Lenses

A big part of what makes SLRs so popular and versatile is the ability to switch lenses. You can swap your camera's lens with a different model to more accurately capture a scene or give your photos a more creative look, depending on what your subject is and your shooting environment. The lenses included with most SLR starter kits make a good basic choice for all-around photography. However, as your experience level grows, you may want to add specialized lenses with long-range telephoto, wide-angle, or close-up capabilities that suit your particular style of shooting.

• Telephoto lenses let you capture distant action, and are well suited for sports and wildlife photography. Focal lengths for these types of lenses typically range up to 200mm, and some go even higher.

• Wide-angle lenses are ideal for panoramas, interior shooting, and photographing big groups of people. You'll find wide-angle lenses starting at focal lengths between 10-18mm.

• Close-up, or macro lenses are designed for capturing brilliantly detailed shots of flowers, insects, and other small objects. Many also work well for taking high-quality portraits. These lenses come in different focal lengths, often ranging from 60-90mm.

Close up, far away, or somewhere in between — the right camera lens will let you capture your images exactly as you envision them.

Here are some sample shots to give you an idea of what to expect when using lenses of varying focal lengths with a typical digital SLR. Each image was taken from the exact same position with the camera mounted on a tripod.

This scene was shot at an ultra-wide 10mm focal length.	Taken from the same position, this image uses an 18mm focal length, the widest setting on most kit lenses.
Here's the scene again using a 50mm focal length.	At a focal length of 135mm, you can clearly begin to see the telephoto effect that helps make your subjects appear closer.
A focal length of 200mm really lets you zero in on distant subjects.

Macro lenses, such as Tamron's 90mm, let you take highly detailed closeups.

The same lens also captures portraits with pleasantly blurred backgrounds.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when lens shopping:

Each camera company uses its own proprietary system to connect camera and lens together. You'll need to pay close attention to ensure that the lens you're considering is a match for your camera's lens mount. Also be aware that not all camera/lens combinations allow full functionality. You'll want to check your camera's manual to determine which features, such as autofocus or auto exposure and metering modes, might be affected.

Because SLR imaging sensors are usually smaller than a full frame of film, lenses made for film SLRs may have a different effective focal length when used with a digital SLR. Lens manufacturers usually give a "35mm equivalent" focal length in their specs. This helps 35mm film photographers, and owners of higher-end full-frame digital SLRs, get a better idea of just how wide-angle or telephoto a lens will be when used with their digital SLR. Using the images above as an example, a 10mm lens would list a 35mm equivalent of 15mm, while a 50mm lens would have a 35mm equivalent focal length of 75mm.

Lots of lenses these days offer built-in optical image stabilization (IS) to counteract the blurring that can result from camera shake. This feature is especially helpful for taking hand-held shots with long telephoto lenses, which tend to magnify the affects of camera shake. Image stabilization also lets you shoot more crisply focused photos in low-light environments with less need for your camera's flash. Of course, if your SLR has image stabilization built in, any lens you use with it will give you the benefits of this feature.

A lens's aperture works like the iris of your eye, expanding and contracting to adjust the amount of light that passes through. Aperture is measured in "f-stops." A lower f-stop number corresponds to a larger opening, which admits more light. A lens with a larger maximum aperture of f/2.8, for example, will allow you to take photos in more dimly lit locations without a flash than a lens with a smaller maximum aperture of f/4 or f/5.6.

Lenses with a larger maximum aperture also allow you to snap photos of moving subjects using higher-shutter speeds, freezing the action more effectively. Because they typically employ larger, more costly glass elements, you can expect to pay more for these types of lenses.

To learn more about lenses, read our article on choosing and using a lens.

Better lighting can make for better digital photos.

Flashes

Experienced photographers know that good lighting is essential to getting the perfect shot. That's why most of them use add-on flashes to take pictures, even if their camera already comes with a flash built in. Most external flashes provide two to three times the effective range of your camera's built-in flash, delivering light over a broader area so that all the subjects in your frame are evenly illuminated. Many also allow you to tilt and swivel the flash head in order to bounce light off of walls and ceilings. This method produces smoother, more diffused lighting that makes for great-looking portraits.

Some SLRs are compatible with off-camera flash photography. This technique lets you place a flash (or even multiple flashes) to the side of or behind your subject and trigger it wirelessly — creating dramatic lighting effects that can rival professional photographs.

Because of their increased power and speed, most outboard flashes can recycle quickly enough to provide multiple flashes in rapid succession. This capability lets you take better advantage of your camera's continuous shooting mode in situations that require more than just existing light. A few flashes also offer a "stroboscopic" mode that lets you fire a quick series of flashes to capture multiple images of a moving subject in a single photograph. You can use this mode to analyze your partner's golf swing or record the movement of a dancer crossing the stage.

Make sharp colorful prints of your photos, right at home.

Other good stuff you'll want to have

Photo printers — Photo printers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but they all do one thing: they transform your brilliantly colored digital pictures into high-quality photo prints. Most photo printers are now surprisingly affordable and easy to use, and they can produce results that rival professional photo labs. In fact, most of them make prints that look much better than those you get from the drug store or big box chains. You can read this article to learn more about photo printers.

Digital photo frames — A fun, easy way to display your favorite snapshots. Simply pop the memory card from your camera, insert it into the frame's card slot and enjoy a bright, colorful slide show of your favorite photos. Most frames also offer a USB interface that lets you transfer photos from your computer to built-in memory for storage and viewing.

Backup hard drive — Because you'll likely be taking thousands of photos with your digital SLR, long-term storage and protection of all those images is a very important issue. We recommend using a backup hard drive to store photos from day to day. These devices are very reliable, relatively inexpensive, and most can be set to automatically backup your images on a regular basis. Check out our article on printing and storing digital photos to learn more.

Tripods — With features like image stabilization, lots of SLR owners are finding less and less need for these once ubiquitous items. However, certain types of photography — such as high-powered telephoto shooting, nighttime cityscapes or creative, slow-shutter effects — still benefit greatly from the use of a tripod. Plus, they come in really handy when using your camera's self timer to get into the picture for group portraits.