For example here is a picture taken with a telephoto lens. You can see how crisp and sharp it is and the color reproduction is just absolutely phenomenal. The pictures above are taken by a zoom lens. Both of these pics are taken from the same point, yet you can see the difference. The first one in zoomed-in while the second one is in normal frame. Here I am going to give a few meaningful examples to make it clear to you, if you need a telephoto lens or not.
I will point out a few advantages or better performing situation of a telephoto lens. Read these points carefully. A telephoto lens actually compresses the perspective, it squeezes everything together and brings the foreground and then the background and crushes them together. This is something you can use at particular locations and works well in some cases if the subject is fixed.
This level of compression looks even better when atmospheric conditions like mist or fog or haze separate different parts of the scene which really reinforces a perception of layers in the landscape. But when the mist is lying between each one of the hills and the telephoto squash the furthest hill with the closest hill and that really emphasizing the separation of different layers with the mist.
Now it can be particularly rewarding because these scenes, other times of the day not generally have a lot of interest, and what really worked here is the separation. Often in landscape photography, a telephoto lens really forces you to step away from there and try to get everything into the frame that you can often find yourself doing with a wide angle.
Now our eyes and our brains really respond to order and simple designs. So whenever we have an opportunity, we should try to compose the scene with that in mind.
A telephoto lens limits how much you can fit in the frame but in reality, this encourages the idea of reducing a shot to its most basic element. Here are two shots of a waterfall in Iceland. Amazing here is the color of the water which is really astonishing. It is wonderful bluish-white color. You can see in the first picture which is a full-frame and gives a lot of uninteresting subjects too.
But the same scene is captured with a telephoto lens, cutting out all of the extraneous details and just focusing on what was important about the shot which is water flowing through. So the telephoto lens has compressed everything here, so we have got the waterfall in the background and water is running off into the stream in the foreground.
As I have just said that minimal abstract images work really well when you can find repeated pans where you have got layers. Using a telephoto lens can really elevate your level of photography to the next level when you can find a single point of interest, something for the eye to focus on, that actually interrupts the pan.
It is why the telephoto lens is interesting because it let you reach out over that boring foreground and frame more interesting elements of the scene. Now, this is a very classic shot of the Belvedere Farmhouse in Tuscany, Italy. The foreground is really boring, withstanding in the middle of a field which is nothing to capture in the image.
Why bother with specific telephoto lenses? Because as opposed to generic zoom lenses with wide and long reach, they will have fewer image defects in their core range and will usually be considerably faster in that range. Their default long reach without too much detrimental optical trickery will also render the telephoto lenses the longest lenses to lug around, and being fast comes at the cost of a large entrance pupil and large front lens diameter.
They are usually the largest and heaviest of all lenses. Of course, you don't get them quite that fast. But there is little point in making them into a zoom lens also good at wide angle when a separate fast wide angle lens with good quality will add less weight and cost into your gear box.
Other answers have stated the same thing in the same technical terms which might be meaningless in this instance. There is also a practical approach. Info from Greengo. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What is the difference between a telephoto lens and a zoom lens?
Ask Question. Asked 10 years, 6 months ago. Active 1 year, 3 months ago. Viewed k times. Improve this question. Kirk Woll Kirk Woll 2 2 gold badges 5 5 silver badges 14 14 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer.
Thank you for this excellent explanation. I still remain unclear; why one would purchase a pure telephoto lens? Comparing with zoom lens, it seems like a good zoom lens can often offer similarly large focal lengths as a pure telephoto lens.
Also, non-zoom lenses 'prime' or 'fixed focal length' lenses are often sharper and faster than zooms that cover the same focal length. The zooms on the other hand give you the convenience of being able to zoom as opposed to having to switch lenses. Here are a few examples: A mm lens is a telephoto but is not a zoom because mm is high mm in other words, 'long focal length' or 'zoomed in' but it does not cover a range of focal lengths.
You'd then call it a telephoto zoom So to talk about focal lengths: It's either a wide angle lens zoomed out or a telephoto lens. Christian Chapman Christian Chapman 1, 1 1 gold badge 9 9 silver badges 18 18 bronze badges. Great answer. Thanks for the systematic comparison of the different permutations. I found it very helpful.
On a large format camera, a 50mm lens is a very wide angle lens. Easy example of a telephoto lens - putting a 2x teleconverter on a mm lens to make it mm lens without adding another mm of optics. On the flip side, many wide lenses are a retrofocus design. Also, some mm zooms might not be actual telephoto lenses, since they are a good mm long when at maximum focal lengths Community Bot 1. Oh dear.
I'm sure you are most certainly correct. But I forgot to add to my question, "Please talk to me like I'm stupid. Hah, I assumed you either knew that information or could easily figure it out, but I like to give very concise answers : — rm On telephoto and retrofocus, and zoom lens design: The simple definition of a telephoto lens is a lens that has a focal length longer than the physical lens.
Consider a nice 4x5 field camera: The maximum extension for this camera is mm. And that's what the telephoto design is for. This use is especially common in portrait photography. The way to achieve this look is to shoot with a long lens and the widest aperture available. Not only will angle of view be dramatically different on a telephoto lens but the quality of bokeh will be stronger compared to a wide angle, even when shooting that wide angle at a very wide aperture. Generally speaking, the longer the lens and the wider the aperture, the more of this effect you get.
This actually has very little to do with the lens itself and everything to do with the distance from which you shoot your subject. Longer lenses allow you to shoot your subjects from farther away, thus perceptually shrinking the subject in the foreground while the background stays the same size. One of the benefits of telephoto lenses for portrait work is that these lenses often have the effect of creating very flattering portraits of people.
The distance between the camera and the subject impacts how close objects will appear in the frame and how they will look in comparison to each other. Anything wider than 50mm will run the risk of distorting features of your subject. Portrait photographers often have a preferred length for different kinds of faces. As you shoot at longer focal lengths, the subject that is in the foreground of the frame will appear to get smaller relative to what is happening in the background.
This effect can also make facial features appear to be more proportional. Add to that the beautiful bokeh from shooting with a long lens and you have a great tool for portrait photography. When it comes to deciding which focal length is best for you, it will depend largely on how you plan to use it. This is an ideal telephoto focal range for portrait and wedding work.
These prime lenses are very popular among portrait photographers because they produce beautifully blurred backgrounds and a compression illusion that is flattering to your subject while still letting you work relatively close to them. The benefit of an 85mm prime over a mm zoom is that typically the prime will allow you to shoot at a wider aperture, which is better for low light situations.
Primes also tend to be sharper and lighter than zoom lenses. These lenses are just a bit longer on the short end but give you a lot more reach for things that are farther away.
Some people, therefore, choose to use these lenses only in well-lit environments. These lenses are great for shooting subjects that are far away but have a tendency to move around a lot. Zoom lenses in this focal range give you a lot of flexibility. This lens gives you a little more reach than the 85mm, better compression illusions, and even more magnificent bokeh. These lenses are really good for making subjects appear closer together in a photo. If you want to take a portrait that clearly shows the size of whatever is in the background for example, a subject in front of a cityscape , this is a great choice.
These lenses are ideal for professional sports and wildlife photographers who like to shoot subjects that are very far away with very wide apertures. The images these lenses can capture and the effects they create can be stunning! Is this lens a zoom or telephoto? What is the difference? It can either be a prime lens that has just one focal length like 70mm, mm, mm etc. A zoom lens just covers a range of focal lengths but can also cover the telephoto range, for instance mm.
But it can go from say, and is called a wide to telephoto lens because it covers the wide angle length beginning at 24mm in this example and extends through the telephoto range. So my lens is a zoom lens correct? It's a super-zoom. Last Edit: 10 years 6 months ago by Stealthy Ninja. Does it come with a cape??? Followers: 50 Posts: Points: The term telephoto has come to be commonly used to describe lenses with longer than "normal" focal lengths, but the definition is a lens with a longer focal length than actual length of the lens.
Common use wins then. By the second definition most 14mm lens would be telephoto, as would a 24mm and most 35mm lenses. Heck my 50 1. My is a telephoto zoom. LOL The list goes on.
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