The great thing about an interchangeable lens camera is that you can tailor it to your photography style simply by choosing the right lens. This way, you can keep your camera body longer and improve your photography or videography by experimenting with newer lenses. While we all want to go out and buy all the best lenses for our cameras, that’s not always practical because lenses are expensive. But for most photography use cases, which tend to be portraiture, street photography and wildlife photography – you only really need a few lenses that can cover 99% of all your use case.
Before we dive into the different essential lenses, there are a few factors that you should keep in mind before shortlisting your choices. Depending on the type of photography you’ll be doing, you should check that the lens you buy gives you the framing, stabilization and image quality you want.
Basic characteristics of lenses to remember
Focal length: Depending on the size of the sensor in the camera body, the same lens can give you multiple angles of view. Full-frame sensors are closest in size to 35mm film cameras, which is why all focal lengths are measured based on that. If you have a smaller sensor like APS-C or smaller then you need to pay attention to the crop factor. As a general rule, Canon APS-C has a crop factor of 1.6x and Nikon 1.5x, Micro-4/3 is 2x, while 1 inch is about 2.7x.
For example, a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera will convert to a focal length of 35mm, but the same lens on a crop sensor camera like the Canon APS-C will produce an equivalent focal length of 56mm (35×1.6 ). This means you’ll get a more magnified view of your subject on a cropped sensor compared to a full-frame sensor.
Lens stabilization: Most lenses have built-in stabilization, which can be turned on or off via a switch on the side. However, some lack built-in stabilization, so keep this in mind. Built-in stabilization means you can take more blur-free shots at slower shutter speeds even when using the camera handheld. If you regularly place the camera on a tripod this is not a factor.
Aperture: It is important that you try and buy a lens with a wide aperture as it ensures better exposure, more depth to your photos and generally sharper details. Aperture is also known as f-stop and is denoted f/2 or f/1.8. A smaller number indicates a wider aperture to let in more light, while a larger number indicates a narrower aperture, meaning less light enters the lens. The aperture usually narrows as you increase the focal length. You can have a long focal length with a wide aperture or a constant aperture throughout the zoom range, but such lenses are usually very expensive.
Weight: This is another important factor to consider. If you travel a lot with your gear, you should have a lens that is portable and easy to store in your backpack.
Essential lenses worth owning
Your DSLR or mirrorless camera may come equipped with a basic lens, often called a “kit lens.” This is good enough to get you started with a moderate zoom, and it should be small and light enough to stay attached to your camera body. However, once you get used to your camera body, you’ll want to really stretch its legs a bit, and fast prime lenses are the first, second lenses you should consider.
Prime lens
Prime lenses are basically lenses with a fixed focal length or no zoom function. 35mm and 50mm are the most popular focal lengths for prime lenses, and they’re not very expensive either. Regardless of your camera body, you can easily find a first-party prime lens for your camera body.
Prime lenses are great for portrait photography because they often have wide apertures that provide beautiful bokeh (blurring the background behind your subject) and focus very quickly. They’re also ideal for low-light photography because they can capture a good amount of light, meaning you can use a low ISO and shutter speed for less noise when taking photos at night. The obvious downside is that you need to move around to get the frame the way you want since you can’t zoom in or out.
Macro lens
Macro photography can be a really fun hobby, and camera manufacturers have specialized lenses for this branch of photography. As the name suggests, these lenses help you get extremely close-up details of subjects like insects or water drops. It can achieve this thanks to its extremely short focus distance and 1:1 image reproduction on the sensor. An ideal macro lens will have a fixed focal length above 40mm and a wide aperture. You can buy lenses that zoom a bit, but those aren’t true macro lenses.
Depending on the subject you will be photographing, you may decide to choose an equivalent focal length. For example, a 100mm macro lens will allow you to take extremely close-up shots within a reasonable distance, which can be important if you’re photographing living subjects such as small animals or insects. Macro lenses with shorter focal lengths are also great for portrait photography because it allows you to capture really fine details like human eyes and hair follicles.
Dedicated telephoto lens
Regular zoom lenses are good enough for basic use, but for specialized photography such as live sports, events, or wildlife photography, a dedicated zoom lens is needed. Something with a good 300mm zoom range is a good place to start. You also get a telephoto prime lens with a fixed focal length. High zoom lenses often have a much longer minimum focus distance, such as 70mm or 100mm, and extend up to 400mm, 600mm, etc., depending on how much you are willing to spend. These lenses are often large in size and require a specialized bag to transport them. But if you want to get serious about sports or wildlife photography, a quality telephoto lens is indispensable.
