There are many things that determine the quality of a photograph, and one of the most important is the lens we use.
When shopping for lenses, it's important to consider the types of subject we intend to shoot and of course our budget.
The lenses can be largely classified into the following categories:
1. Standard Lens (fixed focal length): They have a fixed focal length (typically around 50 mm) and wide aperture. The wider aperture gives a better performance in low light and produces shallower depth of field.
2. Macro Lens (28-200 mm): Designed for closeup photography, they produce some really high quality images. They are used to capture subjects at a close range e.g: insects, plants, products etc.
3. Telephoto Lens (70-300+ mm): They have a high level of magnification and are used to capture images which are far from us. Favoured for wildlife and sports photography, moderate telephoto lens can be used for portrait photography as well.
4. Wide Angle Lens (8-35 mm): They have a short focal length, useful for photographing landscapes, cramped interiors, and other subjects which needs a wider field of view.
5. Kit Lens(18-55 mm): Most entry level Cameras comes bundled along with a kit lens. They are cheap, with poor image quality but are very useful to get a hold of your camera and let's you make better decision as to what lens you would like to buy in the future.