Which lens to buy
Before I bought my SLR I spent a lot of time reading about lenses. The truth is, it wasn't easy deciding which one or which ones to get. Eventually I got an idea for the perfect lens after seeing a scientist's microscope and so I figured my choice would look something like this:

That's the one I want. I haven't seen it in the shops yet, but the moment I do I'll let you know about it.
Prime lenses
When I used to play a lot of tennis I got some coaching. One day my coach made me spend the whole session running backards and forwards — from the net to the baseline and back to the net. Over and over again. It wore me out and didn't improve my tennis very much but it was good practice for photography with a prime.
What's a prime lens? It's one with a fixed focal length. In other words. If you've got a 200 mm lens then 200 mm is your only option and you've got to either swap lenses or run backwards/forwards to change how closely you frame your subject. So now you know about primes. It might sound bad, but photographers tend to like them because the good ones have the best image quality possible.

Even some of the best wildlife photographers occasionally take on other work
Zoom lenses
Sometimes running backwards and forwards is not an option. For example, you might be pinned to the ground by several tons of overturned machinery (I hate it when that happens). That's when a zoom lens comes in handy. If I'd had a good zoom lens earlier in my photography I wouldn't have needed so much tennis practice. A zoom lens is like having lots of lenses piled into one. |