Choose the best lenses for your most memorable landscapes and portraits

8:02 pm on December 3 2011, 0 Comments
By admin
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Landscapes and portraits are the most popular types of shooting. Therefore we should consider carefully what lens to choose for a certain type of shooting.

For landscape shooting the most important option is sharpness. There are 4 types of lenses for landscapes:

  • super wide angle lenses (10-17 mm) for grand landscapes;
  • wide angle (17-35mm) lenses enable a photographer to seize maximum details;
  • standard (50 mm) lenses give the right perspective;
  • telephoto lenses (70-300mm) are for shooting objects in the distance.

Fisheye lenses have the angle of observation equal to 180 degrees. They distort the perspective rounding the edges of a shot but this brings in an interesting effect.
Some lenses recommended for landscape shooting are CANON: EF 17-40mm f/4L USM, NIKON: Tokina 12-24mm f/4 AT-X Pro DX AF, SONY: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC.

Now let’s talk about portrait shooting.

For full-height portraits standard focal length lenses or medium-length lens are used. Medium-length lens must have focal length of 70-85 mm for a full shot and 35-42 mm for digital cameras.

Portraits of ¾ size are normally shot by medium-length lenses and telephoto lenses.

For large-scale facial portraits telephotolenses are used with the focal length of 105-135 mm for a full shot and 52-67 mm for digital cameras.

Leica 90mm f/2 APO Summicron can be recommended for portrait shot as a lens with high accuracy for small details. Model’s skin and hair will look very realistic. Also have a look at Samyang 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical IF, Canon 85mm f/1.2 USM L II.

Choose the best for you and have an amazing shooting!