So getting down to the real basics of photography, first question on your DSLP or MILC – what type of lens – well that depends on what you’re doing….
Everyday
For everyday photography you’re best to have a wide angled zoom lens on the camera – something around the focal range of 24-105mm
24mm will have the scenery covered, 50-85mm will get those portraits ad 105mm will get those objects in the distance.
However – the all around lens that can capture the above, whilst great because it means you won’t be switching lens all time, you will see a difference in the quality then if you’d used a more specialised lens.
Prime Lens
Fixed focal length (no zooming) depending what length you get – depends on what you want to shoot, somewhere within 50mm to 85mm is great for day to day outings, and because it has no zoom, makes you move around more to get the best shot. Prime lenses also have a larger aperture than zoom lenses (so they have a smaller f-number).
Wide-Angle Lenses
Can get wide angle lenses both in prime and zoom lenses, the joy of a wide angled lens is just the ability to get more in the picture at close quarters with people.
Specialist Lenses
Fish-Eye
The fish-eye takes wide angle to the extreme – much wider field of view but actually creates distortion on the image (make the outer part of the lens looks circular) for extreme close ups where you still want to get some of the surroundings in and for large spaces like a footy stadium where you want to get the whole view in without any cropping.
Telephoto
Takes zoom to the extreme – often used for wildlife photography and to get things far aware more in the centre of the shot – a good example is taking pics of the moon 🙂
Macro
Often used to take pictures of flowers, insects and food – its designed to focus on subjects that are centimetres from the lens