So you have bought a DSLR, and have enjoyed clicking great pictures. But now, you want to push your creativity to the next level. You look at many pictures in the magazines and wonder why these pictures are so wonderful? Well, Camera lens play a major part in the quality of the photographs than the camera itself, and this may be the next step for you. People who know photography invest more in lenses than in camera, because a cheap camera with good lens will produce better picture than best camera with bad lens.
With so many lenses in the market, you will definitely be wondering what lenses you should buy. Before moving ahead, you need to know about some technicalities about the lenses.
The lenses basically differ by the amount of light it allows to enter the camera(Aperture) and the field of view it offers(Focal Length). Larger the aperture better is the lens, as you can have better quality pictures at lower ISO with more light entering through larger Aperture. The aperture is denoted by the f-numbers. Smaller the f-number, larger the lens opening. The large apertures offered are f/1.2, 1.4, 1.8 or 2.8. The normal kit lens comes with f-number of 3.5 to 5.6, which are ok, but not great.
You will some times hear a term ‘fast lens’. The lenses with larger aperture are called fast lenses because you can keep shutter speed high(fast) with wide open lens allowing more light into the camera.
The field of view or the perspective is controlled by the focal length of the lens. Smaller the focal length, wider the view. Also, larger the focal length, narrower the view, or more the telephoto. For the APS-C sensor camera, which most of the readers will be using, the focal length of 22 and below are considered wide where as that of 40 and above are considered telephoto. In this review, I will talk about lenses suitable for APS-C size DSLR’s, which most people use(Full frame camera users will not be reading this review, anyway).
One more feature that differentiates the lens is if the focal length is ‘fixed’(Primes) or ‘variable’(Zoom). Generally, the prime lens have better picture quality than the zoom, though the latest zoom lenses have improved the image quality considerably, competing well with the prime lenses.
The compact camera normally express the zoom capacity in terms of 3x or 10x or 20x, (to understand the term, 10x is the ratio of the largest focal length to smallest focal length, so if smallest FL is 6mm and largest is 60mm, then zoom is 60/6=10x) and people moving up from compacts to DSLR look for what ‘x’ zoom it supports. The lenses in the DSLR camera can be inter-changed, so it can theoretically have any value of ‘x’, from 3x to 100x in the same camera, depending on the number of lenses you have.
In addition to the above two parameters, the quality of the lens and its construction makes a great difference. Better the lens and its design, better is the sharpness, lower is the distortion(Barrel, Pincushion) and lower are the aberrations(Chromatic, Vignetting).
Some camera’s, like Nikon and Canon, don’t come with ‘Shake Reduction’ in the camera itself, but are built into Lens. The terms used for this feature by various lens manufacturers are IS, VR, OS, VC etc.
So which lens should you buy? Normally, the camera manufacturer’s like Nikon and Canon make excellent lenses, so if you buy the lens made by them, you will not go wrong. But they are expensive too. So option is to buy cheaper lens manufactured by 3rd party manufacturers. It is generally considered that 3rd party lenses are not as good as the lens made by camera manufacturer. But this may not be always true.
If you have money, go for original lens manufacturer, and you will not be disappointed. Remember that lenses you buy will last for a long time as compared to camera, and Canon and Nikon make good solid build lenses that last really long(more than 20 years). And these lenses don’t lose value even after long time, if you take good care. But if you are looking for cheaper lenses, which give similar quality, or sometimes, even better quality than the original lens manufacturer’s, then read on.
Normal Zoom lens:
The camera normally comes with the kit lens of 18-50mm, which has good wide focal length to small tele. The quality of which, though ok, is not sharp enough. It is best to buy the camera body without this lens. Better option is to go for Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 lens, which offer bigger aperture, and excellent sharpness. If you want to stick to Nikon/Canon, then 18-105 is a better option with more zoom range(for the people coming from compacts, this zoom range will be equal to 105/18=5.8x). All these lenses cost less than Rs. 20K.
Normal Lens:
A lens with 45-50mm lens on the full frame camera is said to provide the view as seen by the human eye. On the APS-C camera’s, which I am focusing on in this review, this comes to 33-35mm. With the advent of Zoom lenses, most have moved over to zoom, and we see less of this lens used. However, this lens with f/1.4 or 1.8 is a good sharp and fast lens. People working in studios will have good use for this, though most of us will not need it, having the normal zoom lens. This will cost anywhere from Rs. 15-40K, depending on the manufacturer and aperture.
All-in-one Vacation lens:
Nikon/Canon have a lens with 18-200mm specification(equivalent to 200/18=11.1x), offering good wide to very good telephoto range, good enough for 90% of your needs. The benefit of these lenses is that you don’t have to change your lens very often, and don’t miss the action changing your lens. If you are in a party, and clicking a group with wide angle, you can then zoom-in to click a face without changing the lens or moving closer. It also helps to travel light, so is also called vacation lens. The problem with these lenses is, the image quality is bad compared to fixed or small zoom lenses. You need to weigh the advantage of convenience to the image quality. Another option is to go for Tamron 18-270 lens, which is slower, but has greater zoom(15x). The cost of these lens will be around Rs. 30-40K.
Wide Angle:
If you are interested in landscape photography, or need to cover greater area in a small room, Wide Angle lens is a must. The best 3rd party lenses in the market are Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 and Sigma 8-16mm. Tokina is a solid build with bigger aperture. Sigma is wider, if you need it. However, Sigma has a bulb like projection in front lens, making use of filters not possible, so difficult to protect it from dust and scratches. Sigma's 10-20mm lens is also good, if you need larger zoom, but it is a slow lens. The cost of these lens will be around Rs. 22-35K.
Telephoto:
For most of us, 70-200mm lens is a good lens to have, giving good quality at low price even for Nikon/Canon lens. Tamron and Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 lenses are nice for Indoor use like wedding and sports due to large apperture, costing 45-65K. Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 is a good option for Dx cameras, costing less than 35K. But if you are into sports, wildlife or bird photography, you will need Telephoto lens in the range of 300-500mm. The lenses in this range are quite expensive, but Sigma 150-500mm is a good option, which cost around Rs. 50K. It is not quite fast lens, but at this price, you will not get a better lens. Else, go for Nikon/Canon, which cost few lakhs.
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