Getting it sharp from a telephoto

Telephoto prime and zoom lenses are among the most useful lenses for a wide variety of genres. They are used for sports, wildlife, travel, and street photography. Many photographers use them for portraits and close-up shots as well.

Technically, telephoto lenses have a focal length or 60mm or more for a standard 35mm or full sensor size camera, though most people think of telephoto lenses having a focal length of 85mm or more. Lenses with a focal length greater than 300mm are considered to be super-telephoto lenses.

Telephoto lenses help us bring distant subjects closer, fill our frame with the subject, show detail difficult to see, capture action, and produce a shallow depth of field.

Choosing Lenses for Your DSLR Travel Kit, Part I

Travel photography has many challenges. Among them are unpredictability, luggage weight limits, number of luggage pieces permitted, locations with unknown restrictions, bad weather when you least expect it, and many others.

When planning for a trip photographically, one of the most important decisions anyone must make is what lenses to include in your travel photography “kit.” Destinations usually have a variety of photo opportunities which may require a variety of lenses to meet their challenges.

There are two major factors which militate the amount and choice of gear you choose for your photo travel “kit.” The first is travel weight and volume restrictions, and the second is the varying conditions, limitations and circumstances of your destination's photographic opportunities.

Lenses for Travel Photography - Part VII (Lenses I use and recommend for travel and why)

This week concludes my seven part series about lenses for travel photography, I discuss the lenses I use and recommend for travel. The series is primarily meant for SLR and DSLR camera users, who can attach a variety of lenses to their cameras to support their creativity, and suit the needs of their photographic opportunities.

Currently, I primarily use a Nikon D200 for travel, which has a DX size sensor. I may be moving to an FX sensor (full size sensor) based Nikon camera later this year. For this article I’ll have two sets of recommendations for travelers, one for full size sensor based DSLRs and SLRs, and one for the smaller DX/APS-C size sensor based DSLRs.

Lenses for Travel Photography - Part V (Lens qualities and characteristics in purchase decisions)

This week in Part V of my seven part series about lenses for travel photography, I discuss what qualities and characteristics are important to consider when choosing lenses for travel. The series is primarily meant for SLR and DSLR camera users, who can attach a variety of lenses to their cameras to support their creativity, and suit the needs of their photographic opportunities.

Unfortunately for anyone purchasing lenses, there are a myriad of lens qualities, specifications, and characteristics which should be considered. Even if you’ll be purchasing nothing but the absolute best quality pro lenses, you will be weighing choices and making compromises.

You’ll have to decide the relative importance of specifications and characteristics for you photography to make your lens choices. This article should help you familiarize yourself with what you need to consider, and why, when purchasing your lenses.

Lenses for Travel Photography - Part IV (Lens choices for travel photographic opportunities)

This week in Part IV of my seven part series about lenses for travel photography, I’ll discuss choosing lenses for your travels. The series is primarily meant for SLR and DSLR camera users, who can attach a variety of lenses to their cameras to support their creativity, and suit the needs of their photographic opportunities.

There is a large variety of lenses: wide angle, normal or standard, and telephoto lenses, wide angle zoom, standard zoom, and telephoto zoom lenses, and don’t forget there are also zoom lenses which go across the categories as I discussed in Part III of the series. As the great American jazz and popular music singer, Peggy Lee asked in one of her famous songs, “Is that all there is?,” in the world of photographic lenses, the answer is, no.

There are also super telephoto lenses, and super telephoto zoom lenses, as well as specialty lenses such as fisheye, macro (close-up), perspective control lenses, and selective focus lenses.

Lenses for Travel Photography - Part III (Choosing between zoom and prime lenses)

This week in Part III of my seven part series about lenses for travel photography, I’ll discuss ideas you can use to help you choose between zoom and prime lenses. The series is primarily meant for SLR and DSLR camera users, who can attach a variety of lenses to their cameras to support their creativity, and suit the needs of their photographic opportunities.

Before you can choose between these two types of lenses, you have to understand the difference.

Simply put, prime lenses are lenses with a single focal length. Prime lenses come in a large number focal lengths ranging from wide angle through super telephoto.

Zoom lenses are lenses which have a variety of focal lengths within just one lens. Zoom lenses can have focal lengths which are all within one class of lens, such as the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Lens, which stays solely within the wide angle range of focal lengths. Zoom lenses can also have focal lengths which span lens classes such as the Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Lens which runs the gamut from wide angle, through normal, to telephoto focal lengths.

Lenses for travel photography - Part II (Important Specifications)

This week in Part II of my seven part series about lenses for travel photography, I’ll discuss important lens specifications you should keep in mind when purchasing or choosing lenses for your travel. The series is primarily meant for SLR and DSLR camera users who can attach a variety of lenses to their cameras to support their creativity, and suit the needs of their photographic opportunities.

Among the important lens characteristics you should understand are:

• Focusing and sharpness
• Largest aperture and for zoom lenses when applicable, the range of the largest aperture at the full range of the lens’ focal lengths
• Magnification
• Focal Length
• Special Features such as Vibration Reduction, Focus Limit Switches, Extra-low Dispersion (ED) elements, special lens coatings, and no lens extension
• Potential problems such as focus softness in corners, vignetting (light falloff), chromatic aberration, and distortion