Understanding How to Choose the Best Lenses

The quality of the image projected by the camera's lens sets the upper limit of the image quality you obtain from your camera. If you have an inferior image - one that is not perfectly focused, for example - no increase in the number of pixels you employ or the use of better film will help.

There is no doubt that the more you pay, the better the lens is likely to be. If you can afford to pay for professional lenses, you are unlikely to be disappointed. Before spending a lot of money, however, it may be prudent to hire a similar lens for a week and put it through its paces. All the major camera manufacturers maintain the quality of their lenses with remarkable consistency.

Don't ignore lenses produced by the major independent lens manufacturers - some of these optics represent excellent value, giving very good performance at prices much lower than those of the camera makers. However, it is generally true to say that the quality of lenses from the best of the independents is not as good as the best lenses from the camera manufacturers. But bear in mind that image quality is often only really tested when very large-scale prints are called for - so if you don't need the extra quality, why pay the price? For best value in terms of the balance between price and quality, consider these points:

- lenses with modest apertures and near-normal focal length, such as 50mm f/2.8 or 60mm f/2.8, usually give excellent image quality at low prices.

- zoom lenses with modest ranges and maxi¬mum apertures, say, 35-70mm f/4 or 70-200mm f/4, usually offer good image quality at low prices.

- avoid zoom lenses with extremely wide focal length ranges, such as 28-300mm or 50-500mm, unless you can afford premium-quality optics, such as the Canon 35-350mm.

- opt for wide-angles with modest apertures, such as 24mm f/2.8 or 21mm f/4, for better image quality, less light fall-off, and lower cost.


Steve J. Wilson is living in the United States and is a freelance writer since 2006, in digital photography related topics. If you are interested in some useful Digital Photography Class, than you are in the right place.

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