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What do different Digital Camera Lens do?

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Updated November 15, 2021

Digital cameras are becoming an integral part of human life. With time, modern top-rated cameras such as mirrorless cameras are being developed to suit every type of photographer. If you own a camera, you understand what a lens is.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  • The Camera lens focuses light from what the user sees on the viewfinder into a tiny 35mm spot located on the back of a film.
  • On film cameras, the lens tends to send light to the film strip, while in a digital camera, the lens directs the light onto a digital sensor.
  • The digital camera lens designates the maximum aperture range a photographer can use, the proper depth of field, as well as the focusing distance.

Even with manual control a camera that doesn’t have a lens is useless to a photographer. And in simple terms, the lens is what focuses light from what the user sees on the viewfinder into a tiny 35mm spot located on the back of a film.

So, what do different digital camera lenses do? To understand this, it’s essential to know what a camera lens is and what it does.

What is a Camera Lens?

A camera lens, like the one used on a digital camera, is a tool used to bring light to a fixed focal plane. On film cameras, the lens tends to send light to the film strip, while in a digital camera, the lens directs the light onto a digital sensor. Ideally, camera lenses are made up of a series of convex or concave glass plates.

Since lenses have lens elements, these elements are shaped glass pieces that function to bend light in wider angles and specific ways. Thus, each element within the lens has a different function and works together in harmony.

Why are Camera Lenses important?

Your digital camera lens is an essential component. You can use a pinhole and get fantastic results; however, it would be impossible to control the final image captured. As a result, camera kit lenses are an essential part of the camera kit. This may also be part of what causes grainy pictures in digital cameras.

The digital camera lens designates the maximum aperture range a photographer can use, the ideal depth of field, as well as the focusing distance. It’s impossible to focus on an image with your digital camera without a lens.

Types of Camera Lenses

It can be pretty overwhelming for new digital camera owners to find out how many types of lenses exist. However, camera lenses are categorized in two:

  • Prime lenses: These lenses have a fixed lens focal length which makes them sharper and faster. They are ideal for traveling since they are lightweight and fast. However, they are less flexible due to their fixed focal length.
  • Zoom lenses: They use a series of camera lenses that permit different focal lengths from a single camera lens. This makes them more flexible but not fast. They have more glass, which helps in their flexibility. Zoom lenses are much bulkier compared to prime lenses.

Within zoom and prime lenses, there are many lenses available with different focal plane lengths.

Wide Angle Lenses

Wide-angle lenses are perfect for fitting a large area into your frame. These lenses are ideal for landscape photography. With this lens, everything is in focus unless the subject is close to the lens.

Telephoto Lenses

They are a type of superzoom lenses and fall under zoom lenses and have multiple focal lengths. They are perfect for isolating far-away subjects but have a narrow field of view. They are perfect for sports photography.

Macro Lenses

Macro lenses are ideal for close-up images and macro-photographs. Due to their unique design, they are capable of producing sharp images at extremely close ranges. They are suitable for nature photography.

Standard Lens

They are ideal for a wide variety of digital photography since their focal lengths are in the middle between 35mm and 85mm.

Specialty Lenses

These are more specialized kinds of lenses that offer a unique look and feel to digital photography. There are several types of specialty lenses, including:

  • Fisheye lenses: Fisheye lenses are ultra-wide lenses that can take in a full 180-degree radius around them.
  • Tilt-shift lens: They distort perspective and can make things look smaller than they are in real life.
  • Infrared lenses: They distort light rather than perspective and are function by filtering out light waves apart from infrared for a unique visual effect.

Lenses are a significant part of digital cameras. It is then important to know more about them such as what do the numbers on digital camera lenses mean.

F.A.Q.

What is a camera lens?

A camera lens, like the one used on a digital camera, is a tool used to bring light to a fixed focal point. On film cameras, the lens tends to send light to the film strip, while in a digital camera, the lens directs the light onto a digital sensor.


Why are camera lenses important?

Your digital camera lens is an essential component. You can use a pinhole and get fantastic results; however, it would be impossible to control the final image captured. As a result, camera lenses are an essential part of the camera kit.


What are the two main categories of camera lenses?

Camera lenses are categorized into two, zoom and prime lenses.


What are specialty lenses?

They are a more specialized kind of lenses that offers a unique look and feel to photography.


How are prime lenses different from zoom lenses?

Prime lenses have a fixed lens focal length which makes them sharper and faster. Zoom lenses on the other hand use a series of lenses that allow different focal lengths from a single lens.


STAT: The Digital Camera segment is expected to amount to 3.84 million pieces by 2025. The industry is expected to show a volume growth of 15 percent in 2022 (source)