What a lens can teach you: A beginner's guide

Looking for a lens

Deciding on the right "glass" from a variety of lenses is often a tough nut to crack.

The beginners among us face this dilemma as we scan the marketplaces for that special lens that will serve multiple functions.  We seek a lens that will take satisfying images, while also serving as a companion, helper, paintbrush and most of all, a teacher.  Often that search is mindful of a fairly limited budget. Surely nobody wants to buy a lens only to sell it for half a price on eBay half a year later.

I presume you have spent your hard earned money to buy a wisely chosen DSLR, a camera bag, lots of memory cards and some accessories. For the old foxes among Nikonians an obvious question arises: "Which new lens will cure my NAS?" They search for an ultra dispersion glass treatment with a super coating and a little bit of vibration reduction in a weather-sealed casing. A beginner is mostly unsure about making the right decision.

Who hasn't delved into an online lens catalogue, surfer websites for reviews, seeking the best price, asked other experienced Nikonians in forums for advice and in the end was still a little bit unsure about the right decision? Most articles mention the basic lens categories in a nutshell (wide, basic, tele), then a little bit about zoom and fixed focus lenses, the DX and full frame lenses and finally about the characteristics and usage.  Then you also have the special lenses for macro and perspective control.  

If you would like to know more about various kinds of lenses, I suggest you look for Nikonians articles in the Lens Reviews Category, you will find these offer valuable information and insights gained from experience. I will not retell that information, because many good articles were written by other more experienced Nikonians (such as this one by J. Ramón Palacios).

My goal is different. Let me tell you a story first.

To hold a SLR camera in my hands, that was an awesome feeling and I remember it as it was yesterday. A friend of mine lent it to me with a roll of film and said I can now shoot whatever I want. It was a true joy to see the world in a pentaprism viewfinder, focusing on whatever I chose to and changing the angle of view from wide 28mm to a moderate telephoto 80mm. And there were this shiny numbers in the bottom of the viewfinder and they changed with the outdoor light. I was really excited how this small machine could accomplish so many things and after shooting the whole 36 frames on my roll of film I brought it to the photo center.

I couldn't afford to pay very much for the developing at that time, but despite this I decided to print it on matte paper in 5"x4" (10x13cm). Imagine my reaction when I picked up my pictures. They were a catastrophe and it was clearly not the camera's fault. Of course I was very disappointed at that time and I tried and tried with other cameras to achieve better results. I have tried some other digital cameras from other manufacturers as well, and then some digital SLRs, I have rented various equipment from my friends, then bought some new. At last I have even worked in a photo store behind the desk.  

I sold cameras to customers and answered their curious questions. As a benefit, I could rent some equipment from the store at that time, which was very convenient. I really liked some of my pictures and people were quite satisfied. Their response to my pictures was mostly positive, but I felt it was not enough. I wanted to shoot great pictures that would look nearly as good as in the magazines or from favorite photographers of mine, but I didn't know exactly how to accomplish that. Even if I understood the theory and knew the technical parameters, I somehow felt the nicest images often slipped through my fingers. I didn't know at this moment that my photographic journey was just beginning and the widening of my knowledge would actually come from my search for perfection. 

I have to thank my grandfather for his old camera.  He didn't use it anymore and he decided to give it to me as a gift. It was a film camera called Werra, a piece of solid steel and German technology.  In an emergency also it was probably usable as a self-defense weapon. The lens was a Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm 1:2.8, an excellent piece of glass when stepped down and with a nice bokeh. It was a rangefinder camera, so there was a parallax between what was displayed in the viewfinder and what the lens captured. It was this camera that made me think about composition and the field of view. Every time a great moment was in front of me, a simple click on the shutter button was simply impossible; I had to think about the parallax first. Then I started slowly to rethink my own habits of setting a composition and how to handle the light.

I didn’t stick with the camera for long, I have changed it for an SLR, but the 50mm lens had taught me so much, I have used it for the next year. Yeap, only one 50mm lens the whole year. The fixed focus 50mm was of course limiting now and then. Sometimes I had to go closer or further to capture an object, then recompose and try to get everything right. It was a tough lens to use when learning the rule of thirds, the main object, and exposure.  All these split second decisions had to be made while not losing the original intent of the image and of course the right split second to activate the shutter.  That lens became a teacher and now I can share some of my results.

A sharp lens is a blessing and the image from a fixed focus lens is crisper then a zoom lens can ever deliver, even when the manufacturers try very hard to catch up.

Therefore I encourage the beginners to start with a 50mm lens instead of a kit lens or to use it as a subsidiary lens as much as possible. The positive effect of doing so will come quite rapidly. You will be limited by one field of view, but you will have more time to think about the perspective and you will imagine what you could do if you had another type of lens. You will definitely spend more time with composing your image and this will have a positive effect on you as a photographer. You may also miss some moments, but it is inevitable - it is an essential part of learning. 

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