Optical exotica
Look in most photographers’ kit bags, and chances are you’ll find a similar set of lenses. The majority will likely spend much of their time shooting with a standard zoom: either the kit lens that came with their camera, or for more advanced users, a higher-end optic along the lines of a 24-70mm f/2.8 or a 24-105mm f/4 (or their equivalents). Eventually, photographers will probably add telephoto and wideangle zooms alongside, for getting closer in to subjects or taking a broader view of the world. Next come fast primes for shooting in low light or for shallow depth of field, with 50mm and 85mm being the most popular options. Then for close-ups there’s the macro lens, most likely in the 90mm to 105mm range. Together, such a lens set should cover most types of photography.
However if you want to try something different and make your photos stand out from the crowd, it might be time to seek out something more exotic. In this article I’ll look at some of the most unusual and interesting lenses on the market and explain what they can be used for. And while you might think that such optics will inevitably be ruinously expensive, that’s not necessarily true. What’s more, even the pricier ones can be hired for a one-off occasion without breaking the bank.
Ultra-fast lenses
Want shallow depth of field and a lovely blurred background? Try an ultra-large-aperture lens
ONE OF the biggest differentiators between smartphone photos and those taken with ‘proper’ cameras lies with the ability to focus selectively on your subject and blur away the background using a large-aperture lens. In a bid to imitate this, ‘fake bokeh’ modes are now commonplace on smartphones, but even the
