One of the questions many photographers ask themselves when buying a new lens is if they should buy a zoom or prime (single focal length) lens. Most of the time they pick a zoom lens and to be honest, I would pick a zoom lens too, it’s just more practical. But there are some photographers out there who use nothing but prime lenses and claim that using anything else makes you lazy. Below is a list of way to better yourself as a photographer with prime lenses which will hopefully convince you to have at least one of them in your arsenal. Know your lenses. I went through a phase once where I would use nothing but prime lenses. Back then I was lucky enough to have access to some really high quality glass through work and would often find myself using a 14mm 2.8, 50mm 1.2, 85mm 1.2, or 200mm 2.0. After a lot of practice, I learned what each lens could and couldn't do. I knew what kind of distortion I would get, how far away I had to be from a subject, and what kind of depth of field was possible. Knowing how these things behave at different focal lengths ...

Fisheye lenses are really cool. It's just one of those specialty lenses that you just have to have in your bag, just in case. But often times for me, the odds that I will actually pull out my fisheye to take a shot is very rare because nothing really pops out as a "this will look great with a fisheye." If you have a fisheye lens and not getting enough use out of it, here's a list of ideas that'll hopefully have you reaching into your bag for the fishy next time you're out. People Getting up close and personal with a fisheye lens can produce some fun pictures. Although it's usually unflattering, often times that's the best part. You could take a picture inches away from the subject and distort the face to the point where their forehead becomes the larger then their whole body or step back a couple feet and take a picture of them with an almost panoramic view of their surroundings. Ever try taking a group picture in a tight space? A fisheye lens is perfect for that. Yourself Do you like taking pictures of yourself but have no friends to do it for you? I feel your ...

If you buy any of the lenses in the Canon L series, you are guaranteeing yourself a good, durable, quality lens. But for those of us who are unwilling to spend a couple thousand dollars for a single lens, we assume that we just have to sacrifice quality to save some money, but that's not always the case. Here's a list of cheaper alternatives to the Canon L series where you really get a big bang for the buck. You don't have to always sacrifice optical quality to save some money when buying a lens. Listed below are several lenses, broken down into categories, which I consider to be real bargain lenses where you're getting a lot more then what you're paying for. (Canon lenses only) Wide Angle Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. - $700 Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM. - $1000 Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 - $300 Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM. - $400 Standard Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. - $100 Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM. - $350 Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM. - $230 Telephoto Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. - $550 Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM. - $350 Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM. - $400 Macro Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro. - $500 Now with these lenses, you won't ...

Often times if you want to do macro photography, you'll have to get a dedicated macro lens, and that comes with a price. There is however a much cheaper solution that can give you better magnification then a lot of the macro lenses you see on the market today. Reversing the lens is easy, cheap, and the results you are just mind blowing. Understanding the term macro: A true macro lens is considered to have 1:1 magnification, or life size. Those two numbers represent the reproduction ratio. What that means is if your lens is capable of shooting at 1:1 magnification, your camera will be able to fill the entire picture with an object exactly the same size as your camera's sensor. If it is 2:1, the magnification doubles and now that object will appear twice as big. If it is 1:2, the magnification halves and now that object will only fill half the frame. Almost all true macro lenses will be able to get 1:1 magnification. A lot of manufactures claim that some of their lenses have macro capabilities, but in reality the maximum magnification you'll be able to achieve is 1:2 or less. How to get the poor man's macro: Reversing the lens ...