Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6. Mastering the Multi-Lens Reflex

In This Chapter

• Deciding on add-on lenses

• Choosing prime lenses or zooms

• Understanding key lens concepts

• Using wide angles and telephotos creatively

In one sense, the term single lens reflex is a misnomer. Even in these days of 18mm-to-250mm lenses that cover the range from wide-angle to medium telephoto (or 50mm–500mm superzooms that extend from short telephoto to really, really long telephoto), few dSLR owners try to operate with only a single lens. In fact, buying extra optics for one of these cameras is more than a reflex — it's a passion! Additional lenses are probably the most popular accessory for digital SLRs. They're the single component that can provide the biggest boost to your photographic repertoire.

Of course, you probably know that the term SLR actually refers to a camera design; one that uses the same lens to take the picture as it uses for reflex viewing (viewing by reflection, using mirrors or a prism) — as opposed to a twin-lens reflex, which pairs two lenses of the same focal length for separate viewing and snapshooting. These days, however, dSLR owners are more likely to be single-minded about acquiring accessory lenses.

This chapter helps you choose which lenses to add to your collection, based on your needs — both real and imagined — and shows you how to use them effectively.

Optical Delusions

Unless you happened to purchase ...