The Canon Camera 500D offers everything a pro needs at a price the amateur can afford. When comparing this to its predecessor, the XSi, the differences are subtle, but worth it. Most notably 15.1 MPs is a substantial improvement in resolution, but for most casual users not that noticeable. Unless you have a habit of cropping way down, or printing your photos larger than 16×20 you will not notice a difference. Especially on your computer. What the larger format does bring with it is the Digic 4 image processor.

This is a fast and accurate processor that Canon is putting in a lot of their new cameras, even some of their compact P&S cameras. On the Camera 500D this processor works very nicely. There is virtually no need for White Balance or Level correction and it’s fast and accurate when shooting action, low light, outdoors, or indoors. The one drawback with the 15.1 MP sensor is that there is minor spacing between the individual sensor pixels within the sensor. This is unnoticeable for almost everyone except the hard core photographer who like to zoom in and see the details at 2000x and they are willing to pay the extra 2 grand for the higher end camera.

The Camera 500D also boasts a higher resolution 3 inch screen over the XSi this is very nice for looking at your images. It shows even minor focus and blur issues that previously weren’t detectable until you put your images on the computer. The Camera 500D also has a live view button on the back of the camera which is nice for Macro shots and the movie mode is seen through the live view. As a photographer I look at the movie function as a salad with your steak. It’s not why you buy the meal, it’s just nice.

The menus and button layouts are intuitive and easy to use. The various shooting modes are nice, but the real photographers will use the A, Av, Tv, and P settings. The Camera 500D has a setting not found on the XSi called CA, which stands for Creative Auto. This is a photo for dummies setting. It allows for setting depth of field, exposure, and white balance correction from a simplified menu. This seems nice, but unless someone explains what these setting mean it’s hard to do it with purpose.

I guess with some playing around an amateur could figure it out. All of these features are comparable to the Nikon D90 which is the Camera 500D’s main rival. For those who are debating between the two it’s all a mater of choice. The Camera 500D is a little smaller and lighter and the menus are different. I personally like the Canon user interface systems better and thats why I choose the Camera 500D. Also Canon lens’ run cheaper and easier to find. I recommend going to a camera store and handling both, then come back to Amazon and buy here.

With all that said the Camera 500D’s higher resolution, Digic 4 processor, and increased screen resolution are the reasons to buy this camera unless you have an XSi and then you will have to way out how much you would use the new features.

Now the lens offered in the kit with the Camera 500D is flat out useless. I would not recomend buying the kit, but rather buy the body only and a more versatile lens like the Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Standard Zoom Lens for Canon DSLR Cameras. It may be $450 more, but you get a much, much better, more versatile lens.

I am very very pleased with this camera and would recommend it to any novice, amateur, or student (I teach photography) who wants a great camera at a fair price.

You Can See My Lens for Canon EOS 500D On www.squidoo.com/Camera500D-T1i

Single lens reflex cameras are advanced, high-end cameras favored by professional photographers and amateur enthusiasts. Such photographers gravitate toward SLR cameras because they are faster, take more precise photographs, and are more adaptable.

Have you ever used a film camera and noticed that photo you took is slightly off-center from the image you framed through the viewfinder, especially on close-up shots? This happens because one cannot look through the actual lens of the camera-the shutter and film (or in the case of digital cameras, the image sensor) are in the way. Thus, the viewfinder is off to the side of the actual camera lens, resulting in two slightly different angles of view.

SLR cameras fix this problem by using mirrors and prisms to let the photographer see through the camera lens. It achieves this by lowering a mirror into the lens box. The mirror reflects the image coming through the lens upward into a prism, which in turn bounces the image into the viewfinder. This way, the photographer is able to see exactly what the camera lens is seeing, with the exception of the brief instant when the photograph is being taken.

At this point, the mirror flips up out of the way of the lens box. The shutter opens, exposing the film or image sensor to the light coming through the lens. The picture is captured, the shutter closes, the mirror drops back down, and the photographer can once again see through the viewfinder.

The introduction of digital “point and shoot” cameras changed the game slightly. They also allow the photographer to see exactly what the lens is seeing. They have limitations, however, that some professional photographers feel make them unusable. The main drawback of commercial digital cameras is a considerable lag time between when the photographer pushes the button and when the camera actually captures the image. During these seconds, the camera may be jostled, the angle change, the lens shift out of focus, or the subject being photographed may move. Although perfectly fine for still pictures, photographers who need to capture an image instantly, such as sports, action, or wildlife photographers, the lag time is unacceptable.

A new generation of Digital SLR cameras (DSLR) combine the best of both technologies. They use the SLR mirror system to allow the photographer to see exactly what the lens sees. Simply by replacing the film behind the shutter with a digital light image sensor instead, a DSLR camera is still able to capture images instantly. In this way, a DSLR camera combines the accuracy and speed of an SLR camera with the convenience of digital cameras.

As DSLR cameras are usually high-end machines intended for a professional market, they tend to be more expensive, but also incorporate other advanced features. An average DSLR camera usually includes auto focus options, live preview, electronic flash controls, the ability to swap specialized lenses, and electronic adjustment of the captured digital image, such as optimizing the contrast and color, red-eye correction, and monochrome options, among many others. DSLR cameras also generally have a larger digital image sensor, providing better quality images with a higher pixel resolution, lower noise, and a superior color range. While the price of DSLR cameras make them a financial investment, professional photographers and amateur enthusiasts will consider it well worth it.

One of the most important advantages of DSLR cameras (i.e. semi-professional and professional) is the ability to use different lenses. However deciding on what lens to buy and what lens is suitable for a specific type of photography is a bit difficult. In this article we learn about advantages and main purpose of using specific types of lenses, hoping that we make it easier for you to decide.

Let’s have a look at different types of lenses and learn when they are used.

Prime Lenses and Zoom Lenses: A lens with a fixed focal length is being called a prime lens. This is opposite to zoom lenses which have varying focal length. As the focal length is fixed, in order to compose a photo you will need to adjust your distance to the scene to have specific objects or people in the photo. In zoom lenses, you will use the zoom level to compose the photo instead of changing the distance of camera to the scene.

Prime lenses have a more simple build than zoom lenses and they can be designed to have very much better performance, sharpness and quality than zoom lenses. Zoom lenses normally show different types of errors in different focal lengths while prime lenses have the least amount of such errors. Prime lenses are very compact and much smaller than zoom lenses. Their price is also cheaper than zoom lenses in an equal aperture size. You can buy a 50mm f/1.8 lens for a Canon or Nikon camera for around $100 while a zoom lens with the same aperture size might cost above $1000.

Aperture Size: Bigger aperture sizes (i.e. smaller f number) like f/1.4, f/1.8 and f/2 provide more light to the camera sensor and therefore are faster lenses (photo can be taken in a faster shutter time). However zoom lenses with bigger aperture size might be unbelievably expensive. F number is calculated by dividing the focal length to the aperture diameter. As an example if the aperture size (i.e. diaphragm window) of 50mm lens is set to 6.25mm the f number will be 50mm/6.25mm=8 meaning that with this aperture size, lens has been set to f/8.

Normal Prime Lens: A prime lens (i.e. with a fixed focal point) with a focal length of 50mm is called a normal lens. Photos taken with a 50mm lens seem similar to what our eyes see at the scene (perspective, angles etc). Canon, Nikon and some other DSLR brands, as mentioned in previous section, sell normal lenses with f/1.8 aperture size or better (like f/1.4) with a cheap price. An f/1.8 normal lens is suitable for relatively low light conditions and produces sharp and bright photos.

Short Zoom lenses: Zoom lenses which cover the range of up to 50-60mm can be considered in this category. Examples of these lenses are 35-70mm f/3.4-4.5 and 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5 lenses. Nowadays some Canon and Nikon models are offered with a cheap 18-55mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. These lenses can be considered short zoom lenses while they also cover wide and super wide range.

Super zoom lenses: These are the types which cover a super big range. Super zoom lenses like a 18-200mm lens cover wide-angle as well as tele-focal lengths.

However the most important feature of these lenses is their convenience of avoiding lens change. These lenses can offer almost every focal length you need and therefore they are sometimes being called as “walk around lenses”. If convenience is not a matter for you, we recommend you to use more than one lens which have a better performance in a smaller focal length range.

Wide-angle and Ultra Wide-angle lenses: Lenses with a focal length of 21mm to 35mm are normally called wide-angle lenses. Lenses with a focal length of less than 21mm are called ultra wide-angle lenses. These lenses can be either prime lenses or varying focal length ones (zoom lenses). Wide-angle prime lenses have better aperture sizes (in the range of f/1.4 to f2.8) than wide-angle zoom lenses (aperture sizes of f/3.5-f/4.5 most of the time). Again the zoom types provide flexibility while prime lenses provide sharper photos, cheaper price and bigger aperture size (i.e. better photos in low light conditions). There are also zoom lenses which just cover wide and super wide ranges. These include 21-35mm, 18-28mm lenses.

The large coverage angle is also one of the benefits of wide and super wide lenses. An ultra wide lens can sometimes capture up to a 90 degrees angle or even more.

Wide and ultra wide lenses normally have perspective distortion. This kind of distortion causes the nearby images to be photographed very much bigger than far away objects. These lenses are suitable for taking photos inside buildings, street photography and so on.

If you mostly shoot inside buildings, a lens covering focal lengths of 28mm or below will be suitable. This kind of lens allows you to capture a considerable angle of a scene without the need to have a big distance with the subject(s). However, if you shoot portraits and nature a longer range lens will be more useful. In these cases a 35-135mm lens is very good.

Long telephoto lenses: Lenses with a focal length of 135mm or above are normally considered as long telephoto lenses. Tele lenses which have varying focal length are called telephoto zoom lenses while those with a fixed focal length are simply called telephoto lenses. You can easily find 55-200mm, 55-250mm, 70-300mm, and similar telephoto zoom lenses for most of the DSLR brands. However because of the big range of the lens and complicated design, different focal lengths of the lenses might show different errors and quality. These lenses normally have a lower performance than short zoom lenses and fixed focal length telephoto lenses. A 200mm telephoto prime lens is an example of non-zoom telephoto lenses.

Medium telephoto lenses: Lenses with focal length of the range 85-135mm are sometimes referred as portrait lenses. This is because their perspective distortion is low and a suitable distance between the subject person and camera can be maintained. Many telephoto zoom lenses can be used in this range, but they are heavier, bigger and their maximum aperture size is smaller than prime lenses. However if you shoot a lot of portraits, you would rather use medium prime telephoto lenses like with a focal length of between 85mm and 105mm maximum aperture size of f/2. Prime medium telephoto lenses have less perspective error and as mentioned earlier their image quality is sharper and brighter and bigger aperture size prime lenses are cheaper than zoom lenses with the same maximum aperture size.

Macro Lenses: Macro lenses are designed to provide very high level of magnification and also very short focusing distances. In normal zoom lenses minimum focus distance (i.e. the distance between lens and the object) is normally larger than 30 cm. This distance is a few centimeters for macro lenses so you can take photos from a shorter distance and have a sharp and very detailed photo of a very small object (like a small flower or a bee).

Mac Sarmady writes for Society50 social networking website. You can visit Photography Club of Society50 to ask your questions or just to get advise on any photography issue.

One of the most important advantages of DSLR cameras (i.e. semi-professional and professional) is the ability to use different lenses. However deciding on what lens to buy and what lens is suitable for a specific type of photography is a bit difficult. In this article we learn about advantages and main purpose of using specific types of lenses, hoping that we make it easier for you to decide.

Let’s have a look at different types of lenses and learn when they are used.

Prime Lenses and Zoom Lenses: A lens with a fixed focal length is being called a prime lens. This is opposite to zoom lenses which have varying focal length. As the focal length is fixed, in order to compose a photo you will need to adjust your distance to the scene to have specific objects or people in the photo. In zoom lenses, you will use the zoom level to compose the photo instead of changing the distance of camera to the scene.

Prime lenses have a more simple build than zoom lenses and they can be designed to have very much better performance, sharpness and quality than zoom lenses. Zoom lenses normally show different types of errors in different focal lengths while prime lenses have the least amount of such errors. Prime lenses are very compact and much smaller than zoom lenses. Their price is also cheaper than zoom lenses in an equal aperture size. You can buy a 50mm f/1.8 lens for a Canon or Nikon camera for around $100 while a zoom lens with the same aperture size might cost above $1000.

Aperture Size: Bigger aperture sizes (i.e. smaller f number) like f/1.4, f/1.8 and f/2 provide more light to the camera sensor and therefore are faster lenses (photo can be taken in a faster shutter time). However zoom lenses with bigger aperture size might be unbelievably expensive. F number is calculated by dividing the focal length to the aperture diameter. As an example if the aperture size (i.e. diaphragm window) of 50mm lens is set to 6.25mm the f number will be 50mm/6.25mm=8 meaning that with this aperture size, lens has been set to f/8.

Normal Prime Lens: A prime lens (i.e. with a fixed focal point) with a focal length of 50mm is called a normal lens. Photos taken with a 50mm lens seem similar to what our eyes see at the scene (perspective, angles etc). Canon, Nikon and some other DSLR brands, as mentioned in previous section, sell normal lenses with f/1.8 aperture size or better (like f/1.4) with a cheap price. An f/1.8 normal lens is suitable for relatively low light conditions and produces sharp and bright photos.

Short Zoom lenses: Zoom lenses which cover the range of up to 50-60mm can be considered in this category. Examples of these lenses are 35-70mm f/3.4-4.5 and 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5 lenses. Nowadays some Canon and Nikon models are offered with a cheap 18-55mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. These lenses can be considered short zoom lenses while they also cover wide and super wide range.

Super zoom lenses: These are the types which cover a super big range. Super zoom lenses like a 18-200mm lens cover wide-angle as well as tele-focal lengths.

However the most important feature of these lenses is their convenience of avoiding lens change. These lenses can offer almost every focal length you need and therefore they are sometimes being called as “walk around lenses”. If convenience is not a matter for you, we recommend you to use more than one lens which have a better performance in a smaller focal length range.

Wide-angle and Ultra Wide-angle lenses: Lenses with a focal length of 21mm to 35mm are normally called wide-angle lenses. Lenses with a focal length of less than 21mm are called ultra wide-angle lenses. These lenses can be either prime lenses or varying focal length ones (zoom lenses). Wide-angle prime lenses have better aperture sizes (in the range of f/1.4 to f2.8) than wide-angle zoom lenses (aperture sizes of f/3.5-f/4.5 most of the time). Again the zoom types provide flexibility while prime lenses provide sharper photos, cheaper price and bigger aperture size (i.e. better photos in low light conditions). There are also zoom lenses which just cover wide and super wide ranges. These include 21-35mm, 18-28mm lenses.

The large coverage angle is also one of the benefits of wide and super wide lenses. An ultra wide lens can sometimes capture up to a 90 degrees angle or even more.

Wide and ultra wide lenses normally have perspective distortion. This kind of distortion causes the nearby images to be photographed very much bigger than far away objects. These lenses are suitable for taking photos inside buildings, street photography and so on.

If you mostly shoot inside buildings, a lens covering focal lengths of 28mm or below will be suitable. This kind of lens allows you to capture a considerable angle of a scene without the need to have a big distance with the subject(s). However, if you shoot portraits and nature a longer range lens will be more useful. In these cases a 35-135mm lens is very good.

Long telephoto lenses: Lenses with a focal length of 135mm or above are normally considered as long telephoto lenses. Tele lenses which have varying focal length are called telephoto zoom lenses while those with a fixed focal length are simply called telephoto lenses. You can easily find 55-200mm, 55-250mm, 70-300mm, and similar telephoto zoom lenses for most of the DSLR brands. However because of the big range of the lens and complicated design, different focal lengths of the lenses might show different errors and quality. These lenses normally have a lower performance than short zoom lenses and fixed focal length telephoto lenses. A 200mm telephoto prime lens is an example of non-zoom telephoto lenses.

Medium telephoto lenses: Lenses with focal length of the range 85-135mm are sometimes referred as portrait lenses. This is because their perspective distortion is low and a suitable distance between the subject person and camera can be maintained. Many telephoto zoom lenses can be used in this range, but they are heavier, bigger and their maximum aperture size is smaller than prime lenses. However if you shoot a lot of portraits, you would rather use medium prime telephoto lenses like with a focal length of between 85mm and 105mm maximum aperture size of f/2. Prime medium telephoto lenses have less perspective error and as mentioned earlier their image quality is sharper and brighter and bigger aperture size prime lenses are cheaper than zoom lenses with the same maximum aperture size.

Macro Lenses: Macro lenses are designed to provide very high level of magnification and also very short focusing distances. In normal zoom lenses minimum focus distance (i.e. the distance between lens and the object) is normally larger than 30 cm. This distance is a few centimeters for macro lenses so you can take photos from a shorter distance and have a sharp and very detailed photo of a very small object (like a small flower or a bee).

Mac Sarmady writes for Society50 social networking website. You can visit Photography Club of Society50 to ask your questions or just to get advise on any photography issue.

A lens is not just a lens. There are different lenses available for your purchase out there. If you are a camera enthusiast, you have to know the features of one lens from another. You can broaden your perspective and know more about these lenses.

By analyzing their angles and what they bring on the table, you will have a clearer understanding on the Canon camera lens that is right for you and your camera.

First and foremost, the ultra-wide zoom lets you bring more focus into the area and a greater depth into the field that you are looking at. The zoom range will also let you make small adjustments to the coverage of what you’re shooting.

You have more creative control on what you are shooting. The Canon camera lens with the ultra-wide zoom provides the users with the clearer view that they need.

Canon camera lens also has the standard zoom feature. This category feature lenses are the most popular because the focal length ranges from wide-angle to telephoto. There are a lot of apertures to choose from.

Those who go for the standard zoom feature of the Canon camera lens check whether the camera system has EOS. It makes it easier for them to toggle these features.

Another kind of lens is the telephoto zoom. It lets you capture the details that are normally missed by the naked eye. The far off action and speed of sports are worth capturing.

With the right camera and the right lens, you can capture the image or the video easily. You can also make it into an intimate portrait by blurring the background. The telephoto zoom of the Canon camera lens makes this possible for you.

If you get the hang of this unique property then you can compress your images and you will be impressed in what you can actually do with your camera and your lens.

The Canon camera lens also has a wide angle which lets you get the broad view by increasing the field’s depth. This brings more of the area into the focus. Expand the distance between the foreground and the background then check the perspective by using the wide angle lens.

Because this lens has an exceptional compactness, you can move more with your camera and not worry about missing an angle.

Finally, the macro lens of the Canon camera lens collection brings the miniature images into full view. This gives you the detail that will be impossible for you to detect.

By using the macro lens, you will have a brand new perspective to your subject.

Discover where to buy cheap canon camera lens online. Learn where to find cheap used camera lens online.

Nikon cameras are prestigious devices used by professional photographers all over the world to click pictures to create albums. Nikon has enjoyed the reputation of being the leading manufacturers of digital cameras across the globe and has created an unparalleled brand image for itself. Whenever professionals and amateurs think of buying cameras, the brands that come to their conscience are the ones like Nikon. Subsequently, the price also goes up with the brand equity. Nikon cameras are a little priced and hence their price tags are justified too. The lenses used in these cameras are very hard to find because of their exclusivity and are thus quite exquisitely priced. Because of their frequent unavailability, photographers are often left frustrated.

Thelenspro is a website that lends Nikon camera lenses on lease to photographers at a very nominal fee. The lenses are given to them on feasible lens rental so that they can use those lenses for their assignments and return them back once the project is over. The Nikon lens rental scheme at thelenspro.com is very economical and has found numerous takers in possession of prestigious Nikon cameras. Since the cameras only accept the original lenses which at times become tough to find, photographers can come on board the portal and find all the Nikon lenses that have contemporary usage. These lenses have been traced out especially by the team at thelenspro.com and are assimilated in such a manner that they can be chosen from easily. The Nikon lens rental has also been priced in such a manner that photographers will not find the rental amount to be outrageous.

Since Nikon cameras have an exclusivity quotient about them, it comes as no surprise that their lenses too are priced accordingly. These lenses have been searched from various parts of the world and are very high on quality and serve the exact recipe that the photographers would be looking for. The material behind their making is again exemplary and the solidity that the lenses have is unparalleled. These qualities really make the Nikon camera lenses sought after and make their availability very mystical.

Thelenspro.com ensures that all photographers using Nikon cameras, irrespective of the models, are allotted the kind of lenses that would fit inside their cameras. The lenses are of all sizes, focal lengths, curvatures and diversions. Be it convex or concave lenses the portal has the availability of all these. The lens rental charged by the portal depends solely on the type of lenses being taken up by the photographer on lease and guarantees economic viability. Photography professionals irrespective of their experience can come and visit the portal without any inhibitions and accordingly take up the lenses that would benefit them the most. The reclusiveness that photographers often have can be kept at bay regarding the availability with the required approach being a little belligerent. The portal has been packaged with all these lenses and is an effort towards making it a single stop shop for photographers looking for Nikon camera lenses.

Nikon lens rental and various types of camera resources are offered by The LensPro.