What is Lens?

Every single part of a digital camera is almost as important as the other, save those flashy, eye-catching accessories! So, to retain the same note of, knowledge odyssey, let us now get some information and workable knowledge about camera lenses. All of us have the basic idea of the importance of lenses in a camera. Yet if we must define again, take it in this way – what our eyes are to us, is the lens to a camera. Would you not now like to get a good grasp over this important aspect of your digital camera to make your pictures more lively and lovely? We know you would; so here we go..

Let’s begin with what this lens is at the first place. Camera lens is nothing but an optical convex lens which is used to capture light and then focus it on film or a digital sensor to create image. Most of the time, instead of one lens, more than one lens are assembled and is called a compound lens. This is done in order to rectify some optical aberrations that are present in more or less every camera lens. Camera lens can be either fixed with the camera body or you can get a digital camera where lenses are changeable with several other lenses with different capacities that include focal length and some other properties.

But then, you must be wondering what are other types of lenses and more importantly which one of them will be most suitable for your camera. To get an answer and to know more, just read on and get acquainted with different types of lenses.

What kind of lens does your camera need?

This is precisely the consideration that may bug you while you are trying to get a good lens for your camera. But to arrive at a choice or decision, you must first know about the several types of lenses that are available in the world of camera. Here are some information about these lenses, which will no doubt come handy in your search for that perfect lens.

Fixed Lens & Interchangeable Lens:

The terms themselves throw an open suggestion what their basic ideas are. Yet to explain for your easy grasp, a fixed lens is that one where the lens is permanently fixed to the camera body. This type of lens is mostly seen in the ‘point and shoot’ cameras and come with some additional benefits. Not to speak of the less cost, a fixed lens camera is easy to handle and make the camera more portable and compact.

On the other hand, an interchangeable lens is that where in the camera body you can adjust other lenses of different capacity as well. This allows the camera owner to take different range of pictures. Generally interchangeable lenses are used in professional SLR cameras. Though there are accessories for fixed lens cameras as well that can enhance the capacity to some extent. While these two are the basic variations that you should keep in mind, there are several other types of lenses that may help you a lot while choosing one for your camera. Let us delve a bit now.

Quickies:

• Optical Axis & Center: Optical axis is an imaginary line to meet the focal plane at 90˚angle passing through the center of the lens while optical center is the point on the focal length where this axis passes through.
• Focal Plane: This is the plane where the camera lens creates or projects the image of the object of which the picture is taken. This plane, as is said before, stands at an angle of 90˚ with the optical axis.
• Focal Length: The distance between the focal plane and the optical center on the optical axis is called the focal length of a lens.

Normal: In a normal lens the focal length is generally same as the diagonal of the format of the film. The view angle that a normal lens has is almost the same as we view an object with our eyes.

Wide Angle: Unlike the normal lens, in a wide-angle lens the focal length is comparatively short but the view angle is much wider. Though this type of lens is rectified of the geometrical error, yet for the wider angle the image may appear distorted.

Fisheye: These are the lenses that are known for the widest angle of view. There are two types of fisheye lenses which include, Circular Fisheye Lens and Full Frame Fisheye Lens. These lenses are generally very expensive and are not used in everyday photography. Rather fisheye lenses are used in scientific studies, VR and Panoramic photography.

Long Focus: As the term itself carries the suggestion, in a long focus lens has long focal length. Though the viewing angle is smaller, but it brings the subject of the picture closer even then they may be far away.

Macro: Before we understand what macro lens is and what help it extends, let us know what this term means. Macro lenses are nothing but the camera lenses that makes taking picture from very near or from a short distance possible. These lenses are generally used as lens head supplementary for various other lenses like zoom lens, tele lens and some others.

Repro: These are the special lenses that lend sharpness into the pictures to be taken. Many of the retro lenses make the image frame size 9×12 or more while some other helps to take picture from a short distance.

While these are some of the common lens types that you get acquainted with now, there are several others that depend on several other criteria. Let us have a look at some of these:

Fixed Focal-Length Lens System: Very useful for the compact cameras, fixed focal-length lenses allow the use of macro and landscape modes though there will be no optical zoom with these. Easy to handle and cheaper in price, a fixed focal-length lens camera can make your personal celebrations memorable. But there are certain drawbacks. You cannot take picture of the far away things as there will not be the optical zooming feature and the picture quality is of an average quality as well.

Fixed Zoom Lens System: In certain cameras the zooming lens is fixed in the camera body making it incapable of sliding in the main body. It does make the total structure heavier than the fixed focal-length cameras, but you have several advantages with it. For taking wide angle, telephoto or close-up pictures you can use different types of convertible lenses. Even it can offer a zooming factor that can extend up to 18x.

Retractable Zoom Lens System: As the title conveys the basic of the system, in this type of camera, the camera lens retracts in the camera body once the camera is in off mode. Usually this type of cameras is very easy to handle and carry also due to their portability and compactness. The zooming factor is of 2x or 3x here. The problem that a camera with this type of lens projects is that, you cannot use extra lens convertors or filters with it.

Interchangeable Lens System: You may have already a bit idea what this interchangeable lens system can do or what it is. To be precise, this is the lens system where one lens system can be totally detached from the main camera body and you can use other convertibles. Generally, interchangeable lenses are used in digital SLR cameras. Cameras with this type of lenses offer a wide range of facilities for taking better pictures. Meant for professional photography mainly, SLRs with interchangeable lenses can be very heavy and high on cost along with its high end features.

Folded Optics Lenses: This is another type of lens that helps the camera maintain a slim built. The mechanics that are followed in this lens helps it to slide sideways inside the main body of the camera. This has led to name this type of lens to be folded optics lenses. While this type of lens helps in maintaining the slim built of the camera, there are certain disadvantages as well. Usually camera with folded lens cost much and the picture quality is comparatively low. Moreover, you cannot use anymore lens convertibles with this type of camera.

Now you have got a number of choices in front of you to consider what type of lens you want your camera with. Weigh your options wisely, considering your necessity, their price, advantages and disadvantages and arrive at the final decision. We at TopDigitalCameras.com will be glad to assist you in your choice.