Choosing A Lens for Travel Photography
With hundreds of lenses to choose from, getting it right needs some consideration. Lenses are expensive, if want to purchase a new lens it really is important to think carefully about what will suite your needs.
There are a number of factors you will need to consider,
-The nature of your trip
-The length of your trip
-Your style of photography
-Your favourite lens
The quality of your lens is so important. I think much more important than the quality of camera body. I recommend that you buy the best lens you can afford. An upgrade in lens will greatly improve your photographs much more than an upgrade in camera body.
When buying a lens the main features that you will need to consider for travel photography will be;
Weight
As a travel photographer the weight of your camera kit is a huge considerations. Unless your lucky enough of have a personal assistant to carry your bags! Most of us aren't that lucky so we need to keep weight down.
Versatility
A unique challenge that travel photography presents is the vast variety in photographic situations that you will be faced with in a single trip. Depending on the destination and length of your trip you will need to take a lens, or combination of lenses, with a range of focal lengths. If you have a lens with a really wide focal range, 17-200mm for example, it is possible to get away with just taking one lens. Its always the better option thought to take more than one lens with a combinations of focal ranges.
Lens Speed
When the sun goes down many destinations come alive. You want your photographs to come alive too. A common complainant is that when the sun goes down the quality of photograph goes down too. In fact in any low light situation when flash is not permitted many people find their lens is not man enough for the job, producing low quality images.
The only way to solve this is to invest in the ‘fasted’ lens you can afford.
The speed of a lens is signified but the F stop number, the aperture. For example the 18-55mm lens, that is usually bundled with many of Canons DSLRs, is f/3.4 - 5.6. This means at the 18mm focal length the aperture is f/3.4 and at the 55mm focal length the lens has a maximum aperture of f/5.6. The smaller the F number the bigger the aperture hole meaning more light can reach the sensor. When you have a large aperture you are able to use a really fast shutter speed to give a crisp image. When shooting in low light the faster the lens the better. You can read more about exposure.
Cost
Of course cost is a personal factor. As I can only recommend that you buy the fastest and best quality lens that you can afford.
Having said that if you can’t afford a pro lens it doesn’t mean that you can’t get some great shots. If your a macro photographer, for example, and like getting close up to your subject you can compromise on a zoom lens and go for a better quality macro lens.
You can see which Lenses I recommend for Travel Photography.
