How to Use Your Telephoto Lens Effectively: 8 Tips
Reading Time: 4 minutesThere’s no use in owning a lens if you don’t know how to make the most of it, especially a pricey telephoto lens.
Did you buy a telephoto lens recently, or are you planning to buy one in the near future? A telephoto lens is an expensive and complex piece of equipment. If you take it out on the field without proper planning, you will be in for disappointment.
Want to know more? Here are some tips for using your lens correctly and getting the best out of it.
1. Pay Attention to the Shutter Speed
The general guideline for taking sharp pictures is to add the focal length as the denominator of your shutter speed. So, for instance, if you’re using a 50mm lens, your shutter speed must be 1/50th of a second to avoid blurry images.
You will have to use a considerably faster shutter speed with telephoto lenses because your focal length is in the 100s. If you tend to shoot in low-light conditions, this can become problematic.
2. Stabilize Your Lens
To avoid the above issue, you can use a tripod to stabilize your lens when the light is low. If not a tripod, at least try a monopod. This can also give your hands a break. You will especially appreciate it when hiking in the forest to shoot wildlife.
When choosing a tripod or monopod, ensure to check the weight limits. Your tripod should be able to carry both your camera and lens weight combined. Also, see these other tripod mistakes to avoid for better photos.
3. Switch On Vibration Reduction
Another way you can get away with a slower shutter speed is by turning on the vibration reduction. Most high-end lenses come with this option. You can find this as VR in Nikkor lenses, IS (Image Stabilization) in Canon lenses, Optical Steady Shot in Sony lenses, and OS (Optical Stabilizer) in Sigma lenses.
With stabilization on your lens, you can get about 4 to 6 stops of extra light. So, you can use a much faster shutter speed and keep your images sharp and in focus.
4. Use the Tripod Collar
Most telephoto lenses come with a lens collar for attaching to the tripod. With standard lenses, you connect your camera to the tripod. But, in the case of a telephoto lens, the lens is long and heavy, so you have to mount your lens on the tripod to balance the center of gravity.
If you attach the tripod to the camera, the weight can bring down the setup, and you will end up damaging your expensive lens and camera. You can find a tripod collar for your lens model in your local camera shop or online.
5. Put On a UV Filter
An ultraviolet filter is a tiny little thing that can safeguard your pricey lens from elements and falls. Adding a UV filter can be a barrier between your lens and the outside world. Whether it is rain, snow, or sand, the UV filter will take all the beating, keeping your lens shielded.
It also makes cleaning breezy—you don’t have to touch your lens at all. Just wipe the filter with a microfiber cloth, and you are good to go.
The other significant advantage of a UV filter is that it can also make your images look crisp by bringing out the colors in your scene. You can also add different filters, like a polarizing filter, ND filter, or others, on top of the UV filter.
6. Experiment With Aperture
Fast telephoto lenses—with an aperture faster than f/4— can burn a big hole in your wallet. Instead, you can buy a standard telephoto lens which can be affordable. If you think you’ll miss the shallow depth of field due to a small aperture, fret not.
Telephoto lenses are great at isolating your subject, and you can naturally get a beautifully blurred background. Increasing the distance between your subject and background can also give you a blurred background.
Take your telephoto lens for a test drive and check the effects at different apertures. You will be surprised to see that even at an aperture of f/8, you can get gorgeous bokeh.
7. Buy Some Teleconverters
If you’re an aspiring wildlife photographer, you know that no focal length is far enough to reach all the wildlife out there. But there is no reason to keep adding super telephoto lenses to your camera bag. Instead, invest in some teleconverters.
A teleconverter is like a magnifying glass that goes between your camera and your lens. Available in 1.4x, 1.7x, and 2x, they can increase your telephoto lens’s reach. Plus, you get the benefits of magnification and reach without adding all the bulk and expense from a new super telephoto lens.
There are some disadvantages, too. For example, teleconverters reduce the amount of light going into your camera, and your images may not be as sharp. Also, you may lose the autofocusing capability, which can be based on your camera, lens, and teleconverter.
8. Try a Crop Sensor Camera
The rage is all about full-frame cameras, but there are some advantages when you use a crop sensor camera. It takes pictures with a crop factor of 1.5 compared to a full-frame camera. So you can go closer to your subject. Yes, you’re losing some megapixels, but you have more reach to capture the subject that is far away.
To better understand this, let’s take the example of a 300mm lens. When you put the 300mm lens on a crop sensor body, you effectively get a focal length of 1.5 times 300 or 450mm. If image size is not your priority, this is the way to go.
If you already own a crop sensor camera, there is no need to rush and buy a full-frame camera. This is especially true if you’re a wildlife photographer. You can also purchase professional crop sensor cameras like Canon’s R7 or Nikon’s D500.
Know Your Lens to Become a Better Photographer
Your lens is the eyes of your camera, so spend some time learning more about it. The more you know about your tools, the better you can take good pictures with them. Remember to refer to our tips when you’re about to use your new telephoto lens.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-use-telephoto-lens/
Ref: makeuseof
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