David Busch's Quick Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses / Edition 1

by David D. Busch

Overview

Are you ready to go beyond the basics with your digital SLR camera but are unsure which interchangeable lens or two to buy and more importantly, how and when to use each lens? "David Busch's Quick Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses" offers focused, concise information and techniques on how to use different lenses to take great photographs. You'll begin with a quick overview of how lenses work and the types of lenses available, including normal, telephoto, wide-angle, prime, and zoom. Then you'll explore typical lens controls and features such as focus rings, depth-of-field scales, and image stabilization, and how particular settings can help improve your photography. Once you have the basics down you'll learn how to create cool effects using lens filters and accessories, and how to select the best lens aperture for particular types of photos. Finally, you'll go in-depth with telephoto, wide-angle, and macro lenses. Each topic or concept is explained using a clear, two- or fourpage spread, and beautiful, full-color images illustrate the results of photographing with each setting, technique, or lens. A mini-glossary will help you define unfamiliar terms as you go. Get ready to enhance your photographs using the versatility of interchangeable lenses on your digital SLR!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598634556
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	12/31/2007
Series:	David Busch's Digital Photography Guides Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	9.03(w) x 7.43(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

With more than a million books in print, David D. Busch is the world's #1 selling digital camera guide author, and the originator of popular digital photography series like David Busch's Pro Secrets and David Busch's Quick Snap Guides. He has written more than a dozen hugely successful guidebooks for Canon and Canon digital SLR models, as well as many popular books devoted to dSLRs, including Mastering Digital SLR Photography, Second Edition, and Digital SLR Pro Secrets. As a roving photojournalist for more than twenty years, he illustrated his books, magazine articles, and newspaper reports with award-winning images. He's operated his own commercial studio, suffocated in formal dress while shooting weddings-for-hire, and shot sports for a daily newspaper and upstate New York college. His photos and articles have appeared in Popular Photography & Imaging, The Rangefinder, The Professional Photographer, and hundreds of other publications. He has also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and Computer Shopper, and his advice has been featured in National Public Radio's "All Tech Considered." When About.com named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography, debuting at the #1 and #2 slots were Busch's Digital Photography All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography. During the past year, he's had as many as five of his books listed in the Top 20 of Amazon.com's Digital Photography Bestseller list--simultaneously! Busch's 120-plus other books published since 1983 include bestsellers like David Busch's Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Lenses. Visit his website at http://www.dslrguides.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction Chapter 1: A World of Lenses How a lens works What "normal" lenses do What telephoto lenses do What wide-angle lenses do Zooming with multi-focal-length lenses Prime lenses How F/stops work Variable and Constant f/stops Sharpness, Resolution and Acutance The Need for Speed The Ubiquitous Crop Factor Chapter 2: Typical Lens Controls and Features Focus rings Focus limiters Depth-of-field scales Hyperfocal indicators Zoom controls Filter threads and why you need them Do filters "protect" your lens? Lens hoods and why you must use them Vibration Reduction/Image Stabilization controls Chapter 3: Filters and Lens Attachments Using Polarizing Filters Using Neutral Density Filters Working with Color Correction Filters Special Effects filters Split Density Filters Close-Up Filters Fish-eye Attachments Chapter 4: Raising the Bar on Quality Your lens best aperture Depth-of-field tradeoffs Diffraction Testing your lens for sharpness Shutter speed and lens sharpness Testing for motion blur Tripods and monopods to optimize lens sharpness Optimizing your lens focus Focus modes Autofocus assist Mirror lockup Backfocus/front focus Chapter 5: Using Telephoto Lenses Long lenses vs. true telephotos Whats magnification? Importance of telephoto aperture range Autofocus glitches Using selective focus Avoiding telephoto distortion Pincushion distortion Compressing distances Zoom or prime? Whats bokeh? Chapter 6: Using Wide Angle Lenses Telephotos vs. wide angles How wide angles work Choosing a wide angle Chromatic aberration Barrel distortion Perspective distortion Making size distortion work for you Emphasizing the foreground Wide angles and flash Wide angle depth-of-field Wide angles and polarizers Avoid vignetting Zoom or prime? Chapter 7: Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Pros and cons of zooms Typical zoom ranges Using wide angle zooms Using long telephoto zooms Superzooms Varifocal vs. true zoom Chapter 8: Macro Lenses and Prime Lenses Magnification vs. focal length Choosing a prime lens Perspective considerations Depth-of-field up close Specialized macro lenses vs. general purpose lenses Close-Up Attachments Using extension tubes Using a bellows Using a reversing ring Mini-Glossary Index