Canon® EOS Digital Photography Photo Workshop

Chapter 6. CHOOSING AND USING LENSES

ZOOM VERSUS PRIME LENSES

FAST VERSUS SLOW LENSES

L SERIES LENSES

CANON LENSES

WIDE-ANGLE LENSES

NORMAL LENSES

TELEPHOTO LENSES

MACRO LENSES

TILT-AND-SHIFT LENSES

©Serge Timachef

Selecting and building a well-rounded set of lenses suited to the type of photography you do is essential for getting the most out of your dSLR camera. You may have started with a basic zoom lens that seemed to do it all, or you might have realized from the get-go that you needed a variety of focal lengths and lens speeds in order to accomplish your work. Whatever the case, if you're like most photographers, you probably have your eye on a new or different lens or you want to tweak your lens lineup in one way or another.

Canon offers a tremendous variety of lenses for virtually any type of photography imaginable, ranging from inexpensive basic models bundled with entry-level dSLR cameras to high-speed, long telephoto lenses priced more like an automobile than camera gear. It's very common for photographers to spend more on their lenses than on the cameras themselves, and I very frequently advise photographers who are gearing up, that budgeting for lenses is a bigger consideration than budgeting for cameras.

Figure 6-1. Having a fast lens is almost always essential in any action photography. I took this photo at the 2006 World Wheelchair Fencing Championships in Torino, Italy, at a focal length of 165mm with an EF 70-200mm f/2.8L lens. I used a 1D Mark IIn at ISO 640, ...