for over 25 years and I still struggle to this day because I basically want every single lens
out there I think they're all going to solve all of my photography problems but this is far
from the truth however I have learned quite a few things over the years and I want to pass
these on to you so then you can maybe make a better decision the next time you choose
a lens now the first thing to realize is that sometimes no matter how much research you do
and how many of these videos you watch you will make a bad decision and that's okay the
great thing with lenses is that they do hold their value well to a certain degree anyway
I got this lens recently and it took me a long while to decide on which one to get
and it actually took me a lot longer to save up for it it's a very specialized lens but it suits
my photography and the way that I shoot now this might not be the right lens for you but this is
where photography is so individual and it's great that it's so modular depending on where you are
in your photographic Journey will determine what lens you might need what lens will be good for one
person probably won't be good for another person so for me being a landscape photographer I like
to have either a telephoto lens or a super wide lens when I used to shoot portraits and headshots
for corporates I'd have an 85 millimeter a 50 millimeter and a 35 millimeter Prime
you can make the biggest impact on your photographs with the lenses you choose to
shoot through but the hardest thing is to decide on which one to get next you might want to go
for a super wide lens a prime lens or a telephoto like this but nowadays there are so few resources
where you can actually go and try those lenses in the environment that you're going to shoot in now
you could hire some camera equipment but what I found is that here in the UK it's quite expensive
and if you're undecided between three or four lenses that gets really expensive really quickly
and this will eat into the money that you have to buy that new lens in the first place so how
do you decide if you're just starting out you probably don't know what you need let's start
with that scenario so you're new to photography and you've got yourself a camera you'll probably
have a kit lens and these are surprisingly good but not that great if you have the aps-c
crop sensored system like the Sony a6000 the Canon M50 the Nikon d5600 or maybe the Fuji
xt4 the kit lens normally sits in the range of 60 to 55 millimeters you'll see this millimeter
number on the side of your lens and this refers to the focal length all you really need to know
is that the smaller the number The Wider The View you'll have to photograph with and the
bigger the number the more zoomed in it'll be if you shoot with a full frame system like the
Canon EOS r or the Sony A7 series the kit lens is normally around about 24 to 70 millimeters
just ask yourself this what do you want to add to the photos you can already take do you want
that blurry background look with a shallow depth of field are you struggling to get close enough
to the things you want to photograph or are you struggling to fit everything in your frame even
though you're at your widest angle and what about image quality are you disappointed with
the results you get from your kit lens or are you okay with it some people are and some people want
the sharpest possible images with no compromises these questions will all point you in the right
direction and if you want to go at it at your own pace you can always pause and Rewind the video to
go back through the questions if you're struggling to fit everything into your frame go for a wider
lens something like the 10 to 18 or the 10 to 20 millimeter for a crop sensored camera or something
like the 16 to 35 millimeter if you shoot with a full frame camera I love shooting mountain
bikers with a super wide angle lens you can get so much of the environment in the shot and show
a sense of movement by slowing the shutter speed now if you're getting into landscape photography
and you might have read a blog or watched a video where the person recommended a wide-angle lens as
your first lens be really careful they're great for photographing popular locations a little bit
like this one but if you're limited with time in hunting for those unique compositions a wide-angle
lens isn't always the best for landscape photography I see it as very much an advanced
lens where you've learned the process of landscape photography and you're really developing the skill
and you're spending the time getting those shots this is when a wide angle lens really comes into
its own but you do have to spend the time in finding those unique shots it's fine for going
to locations that other people were photographed and copying their photographs but for those truly
unique photographs it's a lot harder with a wide angle lens if you can't get close enough to your
subject think about how close you need to get if you shoot Wildlife or Sports you probably need
something like this 70 to 300 the 100 to 400 or even the 200 to 600 depending on your budget on
the other hand if the kit lens is almost there but not quite if you shoot with a full-frame camera
you probably want something like the 70 to 200 or if you shoot with a crop sensored camera something
like the 55 to 200 they both work really well now different manufacturers have different ranges but
if you choose something in that range that will be a really nice telephoto that'll give you a bit
more reach than the lens that you currently have now if you're going to be shooting a lot in low
light and you have a decent budget go for the F 2.8 lenses but if you shoot things like landscape
then you don't need that you can go for an F4 lens and save on wait and save on money now if you're
a hiker and you want some extra reach but you don't want the hassle of changing lenses or the
extra weight in your bag the 28 to 200 millimeter from Tamron is a great all-rounder although it is
a little bit soft around the edges now talking of image quality if you're happy with the range that
you've got with your kit lens but are disappointed with the sharpness that you're getting you just
need a higher quality lens with that same range the L Series for Canon cameras the G Master Series
for the Sony cameras or the Nikon FX lenses are the pro range for each of those Brands once you
know how to take a photograph these will give you better quality images at a price and sometimes
that price is pretty hefty and whilst we're talking about different lenses there are different
mounting options as well so make sure you get the right one for the camera that you have if
Pro lenses are out of your price range then look at Tamron or Sigma these are third-party companies
that make lenses for the main Brands they're a lot cheaper and the quality is getting a lot better as
time goes by you also have samyang Rokinon and viltrox as well as a load of other third-party
lens manufacturers but do realize that you don't have to get the pro quality lenses to get pro
quality images if you want great image quality but are on a bit of a budget go for prime lenses prime
lenses are lenses that don't Zoom so they only have one millimeter number on them but because
they don't have moving Parts in them like in zoom lenses they are less complex and will be slightly
sharper for the money on one hand these will slow down the photography process for you but on the
other hand they will stretch your photography skills in ways you might not have realized now
if you are a beginner and you want something a bit different you want that blurry background
look but you're struggling to get it with your kit lens get the 35 millimeter F 1.8 if you shoot
with a crop sensor or the 50 millimeter if you shoot with a full frame camera now this look is
a little bit overdone with the likes of Instagram so add it to your repertoire but don't overdo it
to get into Event Photography this is where you need speed to get the shots from a super wide to
a telephoto I'd get two full-frame camera bodies and a 16 to 35 and a 70 to 200 both at F 2.8 and
then I'd get a double shoulder strap so I'd have a camera on each hip so I could get super wide and
then I could get a telephoto in an instant this is by far the best setup that I've ever used and
I've shot with Canon and Sony systems with a 16 to 35 and a 70-200 now that would be an expensive
setup but this is what you need to get when you're shooting in a professional environment for paying
customers now if you're in a really small budget and you've spent almost all of your money on your
camera first of all this is the wrong way to go about it because you need to leave some money to
one side for those lenses but if you have done this you need to think about vintage lenses
they might not give you the same quality as a modern lens but they will get you out and
shooting with your camera I got this 50 millimeter F 1.4 Prime for around about
40 pounds well I think it's a little bit more expensive now this lens is
manual everything so manual focus and manual aperture but this will force you
to slow down and really think about what you're doing and what you're photographing
you'll learn so much about photography and in the long run you'll become a much better
photographer lenses are expensive and sometimes they're more expensive than
the camera that you've actually bought but this is okay because you're paying for quality
what you'll find is you'll go through camera bodies a lot quicker than you'll go through
lenses once you've found ones that you really like when I was a Canon shooter I had this 70 to 200 F
2.8 for around about eight years I sold it for around about 500 pounds less than I bought it
for so this is actually not that much money over that much time it was basically 62 pounds 50 per
year which is ridiculously cheap when you consider hiring that lens would have cost you 50 pounds per
day however I did have to pay 1 500 pounds when I first got it so there is that initial cost
I have had my Tamron 17-28 for four years and it's still going strong and this new lens the
50 to 400 this will last me for years to come as well probably longer than the a74
have a look into what photographs you like compared to what photographs you're taking
at the moment do they use the same focal length so do they use ones that are completely different
if they are different do some research find out what they are and then maybe invest in one of
those lenses photography is an expensive Hobby and it does take time to build up a good set
of lenses that works for you now if beginner Mike was watching this he'd probably think
well it's all right for you with all of your fancy kit but I actually took about 20 years
to build the kit up that I've got now and I went through a lot of changes a lot of lenses that I
didn't want and a lot of lenses that I didn't need as well as two brand changes which is an
absolute nightmare but that's a story for another day now I've mentioned crop sensor
and full frame sensor cameras but you might be wondering what are the actual differences and
in this video I take both of those cameras out with me for a real-life Sunrise shoot and then
print the photos from them and the results are really surprising I'll see you next time