Lens – Nikon 18-55mm

This is my original kit lens, and not just because I got it in a bundle with my D3000. It’s a great example of a lens with a middle-of-the-road focal length range and reliable quality. Thus it’s perfect for many different tasks. Though I don’t use it as much as I used to, it still works well when a shoot is likely to require adapting to a variety of conditions and I plan to concentrate more on my subjects than on my equipment. Note: the photo shows the lens with a third party lens hood attached.

Lenses – Nikon 10.5mm

For the next few weeks I’m going to blog about the lenses in my collection.

When I first got serious about photography, I entered the pursuit with three lenses: one that came with the camera and two I inherited from my grandma.

Since then my collection has expanded a bit. However, I try not to over-buy on lenses. Whenever I’m tempted to buy a new toy, I ask myself if it will really add anything to my ability to take pictures. Because I already have a solid range of focal length options, I rarely need to add anything new.

Though I keep a more “standard” lens on my workhorse camera, this lens is frequently on my second. I didn’t set out to like fisheye photography. Indeed, just the opposite. Normally I like my photos to look undistorted, as close as possible to what my eye actually saw. But I took a chance on an inexpensive fisheye glass for my Lensbaby, got hooked on wide angle and later splurged for this considerably more expensive lens. The distortion still kinda bothers me, but I love the wider views (especially for landscapes).

One day recently I took all my lenses down to Liberty Memorial. With my camera mounted on a tripod (to keep the results consistent), I shot pictures with each lens to demonstrate the effects of their focal lengths. Prime lenses like this one have only one photo, while zoom lenses have two or more photos to illustrate their full ranges.