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What Do the Numbers on Your Camera Lens Mean?

12 Jul

The post What Do the Numbers on Your Camera Lens Mean? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darlene Hildebrandt.

what do the numbers on your camera lens mean?

Camera lenses include quite a few numbers – and many of these are often confusing or obscure, especially for beginners.

That’s why, in this article, I’m going to run through all the important camera lens numbers you’ll encounter. I’ll explain what the numbers actually mean, and I’ll also explain why they matter for your photography.

By the time you’re finished, you’ll be a lens number expert, and you’ll never find yourself confused by your lens markings again.

Let’s jump right in.

Common numbers on newer digital lenses

Depending on the age of your lens, you’ll run into different markings. In this section, I’ll discuss numbers frequently found on newer lenses (though note that many will apply to old lenses, as well!).

Focal length

Zoom lenses feature a zoom ring; twist it, and your lens will zoom in and out.

Next to this ring, you’ll generally find focal length numbers. For example, if your lens is a 70-200mm zoom like mine (below), you’ll see markings that span from 70mm to 200mm. I’m currently at around 100mm:

focal length on a lens

A lens will never display every focal length but will instead offer a few useful intervals, as you can see in the image above.

If you are using a prime or fixed lens, you won’t have a zoom ring. Your lens will simply indicate the focal length on its barrel, as you can see on my 85mm lens:

lens 85mm focal length number

Maximum aperture

The maximum aperture is the largest aperture opening your lens is capable of achieving. Note that the larger the aperture opening, the smaller the f-number (so f/2.8 corresponds to a very wide aperture, while f/22 corresponds to a very small aperture).

Larger apertures like f/2.8 or even f/1.8 are highly desirable because they allow you to shoot in low-light conditions while maintaining a fast shutter speed. So the best lenses – and the most expensive lenses – tend to offer a very wide maximum aperture.

(Note that some zoom lenses have a variable maximum aperture, where the maximum aperture will change depending on the focal length; this is represented as a range of numbers, such as f/3.5-6.3.)

Now, pretty much every lens has the maximum aperture written somewhere on its body. You can usually find this information in one of two places (or perhaps even in both):

  1. Right on the end of the lens barrel
  2. On the front of the lens inside the filter ring area

In the photo below, you can see two different lenses: my Tamron 17-35mm and my Canon 85mm. On the Tamron, you should see “1:2.8-4,” and on the 85mm, you should see “1:1.8.”

maximum aperture numbers on lenses

What does this mean? It’s simple: the maximum aperture on the 85mm lens is f/1.8, and on the Tamron zoom, the maximum aperture changes from f/2.8 to f/4 as you zoom the lens. (At the lens’s widest, 17mm, I can open the aperture to f/2.8. But if I zoom all the way to 35mm, my maximum aperture becomes f/4.)

These variable maximum apertures are pretty common with kit lenses, and especially kit lenses with a large focal length range such as 28-300mm or 18-200mm.

Focusing range and distance scale

On some – but not all! – lenses, you will see a range of distances, usually marked in two scales, feet and meters. These lens numbers indicate the distance at which your lens is currently focused.

So at one end of the scale, you’ll find the infinity symbol, and at the other end, you’ll find the lens’s minimum focusing distance (i.e., the closest the lens can focus).

Check out the two lenses below. The distance scale on the 70-200mm (left) is under a cover, and you can see that the lens is focused somewhere between 10 meters and infinity. The distance scale on the 17-35mm (right) is on the lens’s focus ring, and you can see that the lens is focused quite close, at around 0.5 meters.

Note that, as you focus your lens, the distance scale will change to reflect your new point of focus.

lens distance scales

Lens diameter (filter size)

Every lens has a diameter, the distance across the center of the lens. This diameter also corresponds to the filter size (if the filter’s diameter doesn’t match the lens diameter, it won’t properly screw onto the front of the lens).

You’ll find the lens diameter written on the end of your lens (often on the edge of the barrel), preceded by a symbol that looks like a zero with a strike through it:

lens diameter

So for the lens pictured above, the diameter is 77mm. And if I wanted to use a polarizing filter or a clear filter, I’d need to grab one with an equivalent diameter.

By the way, you can also find the lens diameter on the back of the lens cap, as displayed above.

Less common lens numbers (often seen on older, manual focus lenses)

Now that you’re familiar with all the common camera lens numbers, let’s take a look at some of the less common markings. These numbers are pretty rare on lenses designed for digital cameras, but you may come across them if you purchase older, manual focus glass.

Aperture ring

Most newer lenses set and control the aperture through the camera. But back in the days of film, you would set the shutter speed on your camera and the aperture on the lens (via an aperture ring).

So while newer lenses rarely include aperture rings, you’ll find them on plenty of older lenses. An aperture ring displays different aperture settings, like this:

aperture ring on a lens

And by rotating the ring, you widen or narrow the aperture.

Note that some modern lenses do include aperture rings; Fujifilm is known for this, as are other brands that offer manual focus lenses (e.g., Samyang).

Hyperfocal distance scale

A hyperfocal distance scale helps you determine the depth of field for a scene, given a particular focal length, point of focus, and aperture.

Most zoom lenses don’t offer hyperfocal distance scales (because depth of field varies with focal length). But if you have a prime lens – especially an older model – you may see an extra ring of numbers on the barrel, such as in the image below:

hyperfocal distance scale on a lens

Note that, in the image, you can see three sets of numbers:

  • the distance scale
  • the hyperfocal distance scale
  • the aperture ring that actually sets the lens aperture

And this is by design. The hyperfocal distance scale uses the distance scale to display the expected depth of field. Here’s how it works:

First, focus your lens and set your aperture. Then look at the hyperfocal distance scale and find your chosen aperture on either side of the red line. Finally, look at the focusing distances that correspond to the apertures – these will be your near and far depth of field limit.

Make sense?

Camera lens numbers: final words

Well, that’s it for lens numbers! Hopefully, you now feel much more confident (and much less confused) when looking at your lens.

And if there are any lens numbers I missed, don’t worry – just share pictures in the comments below, and I’ll see what I can do to help out!

The post What Do the Numbers on Your Camera Lens Mean? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darlene Hildebrandt.


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CIPA’s latest numbers show camera production, sales slashed by half in March

27 Apr

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the camera industry particularly hard with a dramatic downturn in both production and sales during March. Traditionally a period when sales of new products announced after the New Year begin to come on-line, this March saw production and shipments from Japanese companies drop to only 48% of levels reached in the same month last year.

Figures released by the Japanese Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) show world-wide shipments were only 47.8% of the volume last March, with the number shipped to Asia (excluding Japan and China) only 39.8% of last those shipped in March 2019. Shipments to ‘Other Areas’ (including the Middle East) are most healthy but still down to 68.2% of last year’s volume, and this region accounts for a very small proportion of sales. Shipments to the USA were at 44.7% and those to Europe were 48.3%, while Japan managed 54.5%.

Production and shipped data for March 2020. Column 2 is for comparison to February 2020 and column 3 shows a comparison to March 2019. Column 4 compares Q1 2020 with Q1 2019

It seems SLR cameras have fared far worse than mirrorless models, which may be partly down to the fact that there are fewer new SLR models around at the moment. Production of SLRs reached only 32.6% of the levels for last March, while mirrorless models reached 56%. China was the only region to receive more SLRs than mirrorless cameras, but that figure was still only half of what the country took last March.

The CIPA figures are reflected in the sales reported by Stackline, which showed online camera sales in the USA were down 64% in March. With many camera shops with closed doors too, sales across the counter are also likely to be very poor. The market research company rated cameras no. 3 in its list of the 100 fastest declining product categories – with only briefcases and luggage doing worse. Unsurprisingly, disposable gloves were the fastest-growing product.

Last week Canon reported a drop in camera revenue of 27% for the first quarter of the year – slightly ahead of that across the total Japanese camera market which recorded a drop in revenue of 31.1% compared to the same period last year. The revenue drop for SLRs shipped from Japan was 40.2% while that for mirrorless models was 25.8% in the months January to March 2020.

Sales of lenses have held up a little better with the total volume produced in March dropping by 46.1% and those shipped falling by 44.8%. Production of full-frame lenses dropped by 34.5%, while those designed for smaller formats fell by 53% by volume. In better news, the value of smaller-format lenses shipped to the USA was up by 1.5% over the value shipped to the region in February – and I’ll take that as a positive.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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CIPA’s 2019 numbers detail worst year of the decade for the camera industry

04 Feb

Camera & Imaging Products Association, more commonly referred to as CIPA, has released its December report, which not only provides the details for the final month of the year, but also gives us a complete picture of the camera industry in 2019.

For anyone paying attention, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the news isn’t great. In fact, it’s downright terrible if we’re only looking at the numbers and not contextualizing the industry as a whole as it continues the transition from DSLR to mirrorless cameras. But, even then, it’s not a pretty sight.

According to CIPA’s data, digital still camera sales decreased by approximately 14 percent year-over-year. DSLR unit sales dropped almost 34 percent, while their value dropped roughly 28 percent. Meanwhile, mirrorless unit sales dropped by 10 percent, but the value of mirrorless camera sales increased by almost 6 percent, suggesting more advanced mirrorless cameras are increasing in popularity. Fixed-lens cameras saw a unit sale decline of 23 percent, while value dropped 12 percent.

As a whole, these numbers define what’s easily been the most dramatic year-over-year decline in the past decade; and most camera company’s don’t seem too confident the market will improve much next year if we’re to consider their financial projections as any indication.

However, as noted by CIPA’s mirrorless numbers, it does appear as though mid-to-high-end mirrorless cameras are providing more revenue year-over-year, and with both Canon and Nikon expected to ship more advanced mirrorless models in the coming year, that number will likely only go up, even as DSLR and fixed-lens sales continue to decline.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Drone owners in the US will soon need external registration numbers on their UAVs

14 Feb

The FAA will require drone operators in the United States to display their registration numbers on the outside of their small UAVs starting on February 25, 2019. The new regulation revises an existing policy that allows drone owners to put a UAV’s registration number inside of the device’s battery compartment.

Drone operators in the US must register their aerial vehicle with the FAA, at which time they’re given a registration number. Since launching the registration requirement, the FAA has permitted drone owners to conceal their identifier within an enclosed compartment on the drone, assuming the compartment could be opened without using tools.

This permission aimed to ‘grant flexibility to the diverse types of small unmanned aircraft commercially available.’ However, an interim final rule published on the Federal Register today notes that the FAA has revised that permission and, starting on February 25, will require the registration number to be located on the drone’s exterior.

According to the FAA, it has revised its rule due to government security agency and law enforcement concerns that explosive devices could be hidden within small drones. In a situation like this, first responders who are required to open a drone’s battery compartment in search of the registration number are at risk of injury.

The new interim rule states:

Requiring small unmanned aircraft owners to place the registration number on an external surface of the aircraft helps to mitigate this risk because a first responder can view the number without handling the aircraft, or by using other technologies that allow for remote viewing of the aircraft’s external surface.

The rule change goes into effect on February 25, but the public is able to submit comments on the new requirement until March 15. Comments can be submitted using the Regulations.gov website or by mail and hand delivery to the West Building Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lensrentals breaks down the numbers behind the most popular cameras and lenses of the year

04 Dec
Image provided by Lensrentals

As it does every year, Lensrentals has released the numbers behind the most popular gear it saw rented out through 2018. In a blog post on its website, Lensrentals details nearly every category and subcategory imaginable, showing what cameras, lenses, and formats reign supreme in the world of online rentals.

In Lensrental’s own words, ‘This barometer of equipment rental patterns is useful for the industry to gauge trends in adoption of new technology, camera and lens formats and change in brand share of the market.’

Starting with cameras, Canon still leads, with Sony and Nikon trailing, respectively. Year-over-year though, Canon is down from 44.90% in 2017 to 41.57% in 2018, while Sony and Nikon both increased from 24.67% to 26.31% and 15.06% to 15.28%, respectively. Although the data for this analysis was gathered before the general availability of both Canon and Nikon’s full-frame mirrorless offerings, Lensrentals says early data suggests Canon’s EOS R system is roughly twice as popular as Nikon’s Z6 and Z7 cameras.

The top ILC camera brands, based on percentage of total rentals, according to Lensrentals.

The Canon 5D Mark IV and 5D Mark III take the top two spots, respectively, with the Sony a7s II, Sony a7 III, and Panasonic GH5 rounding out the top five. The Sony a7 III is the only new camera (released in 2018) to make it into the top five.

While on the topic of CaNikon, Lensrentals data shows Canon’s overall camera usage has decreased slightly, going from 44.90% to 41.57% year-over-year, as Nikon’s increased from 15.06% to 15.28% year over year. Lensrentals notes this is possibly due to the release of the D850 late in 2017, which gave Nikon momentum going into the new year. Other camera brands saw growth as well in 2018, filling the void left behind by Canon.

Below is a list of the top ten cameras rented out by Lensrental users:

1. Canon 5D Mark IV
2. Canon 5D Mark III
3. Sony Alpha a7S II
4. Sony Alpha a7 III
5. Panasonic GH5
6. Sony Alpha a7R III
7. Nikon D750
8. Canon 6D Mark II
9. Nikon D850
10. Canon 6D

On the lens front, not much has changed at the top. Canon, Sony, Sigma, and Nikon take the top four spots, with 37.17%, 14.58%, 12.96%, and 9.62% of rentals, respectively. After that, the numbers drop dramatically, as seen in the below chart.

The top lens brands, based on percentage of total rentals, according to Lensrentals. Other includes: Metabones, Olympus, Rokinon, Voigtlander, Leica, Tokina, Fujinon, Pentax, Veydra, Lensbaby, Venus Optics, Hasselblad, Angenieux, Wooden Camera, SLR Magic and Schneider.

Canon’s second-generation 24-70mm F2.8 and 70-200mm F2.8 have proven to be the most popular lenses yet again. However, Sony has found its way into the top three with its own 24-70mm F2.8 and Sony lens rentals have increased approximately 60%, growth mostly driven from new lens releases. Lensrentals says the following lenses ‘drove the most growth’ for Sony:

  • Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 OSS
  • Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM
  • Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS

Panasonic also saw growth, driven exclusively by three lenses as well:

  • Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 X Power OIS II
  • Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 X Power OIS II
  • Panasonic/Leica 8-18mm f/2.8-4 ASPH

Both Sigma and Tamron saw a slow, but steady increase in popularity, as both have been rolling out new and improved lenses across their respective lineups. Below is a list of the top ten lenses, according to Lensrentals:

1. Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L II
2. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II
3. Sony FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM
4. Canon 35mm f/1.4L II
5. Canon 50mm f/1.2L
6. Sony FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS
7. Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L
8. Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro
9. Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L III
10. Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II

Overall, there isn’t too much change across the board, aside from a few notable exceptions mentioned above. Again though, this data was pulled before Canon and Nikon’s respective full-frame mirrorless cameras became available to the general public. With the cameras now available leading into the next year, there could be dramatic changes, both in the DSLR and mirrorless market as manufacturers battle it out for the top spot.

To see a more detailed analysis of the gear rented out and numbers behind the scenes, head over to Lensrentals’ blog post.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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CIPA’s November numbers show the digital camera market’s continuing decline

11 Jan
Graph: CIPA

The Japanese Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA) has released its numbers for November 2017, and they don’t make for pleasant reading. In short: the downward trend in the digital camera market continues, with only 2,166,788 DSC units shipped in November 2017, or approximately 17% percent lower than the previous year.

Looking back further is even more depressing: almost an entire million more units were shipped in the same month in 2015.

The situation looks very similar when looking at interchangeable lens cameras separately. With just over one million shipped, the total in November is approximately 20% lower than the same month of the two previous years.

Due to smartphones taking over as the go-to imaging device for casual users, the market for digital cameras with built-in lenses has been plummeting for a while. At 1,163,523 units shipped, this market segment has now, at least in terms of shipments, almost shrunk to the same level as the interchangeable lens bracket.

The year-on-year decrease for November is not as dramatic for DSLRs and system cameras, but compared to two years ago, the number of cameras with built-in lenses that have been shipped has been cut almost in half.

Graph: CIPA

Barring earthquakes and other natural disasters in the camera manufacturing regions, November tends to be one of the stronger month in camera retail, making this report all the more disappointing. Let’s hope the December numbers provide some reason for optimism when they arrive next month.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How to edit pdf page numbers

05 Sep

But the police in China tend to be helpful in these cases, buy a good lock and lock it to something like a post. Three floors of tailors and their materials including silk, take a taxi to how to edit pdf page numbers Huashan Road. The amount of stars indicates the length of time the […]
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Panasonic looks to reassure G7 owners with rubbed-off serial numbers

09 Jul

Panasonic USA has issued a statement in response to concerns on the DPReview.com forum about Lumix G7 serial numbers rubbing off. The statement aims to reassure customers, pointing out that the problem does not indicate that the cameras are not genuine and confirming that camera warranties are still valid, so long as you retain proof of purchase and the label from the camera box that states the serial number. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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How to Calculate Your Cost of Doing Business – And Other Necessary Numbers

21 Nov

Cards on the table time. Math and I are not friends. Never have been. From those dreaded flash cards in elementary school to my scary geometry tutor in high school, math and I have always been at odds with each other. In college, when it was suddenly optional, I avoided the subject like the plague. Even in my professional life, I’ve managed to get a handle on what I need to know and not much else. Thankfully, this mutual disdain that the mathematical arts and I share, seems to have skipped a generation. My 12-year-old son is doing high school algebra this year, and has been instructed by my wife to never, EVER, ask me for help. Ever.

Into every life, however, some math must fall, even those of professional creative types like photographers. Most of us don’t have the resources to hire business managers or year-round accountants to crunch the numbers, tell us what they mean, and how they need to change (although hiring such an individual is top priority when I win the lottery this weekend). Since we are left to our own mathematical devices, it is crucial for us, as photographers, to have a solid grasp on the numbers and how to calculate them. A common mistake among photographers is that they don’t take a methodical approach to calculating things like their creative fees, licensing fees, or even just the photography itself. Many seem to just pluck a number out of thin air. The difference between knowing, and not knowing, how to do this properly can be the difference between staying in professional photography or going to work at Starbucks, and I don’t drink coffee.

cost-of-doing-business-digital-photography-school1

Cost of Doing Business – What it Is and How to Figure it Out

Before you can even think of  putting a number on any of your services, you need to have a solid grasp and understanding of your cost of doing business (may be referred to as CODB). By the name alone, you’d think this would be an easy calculation. It certainly can be, but only if you take a logical, comprehensive approach.  Your cost of doing business is the result of an equation. Non-reimbursable expenses, plus your desired salary, equals your total annual costs. Your total annual costs divided by your number of billable days equals your cost of doing business.

I can practically see your eyes glassing over right in front of me. Stick with me, all will be made clear.

What are “non-reimbursable” expenses? These are the costs associated with keeping the lights on and the doors open. Rent, computers, phones, internet, insurance, gear, office supplies, etc., fall into this category. The American Society of Media Photographers has a great online calculator to help you with this, as does the National Press Photographers Association.

Obviously, we all want our salaries to be as high as possible. But, as with all things, you need to be realistic. Would you rather have the occasional, higher-paying assignment and sit around worrying the rest of the time, or maybe price yourself a little lower and work more consistently? Be realistic.

Billable days is exactly what it sounds like. As photographers, we don’t really work a “normal” week. We work early in the morning, late at night, on weekends, and everything in between. That doesn’t mean, though, that we don’t need time off. I know that I keep throwing the word “realistic” around, but it’s crucial for coming up with accurate numbers. There’s no way you can profitably work seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Sick kids, your wife’s birthday, your anniversary, vacations, emergencies, car repairs, stopping to smell the roses and not just photograph them – there are going to be plenty of days where you can’t work or simply don’t want to. Being able to set a number of billable days is important to setting your fees (and maintaining your sanity).

Instead of thinking in terms of “billable days,” you may find it easier to think in terms of your number of shoots per month. You can download a basic Monthly Cost of Doing Business Worksheet here. As you can see, it requires taking a long, detailed look at your monthly expenses, both professional and personal, and it is by no means an exhaustive list. Everybody’s list will be different. You may find it useful to spend one full month accounting for each and every expenditure and seeing where it falls on the worksheet. Once you have a handle on your expenses, dividing that number by the total number of photo shoots you can do each month determines your monthly cost of doing business.

Once you’ve properly calculated your CODB, you are in a must better position to do the same for your creative and photography fees.

Setting Creative Fees

Unfortunately, this is not a fee that you can charge just for sitting around and thinking creatively. If it was, I’d be a multi-billionaire living in a medieval castle on my own private island. Instead, the creative fee is charged by the photographer for his or her efforts in bringing a project to a successful completion. In addition to time spent, the creative fee may be calculated to include factors like the photographer’s experience, special expertise, or anything that contributes to the overall creative effort. While this is where some of the intangibles like reputation, etc., can come into play, this is no place for your ego. You still have to start with your CODB. It is the foundation of your house. If it’s weak, everything else is going to crumble around you. You may be left with some nice stuff, but without the walls and the roof, you won’t have it for long.

cost-of-doing-business-dPS2

Pricing Your Photography

KNOW YOUR MARKET

Just as with the salary variable in calculating CODB, we all want to be able to price our photography as high as possible, but if you are going to succeed over a sustained period of time, you also have to be realistic (there’s that cursed word again!). For starters, you need to know what the market will bear.

A photographer in Manhattan is likely to have much higher expenses and overhead than a photographer in Detroit. On the other hand, a photographer in a more remote area might be able to charge similar rates to the New York photographer because the client may have fewer local options. Photography is a service industry and is subject to the same prevailing economic factors as any other. This is where research, networking, and relationships come into play. If you aren’t sure what your market will bear or why, you absolutely need to find out. Talk with other photographers, not only within your market, but within your specialty as well. If you are a commercial portrait photographer, knowing the value of wedding photography isn’t going to do you a whole lot of good.

KNOW YOUR CLIENT

You should also remember that you can (and should) charge different amounts for the same photograph under different circumstances. I may photograph a cup of coffee for a local coffee house identically to how I would photograph it for Starbucks, but guess who’s paying more for it?

KNOW YOUR PRODUCTION COSTS

Another factor in pricing your photography has to be your production costs for the specific assignment. Recurring production costs will show up in your cost of doing business analysis, but individual shoots can, and often do, require job-specific expenses. Will you have to rent equipment or studio space? Will you have to cater meals for your models and crew? Will you need to secure permits in order to shoot at your preferred location? These are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself in order to evaluate your own investment in the shoot. How much do you have to make on this particular shoot in order to cover not only your CODB, but any additional expenses that it requires?

Convincing the Client

You already know you’re good. Now it’s time to make sure the client knows. You can have your Monthly CODB Worksheet all filled out. You can know everything about your market and specialty. You can even know how much your time is worth down to the penny. To the uneducated client, though, the biggest question they want answered is, “Why does this cost so much?” You need to be ready with an answer and it had better be a good one.

Now is the time for confident, not cocky. You need to be ready to explain exactly why your quote is what it is. Remember that old line, “Never let them see you sweat”? The moment a prospective client senses a lack of confidence, you’ve lost them. You already know the question is coming, so be prepared with a good answer. As with all things client-related, you have to listen to them and be ready to lay their objections and concerns to rest. Yes, I am an artist, but I’m also a businessman (I’m sure much to the chagrin of my high school geometry tutor). I have a family to feed and I can’t always be drawing lines in the sand around my artistic principles. If that means looking for compromises, so be it. If I know my CODB, though, I’m in a much better position to negotiate those compromises and create added value for the client.

Knowing When to Walk Away

Your cost of doing business is not just a number. It’s a ruler, against which you can measure many things, including the potential success or failure of a project. Remember that this number is a minimum. The rock bottom number that you need to meet on every job just to make sure your business survives another month. If this client isn’t going to let you do that, you have to be prepared to walk away. Do it nicely. Do it respectfully. Agencies, art directors, publishers all talk to each other. What do you want them to say about you?

Despite our differences, math and I have reached a sort of detente. I’d describe our relationship as being more of cautious respect than admiration, but we work well enough together to get the job done.  Now if my 12-year-old could just graduate college already, and become my bookkeeper, I’d be all set.

 

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

How to Calculate Your Cost of Doing Business – And Other Necessary Numbers

The post How to Calculate Your Cost of Doing Business – And Other Necessary Numbers by Jeff Guyer appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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What the Numbers on your Lens Mean

10 Jun

Some things seems pretty straight forward and like they’re common knowledge, but I’ve run into this a few times with my students that feel embarrassed to ask what all the numbers on the lens mean. There is no reason to feel stupid or embarrassed if you don’t know this, it is sometimes confusing. So I’m going to run through them one by one.

Common settings seen on newer digital lenses

FOCAL LENGTH

If you have a zoom lens you will have a ring that turns to zoom in and out and it will also indicate what focal length you are currently set to. For example of your lens is a 70-200mm like mine you may see this which indicates I’m at 100mm currently.

focal-length-600px

If you are using a prime or fixed lens you won’t have a zoom ring, it will simply indicate the focal length on the lens barrell, as you see on my 85mm lens below.

focal-length85mm-600px

MAXIMUM APERTURE

The maximum aperture is the largest opening (the smallest number) on the aperture scale that your lens is capable of opening to.  Larger apertures like f2.8 or even f1.8 are highly desirable because they let in more light and allow you to shoot in low light conditions without getting camera shake.  (for more on that read 5 Tips for getting sharper images or Why the 50mm lens is your new best friend) This will vary from lens to lens and you may actually see a range of numbers such as 3.5-6.3.

You can usually find this information in one of two places on your lens, or perhaps even in both places:

  1. right on the end of the lens barrel on the edge
  2. on the front of the lens inside the filter ring area.

In the example below you can see two different lenses.  My Tamron 17-35mm (notice the focal length range is shown there also) and my 85mm. On the Tamron you see “1:2.8-4″ and on the 85mm you see “1:1.8″.   What that means is that the maximum aperture on the 85mm lens is f1.8, but on the Tamron zoom it changes from f2.8 to f4 as you zoom the lens.  At the lenses widest, 17mm, I can open the aperture to f2.8, but if I zoom all the way in to 35mm now my maximum aperture is only f4. This is pretty common with kit lenses and ones that have a large focal length range such as 28-300mm or 18-200mm.

maximum-aperture-600px

FOCUSING RANGE AND DISTANCE SCALE

Some lenses, not all digital ones have this now, you will see a range of distances – usually marked in two scales, feet and meters. Look for the infinity symbol at one end, the other end will show how close your lens can focus, or its minimum focusing distance. Some lenses have built in MACRO settings which allow you to get a bit closer. They aren’t a true macro and you can’t get in super close but it’s a handy thing to have if you want to get closer without the expense and weight of an extra lens.

In the two lenses below you can see the scale on the Tamron (on the right) is in the outside of the lens and on the Canon 70-200 you can see it inside under a cover. Both will move if you manually focus your lens (**note: please remember to turn off auto focus if you do this because turning the focusing ring while autofocus is on can damage the gears and mechanisms inside your lens**)

focus-ring-distance-600px

FILTER SIZE OR LENS DIAMETER

Also on the end of your lens you may see a funny symbol that looks like a zero with a strike through it, then a number.  That indicates the diameter of the front of your lens or the size of filter required to fit on it. You can also find that same number on the back side the lens cap, see below – for this lens it is 77mm. Handy to know if you want to go to the camera store to buy a filter, or you’re buying something online.

filter-size-600px

Less common settings often seen on older manual focus lenses

APERTURE RING

This is one that you may or may not have on your lens, most newer digital lens do not have this as the aperture is set and controlled by the camera body now. Back in the days of film and manual focus lenses, the shutter speed was set on the camera and the aperture was set on the lens. You can pick up some great deals on older film lenses for specialty uses like macro, or fixed lenses with large apertures often for a fraction of the price of a new digital lens (you just need to get a special mount adapter ring to attach them to your camera). Just be aware that they will be manual focus and some of them you have to set the aperture on the actual lens itself. If you have one of these it may look something like either of the ones below:

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Photo by Alvin Trusty

aperture ring example

Photo by Andrew Sales

HYPER-FOCAL DISTANCE SCALE

This is a bit of a trickier one to find and explain. If you have all zoom lenses, you will not find this on your lens. If you have a prime lens, especially an older model you may see an extra ring of numbers on your lens such as in the image below (the numbers in the middle radiating out from the central orange line).

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Photo by Bob Usselman

The numbers on the lens above represent (in order from top to bottom ring)

  • the distance scale
  • the hyperfocal distance scale
  • the aperture ring that actually sets the lens aperture

You use the hyperfocal distance scale to know which parts of your image will be in focus at different aperture settings. Notice the lens above is set to f16 and it is focused at 5m (15 ft). Now look at the middle scale and go to f16 on the left side of the orange line – that is indicating the closest point that will be sharp when focused at that distance, using that aperture – in this case it looks like about 2.75m (approx. 9ft). Now look at the f16 on the right of the orange line and you see it’s at infinity. So what we can tell from this is that at f16 we can get from about 9ft to infinity in focus, but the trick is to focus in the right spot.

Using the hyperfocal distance scale you’d actually put the infinity mark at the f16 mark on the right and that will give you the most depth of field possible at f16 (notice you don’t actually focus ON something, you set it on the lens by the numbers).  Note:  if you focused on infinity you’d only get from about 15ft to infinity in focus (estimating here) or if you focused at 7ft you would not get infinity sharp.  There’s a bit more to it than that but if you pick up a lens that has such a ring – do some research on how to use it and you’ll get a lot more of out of your small apertures.

If you’re curious what the little red dot means, that’s the infrared focusing mark. When shooting with infrared film you actually had to focus at a different place  than normal because the infrared spectrum of light is different than what we see with our eyes.  I used to shoot infrared film now and then, fun stuff, but tricky to handle, focus and you need to know what you’re doing with it.  There’s now ways to replicate fairly closely that same look digitally, even though now and again I think about shooting some film.

That’s it for lens numbers (I hope!) if I missed anything let me know.  Share a photo of your lens and any numbers you can’t decipher and if I don’t know what it means I can try and find out for you, or maybe someone else can help out in the comments section.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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What the Numbers on your Lens Mean


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