Page 86 - Smart Photography

Understanding Photography Smart Photography has been continually receiving requests to start a basic course for
LEARNING

beginners. With this in mind, we have asked a very knowledgeable photographer from
Chennai to take over writing these articles. We have also requested him to be as jargon-
free as it is possible, so that newcomers to photography feel comfortable to pursue the
hobby.
The author, Ashok Kandimalla has been in the photographic field for over three decades
and has extensive experience in both film and digital photography. Being an electronics
engineer by profession and a photographer, he possesses a unique and deep insight into
the technical aspects of digital photography and equipment. He has published several
articles on photography and some of his writings have also been published in the well-
known international magazine Popular Photography.
Ashok Kandimalla An avid collector of photographic books and vintage cameras, Ashok has a keen interest
in the history of photography and a passion for sharing his knowledge on photography
through teaching and writing. He is presently working as a Management and Engineering
consultant. You can see his work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashok_kandimalla. He
can be reached at kashokk@gmail.com

Kit Lens and

Beyond

f you are a D-SLR or a CSC user, sensor cameras is 18-55mm and for While this is not a true macro function,
chances are that you have MFT cameras it is 14-42mm. Kit lenses you can get decent close-up images of
Ipurchased your camera as a are usually variable aperture lenses, flowers, small figurines, etc.
“kit” (Picture 1), meaning that the the most common speed being f/3.5-
camera was bundled along with a lens 5.6. There are exceptions of course. The biggest factor against a kit lens is
commonly called the “kit lens” (Picture Higher end full frame camera kits are the perception. Since most of us feel
2). As the lens is a part of the kit, you often supplied with lenses that have low cost means low quality, the kit
pay a lot less for it whereas the same a wider zoom range (e.g. 24-120mm) lenses usually get a bad rap. Some of
lens when bought separately will be and some are also constant aperture the negative points often seen on the
priced considerably more. type, the most popular speed being f/4 net and in print are:
(Picture 2).
1. Not sharp
While these specs are 2. High distortion
not headline making, 3. Flimsy construction
they are quite decent. Kit 4. No real macro
lenses are usually small, 5. Limited zoom ratio
lightweight and hence 6. Slow speed
highly portable. Most also
support close focussing. Let us look at these in detail. The first
four are
not limiting
unless you
are into
specific
genres of
photography
Picture 1: A camera “kit” box.
where these
While there are no rigid specifications Picture 2: features are
Examples of
for a kit lens, these are mostly short a must. You
kit lenses – an can in fact
Smart Photography February 2018 telephoto. The most common focal sensor and full lot of these
zoom lenses that cover focal lengths
18-55mm
f/3.5-5.6 and
from a decent wide-angle to a short
overcome a
a 24-120mm
f/4. These are
length range is from 28mm to 85mm on
for cropped
perceived
drawbacks as
a full frame D-SLR. The corresponding
frame D-SLRs
86 focal lengths for (APS-C) cropped respectively. we will see.
www.smartphotography.in