Frequent Lens Changing Or Why It's Not So Convenient To Carry Multiple Lenses To Shoot With.

Hello Alphanautics:

This time I bring you an article based on my own experience about an issue that happens to photographers that have more that one or two lenses.

Introduction

1 week ago I went with some friends to a place a bit far from where I live to shoot out some scenery and whatever else came across in between.

Normally I can carry everything Ill need, including most of my lenses, due to the case I have. Usually I don't carry it with me per se but leave it nearby for easy access in case I need an item from the bag. It may not sound that practical to some of you, but its better to have that lens or filter near instead of saying "Great, I left it home".

Of course, one could plan meticulously ahead and just take what you'll need and that's that. I have to learn to do that.

Anyway, since we were going in my car and I was driving and it was just two of my pals and me, I had space to carry all my stuff.

Once we got there, I got a bit of a hang of how the shoot would go: we would be moving in short distances, stopping to shoot what we wanted for a "fixed amount" of time (and I use quotes because usually the 10 minutes we agreed on, turned 20 or 30... Nature is a beautiful thing to explore and enjoy) and then move on until we stopped again, we would repeat that routine until we reached the farthest place we could go.

Here is the lens line up I had with me that day:

Sony DT 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3

Sony 28mm f/2.8

Sony 50mm Macro f/2.8

Tamron LD Di Telemacro 75-300mm f/4-5.6

I wish I had taken the Lensbaby 3G I have...

And to my surprise, one of the friends that was going had a Minolta Maxxum 7000 SLR with a Minolta 35-70 f/4 lens. He took it because he wanted me to see it in case I wanted to buy it.So he gave it to me to test out.

So that made for 5 lenses available to use.

I tried the 35-70mm lens but I quickly took it off and switched back to the 18-200mm, the problem with it was that I was going for wide shots, and due to the crop factor of the sensor in my camera (1.5x), the 35-70mm yields a range of 52.5-105mm on my camera. Not exactly wide...That lens in APS-C sounds more useful for portraits or telephoto shots, not wide shots.

That's one drawback from APS-C, the focal lengths required for wide or ultra wide angles have to be from 18mm to 10mm. And that means specially designed lenses, full frame wide angles stop being wide when you use them on a smaller sensor.

Anyway, after the first stop and taking some photos, I realized I was going to want to do both wide angle shots and telephoto shots, so I took out the 75-300mm and put it in my vest. Its worth noting that I didn't left the 35-70mm in my bag, but I carried it around without noticing...

As we moved on, I found myself doing something that slowed me down big time: I was changing lenses frequently.

The problem with frequent lens changing and carrying lenses around.

For a good while, I kept going between the 18-200mm and the 75-300mm. While this produced good shots all over a wide focal length spectrum, it slowed me down and made my moving around very clumsy.

The great thing about the SLR system is that it allows you to change lenses in order to get the shot with the angle you want or get close with something far away. The possibilities are endless.

The problem is that, as you acquire more and more lenses, you have a need/craving to carry them all around and use them all at the same time.

Because you got so many choices, you want to try them all. The problem is that if you don't make up your mind about what kind of shots you want or in what focal length you'll want them, you'll end up switching lenses endlessly.

Back to me, every time I changed lenses, I either had to do some acrobatic stunt while holding two lenses, the camera body and caps or ask a friend to help me out. The problem was, whenever I switched lenses on my own, I stayed behind while my friends moved on.

Not to mention that I had to put my lenses on rocks, even though nothing happened, I was risking them to a fall or worse.

Once I actually managed to switch lenses and catch up, another problem showed up: I couldn't move with enough freedom.

The terrain we were at, was mostly rocky. Some points required jumping from rock to rock, climbing or sitting on the rock and sliding down just to name a few examples.

Its hard to do it as it is with no extra luggage, unless you do it all the time. But add a handicap of one hand busy holding the camera and things get a little bit more complicated, then to that add the fact that you're carrying two lenses in your vest bags, and those lenses wont let you jump comfortably because you risk of smashing them against a wall or press them against you, or they wont let you cross through a narrow space because the pocket is so bulky, or you cant get on the ground on your belly to take a shot because you got to take the lenses out of the pockets and you have a quite handicapped shoot.

After a while of enduring this, i said enough of the bulky 75-300mm and I placed it back in my bag since I wasn't using it anymore.

But then I made another mistake, I forgot to take out the 35-70mm and I took out the 28mm because I planned leaving the 18-200mm in the bag as well and just use a prime for the rest of the trip.

I know, I know, I collected more strikes at this point than a blind person would on the bottom of the 9th inning on the 7th game of the World Series...

In my defense Ill say that, as I was switching the 18-200mm off my camera, I noted a group of large birds landing on top of a rock and some flying around where I was. So I kept the 18-200mm lens on and shoot the birds (not literally of course) but I forgot to leave the 28mm behind...

Then I wandered off on my own and came across a rock that looks like a mushroom and wanted to shoot it at ground level, but just as I was setting on the floor, I felt two bulks on my pockets that didn't let me lay flat.

Yeah, those two bulks were the 28mm and the 35-70mm...

I finally decided to take them back to my car and leave them on my bag and just stick with the 18-200mm for the rest of the shoot out.

After doing that, things proceeded much more smoothly. No more lens changing slowing me down, no more unused lenses in my bag doing nothing but adding weight, no more worries.

Despite these problems, I had a great time and got great pictures. However, once I got home and I reviewed both the pictures and the experience, I came to some conclusions and lessons learnt that Id like to share with you.

What I learnt and what I realized.

The first thing I realized was that carrying multiple lenses around is just NOT practical. The best thing to do is to set on one lens or two at the most and stick to those.

I realized that, personally, I still tend to lean toward zoom lenses than primes. This is understandable; I come from a camera that allowed me to move between wide angle to telephoto shots with the same lens. Most of the cameras Ive used before (video and photography) have zoom lenses. The lens my A700 came paired with is a zoom. There's also the detail that these days, camera manufacturers tend to sell bodies with zoom lenses rather than primes.

This is understandable too, they want to give you options within the same lens. Back in SLR days (before 1980 or so), camera makers used to sell you the SLR with a 50mm lens and that's all you had to make pictures until you bought other lenses. But then lens makers got the hang of making zoom lenses that looked as good or better than fixed focal length lenses, and a lot of people switched to those and became the de facto "go-to-lens" for many.

A zoom lens is a versatile way to have plenty of focal lengths in the same lens to do shots up close or wide as possible.

The problem I see is that, if one sticks to this kind of lenses ALL the time, then one is not exploiting the full power of the SLR system, which one of its advantages is THE ABILITY TO CHANGE LENSES!

One might as well stick to a high end compact bridge camera or P&S in that case...

Since I realized that point, I have decided to shoot for a while only with a fixed focal length lens or a small zoom lens. That way I will learn to shoot in a new way and will get more used to those lenses that I don't use that much.

The other thing I concluded is that is not worth carrying plenty of lenses around "just in case" or "because I want to shoot with all of them". You'll waste more time changing lenses than taking pictures. And if you carry a bulk of lenses around, your attention will be on them; that nothing happens to them, which lens should you use, if they aren't rubbing against each other, etc.

Its just not worth it, the best thing to do is to set on one lens or two and fully exploit them and work around their short coming against other lenses.

For example, if I had just taken the 28mm lens all the way on my trip, I would have had a lighter camera+lens combination than with the 18-200mm. If I had wanted to get close, I would have walked or climbed as much as I could. If I had wanted to go wide, I would have walked back as long as it took to get all I wanted to get in the frame.

Maybe I could have taken the 28mm and the 75-300mm and deal with those. Or just do what I ended up doing: using just the 18-200mm and take pictures.

Its a trade-off, as anything related to photography, but the point in this case is to maximize the time you spend taking pictures instead of taking a lens off and putting another one on.

Of course, it all depends on the kind of shooting you do or the environment you shoot at, maybe a zoom will work better than a prime, maybe a heavy lens will be better than a lighter one, maybe a 50mm lens will be better than a 28mm lens.

The possibilities are infinite, only you know what you need to get the shot you want.

The trick is to learn how to get that shot when you don't have the specific lens you want or need.

There is also another issue: whether you're willing to let some shots go.

Take my example, if I had switched the 18-200mm lens to the 28mm and then I spotted the birds I saw, I would have had two choices: 1) Switch the lens again back to the 18-200mm or the 75-300mm or 2) Stick with the 28mm and get as close and as high as possible to the birds and shoot what I could get.

The zoom lenses allowed me to track the birds and get them close enough for the shots I wanted, but the 28mm wouldn't have got me as far as I needed. In that case I would had to compose differently or move to get them as close as possible.

Then there's also the post-processing resource of cropping. Taking a wide picture and then take out pixels off the picture to frame it as you originally wanted. Personally I'm not a big fan of this...

Of course there is always the possibility of hiring one or two people who carry your stuff around and have them have the lenses ready for you. But if you cant afford it or find two people willing to do it, you'll need to learn how to do some lens management.

One interesting and (awfully) surprising detail: Despite all the lens changing I did, I didn't get ANY dust bunnies on my sensor! Woo!

I guess the clean and cool air of the mountain is cleaner even at dust level than the city's air.

But then again I think, if I had done this in...downtown, my sensor would be filled will all sorts of garbage.

Well, there you have it. Some food for thought about how to best use your lenses and how to spend more time shooting than changing lenses or worrying about them.

In summary:

1.- Decide before hand what kind of shots you'll want to get and which focal length you'll need to get those shots. Then pick a lens with the suitable focal length.

2.- Carry as few lens as possible, carry what you need, but dont carry all of your lenses.

3.- Zoom lenses are one good way to minimize carrying many lenses around and switching them frequently, but also explore fixed focal length lenses to exploit the advantage of being able to change lenses in your camera.

4.- Keep in mind the sensor size of your camera, the smaller it is, the longer the focal length of any lens becomes if its meant for a full frame camera. The exception to this is when using lenses especially designed for smaller sensors.

If you shoot with a full frame camera, dont worry about this.

5.- Sticking to one lens may force you to develop the way you frame or compose in order to get the shot you want or a shot that looks just as good, this is a good thing worth exploring into.

6.- The only reason why you wouldnt need to worry about this stuff is if you got a crew of people taking care of your lenses so you just focus on shooting (pun intended).

7.- Its ok to have a lot of lenses, just dont carry ALL of them around, instead learn how to pick them depending on the pictures you want to get.

The only (valid) reason I can think of for carrying plenty of lenses around is because you work for a lens making company and youre displaying them on a show or in a field event sponsored by the lens maker, or borrowing them to people for them to use. But if youre going to take pictures, carrying 4 lenses or more is just going to slow you down.

I hope this article helps you out.

Until next time.

Collaborator's Article: My First Sony Camera And My First Experience With Sony Customer Service

It's annoying, sad and troublesome when your camera suffers an accident and it can't take any more pictures and you have to send it for repair.

Usually one is scared, since one needs a place to send the camera to without having to worry what kind of experiments they will run on it. You need a reliable and trustworthy place to perform any repairs (or maintenance)

Sony has a facility at Laredo, Texas in the United States that provides repair or maintenance service to Alpha DSLRs.

Our new collaborator, Elspeth Duncan, had to send her A300 there in order to get it repaired, I asked her to write an article about her experience with Sony's service so you have input on the kind of service they provide if you ever need to send in your Alpha for repairs.

My First Sony Camera And My First Experience With Sony Customer Service by Elspeth Duncan.

On February 14th 2009 my padded camera bag containing my SONY A300 DSLR dropped to the floor from a low height of approximately ten inches. As the bag is padded and the fall was minimal, I thought nothing of it.

About an hour later I took my camera out of its bag to get a shot. Upon looking at my LCD screen afterwards, I was shocked to see the screen looking like it had taken a shot of curtains being drawn on a stage. My mind went back to the low fall in the padded bag. Could it be possible that something so simple had caused what appeared to be a serious problem? I had ordered my camera from B&H Photovideo eight months before and had it shipped to Trinidad & Tobago where I live. It had never given trouble, I was consistently pleased with its performance and was sure to always handle it with great care.

I consulted a camera buff friend of mine and sent him a shot of the LCD screen. “Looks like your screen got cracked inside and there is leakage,” he said. I couldn’t believe this misfortune. I googled SONY A300 LCD to see if there was anyone who had experienced something similar. I found no such thing. However, in my search, I came across the Alpha Sight website (http://alphasight.blogspot.com/). I contacted the owner, Diego, using the address in the side bar, explained my issue and asked for advice. He responded quickly and, having done research on the issue after receiving my email, was able to offer comprehensive advice. I had sent him the photo of the LCD screen and he confirmed what my friend had told me: the LCD screen was internally cracked.

Picture of the cracked LCD screen.

There is no SONY service centre in Trinidad, so replacing the LCD screen here was not an option. I had no choice but to make an overseas call for SONY support (http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/contact-relation.pl?mdl=DSLRA300) in the USA. It was my first experience of dealing with them. I was put through to a rep called Adrian, who dealt with me in a polite and professional manner, knowledgeably answering all of my questions and advising me on what I had to do. Further discussions with SONY (this time with a rep called André), when I called to give them some information a while later, proved to be just as professional, thorough and friendly. I was told that I would have to send my camera to the SONY Repair Centre in Laredo, Texas. I was concerned about having to send my camera all the way there, but decided to trust that all would be well.

When I received an email from SONY that night asking me to fill out a customer service evaluation form, based on my thorough conversations with Adrian and André, I did not hesitate to give them high or highest ratings in all categories.

My only frustration in this experience of sending my camera for repairs came with the actual shipment of the camera from Trinidad & Tobago to the United States via DHL. I was told by DHL that it would take two days for my shipment to reach its destination, but this was not the case. For reasons as yet unknown to me, my camera was held for extended periods of time by US customs in both Miami and Ohio. According to one of the reps at the courier company, US customs can sometimes hold a shipment for as long as three weeks to a few months and are not guaranteed to give any explanation. A little over two weeks after sending my camera off, someone at the Laredo Service Centre finally signed for it.

As per SONY’s explanation on the website, it was my understanding that my camera would have been examined and a quote sent to me for approval before they went ahead with any repairs. In the event that the customer cannot pay, no repairs are done and the camera is shipped back “as is”. My unit was still under warranty but, as it had dropped, I did not know if the warranty would be honoured. I awaited their quote.

The day after SONY signed for my camera (3rd March), I got an email from them (4th March) acknowledging its receipt. Then, on the 5th of March, I got an email from them informing me that my camera had been shipped back to me.

I was shocked. So quickly? They had barely even received it! And no quote? There was no further explanation with their brief email, so I had no idea what repairs, if any, had been done. I sent them an e-mail asking for details and promptly received the following response:

We are pleased to inform you that the repair of this Digital SLR Camera was restored to factory specifications. According to the technician’s report the LCD screen was replaced as well as a part that is described as a CV LCD Lower Cov. You should not have any more problems with this unit in the future.

The package was returned via UPS 3rd Day Service, and shipped to the following address: (Sky box address)

If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us.

Regards, SONY.

After the frustration of waiting more than two weeks for my camera to arrive at its destination, I was relieved and impressed by SONY’s swift action and grateful that my warranty had been honoured. Shipping via UPS was without delay and spot on time. Within a few days my camera was back home, safe and sound, working like brand new at no cost to me other than shipment via courier to the States and a minimal fee for UPS handling within Trinidad. Some days later I was sent another SONY customer evaluation form via e-mail and, once again, gave all categories high or highest markings. I have the feeling they seriously take into consideration the customer feedback and do what is necessary to maintain high levels of service.

Diego asked me if I would write about this for his site and I said yes. This is my first time having any of my equipment repaired, so I have no other such experience with which to compare it. Also, my SONY A300 DSLR is my first SONY product. My camera buff friend (mentioned above) had highly recommended it to me and I was convinced enough to make the purchase. My other cameras (video and photo) have been/are Canon (digital), Pentax (non digital) and Panasonic (video). I don’t know about other people’s experiences with SONY. All that I have said here is based on my personal first time SONY experience (product and service). I am pleased with both my A300 camera and with the level of customer response and assistance received. Prior to this experience I had no real impressions of SONY (having never owned any of their products or had to deal with them as a customer). The brand has since risen in my estimation as one in which I would place confidence.

Elspeth Duncan
Multimedia Artist/Film maker
Blog: http://nowiswowtoo.blogspot.com/


As you can see, Sony is indeed putting hard work into having a reliable customer service for Alpha DSLR owners. The Laredo, TX facility should be the first place to consider if your camera needs a repair or maintenance.

I hope this article is useful to you.

Thanks to Elspeth for taking the time to write this, and welcome to Alpha Sight Collaborators! :)

An Insight On Dynamic Range Optimization By Apical

Everyone one of us who owns an Alpha DSLR, no matter what model, knows (to a bigger or lesser amount) what the Dynamic Range Optimization or DRO Function is.

What some of you may not know is that the technology behind DRO isn't developed by Sony, but licenced from a company called Apical. Apical is a company that develops software used in cameras from major brands, including Sony, that aims to deliver photographs closer to the way we see them with our eyes.

Digital Photography Review has recently posted an article of an interview they did with Apical's managing director Michael Tusch, on which he explains what their software does and what was the reason they created it, along with visual examples of how DRO works better most of the time than using tonal curve adjustment in post-processing.

It's a very interesting read if you're curious about how DRO works, the principles behind it and when is advised to use it and when not to use it.

Feature: Apical dynamic range interview by Richard Butler

Exposure Compensation- Helping The Camera Out On Tricky Scenes

Normal behavior

Cameras usually measure light to render the scene in a way that everything or almost everything will be lit and properly exposed. The way they measure light is different than it is done professionally with the use of hand held light meters (This will be discussed in another article).

They take their information from the light that passes through the lens, and based on that, they calculate the proper exposure settings in any mode except Manual; and that is because in Manual you control the exposure values, therefore the light metering is up to you.

However, sometimes you will point the camera at scenes that will contain elements that will throw off the camera and will expose incorrectly.

Tricky scenes

The camera's in built light meter measures the light in a scene based on the light reflected from the subjects in it.

However, there are colors that absorb light, that bounce it off or absorb a part and reflect another.

The camera's metering system is based on the notion that almost all colors reflect roughly the same amount of light and it calculates exposure based on that.

However, it may have happened to you that you pointed your camera at a person with white clothes with plenty of light around it and the camera underexposed the image OR you pointed the camera at something mostly black or made up of a dark color and it overexposed the image. Or viceversa.

In the first case, there isnt enough light in the shot and in the second theres too much light and the colors look washed out.

At this point you either go postal on the camera, switch to Manual or fix the photo in post processing.

All of these options are valid (except go postal on the camera, maybe) but sometimes there isnt enough time to switch to Manual and retake the shot or you dont like sitting in front of a computer for hours fixing a shot that should have come up properly the first time.

Don't panic though, there is a way to fix it right away.

Exposure Compensation

That way is called Exposure Compensation.

By exposure its meant the amount of light that will reach the sensor when you press the shutter.

Compensation in this case means to increase or decrease a value or values in order to properly expose a picture.

The values that directly affect exposure are Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO.

So, if you are in any mode (except Manual) and you point your camera at a subject with bright colors (such as white) or dark colors (like black), the camera will think the following:

Bright colors: There is too much light in the picture, so I must select a fast shutter speed, a small aperture or low ISO in order to avoid overexposing the shot.

Dark colors: There isnt enough light in the picture, so I must select a slow shutter speed, big aperture or high ISO in order to avoid underexposing the shot.

The problem is, under this logic, the camera will underexpose in bright colors or overexpose in dark colors most of the time. It may actually not do this or it may happen that under bright colors you actually need to overexpose a bit and in dark underexpose a bit.

It all depends on the subject, amount of light available and the exposure values.

Exposure Compensation is a function that allows you to shift the exposure values and tell the camera to over or underexpose as you consider necessary.

+/-

In all Alpha DSLRs (and even in the cameras made by other manufacturers) the Exposure Compensation is represented by a button with these symbols: +/-. Usually the button is split in two; black on the plus side and white on the minus side.

In the Alpha DSLRs, this button is found at the back of the camera near the viewfinder (A100/200/300/350) or near the shutter button (A700/900).

Exposure compensation scale is based on a scale of exposure values (EV), the plus side illuminates the image and the minus side darkens the image.

When you press this button, either you will get a exclusive screen for you to move the cursor up or down the scale or the scale will light up if you use the Quick Navi screen.

As with any scale, there is a middle ground, in this case is 0, which is always the exposure recommended by the camera.

In the LCD screen looks like this:

+/-

-3 I I -2 I I -1 I I 0 I I 1 I I 2 I I 3+

In the viewfinder it will look like this:

-2 o o -1 o o 0 o o 1 o o 2+

The A700/900 go to -3 or +3, the A100/200/300/350 go from -2 to +2.

If you own a A700/900 don't worry if the scale in the viewfinder wont go to -3 or +3, if you compensate beyond -2 or +2, the camera will compensate to the value you select. The value will be displayed in the viewfinder as you select it, it will disappear once you press the shutter button, but the camera will compensate to the value you select.

Now, you may wonder why the LCD and viewfinder have I or o's between the numbers. Those are the EV steps.

EV Steps

"And what are those?" you may ask.

As I said before, the scale used to compensate its called EV scale, and the units to measure light in that scale are called steps.

As you compensate in either side of the scale, the shutter speed, aperture or ISO values change, it may be just one, two or the three of them.

The point is, whenever one of these values changes, the exposure changes.

The Alpha DSLRs have two ways of measuring in the EV scale: in 0.3 or 0.5 steps.

The A100/200/300/350 have their scales in 0.3 EV steps and the A700/900 can deal with 0.3 or 0.5 EV steps.

The I's in the LCD between the numbers or the o's in the viewfinder between numbers are the markers when you measure in 0.3 EV steps, but when you measure in 0.5 EV steps, the marker is placed between two I's or two o's.

0.3, 0.5, 0.7

So what's the difference between 0.3 and 0.5 EV steps?

The basic difference is the amount of steps you can compensate.

In 0.3 steps, the scale goes like this:

-3, -2.7, -2.3, -2.0, -1.7, -1.3, -1. -0.7, -0.3, 0, +0.3, +0.7, +1.0, +1.3, +1.7, +2.0. +2.3, +2.7, +3

In 0.5 EV steps, the scale goes like this:

-3, -2.5, -2.0, -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, 0, +0.5, +1.0, +1.5, +2.0, +2.5, +3.0

When you use 0.3 EV steps, the scale is larger because you can access 0.3 and 0.7 steps of compensation between numbers.

When you use 0.5 EV steps, you can only access halves between each number. The scale is smaller.

Differences between 0.3 and 0.5 EV steps

Now, if you use a A100/200/300/350, you dont have to worry about 0.5 EV steps because you can't access them, but if you want to know the difference between 0.3 and 0.5 scales, keep reading.

For those of you using a A700/900, there are differences when you use 0.3 or 0.5 EV step scales.

The use of both scales presents tradeoffs. Using a 0.3 EV step scale allows you to use a bigger scale whereas 0.5 is more limited.

The difference is that if you need precise increments, 0.5 EV works a lot better than 0.3 EV, because 0.3 EV presents you subtle changes that wont affect too much the exposure in case you screw up, but it will require you to use more steps to make a visible compensation. And thats another tradeoff, if you want subtle changes without introducing a harsh change in exposure, 0.5 EV wont work for you since that's what it will do, the changes will be more visible, so if you want just a slight touch of more light into the picture, 0.5 EV won't do the job since it will introduce more light in each step than 0.3 EV.

In 0.3 EV, the lack of a middle point between steps is compensated by the fact that you can use 0.7 EV as well, and that step may introduce enough light to make a difference or a little too much. It all depends on the scene.

In 0.5 EV the changes are more predictable, so if you require a visible change and you know how much, 0.5 EV will work better than 0.3 EV since it won't require you to decide whether to use a 0.3 or 0.7 step compensation, it will be just a half and you can learn what to expect. However, if you rather make exposures where the light is increased or decreased in a more gradual manner, chose 0.3 EV.

There is one more thing to keep in mind: the scale you chose for Exposure Compensation also affects the shutter speed and aperture range. If you chose 0.3 EV, the shutter speed and aperture will change in values of 1/3rd whereas if you chose 0.5 EV, the values will change in halves.

This is done in order to match the changes introduced in 0.3 or 0.5 EV steps.

And again, there is a tradeoff, having the speed or aperture shown in 1/3rd gives you a broader range of speed and aperture (limited by your camera's top speed or lens' aperture range) but it will take longer for you to get to the setting you want, which wont happen if you use 0.5 EV.

It's up to you which scale you use; 0.3 or 0.5 EV.

To change between those two in the A700: Menu-> Recording Menu (camera icon) Page 1-> Exposure step-> 0.3 or 0.5 EV

In the A900: Menu-> Recording Menu (camera icon) Page 2-> Exposure Step-> 0.3 or 0.5 EV

Notes of use and Closure

• The primary function of Exposure compensation is to illuminate or darken an image when the camera doesn't expose correctly because its pointed at a subject or scene mostly made of white or black.
• Exposure Compensation is useful, especially since Auto Mode tends to underexpose sometimes.
• It must be used with caution since it can ruin a photo if not used properly. Use only as much as you need to get the shot you want, if you over do it in any part, you may do a worse mess than the camera's.
• For pictures that require a drastic and precise compensation, use 0.5 EV, for pictures that require subtle and gradual changes use 0.3 EV.
• It doesn't work in Manual Mode, but will work in the rest of the modes, even Scene Modes.
• In Manual Mode, the Exposure Compensation scale changes to M.M.; which means Metered Manually, the camera still offers its opinion about the proper exposure to chose but the final choice its up to you and you can ignore the camera's recommendation.
• There is more range in compensation in 0.3 EV than in 0.5 EV, but in 0.5 EV the changes are more visible in each step.
• For some weird reason, in the A700 happened that when using Exposure Compensation; the exposure values DIDN'T change BUT the illumination in the picture DID change a bit.

Exposure Compensation is a useful tool when you're shooting in P,A,S or any Scene Mode (except in the A900, it doesn't have Scene Modes) and the shots aren't coming properly exposed. It allows you to do a quick tuning and let the camera do the rest, you just tell it how bright or dark you want the picture to be regardless of what it thinks.

This function will save you time in front of your computer and will give you more time to take more pictures.

One final advice: I strongly recommend you conduct experiments of your own with this function so you learn the changes it introduces in a picture and how does the camera behave when you use it, this way you will learn to know what to expect from this function and will give you a solid idea of how much to use and when to use it.

Lens And Sensor Contamination

This article will give you an insight on why and how your lens and sensor can get dirty, the following articles will be reviews of items I've personally tried that help you clean these two parts and some more.

What causes that a lens/sensor gets dirty?

The front element of a lens is the part exposed to the environment when shooting, and unless you use a protective filter above it, it will get dirty at some point.

Dust, liquid stains and fingerprints are the usual reasons of why a lens gets dirty. Unless you're doing something you shouldn't be doing with a lens, there may be other reasons, but those three are the most common.

In a sensor, the most common trouble is dust. Dust is everywhere; except in a sterile, air locked room. But you're not going to live or take pictures in a room like that, you will shoot everywhere and anywhere, and dust will be around.

So how does dust falls on a sensor?

Everytime you change a lens, you expose the mirror box and dust particles have a chance to get inside it. Once you turn on the camera, the shutter will open every time you take a picture, revealing the sensor and dust will have a clear path to attach to it. The problem with sensors is that they are electrical devices, therefore they generate static electricity, which attracts dust particles.

Unless you work with small apertures (f/16,22,32) you wont see if there is any dust on your sensor, however, you shouldn't just ignore the issue and let it keep going, the more dust your sensor has and the longer it has it, the more difficult it will be to remove it, since the dust will get electrically charged and practically bond with the filter.

Other sources of contamination are liquid stains if you attempted to clean the sensor with liquids or if you touched your sensor with your greasy fingers as I told you NOT TO.

Cleaning options

There are a LOT of ways to clean a sensor and a lens, but depending on how skilled and experienced you are, you may end up making a worse mess than you already have.

The problem is that, if you do it wrong, you may practically ruin your lens or your sensor. How much it cost you one or both of them is what determines how big of a mistake you can do.

In lens cleaning, the most common options are liquid and tissue or a cloth. In sensor cleaning the main go to options are the wet method; which consists of custom made swabs and a special solution to clean the sensor or the dry method which consists of blowing air into the sensor.

Before going any further, I should clarify that you don't actually clean the sensor itself, but a low pass filter in front of the sensor. The sensor never gets touched, but the filter. It's common practice to refer to the sensor because that's what you basically look at when cleaning the filter. Back in the dawn of digital age, DSLRs didn't have a filter in front of the sensor and makers weren't aware of the dust problem, so sensors would end up getting REALLY dirty, and the solution they came up with was to put a filter in front of it along with a vibrating mechanism to dislodge any dust that fell on it.

The Sony Alpha DSLRs contain this vibrating mechanism which is helpful to remove dust, but for that stubborn dust that wont go away, there are options.

The key point

The most given advice when doing sensor cleaning is:

IF YOU DO NOT TRUST YOURSELF TO DO THIS, DO NOT DO IT, TAKE YOUR CAMERA TO AN AUTHORIZED SERVICE CENTER.

We will establish this as an axiom.

Possible problems of different cleaning methods

For lenses:

Liquid and tissue: If you use more liquid than necessary, you may spill it inside the lens and leave stains on the glass.

Other problem of this method is that you rub against the glass with a liquid, which in turn, affects the coatings the lens or filter may have on them. You may wear off the coatings if you use this method frequently or with liquids not meant for optics.

Soft cloth: Even though there are cloths specifically designed for lens cleaning, there is 1 big but to this method.

This method will work great once, maybe twice, but then it will become a danger for your lens and here's why:

You touch the cloth with your FINGERS, which in turn are full of SKIN OILS, and those end up in the cloth, so the next time you use it, you'll end up smearing the lens with them.

You may think "Well, Ill just put it in the washing machine and get rid of those skin oils".

WRONG, this will only make matters worse. Water has calcium, calcium is a type of crystal mineral that can scratch your lens.

Air blower: This method is safe but it's not a panacea (a solution for everything). It will get rid of dust in your lens, but not from smudges, finger prints or sticky dust. If you got a lousy blower, it may not even blow enough to remove dust.

For sensor:

Wet method: If done properly, this is a very effective method to remove dust and any other stuff that doesn't belong in the sensor. The problem is that, if done wrong, you can leave smears or actually move the sensor out of place if you press too hard.

Usually the wet method is done by people with enough confidence and skill when everything else failed. But this shouldn't be attempted by rookies. You should train first simulating the procedure on glass or other similar material that wont be ruined if you screw up.

The problem of the wet method is that you can't do it quickly, materials are somewhat expensive and requires a clean, steady place to do it. Not to mention time, patience and great hand control.

There is one issue to keep in mind: sensor cleaning liquid is flammable, so forget about taking it on a plane; high pressure and flammable liquids: not a good combination.

There are plenty of liquids out there that can be used to clean a sensor using the wet method, but there is only ONE that's allowed by Sony to clean the sensors on the Alpha DSLRs that wont affect the low pass filter protecting the sensor.

The liquid is: Eclipse E2 Solution

DO NOT USE ANY OTHER LIQUID BUT THAT ONE. If you use any other liquid, it that may corrode the filter and even the sensor.

To learn how to do a wet cleaning, click here and here .

Air blower: This is the default recommended option suggested by camera manufacturers to clean your sensor. But for it to work, you need a good enough blower, a flimsy one wont do much.

They recommend this method because you don't really touch the filter, therefore you can't do something which will ruin the camera.

The problem with this is that not all dust responds to it, some electrically charged or mold dust sticks to the sensor and needs physical contact to remove it.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT NOT NOT PLACE THE BLOWER'S NOZZLE RIGHT ON THE SENSOR AND DO NOT USE BULB (SHUTTER SPEED) TO CLEAN YOUR SENSOR. IF YOU USE BULB AND YOU TAKE YOUR FINGER OFF THE SHUTTER WHILE THE NOZZLE IS AGAINST THE SENSOR, THE SHUTTER CURTAINS WILL CLOSE AND CRASH AGAINST THE NOZZLE, EFFECTIVELY RUINING YOUR CAMERA FOR GOOD.

If you got a strong enough blower, it may even remove that dust, but if it doesn't

DO NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT EVEN THINK OF USING CANNED AIR.

Canned air is great for cleaning computers, but computers don't have sensitive material that you may end up screwing up by THE TINY PARTICLES THROWN BY CANNED AIR.

Canned air has been proved to contain rubber particles and other garbage inside the can, and if you use this to clean your sensor, you will just pass them on to it. DO NOT USE CANNED AIR FOR SENSOR CLEANING.

It's just as bad as putting some scotch tape on the sensor and pulling it. Sure, you will remove a lot of dust and whatnot, but you ll leave glue on the filter. IT'S JUST PLAIN SILLY.

Closure

Sensor and lens cleaning is an easy process, the scary part is that if done wrong, it can ruin your sensor or lens. There are many ways to do something wrong and a few (if not only one) to do it right. Again, if you don't trust yourself enough to do this process, take/send it to your camera's manufacturer service centers or places that know what they are doing like Adorama and Calumet Photographic .

There are a lot of methods to clean a sensor and a lens, some are the best way, some are just nonsense and very risky. On this article I discussed the most common methods to clean a lens and a sensor and their possible problems.

On the following two articles, I will review two products Ive recently used to clean my lenses and my sensor that yielded perfect results.

Photography-A Science Of Trade-Offs

Preface.

Whether youre a rookie, an amateur or a seasoned pro, you will come across something that sooner or later manifests in photography, actually, its sooner and frequently rather than later and rarely.

And that is the fact that photography is full of TRADE OFFS.

To pick or not to pick.

By trade off is meant when you pick a choice that requires you to compromise or sacrifice another one.

An example of this would be when you are given a choice between having water or juice. If you pick water, you will get a healthy drink that will benefit your health, but that wont have a taste at all, whereas if you pick a juice, you will get a drink that will taste good and may be healthy as well, but may add carbohydrates to your body that water doesnt.

Getting the point now?

Well, photography is full of this kind of decisions, and either you learn to live with it and do the best you can with the trade offs or you will have a hard time taking pictures.

Let's look at an example of a trade off in photography:

Youre out in the street after sunset, and you want to take a picture of the people walking around in the park that youre at as well, you take a shot with a fast shutter speed and small aperture, this in order to freeze motion and achieve a good depth of field.

But when you review your shot, its really dark, almost black, and the only visible speckles of light you can see are the lamps around the park.

You go to the other extreme, you open your lens as much as possible and reduce the shutter speed as well, you take your shot, but you come up with a shot with little in focus, blurry and possible overexposed.

Has it ever happened to you? It happens to all of us as we learn to use our camera and photography.

The choice is yours.

In the above example in order to achieve a shot with frozen movement, you would have needed to pick a fast shutter speed and: a) big aperture or b) high ISO (and in some cases: c) both).

Unfortunately in photography you cant have it all.

From the very start in photography youre confronted with trades offs. When you first start looking for a camera, you will find millions of options, styles, brands, etc.

Even if you are loyal to one brand in particular, you will still have a lot of choices.

And the trade offs appear: Should I buy the one that I can carry in my pocket or the DSLR? Should I go for the one with 10 megapixels or the one with 24 megapixels?

If you pick, lets say, a DSLR, you need lenses for it, a 18-70mm? a 18-250mm? a 70-300mm? a 10-20mm? a Carl Zeiss 24-70mm? a Sony G Series 70-400?

All of them have their pros and cons, and by purchasing one in particular, you gain options and you let go others that other lens has.

If you buy a Sony 11-18mm lens against a 18-250mm, you will have gained wide angle view but have let go of zoom and telephoto capabilites.

If you buy a Carl Zeiss 24-70mm instead of a Sony G Series 70-300mm, you will have gained the best glass available for the Alpha DSLR line, but wont have the reach the other one has (The G series is also a great quality lens in the Alpha DSLR line) .

One reason why lenses like the 18-200mm, 18-250mm, 55-200mm and such are popular amongst photographers is because they provide a wide range of distance they can cover without changing lenses. They provide a good wide angle vision and good telephoto range, but if you need a wider angle or to reach farther in the distance, you will need to change lenses.

Once you get over that, you're just about to begin dealing with trade offs.

Field decisions

Once you picked what camera and lens to use, you will have to work around trade offs as you go along or use them to your advantage.

If you want shallow depth of field, you got to sacrifice focus in most of the picture. If you want a fast shutter speed and there is not enough light, you will have to open up the aperture or increase the ISO, which will in turn, ask you to sacrifice focus or add noise to your picture.

Another issue you can come across, is whether or nor shoot RAW or JPEG. Shooting JPEG gives you more time to do more shooting as the camera gives you the processed file already and it doesnt take up as much space as RAW does, but you have to accept the compression the file requires and if you edit it, accept the fact that the file will lose quality each time you alter it (thats why its better to make a copy from the original file and work with the copy), whereas shooting RAW gives you access to the complete resolution your camera can offer with no compression (unless you shoot cRAW in the A700/900) but will take up more space in your memory card and will require you to sit down in the computer and do adjustments the camera can make on its own like setting White Balance, color tone and such. Depending on how experienced you are, this may be a big time consuming process.

You will be out in the field (and by field I mean forest, street, studio or wherever you do your photography) and face lots of questions you need to solve FAST in order to use your time as best as possible; should you use flash instead of natural light with the model? Should you wait for tomorrow to get the light you want or will you work and make something creative with the current light? Would it be better to use a fast lens in order to get a faster shutter speed so you wont need too much time to take a picture? Do you need to change lens in order to reach that bird standing on the tree far away? Should you tell the kid to stay still or let him run around to get the picture? Should you shoot in black and white or color or sepia? Would the picture look better if you use a color filter?

The whole point and closure

The whole point of this is to show you that in photography there are thousands of options to pick from or work with but you got to keep in mind that for every choice you take, you need to let something go, but that doesnt necessarily mean that you let go of a good picture.

The faster you learn to make up your mind about trade offs, the more pictures you will get. Your working method may be quick or slow, but if you manage to decide quickly about whether you should shoot at f/2.8 or f/8.0 in order to get good depth of field, the less likely you will miss a shot since you will be ready and your time will be maximized to get as much shots as possible. If you take too long deciding what would be better, the less shots you take, you may miss an oportunity youll never get again and the less you will get done.

The real photographer is the one that works around trade offs fast and gets the shot he/she wants or as close as possible OR uses the trade offs to his/her advantage in order to make a unique looking shot, even if it wasn't the one that was originally intended, the bad photographer is the one who blames its camera the fact the shot didnt come out the way they wanted to but they didnt pay attention to the camera settings, their subject or the light available and dont know photography well enough to know about the fact that if you select a shutter speed of 1/4000 at a dusk, you will need a large aperture or a real high ISO to get a properly exposed shot.

You can't have it all every time, but that doesnt mean you cant have as much as possible.

Finally, there is one fact to observe here. There are a lot of people who think that the only way to get good photos is by having good equipment, however, they dont bother to learn about light management or how to use their camera and think that by having X brand will solve all their problems. They get a X brand camera and their pictures still blow, so they think they need F brand, they get an F brand camera and their pictures still blow, so they think they need K brand, notice a pattern here?

These are the people who think that the camera knows what they are thinking so they expect it to get the shot they are thinking. These are the people who think that the sensor can see as our eyes do and when the shot doesnt come out as they wanted, they think brand Q sucks and they need another one.

These people never before have heard about trade offs because to them a camera must be able to do what they want it to do. So if the picture isnt sharp enough to them, they think they need to upgrade to a 10,000 dollar lens in order to get sharp pictures or get a $8,000 camera. They never bother to check if the lens its open at f/1.4.

A trade off is a trade off, no matter if youre on a $400 body or a $100,000 one. You can do great things with a cheap camera or have the best camera available but do mediocre shots.

The trick is to learn to manage them quickly and know that you will have to deal with them at some point.

Trade offs begin when you turn on the camera, you could avoid the hassle and not turn it on, but whats the fun in having everything simple all the time?

Trade offs, deal with them and use them to your advantage or pick another hobby/career.

And that itself, it's a trade off.

Lenses-How To Pick One And Read Their Specs: Part 3

Technical data not explained in a lens explained

Lens groups/elements: A lens may seem to be built in a complex way, but in reality its made up of smaller lenses inside it called simple lenses. These lenses are shaped in a specific form so they will create the effect required. When packed together inside the lens, they combine to make the lens you end up holding.

The arrangement of these simple lenses can be in groups or by their own, depending on the lens construction and what kind of lens it is. Each simple lens is called element and a group of simple lenses its called lens group.

When you buy a lens, in the technical specifications its stated how much lens groups and/or elements the lens is made of. Depending on the maker, a lens may contain little or a lot of elements inside it.

Minimum focus distance: In order to bring things in focus, a lens needs to have the proper distance from the subject. There is a limit to how far or how near the subject needs to be from the lens in order to be in focus. The minimum focusing distance is how much distance there HAS to be between your subject and your lens in order to be properly focused. If you dont have this distance, you wont be able to focus.

Unlike high end P&S cameras that require a lot less minimum focusing distance, DSLRS require more, this is determined by what kind of lens youre using and the size of your sensor. Since P&S cameras have a much smaller sensor, they have a much more cropped view, so close ups can be done with the lens practically over your subject.

The only lenses in DSLR system that can do close ups from really close to your subject are macro lenses. The minimum focusing distance varies from lens to lens, its not the same or standard among them, only if you own two identical lenses.

It's important to know this distance for every lens youve got so you know how close you can physicially get to your subject before the lens can't focus. It will spare you of losing moments you may not get back.

Filter diameter: Almost all lenses have a marking in them that tells you what size the front element is so you can attach a filter. The symbol is this one: Ø. This symbol comes with a number. In the Sony 28mm f/2.8 it comes like this: Ø 49mm. This means that if you want to attach a filter to this lens, you need a 49mm sized filter. The Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 shows Ø 62mm. The lens is bigger than the 28mm, therefore it requires a 62mm filter.

Since lenses vary in size, they size of filters you will need changes a lot. This makes it a problem if you want to put filters on all your lenses, since the variance in sizes may result in one filter being more expensive than others due to rare size or lack of filters due to the size.

Whenever you plan to attach a filter keep in mind two things:

1. First check if your lens has a thread on its edge to attach a filter.
2. If you attach a filter, be gentle when attaching and disattaching it. Some lenses have threads more delicate than others, and if youre not gentle, you make break them. This can result in no longer being able to attach a filter and need to buy a new lens.

Finally, some lenses like the Sony 16mm Fisheye lens or the 500mm f/8 Reflex lenses have built in filters included.

Size and Weight: As part of the technical specs of any kind of gear, the size and weight is included. This can be helpful if youre looking for a light and small lens or a big and heavy one. Checking this information before purchasing (especially online) can be helpful to give you an idea of the real size and weight of the lens, since it's common in online stores to display big lenses in a small size and small lenses in a very big size or not display them at all.

Minimum aperture: Since youre more likely to use big apertures instead of small ones, those are included in the lens itself, however, the minimum aperture or big f-number is something you should also know, since it tells you just how dark the lens can be or how much Depth Of Field you can achieve with it (assuming you can have enough light for such small apertures).

Just as the maximum aperture can change if you change focal length, the same happens with the minimum aperture. In the Sony 18-20mm f/3.5-6.3, the maximum aperture at 18mm is f/22, whereas at 200mm its f/40.

In average, in the Sony Alpha lens range the maximum aperture at a lens' shortest focal length is f/22 and at the largest focal length is f/32. Keep in mind this is just an average, not the exact aperture number for each lens.

Angle of view: A very important feature of any lens, its the angle of view it possesses.

The angle of view is basically how much of the scene infront of it the lens can see. The bigger the number, the wider the angle, and the smaller the number, the tighter the angle.

Wide angle lenses have (obviously) wider angles (duh) than zoom lenses or telephotos. However, that depends on the focal length of every lens. If you got a wide angle lens like a 20mm but you also got a zoom lens that has a short focal length of 18mm, the zoom lens can see a bit more than the wide angle lens.

Zoom lenses at their biggest focal length and telephoto lenses have a small angle of view, this is because in order to compress distance and bring subjects closer, you got to sacrifice angle of view. This explains why the closer you get to something, you cant keep the surroundings inside the frame.

How much angle of view you need depends on how much of a scene you want in your picture. You may have a wide angle lens thats including too much in the picture that you dont want or a zoom lens that cant squeeze an extra person in the frame.

One thing you got to keep in mind here is that the angle of view of a full frame lens changes when you use it on a APS-C sensor camera. Remember what I said of focal length multiplier? It applies here. Since a smaller sensor crops out part of the scene that a full frame sensor could capture, this also changes the angle of view.

Example: The Sony 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens is designed for a full frame sensor. On a A900, that lens would have an angle of view of 180 degrees, which would make the edges of the frame take a circular shape. If you use that lens on a A700 or else, the angle is reduced to 110 degrees and you wont be able to get the fisheye view the lens is designed to give.

This is why APS-C sensors require specially made wide angle lenses and fisheye lenses. Due to the cropping the sensor does, you would need a lens like the Sony 11-18mm f/4.5-5-6 or a Sigma 10-20mm whereas in full frame a 12-24mm would work as wide angle.

Whenever you buy a lens, be sure to know the angle of view the lens has and if it will be reduced if you mount it on a APS-C sensor or smaller.

Number of aperture blades: In a lens, the more blades it has, the better picture quality since the degree of blurring it can achieve is better.

Another data thats specified in the specs its if the aperture is normal or circular. Circular aperture is better since it renders the out of focus subjects smoother than the normal aperture.

In the Sony Alpha range, the average aperture blade number is 7, and the G and Carl Zeiss lenses almost all have 9. Also worth mentioning is that almost all the lenses in the Alpha line have circular aperture, the 28mm f/2.8 is one of the exceptions.

If it has special glass elements or coatings: Usually lens makers include special lenses among the elements to correct possible light aberrations that can occur. One very common these days is the APO lens. APO is an abbreviation of apochromatic, which means it corrects the color aberrations that the other elements can cause. The APO lens element was an element used by Minolta in its range of telephoto lenses.

There are all sorts of special glass elements used by lens makers in order to correct aberrations or to further enhance the effect the lens is designed for. They usually specify them when promoting a lens.

As for coatings, whenever the lens maker doesnt specify if the lens has a special coating on the lens, it will on the specifications.

Magnification ratio: Another important value of a lens is its magnification ratio.

In simple terms, it means how much it will enlarge small things. This is something really important in macro lenses, since they are designed to enlarge things.

When you see something through a lens, its size can increase or decrease. The magnification ratio is how much that lens can bring subjects to their real size. This ratio is expressed like this: 1.0 or this 1:0.

When a lens says its magnification ratio is 1.0 it means it shows the subjects on their real size.

Magnification comes in all lenses, in some its not so visible and in others it is. However, even telephoto lenses can have a high magnification; the Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 LD Di has a magnification ratio of 1:2. That means that it can make subjects appear half their real size, which effectively makes this lens into a telemacro lens: a telephoto with macro capabilities.

If it comes with any other accesories: Some lens makers supply their lenses with additional accesories such as lens hoods, carrying cases, filters, cleaning cloths, etc. It's important that you check if any accessory is supplied with every lens you purchase, otherwise you wont know if something is missing.

Questions about lenses that you have but you're afraid to ask

Does an expensive lens guarantees a good photo?

No. An expensive lens may have a lot more bells and whistles than a cheaper lens wont have, but no matter how fast, light, full of special glass, etc. the lens is, if the photographer doesnt know how to handle it or doesnt have the enough vision to create a compelling picture, not even the most expensive lenses in the world will guarantee a good picture. It all depends on the photographer and its creativity.

Is lens sharpness that important?

It's common these days for photographers to be really picky about lens sharpness. The holy grail is a lens thats sharp all around including corners and at any aperture.

The truth is, such thing hasnt existed so far, and probably will never exist.

Modern lenses are sharp enough to get good pictures, sure, some are sharper than others, but the only way in which you will scientifically measure how sharp a lens is from another is with controlled tests at a lab.

And a lab isnt the only place for photographs you can use.

Ken Rockwell points out on an article he wrote about sharpness that usually the problem is not the lens, but a bad focus, camera movement or subject movement. You can find the article here.

Sure, you dont want your pictures coming out fuzzy or not sharp enough to see the subject, but lenses these days wont fall into that unless they have a defect.

A very very very underrated lens is the Sony 28mm f/2.8. A lot of people and testers disregard this lens because its not as sharp as other more expensive wide angle lenses are.

The truth is that this lens is sharp, may not be sharp enough to cut bread, but it sure is sharp, and Ive managed to get great portraits with it indoors.

Again, its more important what you conjure up for a picture than if your lens is sharp as a shark's fang.

Is it best to go for the expensive lens instead of the cheap one?

Well, if you got money to blow, then get the expensive one, if not, the cheap one.

Price only determines three possible things in a lens: Status, quality and options.

You can buy a Sony 70-300 f/3.5-5.6 G lens and blow 800 dollars on it instead of the Sony 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 that costs 223 dollars, you will be seen as someone with serious equipment and youll have as many buttons on the lens as you do on your camera.

However, that doesnt mean that you will get great pictures with it if you dont know how to use it. You only got a long lens with lots of buttons, better glass and a lens hood that will surely scream out to everyone else: HEY, I GOT AN EXPENSIVE LENS!

To get great pictures you dont have to own the best lenses. To think that you need the best lens to get better pictures is just as stupid as to think you need an Aston Martin or a Ferrari to make it to work on time.

Its the results you create with a lens that get you awards, jobs or praise. Viewers dont think of what lenses you use when looking at your pictures. They watch the results.

A 1800 dollars lens like the Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 T* Vario Tessar wont make you a better photographer, nor will create masterpieces nor will take pictures on its own. The only results it will get depend on what you do with it. What YOU do with it.

Expensive or cheap? Doesnt matter, its the result you get from it that counts.

Closure

This concludes our article about how to pick a lens and read their specs. I hope that now the basic terms and concepts are now clear to you and you can get a better idea of what to look for in a lens when you purchase one.

And remember, its what YOU the photographer do with a lens that matters, not the lens itself. If you ever won a prize, it certainly wouldnt go to the lens you used, would it? A lens doesnt do anything on its own afterall.

James Bond uses a Walther PPK 7.65mm gun, which is a tiny gun, and yet he always does his job. Its how you use it, not what brand or size.

Until next time.