Last week, I touted the virtues of the “kit lens” that comes on DSLR & Mirrorless cameras as a decent all purpose lens that is underrated in it's quality and ability to take a good photograph. Allow me to suggest to you three lenses that every photographer should have along with the kit lens to round out your photo repertoire.
If you click here, you'll access a great article from the Matador Network which offers tutorials for travel photographers & writers called “3 Lenses You Need To Pack While Traveling” and you'll see that if you wish to expand & grow your photography beyond the capabilities of your kit lens, you may wish to get any one (or all three) of these type lenses:
- A Telephoto Zoom Lens – While the standard kit lens is good for most situations, our friendly neighborhood soceer moms and lacrosse dads soon find this lens is lacking when you want to get a picture of your child in his or her favorite sport. Or you're going on a once in a lifetime safari and you want to get a shot of that giraffe in the distance. A zoom that starts where your kit lens ends and gives you 4x to 6x more zoom is what the doctor ordered (Like a 55-200mm like Nikon's above or 300mm zoom).
- A Wide Angle Lens (Fixed Or Zoom) – Most people don't realize that a kit lens does include some wide angle but want more so they can take interior shots ( shout out to our real estate agents!) or outdoor scenery. A good option for DSLR's that we offer is Sigma's 10-20mm zoom lens (above) that is a very good quality lens for $500 or so.
- A Fixed Focal Length Lens (Like A “Nifty Fifty”) - To quote the article- “A fixed lens means it doesn’t allow you to zoom in or out. What you see through the viewfinder is what you get". At under $150, a 50mm 1.8 lens (like Nikon's above) is the perfect lens for low light situations which do not require flash such as night photos & dimly lit interiors. And this lens can also achiever that nice “bokeh” effect that pros use when they take portraits.
We're now coming into prime photo taking season with Mother's & Father's Day, Graduations and yes, the wonderful warm weather we've all been waiting for! If you got a camera with only a kit lens with it, we'll be happy to advise you which of the above lenses is best suited for your type of photography. And if you need some help on how to use your camera along with the lens, check out our 2 intro camera classes on Thursday May 2nd & 9th. Check our class schedule for more info!