Different Types of Camera Lenses & their

applica ons
Lenses are one of the most important components in cameras. Even though the
image making happens inside the camera body and on the film itself, the lens is
what handles the light and determines the quality of the resul ng image.
How Does a Lens Work
In the spirit of learning, let’s talk lenses. A lens is basically an assembly of different
elements which help focus light onto the film and remove any aberra ons. You
can a ain decent exposure using a simple pinhole camera, but it will not be of
high quality. In fact, it’ll appear blurry. Although such imagery has its own quaint
charm, it is not what’s always desired. Plus, you can’t increase the size of the hole
to get a coherent image.
In its simplest form, a lens places a glass convex lens where the pinhole is so the
aperture can be opened wide to let more light in and make faster exposures.
Through the lens, the light can s ll be properly focused to get a sharp image. But
it’s really not that simple, lens assemblies are complex and have various other
glass elements that help fine tune the quality of the image further.

The main factors that are used to define lenses are focal length and aperture,
which control the angle of view and amount of light respec vely. Various lenses
play with these two elements to help produce quality photographs.
Focal Length
In simple words, focal length is the distance between the op cal center and the
film plane. The op cal plane is the point where mul ple rays of light from the
object entering the camera converge or cross over. You might ask why this
ma ers. Well, this distance is what determines your angle of view, as well
as the magnifica on of the image.
Aperture
The second most important element is the aperture, The aperture is the lens
opening which controls the amount of light that enters the camera and also
determines your depth of field. It is denoted by an f number, which looks like f/n f
is not focal length, and the number reflects the diameter of the opening. However,
this confuses a lot of people since the number decreases to denote a larger
opening.
Usually the lens will come with its widest possible aperture printed on it, which is
because this is usually more important when considering flexibility in terms of
exposure and depth of field. Lenses with wider maximum apertures (smaller f
numbers) are considered to be faster as you get more light in. This results in the
ability to shoot images at faster shu er speeds.
Prime lenses tend to be faster lenses, while zoom lenses may have a range of
maximum apertures, which denotes the maximum apertures at different focal
lengths.
Prime vs Zoom Lenses
What is a Prime Lens?
A prime lens is a fixed focal length lens that doesn’t let you zoom
in or out. Focal length is the distance between the point of
convergence in the lens to the sensor in your camera. You can see
the "elements" inside the lens in the following cross sec on. These
are made of convex and concave glass lenses that angle the light
entering the lens to form an image on the sensor.
Prime lenses also have very wide or large aperture, an adjustable
opening inside the lens to regulate how much light passes
through.
What is a Zoom Lens?
A zoom lens is any lens with a variable focal length. Therefore, it
can be “zoomed” in or out to transform the focal length and field
of view. This magnifies or demagnifies the image, giving the
appearance of moving closer or further from the subject without
physically moving the camera. This is accomplished with moving
various op cal mechanisms inside the lens.
What this means is that the wider the angle of view is, the shorter the
focal length becomes. Imagine this as two triangles poin ng at each
other with the two bases being the object and the film plane. The
wider these get, the shorter the height of the triangles. In the same
way, a narrower field of view would be achieved with a longer focal
length.
Focal length can also determine subject magnifica on, especially where
lenses have variable focal lengths as in a zoom lens. As you increase or
decrease the focal length, the subject can start looking
smaller or bigger. In certain cases, the focal length also affects
perspec ve, mostly in architectural or landscape shots where the
subject fills the frame. Shorter depth of field can elongate perspec ve,
making closer objects look much closer and bigger, and objects further
away looking distant and smaller. On the other hand, longer depth of
field can fla en or compress the subject. Focal length is measured in
millimeters, and is used as the lens name. For example, 50 mm or 200
mm. Different lenses have different focal lengths. Wide angle lenses
have a very short focal length, usually between 10 mm and 42 mm,
whereas telephoto lenses have anything between 100 mm and 800 mm
Fisheye Lenses

The fisheye camera lens is an extremely wide lens, popular for

outdoor photography and sports videos, par cularly when it’s
necessary to provide wider visual context like in skateboarding or
surfing shots. Shoo ng close-ups of architecture or crowds may
also necessitate this lens. A fisheye lens is any lens with a set focal
length that is significantly shorter than the length of the sensor of film
(measured diagonally). For a full frame sensor, which is a sensor
measuring 35mm, your fisheye focal length would be anything
below 23mm.
A fisheye lens is used for shoo ng extremely wide angles,
some mes a full 180 degrees. Also referred to as a “super wide” or
“ultra-wide” lens, it produces an image that appears distorted,
giving it a more abstract yet dynamic aesthe c.
O en any lens with a focal length that falls between 1mm and
22mm can be categorized as a fisheye lens. You can see why the
fisheye lens would be considered one of the specialty types of
camera lenses. The distor ons it produces are certainly stylis c
but completely "unnatural" compared to human vision.
Wide Angle Lenses
What exactly is a Wide Angle Lens?
A wide-angle lens is any lens with a focal length that is shorter
than the length of the sensor or film. For a 35mm sensor, wide
angle lenses would range between approx. 24mm-35mm.
Quite commonly, any lens with a focal length that falls between
35mm to 23mm can be categorized as a wide-angle lens. To go
down any further would push the lens into fisheye territory, which
can s ll be considered wide-angle technically, but the “fisheye”
label more accurately calls out its warping effect.
A WIDE ANGLE LENS PRODUCES A WIDER FRAME, WHICH HELPS…
• Establish loca ons and se ngs
• Clarify character geography in master shots
• Accentuate camera movement

How does a wide angle lens work?

Simply put, a wide angle lens has a short focal length and thus a
wider field of view. Wide angles can come as fixed prime lenses or
wide angle zoom lenses. To be er understand wide lenses, it’s
important to understand how they compares to other lenses both
technically and visually.
Standard Lenses
A normal lens, also called a standard lens, is a lens with a focal length
between 35mm to 50mm. The focal length of standard lenses are most
similar to how the human eye sees the world. Cinematographers o en
use normal lenses for more grounded, naturalis c cinematography.
Normal lenses can vary depending on what format is being used.
Normal lenses are generally equal to the length of the diagonal of a
digital camera’s sensor or the film format.

What is a normal lens used for?

Less stylized cinematography
To give a shot a naturalis c look
Matching the perspec ve of the human eye

The standard lens is just one of many lens types, each with their own
storytelling value. Before we get much further, take a second and
download our free E-book: The Ul mate Guide to Camera Lenses. This
will give you the full range of variety in camera lenses and how they
each play a part.

Standard lenses are best used for shots that aim to replicate the natural
perspec ve of the human eye.
Telephoto Lenses
A long-focus lens is any lens with a set focal length that is
significantly longer than the length of the sensor or film,
measured diagonally. For a full frame sensor, a long-focus lens
would be anything between 55mm to 500mm. You may also hear
a cinematographer or camera operator refer to them simply as
“long lenses.”
Some long lenses are also telephoto lenses. A telephoto lens has a
special lens group built inside, known as a telephoto group. A
telephoto group is an extra element inside the lens to extend its
reach without needing a physically larger lens.
But, as we've seen with prime vs. zoom lenses, extra elements
inside the lens can reduce picture sharpness and the amount light
hi ng the sensor.
A telephoto lens has a longer focal length than a standard lens,
yielding a magnified image and a narrow field of view, allowing
you to photograph faraway subjects.
Telephoto lenses can be either zoom or prime lenses and come in
a variety of focal lengths, from “medium telephoto” (70-200mm)
through “super telephoto” (longer than 300mm).
They fla en facial features and are o en much more fla ering
than a wider angle lens. Because telephoto lenses bring far away
subjects closer, they also work extremely well for landscape shots.
WHAT IS A TELEPHOTO LENS USED FOR?
• Bring far away subjects closer to the camera
• Emphasize blurred backgrounds
• Longer focal length is great for portraits
• Great for wide-scale landscape photography

Macro Lenses
A macro lens is designed to capture small subjects at close
distances with extremely sharp detail. There are two major
dis nc ons that separate macro lenses from all others:
1. Miniature Subjects — The first benefit of macro lenses is
how they capture ny subjects such as insects or small objects
like a coin. They typically project a 1:1 ra o, meaning the
subject appears the exact same size as it is in real life. Some
macro lenses also allow for magnifica on, where the subject
appears much larger than their actual size.
2. Minimum Focus Distance — Secondly, macro lenses have
a shorter “minimum focus distance” than a regular lens. This
means that you can get very close to the subject and s ll stay
in focus to capture as much detail as possible.
WHAT IS A MACRO LENS USED FOR?
• Magnifying subjects
• Capture smallest details
Camera Lenses Explained 68
• Create shallow depth of field to make subjects pop
• Maintain focus at close distances
Fish-eye lens photography
Wide angle lens photography
Normal lens Photography

Short Telephoto lens Photography

Medium Telephoto lens Photography

Super Telephoto lens Photography

Macro lens Photography

Fisheye Lens Wide angle Lens

 Macro Lens Normal lens

Short Telephoto lens Medium Telephoto lens

 Super Telephoto lens

Aperture