Let’s talk lenses.

Lenses are your camera’s eye to the world. In many ways, they are the single most important piece of equipment in the entire photographic process, besides, you brain, of course. 

As long as you have adequate resolution, you can use just about any camera body, but the lens you chose to stick on the front makes all the difference. It determines what the image will look like. It determines the style. It tells the story of how you see the world and what you wanted to accentuate and feature in your photograph. And when it comes to creativity, nothing will inspire your photography more than a new lens. 

You know that lenses come in all shapes and sizes. And, just like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. There are always tradeoffs when it comes to lenses, and these tradeoffs usually involve size, weight, price and speed. 

You can’t get all of these qualities in a single lens, and so when buying new lenses, you need to make choices about what you’re willing to sacrifice. The basic rule of thumb with lenses is that fast lenses aren’t cheap, and they’re not light. 

My own basic rule of thumb is this: Get the fastest lens that you can reasonably afford. And by afford, I mean that you can afford to buy and that you can afford to carry. This is the big one. The reason that I’ve never bought a 400mm lens is not because I couldn’t afford it, it’s because I just don’t want to carry it. My light and fast style doesn’t afford me the luxury of carrying glass that big.

Here are a few posts that I’ve written about lenses over on the blog. Hopefully they can help provide you with some insight if you’re starting to think about picking up a new lens. I’ll keep writing more, in fact, I’ll be starting to feature lens reviews more prominently on the blog in the future. 

• The Best Budget Wide Angle Lenses
• 4 More Reasons Whey I love My 85m m f/1.8 Lens
• What Can You Do With a Short Telephoto Lens?
• Get The Most Out of Your 50mm lens
• Lens Review: AF-S Nikkor 24-120mm f/4G

Also, don’t rule out the option of renting lenses. Renting is a great way to try out a new lens before buying, and it’s also solves the problem of trying to justify spending way too much on a lens that you might use very often. Get one for a week or two, or even a month, explore some new creativity, then send it back and get different one. With the awesome selection, very reasonable price, and the ease of shipping back and forth, it makes perfect sense to rent from companies like BorrowLenses.com. I actually met these guys at PhotoPlus Expos. They're a great group of people who love photography, just like you and me.

I’ve also put up a page that lists all of the lenses that I use in my photography, complete with photos to illustrate how I use them. I’m actually doing this for all of the gear that I use- look for more pages in the near future.

Finally, this is the last day to enter to win the $500 gift card from B&H Photo. I’m actually the one who’s treating the winner to the spending spree. Why? Because I believe so strongly that the book will change your photography. I just want to share my excitement! 

So, pick up a copy of Going Fast With Light today and maybe you’ll win! Think of what you could buy with an extra $500.  That’s like candy. That’s like found money. That’s like 1,000 free minutes left on the parking meter!

Have a great week,

Dan

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