This is a question I get all the time. Usually from photographers who have bought a DSLR camera with a kit lens but have now come to realize the kit lenses are holding them back from producing the kind of images they want. Clearly there is not going to be any one lens that is the appropriate lens for everyone which makes this a really hard question to answer. There are many different factors to consider when purchasing a lens, I’m going to attempt to explain some of the factors I personally think about when investing on new lenses and hopefully this will make it easier for you to make your own decision on how to best spend your money. And if anyone else has any other tips or important things to consider, please feel free to add it in the comments box. 1. Focal length and angle of view The focal length of a lens will determine how much of the scene you are looking at will be captured by you. In the photo below you see a 5o mm lens (shorter focal length and wider angle of view) and a 100 mm lens (longer focal length and narrower angle of view). Here are images of the same scene from the same distance, but using different focal lengths: Also keep in mind that the same lens on cameras with different sensor sizes will have a different angle of view. For example, the Canon 5D has a full frame sensor (meaning it is the equivalent of a 35mm negative) and most entry-level DSLR Canon cameras have an APS-C sensor which has a 1.6 crop factor. These two photos were taken from the same distance and using the same lens. The photo on the left was taken with the Canon 5D (full frame sensor) and the one on the right with the Canon Rebel XSi (APS-C sensor): The 50mm lens on a full frame sensor is considered to be a ‘normal lens’ since it captures essentially the same as you would see with your eyes. Lenses with shorter focal lengths than 50 mm are considered wide and lenses with longer focal lengths than 50 mm are considered long or telephoto lenses (although not all long lenses are of telephoto design). 2. Fixed lenses vs Zoom lenses Fixed lenses have just one focal length and can have a wider max aperture and generally are of higher quality. Here are some of my favorite Canon fixed lenses: 24 mm f1.4 L, 35 mm f1.4 L, 50 mm f1.2 L, 85 mm f1.2 L, 100 mm f2.8 L macro IS Zoom lenses have the flexibility of being able to capture images at different focal lengths without having to change your lens, but usually need to have a higher max aperture and can be heavier and optically inferior. Here are some of my favorite Canon zoom lenses: 16-35 mm f2.8 L, 24-70 mm f2.8 L, 70-200 mm f2.8 L IS 3. Image Stabilization (IS) The longer the focal length the more likely you are to experience “camera shake” at lower shutter speeds when hand-holding your lens. If you are going to be using a long lens without a tripod, it is wise to invest in a lens that has IS 4. Quality of the glass The quality of the glass in your lens will influence the quality of the image. The higher quality glass is usually heavier and more expensive. The photos below were taken with similar lenses. Both lenses are fixed 100 mm lenses with a max aperture of 2.8 and Macro capabilities. The main differences are that one has the higher quality Canon L glass and IS. 5. Maximum aperture Why is this important? If you are looking to produce images with shallower depth-of-field (more blurriness), the wider your aperture the more ‘blurriness’ you can get. And by the way, if it’s ‘blurriness’ that you are after, getting closer to your subject and using a longer focal length will also increase the ‘blurriness’.  And just as a FYI, lenses with a wide max aperture (below f/2.8) are often referred to as ‘fast’ lenses. 6. Fixed vs. Variable aperture With many zoom lenses you will notice that the max aperture will be stated as a range. For example f/3.5 – 5.6. This means that you will be able to set your aperture at 3.5 at the wider focal lengths, but only at 5.6 at the longer focal lengths. 7. Bokeh Bokeh is how the parts of the image that are outside of the depth-of-field appear. The quality of the blur so to speak. This is somewhat a personal opinion, but there are some lenses that are known for not having really great bokeh. My Canon 50mm f/1.4 pictured above being one of them. Whew! That was a lot, but hopefully this was helpful and not too technical. What are some of your favorite lenses?

For a while now I’ve been wanting to invest in a macro lens. However, I have yet to purchase one simply because I can’t decide which one to get. After much research, I narrowed it down to the Canon 100 mm f2.8 macro and the Canon 100 mm f2.8 L macro. For the purposes of this blog post, I will just call them the “L lens” and the “non L lens”. I decided to spend $50, rent them both and try them out to decide for myself which one is the best buy for me. The L lens is normally around $950, but Canon has a $60 rebate right now and the “non L lens” is usually around $500. So here are some shots I took today. They are all STRAIGHT OUT OF CAMERA, but are sharpened and resized for the web. Since I’d mostly use my macro lens to photograph rings, that’s what my subjects are for these next shots. I DID NOT use a tripod as I usually don’t use a tripod on a wedding day. To keep this an unbiased comparison for you, I won’t tell you the lenses until the end of the post. Get a pen and a piece of paper and start guessing. f2.8, 1/125, iso 800 (yes, I moved a little) f2.8, 1/125, iso 800, manual focus (hmm, yeah, i moved again… better start getting used to it) f2.8, 1/80, iso 200, auto focus f2.8, 1/60, iso 250, auto focus f2.8, 1/160, iso 800, manual focus Do you have all your guesses? So here are the answers: All of the images on the left were taken with the “non L lens”. All the images on the right were taken with the “L lens” All of the top images were taken with the “non L lens”. All of the bottom images were taken with the “L lens” How did you do? What do you think? Which lens would you buy? It seems to me that the “L lens” does let a little more light in than the “non L lens” which would be great for those dark getting ready rooms :) Also, it is worth noting that the “L lens” does have IS. I was able to handhold the “non L lens” only down to 1/40 sec and have it be completely sharp. At 1/30 sec I couldn’t handhold it anymore. Any questions or experiments you would like to see? I only have both lenses until tomorrow.