This is every other article in an occasional collection aimed at beginners called ?Things Experts Forgot to Tell You? Or ?Things that You Forgot you needed to Learn.? Read more of this collection here.
The previous article about camera lenses supplied a top level view of the naming conventions of digital camera lenses in addition to a translation to apply in interpreting all the numerous abbreviations in lens names. This article will walk you through the primary features of a DSLR digital camera lens and provide an outline of every of the crucial labels, switches, and functions.
Introduction to a Camera Lens
There are many important pieces of information that you will find written onto the body of your camera lens. The first is the name of the lens itself, such as Canon EF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II SLR (below on the left) or Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens. Read Camera Lenses: What’s in a Name? for a more detailed treatment of camera lens names. |
| These are my first two lenses, bought as part of a kit with the Canon T1i frame. You can talk over with these snap shots to find the features described beneath, however it's miles greater beneficial if you have your own lens(es) in the front of you to refer to. |
A 2d piece of records written onto the lens is the focal length. This is often in the call of the camera in addition to written on the barrel of the lens, often near where the lens attaches on your digital camera body. A prime lens could have simply one focal period (along with 50 mm), while a zoom lens will list a number of focal lengths (together with 18-55 mm).
If you have got a zoom lens, the biggest adjustable cylinder on the lens' frame will assist you to alter the focal duration. You will see quite a number focal lengths indexed, frequently from widest to narrowest, at the cylinder itself. Rotating the cylinder all the manner in a single course will come up with your widest focal period (which includes 18 mm), even as rotating the cylinder all the manner within the other direction will provide you with your narrowest focal duration (including fifty five mm). Whether this rotation is clockwise or counterclockwise depends on the producer of your lens. If you look down at your camera lens at the same time as rotating, you will see a few form of mark (white line on Canon lenses) that factors to which focal period you have presently decided on.
When using a modern-day lens, this records approximately focal duration could be recorded by your digital camera and saved as part of the picture. If you proper-click on an picture file in Windows and select 'Properties,' you may pick out the 'Details' tab and see all the EXIF records stored together with your report, inclusive of the focal length that the lens turned into set to on the time. To locate the identical records on a Mac, you need to control-click at the photo and select 'Get Info.'
If you purchase an extended zoom lens (with a reasonably huge variety), then it could come ready with a 'lock' transfer. This switch allows you to lock the lens in its maximum compact position (frequently the widest aperture). This is specifically beneficial when wearing around your digicam, because it prevents the whole lens from randomly zooming out to its longest length. A lock makes no sense on a prime lens and is not continually a characteristic on starter lenses.
The smaller adjustable cylinder on your digital camera lens is the focal ring. If your digital camera is ready to autofocus, then the digital camera will direct the lens to adjust this ring until it achieves cognizance. If your digital camera is set to manual focus, then you'll rotate this ring in order to attain cognizance. Older lenses or those supposed for manual cognizance, may also have written indicators at the focal ring that tell you the approximate distance (generally in feet for a US manufactured lens) to the item in consciousness. On the Tamron lens above, you may see that the lens is presently centered to infinity however can go down to zero.Forty nine meters or 1.6 ft.
Speaking of manual attention and autofocus, there's an critical transfer that controls those, which is located on the camera lens. It is usually a little push switch with labels: AF (autofocus) and MF (guide awareness). You should always leave this transfer driven over to AF unless you have got a cause for the usage of manual awareness. There is usually an indicator in your digicam's rear display on the way to permit you to recognize when you have switched your lens into guide recognition mode.
The 2d activate many cameras is for picture stabilization (additionally called vibration control or vibration reduction) and may be switched either on or off. In maximum instances, you will need to leave this grew to become on. The only time you would possibly want to turn off the stabilization characteristic is in case you are the usage of a tripod. Because a stabilized digicam 'expects' some form of movement, it may surely upload motion in your shot if you are using a tripod to preserve the digital camera perfectly consistent. If you do flip stabilization off when the use of a tripod, I endorse turning it back on again right whilst you are finished.
There is some other important indicator related to awareness that is written for your digicam lens. This is called the minimal focusing distance, and it is the wide variety (in toes and meters) that follows the little tulip flower symbol. The minimal focusing distance tells you the closest you may be for your subject whilst nevertheless being able to cognizance. If you move in the direction of your difficulty, your camera can be unable to find recognition and the autofocus will hunt around (and on occasion make odd sounds. Read greater in Why Won?T My Lens Focus?). This is some other one of those extraordinarily useful pieces of facts that frequently do not get defined while you purchase your first camera and lenses and knowing it can prevent quite a few frustration and confusion down the road.
A final useful indicator to your camera lens is the diameter (in millimeters) of the lens. This dimension is indicated with the ? Symbol. You will want to recognize the diameter of your lens with a purpose to purchase the appropriate filters. (More on filters in the next article on accessories.)
Summary: about digicam lenses
You can learn a lot from your lens, and there are several important features and adjustments available. Your lens can often do more than simply focus or zoom in and out. Now that you know about features like the 'lock' mechanism or the auto/manual focus switch, you may find you are using them more often. The last article in this short series on lenses will describe some of the most common accessories for lenses and which you may need.
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