Learn what lens focal length is, how zoom works, and when to use a wide-angle, portrait, or telephoto lens.

A lot has been written about the differences between Full-Frame (FF) and crop (DX, APS-C) sensors. The difference in features and functions can get complicated. In this article, I’ll explain these features using practical examples and take a look at the advantages of each system, and where they fall short.

Lens names are full of abbreviations, number ranges, and useless advertising. Take a look at which pieces of information are important for you and what it all means.

Portrait photography is one of photography’s basic genres. Like the others, it has its specifics that are good to keep in mind so that you can get the very best photos.

When you’re outdoors with your friends or a model and you want to take a few portraits, nature is quite the ideal backdrop. It’s right there, with hardly any “do not enter” signs, and there’s so much of it around you that you can take even quite wide shots without including passersby.

You’ve probably run into the title question in practice. The answer is: there’s not just one best length. Unlike in portrait photography, nearly every lens works for landscapes. It’s just that each one lets you present the landscape a bit differently. So let’s explore the differences among them via an example landscape.

The market today is flooded with ever-better zoom lenses built to cover practically every imaginable range. And yet there are still photographers who make do without any zoom at all. Is it really possible to stick to just one fixed lens and completely forget about all the other focal lengths?