some lenses, the front of the lens rotates when you focus.
If you put a piece of tape at the top of your lens and then focused on your subject, the tape would not longer be
at the top.
So the front spins around. Big deal.
It is a big deal if you are a landscape photographer trying to use a polarizing filter on your lens.
A polarizing filter changes the light entering the lens depending upon how it is oriented. Let's say that you set your
polarizing filter just how you want it.
Now you focus, and the polarizer spins around. It is no longer capturing the same image as before, so now you
have to re-set it.
In fact, you'll have to re-set it every time you focus. See the problem here?
If you know for sure that you're going to take landscape photos with your digital SLR, you're probably going to
want to use a polarizing filter at some point.
Make sure that the lens you get has a non-rotating front element.

Crop Reduction
Are you familiar with digital SLR crop factor?
Some lenses are designed to reduce this crop factor. While they cannot eliminate it completely, they can adjust for
it.
Essentially, the lens is designed so that the back (the part that attaches to the camera) is closer to the digital SLR
sensor.
Since the back of the lens is closer to the sensor, it reduces the amount that the small-sized sensor crops out of
the image.
There is one big drawback to this type of lens: it won't work with a film SLR camera. If you're never going back to
film again, then lenses like these won't limit you one bit.

Superior Optics
Not all lens optics are created equal.
Some lenses are designed with special optics that adjust for distortion, reduce flare and stray light from entering
the lens and are designed to produce images with maximum clarity.
These lenses all come with different names, but the bottom line is exceptional optics inside the lens.
For example, Canon's pro optics are branded with an "L" while Nikon used the term "ED".
The easiest way to tell is by price. Any one of these lenses is going to cost significantly more than a lens without
the superior optics.

Image Stabilization
A select group of lenses include image stabilization (also called vibration reduction).
The stabilization helps when you are holding the camera in your hands and taking photos at slow shutter speeds.
Typically, this would result in a blurry photo, but with an image stabilization lens you can get clear shots. The
stabilization corrects for the fact that the lens is shaking around.
This is especially helpful on lenses with long focal lengths (100mm or greater) since camera shake is magnified at
long focal lengths.
You are going to pay a huge premium for an image-stabilized lens, but if you take a lot of photos in low-light
conditions and don't want to attach the camera to a tripod all the time, this is the way to go.
Note: Image-stabilized lenses are NOT necessary with digital SLR cameras that include built-in anti-shake.

Internal Zoom
Last but not least (you still with me?) are lenses with internal zooms.
This really is a specialty feature, but it can make a difference. If you have a zoom lens with an external zoom, the
length of the lens changes as you zoom from wide angle to telephoto.
With an internal zoom, the length of the lens is always a constant.
This is helpful for 3 reasons: first, internal zooms tend to be smoother and faster than their external counterparts.
Second, an internal zoom does not affect the balance of the camera. If you have your digital SLR attached to a
tripod and use an external zoom, the changing length of the zoom changes the center of gravity of the camera.
Finally, external zooms can "slide". This means that if you are pointing the camera toward the ground, the lens will
zoom in unless you are holding onto the zoom ring.
Internal zooms stay put no matter which way they are pointing.

The World's Most Expensive Digital SLR Lens

Each one of these features will add to the price of your lens:

Long focal length

Wide maximum aperture
Silent autofocus
Full-time manual focus
Non-rotating front element
Crop reduction
Superior optics
Image stabilization
Internal zoom

So what's the most expensive lens you can buy?

Something like this might be close:
A 200mm to 600mm f2.8 maximum aperture zoom lens with silent autofocus, full-time manual focus, a nonrotating front element, crop reduction, superior optics, image stabilization and internal zoom.
Do lenses like this exist? They certainly do...but they also cost about half the price of that new car I mentioned at
the top of this article.

Lens Hunt Example

Way back in step 1 of this digital SLR lens guide, I introduced you to Chris, who is looking for a good lens to
photograph his son's little league games.
Our intrepid lens-finder is almost at the end here, and puts the finishing touches on his digital SLR lens wish list.
Here's the rationale: Chris decides that silent autofocus is not important - he'll be taking photos outside at a noisy
ballgame. The non-rotating front element, crop reduction and superior optics aren't going to yield any real
benefits.
However, full-time manual focus could come in handy for quick adjustments as the action moves around the field.
Chris also decides that a fast internal zoom will be easier to use and less clumsy than a regular zoom.
Here's what his wish list looks like now:

Lens mount: Nikon

Lens focal length: Telephoto

Lens type: Telephoto to Telephoto Zoom
Maximum aperture: f/2.8 - f/3.5
Zoom aperture: Constant
First vs third party: Undecided
Extra features: full-time manual focus, internal zoom

Phew! He's made it! Chris now has a complete picture of the lens that he is looking for.
The next (and final) step for Chris is to find some lenses that are close matches to his ideal lens, read reviews,
compare prices and finally purchase the one lens that will help him take great little league photos.

Digital SLR Lens Reviews

You've done your homework, and now you're ready to pick a digital SLR lens.
If you're just landing on this page for the first time, I encourage you to start at the beginning of my 6-step
process that helps you find the best digital SLR lens.
If you've been following along through all 6 steps, by now you should have a fully developed digital SLR lens
wishlist.
We're going to leverage the information in your wishlist to pick a digital SLR lens that is ideal for your photography
style.
We just have to find the one lens that is the closest match to your dream lens.

SLR Lens Search Engine

Wouldn't it be nice if there was something out there that would allow you to plug in the items from your wishlist
and have it tell you which lens to buy?
Well, there is (but it might give you more than one option to choose from).
The web site is called Adorama, and while they are a retailer, I find that their lens search engine is the easiest way
to quickly find a lens that matches my needs.
Here are the steps to follow to find a lens:
1. Follow this link to the Adorama web site
2. On the right side of the page you'll notice checkboxes - use your wishlist and check the appropriate boxes
3. Adorama's lens search engine will return lenses that match your criteria
4. Using your wishlist, look at the descriptions of the lenses to find one that's a close match to your ideal lens
Congratulations! You've just narrowed down the number of lens options you have to compare from hundreds to a
handful.

Lens Hunt Example

Throughout the steps of this digital SLR lens guide, I've been talking about Chris who wants to get a nice lens for
his Nikon camera.
Chris knows that he wants to take photos of his son's little league games, and builds his lens wishlist around this
need.
As he has worked through each step of the guide, Chris has added more criteria to his wishlist to narrow down his
options.
This is what he's wound up with:

Lens mount: Nikon

Lens focal length: Telephoto
Lens type: Telephoto to Telephoto Zoom
Maximum aperture: f/2.8 - f/3.5
Zoom aperture: Constant
First vs third party: Undecided
Extra features: full-time manual focus, internal zoom

Now Chris goes looking for the lens that's a close match to the one he has identified in his wishlist.
On the Adorama web site, he checks the following boxes to search for lenses:

Manufacturer: No selection (this will return both first and third party lens options)
Digital vs Film Lenses: No selection
Lens Style: Telephoto Zooms
Mount: Nikon

He clicks SEARCH and is on his way. On the first page of results, he sees this:
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor ED-IF Lens
The lens matches many of the items on Chris' wishlist: it's a telephoto zoom with a wide contant maximum
aperture of f/2.8. It has a silent autofocus system (AF-S) anti-shake (VR - Vibration Reduction), and an internal
focusing system (IF).
Only one problem: price. This particular lens retails for about $1,500.00.
If Chris is willing (and able) to pay out this much money he's going to get an exceptional lens to photograph his
son's games.
SIDEBAR: when it comes to lenses, you DO get what you pay for. Please realize that if you find the perfect lens,
it's probably worth the price you'll pay for it in the long run. Lenses of this build quality never break, last forever,
and take exceptionally clear photos.
Chris decides that he'd like at least TWO more lower-cost alternatives to suit his little league photography needs,
so he spends some more time browsing the search results.
The next one he sees is this:
Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8D ED AF Zoom-Nikkor Lens
Priced around $850, this lens is not quite so hard on the pocketbook, and still meets the criteria of his wishlist.
Looking for one more option, he finds this:
Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 APO EX DG HSM Macro Telephoto Zoom for Nikon AF-D
Have you noticed something? With a completed wishlist and relatively little effort, Chris has narrowed down the
field of possible lenses to just 3 options.
NOW he's ready to find which of the 3 will suit him the best.

The Final Step - Read Reviews

The last step on your journey to find the best digital SLR lens is to read some reviews of the lenses you've
selected to make sure they aren't duds (some are).
There are two web sites that I use to evaluate whether or not a lens is high-quality and worth the price I'm about
to pay.

Photodo
Photodo is a massive archive of information about lenses of all sizes and shapes. The site includes lens
specifications, guides, a discussion forum and plenty of reviews. The only trick: you HAVE to know what lens
you're looking for. Going to Photodo before you have narrowed down your lens options is a sure-fire way to get
overwhelmed with information. I recommend that you build your wishlist first, narrow your options, and THEN go
to Photodo for more detailed reviews.

Amazon
While not as comprehensive as Photodo, what I like about Amazon is that it usually has plenty of actual user
reviews. I say usually because some lenses are so new, so obscure, or so expensive that not very many people
who own them have taken the time to write a review. All in all, Amazon's reviews are a good barometer of the
quality of a lens, and can sway your decision about which digital SLR lens you should pick.
I wish you the best of luck in picking a digital SLR lens that you'll be happy with for years to come, and I hope that
this guide (and your wishlist) has helped you along the way.
If you have any feedback about this digital SLR lens guide, I am happy to hear it.

Where To Buy Your Lens

I buy all of my lenses from Adorama, Amazon and B & H. All three have a great lens selection, fast shipping and
very reasonable prices.
Remember, when it comes to lense prices don't pay bottom dollar. Lenses are worth every penny you pay for
them since low-quality lenses result in low-quality photos (regardless of the camera that's taking the shots).

Lens Acronyms
By following the 6 step guide and building a wishlist you should now know how to pick a digital SLR lens that will
suit your photography needs.
But now that you're deeper into the world of lenses, you might be curious about something: what in the WORLD
do all of those acronyms mean?
Take these two lenses:

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR

Part of the problem here is that each lens manufacturer uses their own abbreviation for what is essentially the
same feature. For example, Canon calls their anti-shake IS (for Image Stabilization) while Nikon calls it VR (for
Vibration Reduction).
In a similar manner, Canon's silent autofocus goes by the name USM (Ultra-Silent Motor) while Nikon calls it AF-S
(AutoFocus Silent).
As you can see, the features are exactly the same, it's just the acronym that's different. Once you learn what the
different acronyms stand for, the rest is easy.
In order to help you on your way, I've put together some guides that will help you understand how each lens
manufacturer uses acronyms to describe the features of their lenses.

Nikon SLR Lenses

Many pro photographers work with Nikon SLR lenses and cameras. Why?
Nikon puts a ton of effort into the quality and construction of their lenses. Over time (a lot of time) these lenses
have gained a reputation for creating clear, crisp and colorful images.
Nikon SLR lenses are also a good option for the undecided: there are well over 50 that you can choose from.
But first, it helps to know what all of Nikon's letters and numbers mean.

Nikon SLR Lens Terminology

Just other manufacturers, the Nikon SLR lenses come with their own cryptic terminology.
While many of the lens designations are shared (focal length and aperture) many are specific to the Nikon lens
family like VR and ED.
Let's decipher what some of these Nikon SLR lens acronyms mean.

Lens Example 1: Nikon AF 28mm f/2.8D

We'll begin with a pretty simple example. This lens doesn't zoom - it has a fixed focal length, and is also called a
prime lens.
Term

Meaning

28mm

The millimeter number represents the focal length of the lens. Lenses with
longer focal lengths allow you to get closeup photos of your subject even
from far away.

f/2.8

This is the maximum aperture of the lens: the widest f-stop that the lens
can be set to, which also lets in the greatest amount of light. Lenses with
smaller f numbers let in more light and are more useful for low-light
photography. Lenses that let in a lot of light are also called fast.

Any Nikon lens with a D designation relays the distance between the camera
and the subject back to the SLR. This allows for the full use of Nikon's 3D
Color Matrix Metering, which creates images with more balanced exposures.

Lens Example 2: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR AF-S IF ED

Here's a lens with all the bells and whistles. This one's a zoom lens with a whole LOT of acronyms. Let's define
what they all mean.
Term

Meaning

70200mm

Since this is a zoom lens, there are two numbers for the focal length that
represent the zoom range of the lens. The first number represents the wideangle setting for the lens (zoomed out) and the second is the telephoto
setting (zoomed in).

f/2.8

This zoom lens has a constant maximum aperture of f/2.8 at the wide angle
and telephoto setting. This means that your aperture setting will never
change no matter how much you zoom.

A G lens no longer includes an aperture control ring on the lens itself (since
changing aperture is handled entirely by modern SLR cameras). While a G
lens will be fully compatible with any Nikon digital SLR, it won't work on an
old Nikon film camera that doesn't control the aperture of the lens.

VR

This is Nikon's version of anti-shake and it stands for Vibration Reduction. A

VR lens helps you take clear photos at slow shutter speeds when holding the
camera in your hands. VR is also very useful for lenses with long focal
lengths (200mm or longer) since these telephoto lenses magnify camera
shake.

AF-S

Lenses with AF-S are designed to focus swiftly and silently. Nikon calls this
technology their Silent Wave Motor, but for some reason the acronym didn't
turn out SWM, it's AF-S. These lenses are ideal for natural wildlife
photographers who don't want to scare off a skittish subject (like deer).

IF

This acronym stands for Internal Focusing. On cheaper lenses, the front of
the lens spins around and the lenth of the lens changes as you focus. With
an IF lens, all of the focusing happens internally which means the lens
doesn't change shape when you focus.

ED

ED stands for Extra-low Dispersion glass, and what this really means is that
the optics of the lens are superior. Lenses without the ED glass will lead to
more distortions in your digital photos (chromatic aberration is a common
one).

Which Nikon SLR Lenses Do You Need?

The lens that you choose for your Nikon digital SLR should be directly related to your favorite photography
subjects.
I call these photography styles, and it's important to have an idea of which one you identify with before selecting a
lens:

Action and Sports

Portraits
Landscapes
Macro (also called close-up)
Low Light / Indoors

Travel and Outdoor

Wildlife

Let me put this another way: if you want to photograph bears in Alaska you need a completely different lens than
if you want to take family portraits.
In the following table, I've tried to match some of the Nikon SLR lens acronyms that are most useful for the
different photography styles.
Photo Style

Focal
Length

Lens Features

Rationale

Action and
Sports

100300mm

AF-S, constant
max aperture

For action and sport you need a fast-focusing lens that

allows you to get right into the action from a distance. A
constant maximum aperture on zoom lenses ensures
that your exposure settings don't change as you zoom.

Portraits

50100mm

VR, ED

For portraits you're trying to get maximum image quality

of a non-moving subject. The VR helps create crisp
images with no motion blur, and the ED glass ensures
superior image quality.

Landscapes

1018mm

ED, IF

Landscape photgraphers need extremely wide angle

lenses due to crop factor. The internal focusing helps
when you have a polarizing filter attached to the front of
the lens, and ED helps minimize image distortions.

Macro

Any

Macro

This one's pretty simple - if you want to take close-ups

then get a dedicated macro lens. While you can find
many zoom lenses that boast a "macro" setting, these
will not yield the same image quality as a true macro
lens.

Low Light /
Indoors

Any

VR, wide max

aperture

VR helps immensly in low-light conditions when you

don't have a tripod. A wide maximum aperture lets
plenty of light into the camera so you can use faster
shutter speeds.

Travel and
Outdoor

Any

Mega-zooms

There are a special class of Nikon lenses that cover a

very wide zoom range. The reason these lenses work
well for travel is that you can take both landscape and
closeup shots without having to tote around 3 lenses.
The only drawback is that these lenses don't have wide
maximum apertures, but this has less of an effect when
you're taking photos in plenty of light.

Wildlife

200mm
+

AF-S, VR, ED

If you're into wildlife photography then I have some bad

news: you're going to need an expensive lens. In order
to be far away from a skittish subject but still get a
close-up, you'll need a lens with a focal length greater
than 200mm. The longer the focal length, the more
expensive the lens. AF-S is especially important for
wildlife photographers, since the whine of a lens focusing
can scare an animal off.

More Features, Higher Price

Hopefully the previous table has made it clearer to you just what sort of features you're going to need on your
Nikon SLR lens.
The important thing to remember is that each additional feature is going to add more cost to the lens.

For example, if you had two identical 50mm lenses and one has ED and the other doesn't, the ED lens will cost
more.
This is why there is such immense variation in the price of SLR lenses. While you can get a fairly commonplace
zoom lens for about $300, a high-end zoom with VR, ED and a wide f/2.8 maximum aperture can run you well
over $1,000.
This is why it's important to focus on your favorite photography style, and look for the lens that will help you take
the photos you love.
If you just say "I want a lens that has it all" then you're going to pay a pretty hefty price for it.

Nikon D5000 compatible lenses

1. AF-S and AF-I NIKKOR: All functions supported
2. Type G or D AF NIKKOR not equipped with an autofocus motor: All functions supported except autofocus
3. Non-Type G or D AF NIKKOR not equipped with an autofocus motor: All functions supported except 3D color
matrix metering II and autofocus
4. IX-NIKKOR and AF-NIKKOR for F3AF: Not supported
5. Type D PC NIKKOR: All functions supported except some shooting modes
6. AI-P NIKKOR: All functions supported except 3D color matrix metering II
7. Non-CPU: Autofocus not supported. Can be used in exposure mode M, but exposure meter does not
function
8. Lens with maximum aperture of f/5.6 or faster: Electronic rangefinder can be used.