Why you Need a Telephoto Zoom Lens for Landscape Photography
In this post naturalist, photographer, and computer scientist Steve Berardi from PhotoNaturalist explains why you need a telephoto zoom lens for landscape photography.
When you think about landscape photography, you might immediately think of the wide angle zoom lens, which is great for capturing those expansive landscapes and “taking it all in.”
But, a telephoto zoom lens can also be helpful when photographing landscapes. To understand why, it’s important to know what determines perspective and how perspective can help convey a particular feeling in a photograph.
What determines perspective?
As Ansel Adams repeats so often in his wonderful book, The Camera: “perspective is a function of camera-to-subject distance.”
There’s a common misconception that perspective is determined by focal length, but in reality, the only thing that determines perspective is where you put the camera.
There are at least two rules of perspective that you should be familiar with:
- the closer you get to a subject, the larger it will appear on the image frame (yeah, this one’s obvious)
- as you move closer to your scene, the closest objects will increase in size faster than the distant objects (not so obvious)
The second rule is the one we often forget, and it’s best illustrated with an example, so take a look at this photo I took in the Eastern Sierra of California:
In this photo, I was standing about 100 ft (30 m) from those boulders in the foreground. As a result, the dominant object in this shot is the mountain in the background, which stood miles away from the boulders.
Now, look what happens when I move just 50 ft (15 m) closer to those boulders:
All of a sudden, the mountains in the background don’t look so mighty, and now those boulders in the foreground are the dominant objects. This photo has a drastically different feeling than the previous one. The perspective you choose for a landscape will depend on the feeling you’re trying to convey.
Personally, in this case I prefer the first photo, because as I stood there in front of the scene, I felt like the mountain was in charge: it had an overpowering effect on me. So, I decided to give it an overpowering effect in the final image.
Another lesson to learn here: you probably noticed how different the lighting conditions are between the two photos above. The first shot was taken about 15 minutes before sunrise and the second shot was about 15 minutes after sunrise. Lighting conditions can change in milliseconds, so make sure you’re there for the entire show and be prepared to capture that light at any moment!
So, why do you need a telephoto zoom lens?
Since perspective is determined solely by where you put the camera, you’ll sometimes find that the most pleasing perspective is viewed from a great distance. So, to fill the frame with this perspective, you’ll need to zoom in to it with a longer focal length.
For example, the first photo above was taken at 70mm (on a 1.6x crop factor camera). I could have shot it at 40mm, but I wouldn’t have filled the frame: I would have inadvertently captured many of the surrounding elements of the scene.
The second shot was taken at 40mm, and this shorter focal length was necessary because I was much closer to those boulders in the foreground.
So, the lesson here is that carrying a wide range of focal lengths allows you to capture a wide range of perspectives.
What’s the best telephoto zoom lens for landscape photography?
This is definitely debatable, but most photographers would recommend the 70-200mm range (available from most camera manufacturers). Personally, I use Canon’s 70-200mm F/4L and it is easily my favorite lens (it’s great for wildflowers too!).
About the Author: Steve Berardi is a naturalist, photographer, and computer scientist. You can usually find him hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains or the Mojave Desert, both located in the beautiful state of California. Read more of his articles on nature photography at the PhotoNaturalist.
Tags: Landscapes, Lenses, Telephoto
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
Why you Need a Telephoto Zoom Lens for Landscape Photography
The 50mm f/1.8 – Small Wonder!
In this post guest poster Prajneet Singh from BeyondMegapixels takes a look at the humble 50mm lens.
In today’s digital world, technology has made everything easier to reach, with many devices working as more than one device, and universal remotes to control them. The simple purpose – convenience. And that is what happened with the advent of zoom lenses. In today’s date, with high zoom compacts flooding the market, and manufacturers making lenses that zoom in far enough to bring a bird sitting 50 feet away seem as if it is sitting in front of your lens, a lot of us are so used to zoom lenses that we simply cannot imagine having a lens without a zoom, however much it may be.
Discovery Lighthouse by wildpianist
But, it is for a fact that the best optical quality is delivered by prime lenses (fixed focal length, no zoom lenses). Why? In simple words, because they use a smaller number of glass elements inside the lens, which means lesser loss of quality, and hence better pictures.
Anyways, this post is not to highlight the advantages of primes over zooms, but to highlight one particular prime lens that I feel is a must use for everyone with an SLR, at least for some time. I am talking about the 50mm prime lens – or the nifty fifty as it is rightly called. At this focal length, these lenses show the same view that you see through your eyes, and so are also referred to as normal lenses.
‘Phidippus princeps’ by Opo Terser
The 50mm f/1.8 is the least expensive lens at this focal range. And this, dear readers, is a marvel. I’ll keep it very simple… why the 50mm is a must:
- At under $100 starting, it is very very cheap, and an easy buy for the hobbyist with a budget.
- Don’t let the price fool you. The optical quality of even the cheapest 50mm is amazing to say the least, owing to its rather simple design. Much better than many expensive zooms even, this lens is loved mostly for its sharpness and bokeh.
- The nifty fifty is light, small and so very convenient to carry around, whether in your bag, or on your camera.
- Primes in general, and the 50mm especially, are fast lenses i.e. they have bigger apertures that allow you to shoot at high shutter speeds even in low light – one major aspect where most zooms lack. The fastest telephoto I’ve heard of has a max aperture of f/2.8, and the fastest prime I’ve heard of is a 50mm f/0.95!
- Perhaps the most important attribute of all primes, after their optics, is the learning they offer. With a fixed frame of view, the only zoom you have at your disposal is your feet. With this ‘restriction’ one ends up being very careful, and also very creative, with their compositions, and also more involved in the whole photographic process. With time you’ll find that even with zooms, you’ll end up getting more ‘keepers’ because of this. In essence, primes are great exercise for your composition muscles.
‘Be Happy…!’ by carf
Last but not the least, we bust the myth that the 50 mil is used only for portraits and street photography. Mentioned below are some points that show just how versatile this little wonder is:
- Shooting in low light: As mentioned above, the wide aperture lets in more light, allowing you to shoot without flash in low light. This lens is great for shooting indoors where a flash sort of ruins the feel. Of course the wide aperture also means that you’ll have a very shallow depth of field, and hence you need to compose your shot such that you get the subject completely in focus.
- The Reversed Macro: Not all of us can afford a dedicated macro lens. And the good news is that you can use this 50mm as a macro lens by reversing it. You’ll need a reversal ring for that. You lose autofocus, but that’s not all that bad when you’re getting a macro lens at this price. For more on reversing the 50mm for macro, check out this post on DPS.
- The Wide effect: If you don’t have a dedicated wide angle lens, don’t fret. You might not get as wide an angle as with a dedicated lens, but you can still get a wide angle look by moving farther from your subject, and using a smaller aperture (larger f number). This covers a wider area and gives a larger zone of sharpness, just like a wide angle lens.
- The Telephoto effect: Just like above, you can also simulate a telephoto effect by getting close to your subject and opening up the aperture. This gives a nicely blurred background which is a characteristic of telephotos.
- Candid Camera: The fact that this lens offers a field of view just like that of the human eye* i.e. you get what you see, plus the lens’s small size make it a great lens for getting candid shots without getting noticed. In fact, since it sees what you see, you can even shoot without using the viewfinder. Simply point your camera in the direction you’re looking, and click!
- DOF: The large aperture offers extremely shallow depth of field which is another creativity stimulator. One can get some very nice looking photos with imaginative use of the shallow DOF.
- Portraits and Streets: This lens is by far most used for portraiture and street photography and gives some great results in both fields.
‘Today’ by Solcis
*The 50mm replicates the human eye field of view on 35mm film cameras or full frame dSLRs like the Canon 5D and Nikon D3. To get the same field of view on an APS-C camera like the Rebel XSi (450D) or Nikon D90, you’ll need to get a 35mm lens. But even then, the field of view of 50mm lenses on cropped sensors is very good to work with.
I’ve heard some people say that primes are made of cheap glass and are used only to take fancy pictures where half the objects in the frame are blurred. That is clearly the result of ignorance and lack of (correct) information. Agreed the 50 mm is affordable, but primes going up to 500 or even 600mm can be the most expensive lenses in your kit, if you can afford them!
Back in the old days, 50mm used to be the norm in lenses. Today, the zooms have gained mass popularity, and rightly too for the convenience offered. But even then, the 50mm remains a brilliant piece of optical engineering, and I recommend that you try it, especially if you’re a hobbyist or serious amateurs. It won’t cost you that much, and I guarantee that you’ll love it!
‘A Portrait in the Darkness’ by seanmcgrath
50mm Lenses to Consider
Canon 50mm Lenses
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras
Nikon 50mm Lenses
Nikon 50mm f/1.4G SIC SW Prime Nikkor
Sigma 50mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
Other 50mm Lenses
Check out more of Prajneet Singh’s work at BeyondMegapixels
Tags: 50mm, Lenses, Nifty Fifty
Post from: Digital Photography School - Photography Tips.
The 50mm f/1.8 – Small Wonder!
Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm F/1.8G
The Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm F/1.8G is a new prime lens (meaning it has a fixed focal length of 35mm) from Nikon that has a few nice features. Most exciting is the speed of this lens - f/1.8 - that’s fast enough for many low light situations (it is the widest aperture DX-series lens available). This is a DX lens so is designed to work on all DX/cropped cameras including the D40, D40X, D60, D90, D300 etc
The focal length of 35mm sounds wide but is the equivalent of 52mm on a full frame or film body and is pretty close to producing ‘a picture angle similar to the field of vision as seen through the human eye.’ The lens also comes with Nikons Silent Wave Motor - making focussing quiet and smooth.
The Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm F/1.8G will have a recommended retail price of $199 USD when released in March and is already available for order on Amazon at that rate (pretty affordable for a lens of this speed).
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm F/1.8G Lens News Release
Nikon Introduces The Fastest DX-Format Lens To Date: The AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm F/1.8G
Nikon Inc. today announced the AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G lens, which is the first fixed focal length, fast-aperture DX-format lens that affords photographers superb image quality along with the creative possibilities and versatility of the classic 50mm focal length (FX-format equivalent of 52mm). When mounted on a DX-format camera body, it enables photographers to document their world with a lens that produces a picture angle similar to the field of vision as seen through the human eye. Whether new to D-SLRs or a seasoned enthusiast, users will appreciate the extreme low-light performance and the expanded ability to dramatically separate the subject and background with the new 35mm DX lens’ wide f/1.8 aperture.
“The development and release of the 35mm f/1.8 NIKKOR lens delivers new and added versatility to the Nikon DX-format digital SLR system and provides DX-format photographers with a broader range of fast-aperture lens options,†said Edward Fasano, general manager for marketing, SLR Systems Products at Nikon Inc. “This f/1.8 prime lens provides users with exceptional control of background and foreground, superb low-light ability, and the natural focal length that has been the staple of photography since its inception.â€
Lightweight, compact and affordable, this lens can easily become a fast favorite for any level of photographer, and is the perfect complement to D60 users who are just starting to learn D-SLR photography or enthusiasts who love their D90. The AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G lens is ideal for travel, general photography, landscape shooting, portraiture or pushing creative boundaries. The stunning sharpness, clarity and color reproduction are all proof positive of more than 75 years of NIKKOR heritage and experience in optics engineering.
This lens continues the tradition of NIKKOR precision optics to provide photographers with sharp, high-resolution images and the ability to focus as close as 0.98 feet, while the integration of an ultra-compact Silent Wave Motor ensures fast, whisper-quiet AF operation.
The 35mm DX lens construction consists of eight elements in three groups, with an aspherical element to reduce size and weight, while contributing to the enhanced balance when mounted on a smaller DX-format D-SLR. A rounded diaphragm opening combined with the nine-blade aperture contributes to a substantially more circular bokeh for a more natural appearance of out-of-focus background elements. Additionally, instances of lens flare and chromatic aberration are suppressed using Nikon’s exclusive Super Integrated Coatings, which also help ensure vividly accurate color balance.
The AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G lens is scheduled to be available at Nikon authorized dealers beginning March 2009 at an estimated selling price of $199.95.* For more information, please visit www.nikonusa.com.
Tags: Lenses, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon Lenses