Lens selection is a highly personal choice for most photographers. Client base, shooting style and cost all factor in directly when you're deciding how to build a kit intelligently. Wedding photographers need a diverse assortment, given the expectation that they must cover such a broad range of subject matter in one day’s work.
When piecing together your lens kit for photographing a wedding, a number of ideas should be running through your head in regard to the variety of imagery the clients require and the types of situations that can occur throughout the event. While it would be ideal to photograph a wedding with a single, do-it-all lens, the simple fact is that this is not typically possible.
A macro lens is an important tool for a wedding photographer. Perhaps not as crucial as capturing the kiss at the altar or the daddy-daughter dance, a close-up of the rings, flowers or candle being lit is considered part of the standard package. These moments may very well be situated in less than ideal lighting conditions, so a fast macro lens is needed to guarantee you get that shot.
In September, Sigma announced a reorganization of their lens classification guidelines. They outlined three categories within which all future lenses would be placed, the logic being that this will simplify the selection process for the buyer and improve quality expectations on both the manufacturer’s and consumer’s side of the equation.
As the holidays approach, it’s a good time to get your game on, in terms of all those family photos you will be taking. Getting little Junior to smile and Uncle Harry to pay attention may be the most difficult aspects of creating a shareable family shot, but there are some technical elements surrounding quality holiday photography that we should discuss now.
Over the past few years, Lensbaby has introduced several lines of compact tilt-and-shift and special-effects lenses. Plastic and metal with a unique ball and socket selective-focus mechanism, Lensbaby manual focus lenses come in numerous permutations and mounts and with a host of converters and fun accessories.
As camera technology continues to progress, lenses also continue to evolve. With improved sensor technology and greater resolution cameras, a lens's main progression is to keep up with the amount of data and image quality that can be resolved by an image sensor and processor.
Sometimes technology gets in the way of quality. The convenience of features such as autofocus and optical image stabilization are hard to dispute, but some of the best glass in the world can be found in manual focus lenses that contain no electronics whatsoever. Such is the case with M-mount and M42-mount lenses made by Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander.
2012 has seen an in increase in all things mirrorless, that being a bit of an umbrella term for compact interchangeable-lens cameras, their lenses and adapters. Canon, for example, released its first mirrorless camera system in 2012 and most major manufacturers have added new cameras to their mirrorless lineups. Of course, a growing list of lenses for these cameras—of all focal lengths—is now available, too.
Olympus has announced the new 16MP Pen E-PL5 and E-PM2 mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras with 4/3 Live MOS sensors, along with two new compatible primes: a special edition M.ZUIKO 12mm f/2.0 and a macro 60mm f/2.8.
The new 16.3-megapixel Pentax K-5 II DSLR camera will replace the current Pentax K-5 in Pentax’s DSLR lineup. It features a 16.3-megapixel CMOS image sensor with integrated AD conversion circuitry, which works with Pentax’s PRIME II Imaging Engine to deliver high-resolution, rich-gradation digital images.
Sigma has just announced a new wide angle to telephoto zoom lens which covers an ample range of focal lengths, from 18 to 250mm. This broad spectrum of angles of view is further enhanced by a minimum focusing distance of 13.8" (35 cm) across the entire zoom range.
How many lenses do you really need? If you’re Henri Cartier-Bresson, one might be enough. But if you’re shooting a complex event like a wedding, you’re going to need a more generously stocked camera bag. The most important tools for any photographer are cameras and lenses. Deciding which ones are necessary requires some serious thought.
Wedding photography is obviously about the bride and groom, and their special day. While that story is told with photos of the lucky pair, and their guests, their memories of the event can be enhanced with images that might not be so obvious.
Sometimes technology gets in the way of quality. For example, the finest wristwatches made today are self-winding units with jewels used as pivot points. They’re mechanical works of art assembled by hand, and you won’t find a battery or quartz crystal inside any of them.
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Lens selection is a highly personal choice for most photographers. Client base, shooting style and cost all factor in directly when you're deciding how to build a kit intelligently. Wedding photographers need a diverse assortment, given the expectation that they must cover such a broad range of subject matter in one day’s work.
When piecing together your lens kit for photographing a wedding, a number of ideas should be running through your head in regard to the variety of imagery the clients require and the types of situations that can occur throughout the event. While it would be ideal to photograph a wedding with a single, do-it-all lens, the simple fact is that this is not typically possible.
A macro lens is an important tool for a wedding photographer. Perhaps not as crucial as capturing the kiss at the altar or the daddy-daughter dance, a close-up of the rings, flowers or candle being lit is considered part of the standard package. These moments may very well be situated in less than ideal lighting conditions, so a fast macro lens is needed to guarantee you get that shot.
In September, Sigma announced a reorganization of their lens classification guidelines. They outlined three categories within which all future lenses would be placed, the logic being that this will simplify the selection process for the buyer and improve quality expectations on both the manufacturer’s and consumer’s side of the equation.
As the holidays approach, it’s a good time to get your game on, in terms of all those family photos you will be taking. Getting little Junior to smile and Uncle Harry to pay attention may be the most difficult aspects of creating a shareable family shot, but there are some technical elements surrounding quality holiday photography that we should discuss now.
Over the past few years, Lensbaby has introduced several lines of compact tilt-and-shift and special-effects lenses. Plastic and metal with a unique ball and socket selective-focus mechanism, Lensbaby manual focus lenses come in numerous permutations and mounts and with a host of converters and fun accessories.
As camera technology continues to progress, lenses also continue to evolve. With improved sensor technology and greater resolution cameras, a lens's main progression is to keep up with the amount of data and image quality that can be resolved by an image sensor and processor.
Sometimes technology gets in the way of quality. The convenience of features such as autofocus and optical image stabilization are hard to dispute, but some of the best glass in the world can be found in manual focus lenses that contain no electronics whatsoever. Such is the case with M-mount and M42-mount lenses made by Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander.
2012 has seen an in increase in all things mirrorless, that being a bit of an umbrella term for compact interchangeable-lens cameras, their lenses and adapters. Canon, for example, released its first mirrorless camera system in 2012 and most major manufacturers have added new cameras to their mirrorless lineups. Of course, a growing list of lenses for these cameras—of all focal lengths—is now available, too.
Olympus has announced the new 16MP Pen E-PL5 and E-PM2 mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras with 4/3 Live MOS sensors, along with two new compatible primes: a special edition M.ZUIKO 12mm f/2.0 and a macro 60mm f/2.8.
The new 16.3-megapixel Pentax K-5 II DSLR camera will replace the current Pentax K-5 in Pentax’s DSLR lineup. It features a 16.3-megapixel CMOS image sensor with integrated AD conversion circuitry, which works with Pentax’s PRIME II Imaging Engine to deliver high-resolution, rich-gradation digital images.
Sigma has just announced a new wide angle to telephoto zoom lens which covers an ample range of focal lengths, from 18 to 250mm. This broad spectrum of angles of view is further enhanced by a minimum focusing distance of 13.8" (35 cm) across the entire zoom range.
How many lenses do you really need? If you’re Henri Cartier-Bresson, one might be enough. But if you’re shooting a complex event like a wedding, you’re going to need a more generously stocked camera bag. The most important tools for any photographer are cameras and lenses. Deciding which ones are necessary requires some serious thought.
Wedding photography is obviously about the bride and groom, and their special day. While that story is told with photos of the lucky pair, and their guests, their memories of the event can be enhanced with images that might not be so obvious.
Sometimes technology gets in the way of quality. For example, the finest wristwatches made today are self-winding units with jewels used as pivot points. They’re mechanical works of art assembled by hand, and you won’t find a battery or quartz crystal inside any of them.
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