The Most Difficult Lens to Use

It may not be what you think

Big sky at sunrise in the South Dakota Badlands (2012) | ©Jason P. Odell

Today I want to talk a little about lenses. More specifically, focal lengths. If you’re new to photography, you probably have at least one zoom lens in the 24-70mm range, and may be looking to get something else to complement it. Generally speaking, we break down lenses by their focal length range to give an idea of their angle of view. Aside: Angle of view is a better description of the lens rather than focal length alone, as sensor size has a major impact on how wide or close a lens will behave.

In 35mm format, we usually describe lenses in the following groupings, based on their angle of view

• Standard/ Normal: 35-70mm

• Wide-angle: 20-28mm

• Telephoto: 70-200mm

• Super-telephoto: >300mm

• Super-wide: < 20mm

There are, of course, specialty lenses (macro, fisheye) that I won’t consider here, but they still fall into these categories. The traditional three-lens kit is usually comprised of three zooms:

• Wide-angle: (16-35mm or similar)

• Standard: (24-70mm or similar)

• Telephoto: (70-200mm or similar)

Most photographers can do pretty well with such a kit; that’s why it’s often referred to as the “holy trinity.” It’s when we start getting into the more extreme ends of the focal length scale that things get challenging, but for different reasons.

There are two classes of lenses that are the most challenging to use:

• Super-wide lenses

• Super-telephoto lenses

Going to Extremes: Challenging Lenses

Both super-telephoto and super-wide lenses can be challenging to use. I’ll start out by discussing super-telephoto lenses, then discuss super-wides. Finally, I’ll give my verdict on which of these lenses I find harder to use.