PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS

[THIS NOTES TAKEN FROM ONLINE]

PHOTOGRAPHY BASICS
Aravind
akr.aravindan@gmail.com
 Ever wonder what it is that actually makes a camera work? This tutorial will cover the
inner workings of a camera, and introduce you into photography basics and the expansive
world of taking better photographs.
To take beautiful photographs you do not need an expensive camera and a bag full of equipment.
What is important is the photographer’s ability to see his/her surrounding and use knowledge and
personal feel for the subject.

Being the first article in a series, this lesson is meant to only cover the basics of
photography. The idea with this series is to get people more interested in photography, awaken
creativity and hopefully help people enjoy this hobby even more. The community here at
Tutorial9 is an important part of this series and I would love to hear your feedback and questions.

An introduction to Photography

The word “photography” is French but is based on Greek word and literarily means
“drawing with light“. That’s what photography is all about, without light — no photograph. The
art of photography is basically seeing and balancing the light.
The illustration to the left shows the path the light travels from the object to the sensor (or film in
non-digital cameras).

First the light needs to go through the lens, which is a series of differently shaped pieces
of glass. If the focus is good then the light will meet on the sensor.
The aperture is placed inside the lens and is basically an opening that controls how
much light reaches the sensor.
On most modern cameras the shutter is placed inside the camera body. This piece of
mechanics is what controls how long time the sensor is exposed to the light.
 The sensor is a very sensitive plate where the light is absorbed and transformed into
pixels. As you can see on this illustration, the image the sensor picks up is actually upside down,
just like our eyes sees the world, the processor inside the camera then flips it.

Aperture

The aperture sits inside the lens and controls how much light passes through the lens and
onto the sensor. A large aperture lets through very much light and vice versa. Knowing how the
aperture affects the photograph is one of the most important parts of photography — it affects
the amount of light, depth of field, lens speed, sharpness and vignetting among other things. I
will talk more about these things in later parts of this series.

F-numbers, a mathematical number that expresses the diameter of the aperture, are an
important part of understanding how the aperture and exposure work. All f-numbers have a
common notation, such as ƒ/5.6 for an f-number of 5.6. There are a set numbers of f-numbers
that are used in photography, there are several different scales but the “standard” full-stop f-
number scale is this:

ƒ/# 1.4 2 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22 32

These are known as full-stop f-numbers. If you decrease the f-number with one full-
stop, like ƒ/4 to ƒ/2.8, the amount of light that passes through will double. If you increase the f-
number with one full-stop, like ƒ/5.6 to ƒ/8, only half the amount of light will reach the sensor.

There can be several f-numbers between the ones above — depending on what scale is
being used. The most common one is a 1/3 scale, which means that every third step is a full-stop,
and thus giving you two settings between every full-stop. For example between ƒ/8 and ƒ/11 you
will find ƒ/9 and ƒ/10. This can be rather confusing at first, so here’s a short reminder:

A higher f-number = a smaller aperture = less light

A lower f-number = a larger aperture = more light
Shutter

The shutter is what controls how long the sensor is exposed to the light. The longer the
shutter is open the more light can be captured by the sensor. A fast shutter speed will result in
“freezing” a moving object and a slow shutter speed will let you capture the motion of a moving
object. There is a scale of stops for the shutter speeds just like for the aperture, below are the
full-stops. 1/1000 s 1/500 s 1/250 s 1/125 s 1/60 s 1/30 s 1/15 s 1/8 s 1/4 s 1/2 s 1 s
And just as with the aperture, the shutter speed is often on a 1/3 scale, giving your two steps in
between every full-stop. For example between 1/60s and 1/125s you will find 1/80s and 1/100s.
The two primary factors which control exposure are shutter speed and aperture. We will cover
these things in greater detail in other lessons.

ISO
The ISO speed (the name comes from the International Organization for
Standardization) is a measure of the film speed, or its sensitivity to light. With digital cameras
the ISO affects the sensor instead of the film, but the principal is the same. A low ISO speed
requires a longer exposure and is referred to as slow, a high ISO speed requires less time to give
the same exposure and is therefore referred to as fast. One step in the ISO equals one full-stop, so
the ISO is not on a 1/3 scale — film can be found with 1/3 ISO speeds, but it’s uncommon in the
digital world. These are the most common ISO speeds.
ISO 50 100 200 400 800 1600 3200
On 35mm film, a film with high ISO speed had much more grain than a slower film —
but the modern sensors don’t create the same grain with high ISO speeds. Instead it
creates noise. The digital noise is not as favorable as the film grain and can destroy a photo if it’s
too visible (the same goes with the grain, but it’s effect was more subtle and often more liked).
If light is no problem, then always use a low ISO number but if you’re indoors with bad
light or other conditions when you find the combination of aperture/shutter not to be enough the
ISO speed can be a great asset. New digital sensors are constantly developed and the noise levels
with high ISO speeds are decreasing with every new release.
STANDING STEADY: PROVEN WAYS TO REDUCE SHAKE IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Learn how to get those steady shots, both with the help of tripods, monopods, and
additionally with your bear hands. These tips are guaranteed to improve your stability while
taking photographs!

To get good photographs you usually have to hold the camera steady. Sometimes a blurry
photograph or one in motion can be desired, but most of the time it’s unwanted. The most
common equipment to help counter this is the tripod, but I will also give you a few other tips to
reduce camera shake in this article.

1. Tripod

As I said, the tripod is the classic tool to make your photographs sharp and crisp. It’s by
far the steadiest method and produces great result time after time, but there are a few things to
think about.

Just like everything else the tripods comes in all different shapes and sizes, not to
mention price classes. It’s important to sit down and think about what you want out of your
tripod — is it going to be used in a studio or outdoors, what type of lenses are you planning on
using and how much do they weight, do you want a ball head or a 3-way pan-tilt head?

If you’re only going to use the tripod indoors it doesn’t have to be as sturdy and rough as
an outdoors tripod needs to be. The heavier the tripod the more stable it is, and I’ve learned a
‘rule’ that says “for every 100mm focal length the tripod should weigh 1kg (2.2 lbs)“. So if
you are planning on using a 300mm telephoto lens the tripod should weigh about 3kg (6.6 lbs).
I’m not sure how accurate this rule is, but it can work as some kind of guideline. Do keep in
mind though those high-end tripods can be both very stable and light, but rather expensive.

If you do not need to have the tripod set up at full height, extend the upper parts of the
legs first since the lower parts are thinner and thereby not as stable. Some tripods have the ability
to raise a post in the center to maximize the height even more — do not use this feature unless
you truly need to since the center post is more unstable.
 The choice between a ball head and a 3-way pan-tilt head is simply personal
preferences. With the 3-way pan-tilt head you can easily change just one axes, such as panning
or tilting, without affecting the other axes. The ball head gives you more ability to move the
camera around and is much faster to change, but ball heads are often more expensive.

A personal tripod recommendation would be the Manfrotto 055XPROB legs with the
488RC2 ball head. I have an earlier version of the legs, but the difference is minimal. This
combination would land somewhere in the mid-range of prices, but the quality is very high and
unless you have very heavy lenses (in which case you might want to look at Gitzo tripods) this is
a perfect solution. This tripod is not the lightest, but it’s steady and at a great price.

If you’re tall this is also a tripod to consider, since it stand very tall even without the
center post raised.

2. Monopod
A monopod is a great alternative to tripods and handheld. You can’t have a shutter speed
of 1 hour on a monopod like you can on a tripod, you can most likely not even have a shutter
speed of 30 seconds — but that’s not the target market for monopods. They are a more mobile
tool to help you stabilize your shots without having to carry around a tripod, and monopods are
far more simple and quick to set up.

It can take some time getting use to a monopod, and the most effective way to use it is to have its
foot placed against your back foot. Do not just have the monopod stand in front of you; this will
not give enough stability to help you very much. Try finding a good posture where you can hold
the camera as steady as possible.

3. Hand held

This is the most common way to take photographs and most of the time it will do just
fine, but there are ways to take advantage of your surrounding and changing your stance to help
you with stability.

Always hold the camera close to you, inhale and hold your breath for the duration of the
shot. Don’t just tap the shutter release button — you want to press it down and hold down the
finger a short while before lifting it again to minimize camera shake.
 If you’re using a telephoto lens or other lens that is somewhat heavy or long place your
left hand under the lens and grasp it — do not hold the camera body with both hands if you’re
using a heavy lens.

Keeping as low profile as possible is a great way to increase your stability. If possible,
lay flat on your stomach with both your elbows on the ground. Not as stable but another good
stance is with one knee on the ground and the other one at a 90° angle.

Leaning against a tree or wall is another great way to take the stability of something else
and help it make you more stable. If possible, place the camera against the tree/wall to maximize
the stability. The same goes for rocks, logs, railings and more or less everything you can find to
rest your camera on. On many occasions it can be more helpful to rest your camera on a rock
than using a monopod.

One last trick I learned from a friend of mine; take your left hand and place it on your
right shoulder, take your camera in your right hand and place it on your left elbow/forearm —
this might take some time getting use to but the result is a very stable stance that works great
with telephoto lenses.
There is a general rule in photography that says that your shutter speed should be at least
equal to your focal length to minimize unwanted camera shakes. This means that if you use a
100mm telephoto lens the shutter speed should be at least 1/100s, if you use a 300mm lens the
shutter speed should be at least 1/320s.

A warning about the previous stated rule is crucial. Most Digital SLR cameras do not
have a sensor with the same dimensions as 35mm film (which was used at the time the rule was
made). In most cases the camera has a crop factor of 1.5 or 1.6, this means that a 100mm leans is
actually a 150 or 160mm lens when translated into 35mm film sizes.
If you’re using a camera with a crop factor of 1.6 and using a 200mm telephoto lens you
should have a shutter speed of at least 1/320 (200mm * 1.6 = 320)
DEPTH OF FIELD IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Depth of field (DOF) is the distance in front and beyond the object that is in focus. This
tutorial will teach you about how to use Depth of Field in your own photography.

Depth of Field in Photoshop

In case you’re looking for a way to imitate Depth of Field in Photoshop (rather than
photography, as this tutorial illustrates).
A short depth of field can be very useful when you want to isolate your object from the
background, such as when taking portraits or macro photography. A large depth of field is great
when you photograph landscapes and overall when you want every detail to be in focus.

Control the Depth of Field

There are three variables that affect DOF, the size of the Aperture, the distance to the
object and what lens you’re using. (There is a fourth thing that affects the DOF, but that’s the
size of the sensor and unless you have two cameras with different sensor sizes this isn’t
something to take into account.)

As you can see in the illustration above, a lower f-number equals a shorter depth of field. A
higher f-number will give you focus over a longer distance — when you’re having a hard time
getting the correct focus it might be a good idea to extend your DOF by changing the aperture.

The distance between you and the object is also important, the closer you are to the object the
shorter the DOF. If you’re photographing a person but needs to have a high f-number you can
still get a very short DOF by keeping the distance between you and the person to a minimum.
 The last thing you can do to affect your DOF is to change the lens. A wide-angle lens has
a much greater DOF than atelephoto lens; the most extreme wide-angle and fish-eye lenses don’t
even have to focus because they are so sharp on every aperture for the entire DOF (making for
excellent scenic shots).
It’s important to know that the depth of field is greater behind the object than in front of
it. If you want to photograph, let’s say 20 kids standing in a line, and you want as many of them
as possible to be in focus, but you’re unable to have a small aperture, you should focus on the
6th-7th kid in line, which would balance the field of focus about right (depending on your
distance to the kids). If you would focus on the 10th kid, that is the one in the middle, the first
few kids would be more out of focus than the kids at the back of the line.

Unlike some other parts of photography, the depth of field works in your favor almost
every time. If you want to photograph landscapes you usually have a wide-angle lens — the
object is far away and you use a high f-number — all these things together gives you a depth to
infinity. And if you’re photographing macro you’re close to the object, you have a telephoto lens
and often a low f-number — all these things will give you a very short depth which will make
your object stand out and make the background soft and non-distracting.

Bokeh
The word Bokeh derives from the Japanese word Boke which means “blur” or “fuzzy“,
and that’s just what the term refers to in photography. The out of focus areas in the photograph
look very different depending on the depth of field as well as the lens used, some lenses produces
much better bokeh than other lenses. The shape of the aperture is one of the most important parts
together with the quality of the optics when it comes to how the out of focus areas appear.

The photograph above is meant to illustrate what bokeh is. The lens used was the Canon
50mm f/1.8 which isn’t considered to be a good bokeh lens due to it’s 5 aperture blades.
EXPOSURE AND CAMERA MODES
The exposure is the combined factors of how long time the sensor is exposed to light,
how much light comes through and how sensitive the sensor is to light. It’s based on three things,
Aperture size, Shutter speed and ISO.
Exposure
There are 3 parts of exposure that you should understand. The following examples ought
to illustrate how these 3 components of exposure interact with one another.

Example1
You take a photograph with the following settings: ƒ/8, 1/250s and ISO 100
But let’s say you want to freeze the object more, which requires a faster shutter speed, you can
either change the ISO or the Aperture. First of all let’s change the shutter speed 1 stop
faster, 1/500s — now only half the amount of light will reach the sensor. To compensate for this
and keep the exposure the same you can change the aperture size 1 f-stop larger, ƒ/5.6.
So ƒ/5.6, 1/500s and ISO 100 will give you the same exposure as ƒ/8, 1/250s and ISO 100 (but
now the shutter speed is faster which allows you to freeze your object in a different way).

Example2
You’re indoors with bad light conditions which make your current setting too slow and
are unable to hold the camera steady enough. The settings are: ƒ/5.6, 1/60s and ISO 100. Your
lens’ largest aperture is ƒ/4 which is 1 f-stop larger, changing your shutter speed 1 stop faster
will result in: ƒ/4, 1/125s and ISO 100. The shutter speed is still too slow and the result is blurry
due to camera shake. Since you can’t change the aperture anymore you will have to change the
ISO setting, 1 stop will result in ISO 200, you now have: ƒ/4, 1/250s and ISO 200 which should
be enough to get a sharp photograph.
As you hopefully can see from these examples all three parts of the exposure are related
to each other. If you just change one of them the result will be either an underexposed or an
overexposed photograph, but if you change both you can keep the balance.

55mm, f/5.6, 1/60s, ISO 100 300mm, f/5.6, 1/800, ISO 400
 50mm, f/5, 1/320, ISO 400

Overexposure
Overexposure happens when the sensor is exposed to more than enough light, resulting
in white images or at least white areas in the images around the light source(s). Sometimes it’s
impossible to expose the photograph correctly without getting some overexposed areas.
Overexposure can be used as an effect, but most of the time it’s unwanted and avoidable.

Underexposure
Underexposure is the opposite of overexposure, and is the result of the sensor not getting
enough light, the photo isdark. Underexposure can be used artistically but just like overexposure
it can be unwanted and hard to avoid.

To Underexpose, or Overexpose?
With digital cameras it’s much easier to bring back the light and colors from
underexposed areas than it is to bring back shades into overexposed areas. If you’re
photographing in RAW you might want to consider to underexpose your images on purpose to
avoid loosing details in overexposed areas and then use a digital lightroom to bring back the light
from the underexposed areas if needed. This depends on the light conditions, and indoors it can
be a good idea to overexpose instead.

I personally always underexpose my outdoor photographs 2/3 of an f-stop for this reason,
and have found the results much more pleasing than a “correct” exposure.

Exposure Lock
Exposure Lock is a great feature that’s available on most cameras. It’s rather easy to
understand what it does, it locks the exposure so that it doesn’t re-calculate the exposure if you
move your camera around. Try to find a neutrally exposed part of your object, not the light
source nor the shadows but something in between, and press the exposure lock button —
recompose your photograph and take the picture.
 CAMERA MODES
MANUAL MODES:
 M — Manual mode; this gives you full control over both aperture and shutter speed.
 Av or A — Aperture priority; you control the aperture and the camera calculates the shutter
speed for best exposure
 Tv or S — Shutter priority; you control the shutter speed and the camera calculates the
aperture
 P — Program mode; a more advanced form of an auto mode. The camera calculates both the
aperture and shutter speed, but doesn’t affect settings like ISO or flash.

AUTOMATIC MODES:
 Auto — everything is on auto, including ISO, flash and image quality
 Portrait — uses a large aperture to shorten the depth of field
 Landscape — uses a small aperture to gain more depth of field
 Sport — uses higher ISO to use faster shutter speeds
 Night portrait — uses long exposures to capture the entire scene, often combined with
built in flash
 Macro — uses a large aperture to great a softer background

JUST SAY NO! TO AUTOMATIC MODES

There is no reason what so ever to use the automatic modes. After you’ve read through
this series of articles about photography you should have enough knowledge to control the
camera on manual modes — which will result in better photographs.

The Program mode (P) is fine to use, this way you will have the aperture and shutter
automatic but still be in control over everything else. Most photographers find a mode that they
like and maybe switches between two different modes, this is personal preferences and let me
just tell you that far from every professional photographers uses only the fully Manual setting.

I personally use M and Av most of the time, depending on the situation. Av for the
situations where I don’t have enough time to set the correct exposure between every shot and
then M for the rest.

LENSES AND FOCAL LENGTH PHOTOGRAPHY

In Photography, your lens is often your most important purchase. This photography
tutorial outlines some important qualities of different lenses, and how each performs in identical
situations.

Choosing a lens is often more difficult then choosing a camera when it comes to
purchasing. One thing to remember is that a lens will last several times longer than digital
cameras. A D-SLR has a limited lifespan of a couple of years, the prices on cameras just keeps
on dropping and purchasing a new camera every 3-5 years is quite reasonable if you want good
quality photographs & equipment. A lens on the other hand will (if handled correctly) last much
longer then that, so a good lens will be an investment that you can use for a longer period of
time.
Another thing to think about is the fact that all the light that reaches the sensor needs to
pass through the lens. A low quality lens on a high quality camera will result in bad image
quality, but a good lens on a low quality camera can still produce good results (and with low
quality camera I mean the companies “entry level” D-SLR cameras).
It’s important to realize that different lenses distort and compress the view. A wide angle
lens will distort the view and distances can seem greater than they really are, while in contrast, a
telephoto lens will compress the view and make far away object seem closer than they are. To
show this effect I have taken three photos with different lenses, the front object (a street sign) is
kept at the same size but the background is drastically different.

Above: 18mm, Wide Angle

Above: 50mm, Normal

Above: 300mm, Telephoto

Normal lens

Normal lenses have a focal length of around 50mm; it resembles the view of the human
eyeand creates a natural view — unlike wide-angle that distort and telephoto that compresses the
view. These lenses usually have a very low f-number, which makes them perfect for
photographing in low light conditions.
Back in the days this was the standard lens everybody had, often a 50mm prime lens
(more about prime lenses later in this article) with an aperture of f/1.2–f/1.8. The fact that they
were so widely used might be one of the reasons why they have now been left behind for most
beginners and amateurs — they are just seen as too boring.
I personally would recommend everybody to go out and purchase a 50mm prime lens,
even if you already have a zoom lens that covers the focal length. The 50mm primes on the
market today are often cheap but with exceptionally good optics for the price.

Wide-angle lens

Lenses with a wide angle of view have become standard as kit-lenses on most low-end D-
SLRcameras on the market, always as zoom lenses. These lenses are great for landscapes,
architecture and indoor photography — but be aware of the distortion they create. The closer you
are to your object the more distorted it will become, and the distortion is most predominant in
the corners. With such short focal length they can be useful in low-light situations, both because
they take in light from a wider angle and because a little camera shake is not as visible as it is on
longer focal lengths.Be careful when using wide-angle lenses for close portraits, the distortion
created by the lens is magnified at close ranges and gives the model unnatural shapes. The effect
can be effective and useful in some situation but it’s a technique that should be used with
caution.
Telephoto lens
 These lenses have a narrow view field and a long focal length. Telephoto lenses are great
for wildlife and sport photography, and can be good to use for portrait when you want to isolate
the model from the background. Telephoto lenses compresses the view which can be both
positive and negative depending on the situation.
Telephoto lenses with their longer focal length require better light conditions or the use of
a tripod. There are fast telephoto lenses, like a 400mm f/2.8, but these are often very expensive
and out of reach when it comes to most amateurs — and most of these lenses are too heavy to be
handheld.
The last decade most companies have started to produce these high end telephoto lenses
with Image Stabilizer(different companies have different names for it, but the effect is the
same) to make them more usable without tripods. Lately this feature has been implanted in more
and more low-end lenses as well.
Macro lens

Macro photography is close-up photography. Macro is a word that has been severely
abused lately, every photograph of an insect or flower is not macro, and many people seems to
have missed the point of what macro is supposed to be. True macro photography is at the scale
of 1:1 or greater 
this means that the object you’re photographing should be the same size or larger on the
sensor.
Most macro lenses have a focal length between 50mm and 200mm, and they usually have
a large maximum aperture (low f-number) that gives them both the ability to be fast as well as
totally isolate the subject. The background and shallow depth-of-field is a very important part of
macro photography and can take quite a lot of time to master.
Many modern macro lenses can focus to infinity and are prime lenses which can make
them ideal when it comes to portrait photography, so just because it’s a macro lens doesn’t mean
it can only be used for that type of photography.
 There are several ways to achieve macro or a macro-effect without a true macro lens; I
will go into detail about this in a later part of this series.

Special lenses
FISHEYE LENS

Fisheye lenses are extreme wide-angle lenses, having a 180° horizontal angle of view.
There are both Circular and Full-frame fisheye lenses, the circular will create a round image in
the center with unexposed (black) edges and the full-frame lens will fill the entire sensor but will
only have 180° horizontal and not vertical.
Fisheye lenses are widely used photographing and filming skateboarding, since the entire
scene is always in focus and you can easily capture the entire trick without too much movement.

TILT-SHIFT LENS

Tilt-shift lenses are common in architectural photography to avoid the distortion a regular
wide-angle lens creates while keeping the entire building in focus. Tilt-shift lenses have more
features than just correcting the distortion, they also gives the photographer total control over the
focus and depth of field. The lens can create rather odd looking photographs where the field of
depth looks “unnatural” and the entire scene looks like it’s a photograph of a miniature.

Prime lenses vs. Zoom lenses

There are two types of lenses, prime and zoom. A prime lens is a lens that has a fixed
focal length, these lenses comes in all shapes and price classes. Zoom lenses have taken over the
market almost completely on the lower-end; this is mostly because zooms are more versatile. A
zoom lens can be a wide-angle lens, a normal lens and a telephoto lens — all in one — where as
a prime can only be what it is. High-end telephoto lenses as well as macro lenses are almost
always primes.

So why choose a prime instead of a zoom lens then?

Most prime lenses are considerably sharper than the zooms in the same price class, even
when you go to the very high-end lenses the primes are sharper but the difference is not as
distinct. Not only are primes sharper but they often have a larger maximum aperture which
makes them faster and ideal in low-light situations. However, the technology is moving forward
at a great speed right now and the noise levels at high ISO isn’t as visible as it was before which
makes zoom lenses able to be faster as well.

All in all I would recommend that people have at least one prime in their camera bag,
preferably a normal lens, which is the perfect lens for many situations — sharp, fast and light-
weight.
 Most lenses have a “sweet spot” where the lens is performing better than on other
settings. Zoom lenses are often best in the middle of their range and there can be some quality
loss on both the maximal and minimal focal length, but it’s different from lens to lens so your
best bet is to try and see where you find the sharpest results.

The aperture will also affect the sharpness, and most lenses are softer when they are wide
open (largest aperture). To prevent this you can always step down one or two f-stops, if the
situation allows for it.
Some quick advice on buying a new lens
When it comes to purchasing a new lens there are a few things to consider.

 Who much are you willing to spend

 What do you need it for (sport, landscape, portraits etc)
 What lenses do you already own
 Prime or Zoom
 Image Stabilizer or not
 Filter size
The budget question is rather obvious; don’t buy lenses you can’t afford, period. What
you need your lens for is another very important factor, both when it comes to focal length and
speed. Previously in this article I explained what the different focal lengths were used for, but I
didn’t go into the different lenses in each of the focal length categories. For instance, there are
many telephoto zoom lenses on the market but many of them are not suitable for sport due to the
fact that they are too slow — and with slow I mean that their largest aperture isn’t letting enough
light through to freeze action. Many sport situations require a lens that has an aperture of f/2.8 or
larger (consumer telephoto lenses are often f/5.6). For situations with low light, especially
weddings and such, requires even faster lenses, often between f/1.2 and f/1.8.
It’s also important to consider what lenses you already have in your collection and what a
new lens will add. Sometimes you purchase a new lens as an upgrade from your previous lens,
sometimes it’s for a focal length that you do not already have. Don’t worry to much about small
gaps in the focal length in your collection. For example it’s no problem to have a 16-35mm wide
angle, a 50mm prime and a 70-200mm telephoto lens — sure you don’t have lenses that covers
36-49mm or 51-69mm, but those are not big gaps and buying extra lenses to fill such gaps is not
something I advice you do.

My personal opinion is that upgrading should add more than just better image quality, for
a worth upgrade you should get a faster lens, or a feature such as image stabilizing (article on
Image stabilizing coming later). The choice between prime and zoom lenses was described
earlier in this article and there’s no right or wrong here, just personal preferences and also
depending on the situation.

Last but not least, an aspect that is overlooked most of the time, the filter size. If you
don’t use filters you can skip this part. If you’re like me and use several different filters it’s more
economical to have the same filter size on all your lenses as well as more convenient. Let’s say
you have several lenses with a filter size of 77mm and your looking for a new lens, you can
either buy a cheaper 67mm or a more expensive 77mm lens (remember, I’m talking about filter
size here). It might actually be more expensive to buy the cheaper lens since you need to buy an
extra set of filters. Using step-up rings are an alternative, but they often prevent you from using a
lens hood.

So after decided on your next lens purchase, where to buy? The only non-Swedish photo
store I can personally recommend is B&H Photo. Great service, good prices and a useful
website, I recommend B&H to everyone that ask, it’s a great store. There are other stores, but be
careful, there are a lot of fake/bad photography stores online.