Confused! advice please

[neil4374]

Hey,

I have a Nikon d60 and various lenses. Although i I have had the camera for over two years I get little time to play. I have a few zoom lenses which if i am correct are telephoto zoom lenses(such as the 18-55 vr, and I have a 70-300 as well. I understand their function. Last weekend I was at a big garden and there were lots of phototgraphers with huge lenses(they were much bigger than the 70-300 I have in both length and girth) taking photos of flowers and from a close distance. Anyway I had a chance to try one of these lenses and expected it to be able to zoom to the moon ar further but it had no zoom facility. I think these are called telephoto lenses.

So i suppose the question is what is the purpose of these huge lenses with no zoom facility??!

Thanks

Neil

 

[The_Traveler]

They are perfectly corrected glass for one specific focal length. They don't have the complicated mechanism and multiple glass elements for correction necessary when a lens must be good at many focal lengths.

 

[tirediron]

Lens size does not always (often) relate to zoom or magnification. Most often the larger the diameter is meant to allow a lot of light to enter the lens (often referred to as a 'fast' lens) so that you can use a slower shutter speed, or shallower depth of field (to create an unfocused background). I suspect that the lens you were using was a macro lens, designed to allower closer-than-normal focusing.

 

[adversus]

As others said, you most likely got to hold a Prime lens, and one that was most likely made specifically for macro.

Just because the lens is large doesn't mean it's a zoom lenses. Prime lenses (non-zoom) can be very large because they have large apertures (bigger opening for light to enter). I'm sure there's other differences at why prime lenses can be physically larger than zoom lenses, but I'm familiar enough with the technical details to be able to explain it properly.

 

[neil4374]

Hey,

Thanks for your advice all. In fact come to think of it, The huge lense i got a hold off acted just like my 50mm small prime lense. SO im going to assume telephoto lense without a zoom is basically a prime lense with additionally fuctionality(for example allowing more light in for faster shuter speeds.

Cheers

 

[tirediron]

Any fixed-focal length lens is a prime lens, wide-angle, normal, or telephoto.

 

[neil4374]

ok, I see thanks. So the girth of atelephoto lense is all about letting the light in. What sort of telephoto lense would there be for the nikon d60 ?.I can only see small prime lense like my 50mm and zoom lense

 

[adversus]

Anything that lists a fixed focal length (i.e. 85mm, 105mm, 200mm, 300mm, 400mm etc etc) or says "Standard" or "Prime". The term "telephoto" is generally applied to any lens with a focal length of 105mm or greater (I think). So, for example:

200mm = Fixed focal length telephoto (or Standard, or Prime depending on verbage, they mean the same)
70-200mm = Zoom telephoto (focal length is NOT fixed)

For example, for a Nikon mount: Nikon Fixed

 

[neil4374]

cheers awesome , ill take a look