Picking The Right Lens

One main problem when you have a DSLR or Mirrorless camera is choosing the right lens. With so many choices in the market, consumers are left confused, which is the best lens? Well one thing for sure, there is NO such thing as the best lens. Let's say there is a great quality lens that produces superb photos with body made of feather-weight super-durable carbon fibre (no, carbon fibre lens does not exist, but maybe it will in the future), but almost 100% of the time it has a super expensive price tag as well. So, there is no way to get a 'perfect' lens without paying a high price, but you CAN still get a decent or better lens while having to pay less by of course sacrificing some things in return. In the end, the art of picking lens is made up by your camera (brand, type, etc), what your needs are, and how much budget you have.

1. Camera

• What is your camera? Is it a DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex), or DSLM (Digital Single Lens Mirrorless / CSC)?

• What is your camera sensor size? Full-Frame, APS-C, Micro Four Thirds, 1 inch, or even a medium format? You can usually find this information in the product specification page of your camera's user guide, and some brands even print it on the body of the camera. You can USUALLY use bigger sensor lens for smaller one (for example : Full-Frame to APS-C), but NOT vice versa, in one condition that they're meant fot the same brand or adapter.

• What is your camera's brand? You don't really wanna accidentally buy a Sony lens for your Canon DLSR at home. Of course, there is an accessorry called 'adapter' which enables you to mix and match different type of brands, sensor sizes, and lenses (Example : Pair a Micro Four Third Panasonic CSC with a Nikon APS-C DSLR lens), BUT you usually have to sacrifice the camera's Autofocus function and even some image quality, plus matching a lens for a camera with different sensor size means different focal length which you have to count by yourself. Some more expensive adapters still enable you to use the Autofocus though, but those are rare and not available for all brand nor camera.

2. Your Needs

• What do you like to photograph? Human, nature, animals, flowers, or small objects? Different object needs different type of lenses, especially on the focal length. 

• 16 - 28mm : Ultra Wide / Wide lens, suitable for taking photos of the environment because of its wide scope. Also suitable for taking photos of lot of people and fashionscape (fashion and landscape mixed together). Beware of lens distortion though (straight lines become slightly curved, more apparent on the edge of the photos, not so in the center).
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  Sony 16mm (24mm) F2.8 Pancake Lens - APS-C (4 million Rupiah / US$ 305)

• 35 - 50mm : Normal Lens. This category is an all-rounder, usually suitable for any kind of shooting. Called 'normal' focal length because it has almost the same field of view with our eyes. This is usually the first choice for beginners because of its naturally wide aperture and lower price (although some premium or pro series still cost you a fortune). 
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  Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm (50mm) F1.4 - m4/3 (6,8 million Rupiah / US$ 520)

• 75 - 150mm : Mid-Telephoto / Potrait Lens. Like its name, this category is the cream of the crop when it comes to shooting potraits. It comes back to you whether you prefer the shorter focal length (75-90mm) or the longer one (100-150mm), longer focal length usually means greater bokeh, but some prefer the shorter one so they can get more intimate with the model.
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  Olympus M.Zuiko 75mm (150mm) F1.8 - m4/3 (12 million Rupiah / US$ 920)

• > 200mm : Telephoto Lens. This comes with variety of focal lengths and sizes. Some are small like normal zoom lens, and some are very huge with the added benefit of stability and picture quality (and high price). Often used when you can't get too close to the subject (wild animals, birds, distant landscapes, or sports).

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  Nikon AF-S 300mm F2.8 - Full Frame (81 million Rupiah / US$ 6180)

• Macro Lens : Used to photograph very small objects (insects, flowers, etc) because you can get very close to the subject and the lens will still focus, paired with excellent sharpness in most cases. Comes in wide variety of focal lengths from 30mm, 45mm, 60mm, and even up to 100mm.
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  Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm (90mm) F2.8 - m4/3 (8,8 million Rupiah / US$ 670)

• Fisheye Lens : Even wider than the ultra wide lens, fisheye typically comes in the range of 8 - 14mm. This lens enables you to capture very wide scenery, even up to 180 degree! However, keep in mind that most fisheye lens have high distortion rate, meaning your pictures will look rounded rather than flat.
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  Samsung 10mm (15mm) Fisheye Lens F3.5 - APS-C (4,2 million Rupiah / US$ 320)

• You lens is an amazing stuff and its function is not only limited to one thing. You can use macro lens for potraits or telephoto to take photos of flowers, and the results might be better than you'd expect. Improvise and keep learning, because the only limit in the world of photography is your imagination.

• Fixed or Zoom Lens? Zoom Lens will give you more flexibility because you don't need to walk away or get closer to your subject when you want to recompose your photo, use this when you want to travel light and don't want to carry many lenses. The downside? Zoom lens usually has much smaller aperture than fixed lens, making indoor shots with dim light rather tricky, and makes you harder to get good bokeh (especially in short focal length). Fixed lens usually comes in smaller size, have much wider aperture than zoom lens, but trades you with flexibility where you have to move away or closer when you want to recompose your subjects, and sometimes you have less-space-than-you-desired to do it. Although with its wider aperture, shooting indoor with higher shutter speed and lower ISO is much easier.

3. Budget

• The most infamous problem, budget. You want to buy a dedicated macro lens. but it costs 1.000 bucks, while you only have 500... Still, you have some alternative solutions when budget is the issue.

• Search for third-party lens, most often than not they sell the same type of lens for quite a lot cheaper. Tamron and Sigma are the most well-known third party lens manufacturers, especially for Canon, Nikon, and Sony DSLRs. They produce many great lenses, some even better than the companies', even more they often sell them with affordable price. Some manufacturers like Samyang and Voigtlander also produce high-quality lenses but almost all of them (if not all) only come with manual focus.

• Search for second-hand products. Luck plays an uncomfortably large part in this, because finding one with decent quality and bargain price isn't always easy. Better try searching from well-known merchants, they usually sell used products for higher price than individual sellers, but the quality is more guaranteed. For individual sellers it would be much better if you could meet up and test the product yourself before deciding to buy it.

• Never lazy to browse or search, there are many merchants out there who sell the same product with different price tags. For Indonesian buyer I recommend looking at www.tokocamzone.com for 'normal' price, then search www.tokopedia.com or www.bukalapak.com, and cross your fingers you will find lower price, but make sure the merchant has good reputation and record.