Find Your Focal Length

Close Up or Far Away?

Before I get too far into my discussion of focal length, I'd like to provide you with a definition of the term.

Focal length is measured in millimeters (mm) and it represents the distance from the optical center of a lens to the digital camera sensor when the subject of the photo is in focus.

That's the textbook definition, but it really doesn't explain too much about why focal length is useful.

Here's the plain-English translation:

Digital SLR Lens Guide

Introduction 1 - Focal Length 2 - Prime vs. Zoom 3 - Maximum Aperture 4 - First vs. Third Party 5 - Extra Features 6 - Pick A Lens

With a short focal length you have to be close to your subject for a close-up
With a long focal length you can be far away and still get a close-up
A zoom lens has a variable focal length
A prime lens has a fixed focal length.

How do you decide which focal length lens you need? It all comes down to what you want to photograph.

Focal Length Scenario

Let's say that you have a short 50mm lens. In order to get a close-up of your friend you stand 5 feet away.

You switch to a long 200mm lens. Now you must stand farther away from your friend (say 15 feet) to capture the same image.

Let's simplify further: you're taking a photo of a kitten. You use a lens with a short focal length because you can sit right next to the kitten.

Now you're taking a photo of a Bengal tiger in the wild. Do you want to sit as close as you did to the kitten?

Unless you are a real thrill seeker, the answer is probably no.

For those of us who don't like to live on the edge, a lens with a long focal length will get us up close and personal with that tiger even if we keep our distance.

Lens Types

Lenses specialize in specific focal lengths.

Let me put it this way: you won't find a do-it-all lens that covers the entire focal range from 11mm to 600mm. They don't exist.

Instead, lenses are grouped into four primary categories based on their focal lengths:

Lens Type	Focal Length
Wide Angle	28mm or lower
Standard	Anything from 35mm to 85mm
Telephoto	Anything from 100mm to 300mm
Super-Telephoto	300mm or higher

This is why the very first decision you should make when purchasing a new lens is what focal length (or focal range in the case of zoom lenses) you'd like it to cover.

In the scenario above, I mentioned that you want a lens with a long focal length if you want to stand far away from your subject but still get a close-up.

This is why lenses with different focal lengths have different uses in the world of photography. Let's add some additional information to the focal length table:

Lens Type	Focal Length	Best Use
Wide Angle	28mm or lower	Landscapes and Interiors
Standard	Anything from 35mm to 85mm	Portraits
Telephoto	Anything from 100mm to 300mm	Portraits and Sports
Super-Telephoto	300mm or higher	Wildlife and Sports

That's the quick summary, but let's dig a bit deeper.

Wide Angle Lens Use

Wide angle lenses are ideal for photographers who want to capture all of the scenery in front of them.

These lenses can capture virtually everything that your eyes see in front of you - from the ground at your feet to that mountain in the distance.

This is why they work well for landscape photographers who really want to draw the viewer into the photograph.

They also work well for anyone who photograph indoors a lot, since you don't have a lot of working room. Let's say you want to photograph an entire room full of people - the only way to do it is to back into a corner and use the widest angle lens you can get.

Wide angle lenses are not great for portraits because they distort facial features: the most noticeable problem is that they make noses look HUGE which is not terribly flattering for your subject.

Standard Lens Use

Standard lenses are great for a wide range of photographic subjects, but excel at portraits.

Lenses in the 50mm to 75mm range create natural-looking portraits without the facial distortion that you get using a wide angle lens.

While you can certainly use lenses in this range for landscapes, the resulting photo just won't have the same impact as it might with a wider view.

Telephoto Lens Use

Telephoto lenses also work well for portraits but also cause some distortion: the longer the focal length of a lens, the more it compresses the visual space.

This means that it's harder to tell the distance between objects when you use a telephoto lens. Telephoto photos just have less depth and three-dimensionality than lenses with wider focal lengths.

What are they really good at? Getting you up close and personal with subjects that are far away.

This is why they are ideal for non-pro sporting events - you can stand on the sidelines, but still get a close-up of the game winning goal.

Super-Telephoto Lens Use

These lenses are almost exclusively the domain of professional photographers, and are extremely expensive.

They are used by wildlife photographers, where getting up close is not an option.

They are also the lenses you see at any professional sporting event: those massive ones that require daily strength training to tote around.

A super-telephoto lens really compresses visual space, and requires a lot of skill to use effectively.

Focal Length Examples

I'm a visual learner, so here are some examples that should help you really understand focal length.

Wide Angle

Focal Length: 28mm

Standard

Focal Length: 75mm

Telephoto

Focal Length: 200mm

Super-Telephoto

I don't own a super-telephoto lens, so I don't have any good examples.

Don't worry, I've got you covered.

Scotch Macaskill runs a web site called Wildlife Pictures Online with some exceptional examples of wildlife photos taken with super-telephoto lenses.

I recommend that you take a look at his site, not just for the great photos, but also for the detailed information about taking wildlife photos on African safaris.

What's Next?

Before you move on to the next section, have in mind the type of focal length you'd like in your lens.

Even if you don't have an exact range, rely on the knowledge of what you want to photograph. Here are some examples to get you thinking:

Landscapes — Wide Angle — 10 to 28mm
Architecture — Wide Angle — 18 to 28mm
Flowers — Standard — 75 to 100mm
Portraits — Standard — 50 to 100mm
Sports — Telephoto — 200 to 300mm
Birds — Super-Telephoto — 400 to 600mm

Why is this important?

If you can decide right here and now that you really want to take great landscape shots, then you won't have to evaluate every single lens out there.

Just focus on the Wide Angle lenses, which will make the following steps significantly easier.