This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. If you’ve never experienced image stabilisation, do yourself a favour and head to a photography shop. They will also work with APS-C sensor cameras. When light passes through a lens, all light isn’t ‘bent’ in exactly the same way. By moving the lens farther from the image sensor inside the camera body, the zoom increases because a smaller portion of the scene strikes the image sensor, resulting in magnification. Not all lenses are created perfectly, and all lenses have smaller or greater amounts of distortions. In some photographic lenses there will be many individual glass elements arranged in groups. In between all of that, I’ve also had several xxD and xD series cameras, but because I spend most of my time writing books aimed at beginners and intermediate photographers, I like to keep a finger on the pulse by (mostly) sticking to entry-level cameras. I run a 100% free photography newsletter that takes you through all the basics. If you know that your favourite wildlife photographer is taking photos with a 400mm lens, for example, you might wish to buy a lens that gives a similar field of view. 1 a : a device that consists of a lightproof chamber with an aperture fitted with a lens and a shutter through which the image of an object is projected onto a surface for recording (as on a photosensitive film or an electronic sensor) or for translation into electrical impulses (as for television broadcast) b : camera obscura. On a full frame sensor camera you can fill the frame with a grain of rice in vivid detail. Modern DSLRs and older SLRs are described as Interchangeable photographic lens cameras. Apertures are described as a fraction of the focal length of a lens, and this is where the expression ‘f stop’ comes from as well. Aperture range — One thing that’s definitely worth knowing is that all lenses have a curve of sharpness that changes with its aperture range. What this means is that your lens will autofocus faster than standard models. Finally, there’s a combination of both distortions, often known as a ‘complex’ distortion, or a ‘moustache’ distortion (because the top edge goes down then up, then down again, like a moustache). If you are taking a photograph where you have sharp edges (say, of a sheet of text), and the edges are all sharp, it can be said to be in focus. Well, 50/2 = 25mm. In addition to distortions, it’s worth being aware of lens aberrations. Search SWPP and BPPA ... Latest Interchangeable lens Reviews FIRST LOOK: Olympus OM-D E-M1 The new flagship model for … Pincushion distortion is the opposite: It makes edges bow inwards. In addition to the focal length, the other key figure people talk about when it comes to lenses is ‘aperture’. What this means is that your lens will autofocus faster than standard models. prime or zoom. Each individual little step up the camera body ladder is an evolution rather than a revolution. Lenses can look quite different from manufacturer to manufacturer, but this graphic has the majority of things marked. For the past four years, I’ve been shooting with a Sony A7 — the longest I’ve ever hung on to a camera body. By all means, buy your first camera body with a kit lens: You can still get some great photos, and as we’ll look at just a little bit later in this article, you can buy some absolutely astonishingly sharp lenses for pocket-change (in photography terms, anyway). A camera without a lens is useless to a photographer. Lens definition, a piece of transparent substance, usually glass, having two opposite surfaces either both curved or one curved and one plane, used in an optical device in changing the convergence of light rays, as for magnification, or in correcting defects of vision. You can stack macro rings, so if you have a 14mm and a 20mm ring, you can combine them and have a 34mm spacer. This is called a ‘crop factor’, and becomes relevant when you’re explaining to someone what the focal length of your photo is. You’ll often see this effect used in skateboarding videos, for example. Interchangeable lens cameras (ILC) are some of the newest types of cameras on the market. If you have one number, this is a fixed maximum aperture lens (or a prime lens — there’s no such thing as a variable aperture prime lens). All Free. In much simpler terms, it's the measurement (in millimeters) of how long your lens is. So why can’t the lens be f/3.5 all the way? Focal length, usually represented in millimeters (mm), is the basic description of a photographic lens. If you’re taking photos straight into a light source, you’re out of luck, but if you’re merely trying to block out stray light hitting the front lens element, a lens hood might be your best friend. How to use lens in a sentence. Finally, to learn more about crop factors on SLRs, check out this lovely video that explains it in great depth. It is important to note […] Focusing on something is done inside your lens by moving one or more lens elements closer to, or further away from, the imaging sensor. Go down a couple of stops (i.e. Skip to main content. How to use camera in a sentence. The gotcha here is that it isn’t always completely predictable where your lens will be the sharpest. In the most literal sense, a DSLR camera is a digital single-lens reflex camera. When you zoom in, the field of view narrows and you can focus on small portions of the scene without having to physically moving closer. Right, with that out of the way, let’s start talking about what you need to be looking at when it comes to camera lenses…. You may have seen ‘Asph’ or ‘Aspheric’ marked on a camera lens or in lens specifications. Note that the focal length stays the same — but the apparent focal length is different because of the different sensor size. A camera lens denotes the aperture range you can use, the possible depth of field and the focusing distance. LENS QUALITY: MTF, RESOLUTION & CONTRAST. The former is used so rarely these days that it can basically be ignored: All camera manufacturers have decided to use bayonet fittings instead. See more. The only other major control you might find on camera lenses is a “MF/AF” switch — this switches the lens between automatic and manual focus. 28mm divided by 3.5 is 8mm. DX (Nikon) / EF-S (Canon) — these are lenses that are created for less-than-full-frame camera bodies, typically the APS-C-size sensors found in digital cameras. Of course, it’s important to have a bucket-load of megapixels, comfortable controls, a good light meter, a solid ISO range, reliable noise reduction and a precise shutter — and all of that is part of your camera body. lens definition: 1. a curved piece of glass, plastic, or other transparent material, used in cameras, glasses, and…. A lot of lenses come with image stabilisation built-in. how close you can get) is — although this is normally marked on the lens as well. It’s ludicrously sharp, delivers fantastic autofocus performance, and is one of my all-time favorite lenses. Okay, so not everybody agrees that lenses are important, but hear me out…. Note that not all macro lenses are created equal, and some are much, much better than others. By doing that, they created a variable focal length lens — or a ‘zoom’ lens, as we like to call it today. A lot of photographers opt to add a “skylight” or “uv” filter to the front of their lenses to protect the lenses from damage — say, for example, that your camera was splashed with paint or a corrosive chemical, or perhaps you bump it into something. Amazon.com: camera lens definition. The second number of a lens spec is usually the maximum aperture. Lens quality is more important now than ever, due to the ever-increasing number of megapixels found in today's digital cameras. The aspherical lens element has helped to improve the optical quality of camera lenses in recent years. A combination of two or more such lenses, as in a camera or telescope. Hence, USM is short for Ultra Sonic Motor. The benefit is that instead of buying a new filter for each lens size you have, you can put a filter holder on your lenses, and use all your filters on all your lenses. Or, y’know, the current version of it. The only way to find out is to learn about MTF curves and read the scientific charts for your lens. There are other situations, too, where the auto-focus can get confused: Scenes with very low contrast (in pitch dark, fog, or a snowstorm, for example), if you’re shooting through glass, or similar. The only thing you need to know about, really, is that there are a whole load of different pieces of glass inside. As you can see from the drawing, when two lines intersect, they have to cross at some point. In general, I wouldn’t worry too much about them — the main reason I’ve included them here is so you know what they are if you read about them in reviews. camera, photographic camera - equipment for taking photographs (usually consisting of a lightproof box with a lens at one end and light-sensitive film at the other) closeup lens - a photographic lens with a short focal length used to take pictures at short ranges. D. Top. In order to be sharply in focus, the light rays from that dot need to hit as few pixels on your digital sensor as possible. In addition to zooms and prime lenses that make up the bread and butter of most of our photography existence, there are a load of different specialty lenses out there; exotic pieces of kit that are used by people who want to do unusual or special things with their photographic equipment. multifocal lens: a lens with segments providing two or more powers; commonly, a trifocal lens. This means that your lens has a ‘floating’ lens element built in, along with some motors and a stack of electronics. Definition of camera lens in the Definitions.net dictionary. The camera lens is dirty. Some colors are affected slightly more than others, and light might be the victim of minor flaws in the glass, diffractions from the aperture assembly, refractions from the various glass elements, etc. What Is a Wide-Angle Lens? The second thing it can be good for is if you want to use…. A lot of this depends on how good your lens is, but if you’re going for optimum sharpness, there’s something to be said for using your lens correctly, too! The larger the distance, the stronger the magnification factor of the lens. Ultra Violet filters are transparent filters that block ultra-violet light, in order to reduce the … Your lens has to connect to your lens somehow — and it does so via a lens mount. You look through a lens in order to make things look larger, smaller, or clearer. Focal lengthis one such term. Focal length is measured in millimeters (mm), and as we mentioned, typically rated to a 35 mm equivalent. When the time comes to upgrade your camera body, you’ll be reaping the benefits. If you ever need to know exactly where it is, there’s a trick: As an aside, this flipping-upside-down is why a SLR camera needs to have a Pentaprism (the bulge at the top of your camera) — this flips the image rightside-up again: Anyway, I digress. There are two main types of mount: Screw fitting, and bayonet fittings. Noun. As you might imagine, a larger aperture (so a smaller f-stop number) means that more light is passing through the lens on its way to the sensor. The main challenge is that you don’t just want the lens to be sharp in one place: You want your photo to be perfectly sharp across the entire width of the photograph, all the way out into the corners. It renders subjects up to 5x life-size magnification. Therefore, an 18mm lens is quit… Camera bodies as more or less disposable. If you are taking a photo with a 100mm lens on your full-frame sensor, you get a particular field of view. UV Filter. Good, because that bit is important. There are tons of implications of sensor types and sizes, but that falls a little outside this ‘lens’ article.