Camera lenses come in all sizes, speeds, and prices. No doubt you may have been shocked to see the sticker price for lenses after you bought your first SLR (or DSLR as the case may be).

So how does one decide which is the right size lens for you? Go with history and nature (or science as it were).

Photography History teaches us that the 50mm prime lens was once the “staple” of the photography industry and unfortunately may have fallen out of favor with the casual photographer. One has to ask why?

Zoom lenses, like the “kit” lens that came with your camera, “offer” more versatility because you are “combining” many focal lengths in one lens! Well, that’s what the camera manufacturers would have you believe. While zoom lenses certainly have their place (I would never give up my 2.8 70-200mm) they can really be quite skimpy on quality until you hit those “pro” prices.

The simple science behind the 50mm lens creates natural looking images, especially when creating portraiture. Often called the “standard” or “normal” lens, it renders images that closely match the true perspective of the human eye.

Here’s what you can do with a 50mm prime.

• Photograph indoors without a flash

Speed is truly one of the biggest reasons to get a fixed lens. Even the entry level fixed focal length 50mm lenses clock in at around f1.8 which is plenty fast enough to use with limited available light. Getting away from using your on camera flash is the easiest way to eliminate “snapshot photography”!

• Better glass

You may often hear professional photographers discussing the quality of their “glass”. Think of the term “glass” as a general reference for the lens in it’s entirety. Essentially, photographers take many things into consideration when choosing lenses including but not limited to; speed, optics, and price. The optics of a 50mm lens are often times much better than a comparably priced zoom lens. It’s really just a matter of manufacturing costs. The more moving parts there are to a lens the more expensive it is to make. Prime lenses have much fewer moving parts than zoom lenses so the lens manufacturers can use better optics (sharper images) and offer lower prices.

• Become a better photographer

While I tend to shy away from saying that purchasing equipment will make you a better photographer, I truly believe that a prime lens can do that for you. It isn’t just about quality of images produced, it’s more about limiting your options and making you think. Without being able to zoom in and out to frame your image, you’ll actually have to use your feet to “zoom”. You’ll find at times this may limit you, which can be good because you will have to use that brain to creatively overcome whatever obstacle stands in your way.

Here’s the disclaimer part. DSLR’s using the smaller sensors (most DSLR’s) use a “focal length multiplier” of approximately 1.6 which turns a 50mm into an 85mm lens (approximately). No big deal really. It takes a little away from the “normal” human eye perspective, but not by much. You still get the benefits of better optics, a faster lens, and a cheaper price (plus prime lenses tend to be super sharp in comparison to their zoom brethren).

Here are a couple popular 50mm entry level lenses for your Canon or Nikon camera which should cover most of you readers.
(My apologies in advance for not listing every single alternative with prices and comparisons for every single make and model.)

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens Amazon $89.74 at time of publishing.

Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras Amazon $108.95 at time of publishing.

While those prices are really great it isn’t much more to move up in quality. The optics get better and the speeds are faster which will give you more freedom in lower light situations and produce better bokeh, so don’t forget to explore those options as well.

Photograph The beauty and the bee by gaelv

Courtesy of the pcworld.ca

You've got a digital photo. How big should you print it?

In the old days, making prints was pretty easy. You'd take a roll of film to the corner store, and in an hour you'd get a bunch of 4-by-6-inch prints. If you especially liked one of them, you could order a 5-by-7 or an 8-by-10. That was pretty much all there was to it.

These days, it's not so simple. There's really no standard print size for digital photos--you can print at any size you want as long as you can fit the paper into your printer. And if you're using an online service like Shutterfly or Snapfish, the sky is the limit, with posters as large as 20 by 30 inches a real possibility. But how do you know what size to choose? What dimensions will work well with the images that come out of your digital camera? Keep reading to find out.

It's All in the Megapixels

The answer is surprisingly simple. The more pixels you have, the larger your print can be. For most home inkjet printers, you should assume that you'll get the best results when you print about 300 dots per inch, so just take the dimensions of your photos and divide them by 300 along both the horizontal and the vertical. Whatever you get is the largest size that you should consider printing. For more on megapixels, be sure to read Digital photography: Are megapixels really important?

Consider this example: You have a photo that's 2240 by 1680 pixels. Do the math, and you get an image size of 7.5 by 5.6 inches; in other words, with a little rounding, you can safely make 5-by-7-inch prints. Or how about a 3872-by-2592-pixel image? That's 12.9 by 8.6 inches, or, in terms we more commonly use, a standard 8 by 10.

Another way to think about this problem is by referring to the number of megapixels. The 3872-by-2592-pixel image I discussed earlier is from a Nikon D200, which makes 10-megapixel photos.

Here's a list that correlates megapixels to print size:

• 2 megapixels = 1200 by 1600 pixels = 4 by 5 inches
• 3 megapixels = 1536 by 2048 pixels = 5 by 7 inches
• 6 megapixels = 2400 by 3000 pixels = 6.5 by 10 inches
• 10 megapixels = 2592 by 3872 pixels = 8.5 by 13 inches
• 12 megapixels = 4368 by 2912 pixels = 9.7 by 14.5 inches

Okay, It's not That Simple

Now that I've given you a handy-dandy reference, let me add that it may not as simple as I've led you to believe.

For starters, the list assumes that you're printing at 300 dpi--and if you do, you'll generally get great results. But the reality is that you can print at lower resolutions and still get fantastic prints. This is especially true of larger prints that you'll hang on the wall. If you're making a 20-by-30-inch poster, most people will stand back and look at it from several feet away. And the farther away you view a photo, the lower the resolution needs to be to give you great results. Think of your digital photo like a television screen--the closer you sit to it, the more obvious the imperfections are. From across the room, almost any TV looks great.

The lesson here is that you shouldn't be afraid to experiment. Try printing your photos at sizes larger than what I've suggested, and see if you like the results.

In addition, techno-purists will argue that there's more to print size than pixels alone--and they're right.

Your camera's sensor size, for example, affects picture quality. A small point-and-shoot might take the same 8-megapixel images as a more costly digital SLR, but the SLR probably relies on a physically bigger sensor. That adds up to a higher quality image, and the resulting prints will be better. As a result, you might have better results printing your point-and-shoot photos a tad smaller.

Your camera's exposure settings can have an effect on print quality as well. Remember that a high ISO will add digital noise to the final print. An ISO 800 photo will look better printed at 5 by 7 inches than at 8 by 10, even if you use a 10-megapixel camera.

*Courtesy of the pcworld.ca