Turtle, Rosser Park

Some photographers prefer zoom lenses and others, myself included prefer to use prime lenses. There are advantages both ways and the path you select will depend on the type of photography you do.

The above image has been captured with a prime, 300mm, f/4, fixed focal length lens. When photographing a very slowly moving subject such as a turtle there is plenty of time to change to a suitable prime , fixed focal length lens.

Zoom Lenses

• Zoom lenses do offer great flexibility if you are shooting quickly and do not wish to change your position for framing the image, such as at a wedding or at at sporting events where there is fast action or even at parades.
• Bear in mind that many zoom lenses do not perfom with the same quality over their full focal length range. Do not get me wrong they still perform quite well but not with the same quality over the full range. Zoom lenses are generally a compromise over their focal length range. Some zooms give better quality at the short end some at mid range and others at the long end.
• Zoom lenses generally have more elements in the lens and I guess the more elements make it more difficult to manufacture with the same quality.
• Most zoom lenses are available with apertures in the range f/2.8 to f/5.6 and this can be an important consideration in the choices between zooms and primes. An f/5.6  lens may not be all that usefull where you are dealing with low light levels.

Prime Lenses

• The prime lenses are designed specifically for their particular focal length and generally perform exceptionally well.
• Prime lenses are generally available with apertures ranging from f/1.2 to f/2.8 or sometimes f 4.0. This type of lens is far more suitable for use in low light applications, particularly once you get down to apertures of f/1.2 and f/1.4.
• The prime lenses with low apertures also offer additional benefits with selective focus. A low aperture lens setting will give a far narrower depth of field and will enable you to focus selectively on the main subject, to give more creative effects to your images, such as throwing the background out of focus. It can be very difficult to get these creative effects with f/5.6 aperture lenses particularly with wide angle lenses.
• There are many specialist Macro (Micro) prime lenses available which perform exceptionally well in their special field.
• Other specialist lenses such as tilt and shift lenses are available in primes for correction of perspective in architectural and product photography.

Emu, Coffin Bay National Park

When photographing wildlife, there are several main criteria that you should aim for with your equipment and we will summarise some of those in this article. The above image of the emu has been captured with a Nikon 300mm f/4 lens, on a Nikon D700 camera.

Cameras

There are a few important specifications to look for when attempting to photograph wildlife. We have more information on camera specifications for your perusal in our camera review section.

Shutter Speed

With wildlife photography, high shutter speeds are required, as the subject in many cases may be moving. Also long lenses are generally used and this will require high shutter speeds.

ISO

Cameras with the capability for high ISO are very good for wildlife as a higher ISO will give more capability for higher shutter speeds to be used.

FX Versus DX Cameras

The use of a DX camera compared to an FX camera can be a big advantage when using long lenses. The DX camera effectively gives you a multiplication factor of 1.5 times to your lenses and this will give a big advantage when using long lenses for wildlife.

Lenses

There are several characteristics of lenses which will enable you to get improved wildlife images and some of these are summarised as follows.

Long Lenses

When photographing wildlife such as animals and birds etc., extremely long lenses are required, especially with birds, when photographing birds, lenses never appear to be long enough. For wild life I would generally use a lens of 300mm or longer.

Low Aperture Lenses

Low aperture lenses such as apertures of f/2 to f/4  will assist greatly by allowing you to use your telephoto lenses at much higher shutter speeds.

VR Technology

Vibration Reduction (VR) technology can be an excellent addition to your long lenses, particularly when you are using lenses hand held. With VR functionality it is possible to use lenses with shutter speeds 3 to 4 stops slower than you would normally be able to do.

Accessories

Tripods

Tripods can be very useful to stabilise your camera equipment particularly when long lenses are used. The best types of tripod are the carbon fibre construction type and it is best to spend as much as you can afford. One of the better brands is Gitzo.

Monopods

If a tripod is inconvenient to use, then an excellent  fall back option is a good monopod. It is amazing how steady a monopod will enable you to keep your camera when you are using long lenses.

Cable Releases and Remote Camera Control

Sometime when wildlife frequent the same spot regularly remote camera releases can be used to capture the image. This can be done with nesting birds for instance if due care is taken to protect the subject.

Using a Hide or Blind

The use of a hide or blind can be very useful to help you get closer to your wildlife subject.

Traffic Trails, Kings Park, Perth

Protecting your lenses is a very big consideration in your photography. Firstly if you love photography you will have quite a lot of money outlayed on your gear and most of that outlay will be on your lenses. Many photographers make big mistakes here, they will purchase expensive lenses and then get cheap filters to put on them to protect the front element, but the cheap filters will degrade the image.

My philosophy with filters is to only use them when it will enhance the image and do not use them to protect the front element. If you want to protect the front element all I can say is that the lens hood provided with most lenses will serve two functions. Firstly it will shade the front element and help prevent any degradation of the image and loss of contrast and secondly it will offer some protection to the lens, so use the lens hood at all times.

When cleaning the lens element be very careful, use a blower brush firstly to get rid of any dirt of grit , then use a lens pen or lens solution to clean the element. Store your lenses in very dry conditions to avoid any fungus growth.

Airplane Looping

Telephoto lenses are used when you wish to get closer to the subject to get the subject larger in the frame. The image above was taken at an air show and a 300mm telephoto lens was used to help fill the frame with the subject and the smoke trails.

Teleconverters are also very usefull to increase the focal length of the lens, they effectively multiply the focal length of the lens in use. Teleconverters are generally available with multiplication factors of x1.4, x1.7 or x 2.0, however they do have some disadvantages in that they reduce the f stop of the lens and they can also cause some degradation in the final image.

Telephoto lenses can be very usefull in some of the following applications:

• Airshows
• Bird photography
• Animal photography
• Close up portraits
• Insects
• Motor cycle or car racing
• Athletics and other sporting events

Generally any lens longer than 50mm is considered as a telephoto lens. Typically a lens of 85-135mm would be suitable for portraits. Lenses of 200-300mm are suitable for animals and lenses over 300mm are usefull mainly for photography of wild birds.

There are many different aspects to understand with lenses, with the lens technology continuing to improve greatly over the last few years.

Some of the variants and options with lenses are discussed as follows:

Focal Length Fixed or Zoom

Lenses are essentially of two main categories, either fixed focal length or variable focal length or zoom lenses. Zoom lenses are available in many different focal length ranges, some popular ranges are as follows 10-20mm, 17-55mm, 70-200mm, 200-400mm.
Generally zoom lenses are available with apertures of f/2.8 or greater, however fixed focal length lenses can be available with larger apertures of f/1.4 and may be better for low or available light photography. Zoom lenses are great for landscape photography, where you may need to vary the angle of view to accommodate different aspects.

Small or Large Aperture Lenses

Some lenses come with a large maximum aperture of f/1.4 and these as mentioned above, are very good for low light photography. Other lenses may have a maximum aperture of f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4.0 or f/5.6. The lenses of maximum aperture f/4.0 or f/5.6 are not so good for available light photography but are considerable cheaper to purchase.

Coverage or Crop Factor

Some digital camera lenses are designed for the full sensor size of standard film (24x36mm) and other lenses are desigmed for a smaller sensor size approximaately half the size of the standard film frame. For Canon cameras the smaller coverage lenses are designated EF-S lenses and for Nikon cameras these lenses are designated DX lenses. The smaller coverage lenses are generally more compact and cheaper to purchase than the full frame lenses.

Fixed or Variable Aperture

Some zoom lenses have a variale aperture and the aperture of the lens changes as the lens zooms from minimum to maximum focal length. As an example, at the shortest focal length the lens may have an aperture of f/3.5 and at the longest focal length the aperture may be f/5.6. These lenses are generally cheaper to purchase, but may not be as convenient to use, particularly in low light situations.

Manual or Automatic Focus

Lenses may have manual or automatic focus. Many older lenses are manual focus, however most lenses now are constructed with automatic focus, with a manual option. Sometimes it is preferred to manual focus a lens when close up to the subject or in low light situations. Many manual focus lenses can be purchased quite cheaply on the second hand market.

Image Stabilisation or Vibration Reduction

Many lenses are available now with image stabilisation IS (Canon) or with vibration reduction, VR (Nikon), this is especially of advantage with lenses of 70-100mm or longer. This capability allows the lens to be used with much lower shutter speeds to still give sharp images. These types of lenses can give a three to four stop advantage to use lower shutter speeds.

Micro or Macro with close focussing

Micro or Macro lenses allow the lens to focus much closer than a normal lens. Many of these lenses will allow you to focus to represent the subject as life size on the image, this will give an effective subject magnification of 1:1.

Correcting perspective (Tilt or Shift)

Some lenses are available which can tilt from the central position and this will allow for perspective correction, in particular when taking images of buildings and architecture. These lenses also, in many case can shift, to a limited extent each side of its central position and this can be used to take several images and stitch them together with software after the image has been taken.

Focussing Speed

Some lenses will focus from a motor in the camera body which is coupled to the lens and other lenses may incorporate a focussing motor built into the lens itself, generalyy a lens with its self contained motor is faster focussing.

Enhanced Lens Materials and Coatings

Many lenses employ sophisticated materials today, such as extra low dispersion glass, super multicoating materials over the glass and nano coatings, to give the lens better performance in respect to chromatic aberations, color fringing and other undesirable effects.

A few examples of different types of lenses are shown below:

10-20mm f/4.0 lens

A 10-20mm f/4.0 fixed aperture zoom lens is very suitable for wide angle expansive  landscapes. These lenses can also give a very great deapth of field, DOF which is very usefull for landscapes.

17-55mm f/2.8 lens

The 17-55mm f/2.8 fixed aperture zoom lens is a great general purpose lens for low light use and for general photography. It covers a reasonably wide focal length and has quite a low aperture for low light photography.

85mm f/1.8 lens

The 85mm f/1.8 lens is a very suitable lens for portraits and low light photography due to its large aperture. With the low aperture it enables photographers to use selective focus with a shallow depth of field DOF. It will also enable photographers to blurr our the background to give a more pleasing image.

105mm f/2.8 lens

The 105mm f/2.8 Micro lens is useful for general telephoto photography. This focal length lens is also great for tight portraits and also for the photography of subjects such as flowers and animals.

200mm f/4.0 lens

The 200mm f/4.0 telephoto Micro lens is great for insects, butterflies and also as a general purpose telephoto lens.

300mm f/4.0 lens

The 300mm f/4.0 telephoto lens is very suitable for wild animals and birds. It gives additional distance for shy critters. Sometimes teleconverters are used with this type of lens to increase the focal length by 1.4 times, 1.7 times or by 2.0 times, however teleconverters will also increase the aperture of the lens making them less suitable in low light levels.