Types Of Lenses

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The independence to change lenses based on your needs gives a lot of freedom to a photographer. But what are these different types of lenses. Various lenses are suited for specific application. Lets have a look at some common names and what they do.

• Normal/ Standard Lenses – These are lenses provided by the camera manufacturers along with the camera as a part of the kit. These are generally of the 18 – 55mm focal length for a normal 35mm camera.
• Telephoto lenses – These are the lenses with focal length longer than the standard lens. Also called as Long focus Lens. These lenses are generally used to take photographs from a distance. Especially for nature and wildlife photography where you can not go near to the subject but want to fill the frame with the subject from a distance. Normally, 70 – 300mm lens is recommended for such purpose though different combination can be used based on your requirement.
• Mirror Lenses – This is a special design of a long focus lens in which some of the lens elements are replaced with the mirrors. These lenses are generally lighter than the normal lens of the same focal length but they come with fixed aperture.
• Wide Angle Lenses – These lenses have lower focal length than the standard lenses which helps in getting more area of view in the frame from the same distance. Typically used for landscape photography. These lenses can increase the perspective distortion. So, caution is recommended.
• Zoom Lenses – These are the lenses with variable focal lengths. In these lenses the positive and negative elements of the lens are put together in such a way that by moving them you can get varied focal lengths. You can also find telephoto lens with zoom lens capabilities. Do not get confused between the two.
• Prime Lenses – As opposed to zoom lenses, prime lenses have fixed focal length. These lenses generally have lesser moving parts as compared to zoom lenses and thus reduce the problems like chromatic aberrations. Prime lenses are also referred to as fast lenses. These lenses generally have larger apertures which allow you to photograph in lower light and create wonderful bokeh effect.
• Macro Lenses – These lenses are designed to do close up photography like flowers, insects, etc. Basically the macro lenses have very high focusing movement than the normal lenses.
• Aspherical & Fluorite Lenses – These lenses with special purpose. Fluorite lens uses one or more elements of calcium fluoride (CaF 2 ) made from synthetic crystals. This lens has a very high color correction. Aspherical lens elements help to compensate for distortion in wide-angle lenses, and compensate or eliminate spherical aberrations in lenses with a large maximum aperture. They also allow manufacturers to produce more compact lenses than was previously possible using only spherical lens elements. These are costly lenses.

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Photo by gwburke2001