Category: Photography

Pompidoo Palermo Camera Bag Review

POMPIDOO BAG REVIEW

www.pompidoo.com

Until recently I wasn’t fully aware of the availability of such stylish camera bags for women, until I received the opportunity to review this refined camera accessory.

The Palermo Camera Bag by Pompidoo is a very stylish and functional way to carry your camera equipment to any occasion. Whether I’m out taking photos, or having a milkshake with my family, this bag plays it’s part perfectly.

When I’m out taking photos, I love the fact that this Palermo bag doesn’t look like a typical camera bag. As well as looking stylish this bag acts as a great safety function for the “Female Street Photographer” like myself, the general person on the street wouldn’t realise your carrying expensive camera equipment as it looks just like a larger style hand-bag.

First Impression was ‘Style & Quality’.
I was very impressed by how the bag was packaged when I opened the shipping carton; it was very protected. My initial impression to the Palermo Bag was quality of the leather and fixtures then the lining inside and padding.

What I Loved

1. There’s something special about handmade European leather goods. The quality of the genuine bane leather is simply beautiful and it has a pearl touch to it. The bag comes in 3 different colours, this one that I am using is Kitty Red, which I love.

2. The two carry options. The Palermo Bag has two handles to use like a carry bag or an adjustable de-attachable cross shoulder strap. The leather strap I found to be very functional and comfortable for those longer photo walks, it made it easy to distribute the weight of my equipment evenly across my back.

3. The padded main body and the 4 padded Velcro dividers to customise the bag to suit your belongings and keep them well protected. I found it to be the perfect size for my gear, as an example, the equipment for my typical outing would be – Canon 5D MarkII with a 24-70mm lens attached, external flash, 50mm lens and a Lensbaby Spark. I really like the built in padded section with a soft cloth attached to carry your ipad / tablet. The front pocket is ideal to hold camera accessories like CF Cards, cloths, and business cards along with some personal belongings such as your mobile phone, keys and even snacks for my little man ?. There really is plenty of room. There is also a zip pocket at the back, which I found perfect for a notebook to keep any notes or lists.
I need to mention that the floral material used inside this bag is beautiful.

What Could Be Improved

1. The metal feet are a perfect idea for the bag to stand upright when you place it on the ground in whatever situation or environment, however I did find that the bag would still sometimes fall forward, as if unbalanced. This didn’t happen all the time.

2. I’m not sure if this next feature actually needs to be improved, as this probably would depend on each individual using the bag. I am very fussy with my camera gear and I found when removing my camera from inside the bag, I needed to fold the zipper section back on either side of the main compartment so the zipper wouldn’t scrap along the camera body. I also found that when the zipper section is folded back, it made the top opening larger and easier to view and remove my equipment without obstruction.

Overall, I would recommend Pompidoo products to any Female Photographer who is looking for a bit of “Style, Quality & Functionality”.

Lisa Cole – Melbourne based photographer

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

Pompidoo Palermo Camera Bag Review

Digital Photography School

June 13, 2013
Expand Your Arsenal with the 5 Most Popular Photography Techniques Today

Photography is like anything else in our culture; it tends to hold certain trends for periods of time, then changes based on variables around us. Some trends can reappear, such as we’ve seen with the influx of “vintage” post-processing in the last few years. The style wasn’t imposed directly during the 60′s and 70′s, it was a result of the Continue Reading

The post Expand Your Arsenal with the 5 Most Popular Photography Techniques Today appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

June 13, 2013
24 Hours Left to Save 25% on our New Trick Photography eBook

Just on 3 weeks ago we announced our brand new eBook – Photo Magic – a guide to taking 11 special effects/trick photography techniques.

To celebrate the launch we offered dPS readers a 25% Early Bird saving and also put each person who picked up a copy an entry into a draw to win a new DSLR or lens to the value of $ 1500 USD.

As this post goes live there a bit over 24 hours to go to take advantage of this Early Bird Special and to get into the draw to win that gear – both of which offers will be closed off at midnight US Eastern time on 12th June.

Not only will you save some money and put yourself in the running to win the prize – this eBook will give you the ability to shoot 11 great special effects techniques including (click the photos to see larger versions):

Zoom Effect

Add a dynamic zoom effect with a slow shutter speed, and learn a super charged variation using your flash.

360 Panorama

A spherical 360 degree panorama puts you there by showing the whole world from a particular viewpoint.

Aperture Masks

Create a romantic, magical or cool background for your night portraits with aperture masks.

Flour Hair Flick

Half a cup of flour, add three lights and flick hair vigorously for this dramatic action shot.

Light Painting Sparklers

Sparklers, a sci-fi schoolgirl and some really nifty colour and light tricks create this dynamic light painted photo.

Light Painting Steel Wool

Stars twinkling above and fire sparking below lights up the beach in a dramatic combination shot.

Little World

Starting with a panorama, create whole planets with this super distorted, super fun effect.

Mixing Ambient and Flash

Capture and freeze motion in the same shot for a striking effect by mixing flash and continuous light.

Multiple Exposures

If two are twice the fun, eleven clones are a party! This multiple exposure technique is a unique way to tell a story.

Star Trails

Capture the majesty of the night sky as it spins eternally overhead with this surprisingly accessible star trail technique.

Water Droplets

Natures little lenses create many images with this technique to get you started using water refraction in your photography.

Get more information on this great new eBook here or pick up a copy by clicking the ‘Download it Now’ button below.

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Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

24 Hours Left to Save 25% on our New Trick Photography eBook

Digital Photography School

June 12, 2013
How to Improve the Balance of your Photos by Paying Attention to the Corners

Balance is a very important aspect in photography. If you are aiming to create a balanced photo, then there is one key that is often overlooked.

The corners of an image.

Our eyes have a natural tendency to want to dart off of the sides of a photograph when we look at it and so, when we can, we need to use the edges to fight this natural urge. Putting elements in the corners will stop the eyes so that they move back into the scene.

When you are framing a photograph look into each corner to see what is there. It can often help to cut off elements. A hint of a stair, window, or tree branches will simultaneously make us feel like the full element is there while still grounding the photo and pushing our eyes back into the middle.

If you’ve noticed why some photographs feel balanced and some don’t and can’t tell why, the corners are often the reason.

Here are 5 examples to look at.

The corner lines all lead the eyes to the middle, except the lower left corner, which adds another level of interest but still eventually pushes the eyes back into the photo.

Notice on the top how you only need a tiny area in the corners to provide balance. You can see how this effect applies to the elements on the top and left and right sides of the photo as well.

The lines all push the eyes into the scene. Notice how there are two ‘corners’ providing balance on the top right.

The ‘corner’ elements don’t have to be at the very edge. They can be further away from it. They just have to provide the feeling of balance.

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 Improve the Balance of your Photos by Paying Attention to the Corners

Digital Photography School

June 12, 2013
silent tapes- Klong Toei project by silent tapes

When we stepped foot onto Bangkok’s Klong Toey slum, we had no idea what to expect or what we were getting ourselves into. A juxtaposition of feelings is what would best describe us at that moment. The further we delved in, the more we became overwhelmed by the lives and the spirit of its people. Life seemed so surreal there and somehow living with close to nothing seemed acceptable. It was absolute functioning chaos but shed a light on the excessive lifestyles of not just the west, but of people all over the world who cannot fathom living without the many luxuries they have.

The railroad tracks were cluttered with tiny wooden shacks, most of them falling apart with little or no windows at all. Families and friends were gathered around in circles, having a beer or two and sharing food. Children played on what seemed to be a perfect playground for their curious little minds; throwing fistfuls of dirt in the air and jumping on roofless mattresses on the trackside. The drug addicted roamed about, adding a bit of intimidation to the place but keeping to them selves most of the time. A melting pot of people lived along this path, all of which surprisingly seemed harmless. We were even invited to dinner by one local man, but didn’t want to press our luck considering we were new to the area!

Deeper into the narrow alleyways were glimpses of family life, and their daily routines were no different from ours. It was close to sunset and the scent of Thai cooking was amidst! Every time we encountered a group of young teenagers, they took the opportunity to practice their English, so we’d exchange responses with them in Thai and learned a few new lines along the way. To our surprise, we even came across one young girl playing with a new Ipad!

We tried to capture simple moments that wouldn’t patronize these ordinary people who often become stigmatized by the rest of society. There were moments where it seemed these people were just making the best of their situation, no matter how dire it may be. In essence, we all share the same emotions and handle the lives we were born into accordingly. The people in this community were nothing short of welcoming and vibrant. Their energy was infectious. The following photos are part of a project in progress.

–

silent tapes is a series of projects by 2 photographers, Francis and Stephanie Lane, focusing on documenting the lives of people from different cultures in various slums around the world, and generating funds for those communities through their works.
http://www.silenttapes.com

dslrBlog

June 11, 2013
7 Tips for Photographing Newborns without Becoming Clichéd, Derivative or Boring

by Lynsey Peterson.

When I first started doing professional photography, newborn babies were the coveted prize. An adorable sleeping creature that would look cute no matter what? Sign me up! Let’s put that baby in a stockpot! In a basket! Wait! –A headband that looks like a flower! In a field of flowers! With butterflies! And maybe a big gift box bow!

Then I realized that Anne Geddes is the landlord of that entire market. And that it’s rare for a portrait client to actually want a picture of their baby in a stockpot. What people do want is a picture of their baby, that looks like their baby. Because in about 5 minutes their baby isn’t going to look like this anymore.

Set the Scene

In an ideal situation, you are photographing a newborn that is less than two weeks old (when they tend to be more “mold-able”), in the morning (when they tend to be a more willing participant), just after being fed (when they tend to be a little more tolerant), and in a warm room (where they tend to be a little more comfortable).

Having everything ready to go before shooting a single shot is taken will serve you well: various blankets for background and warmth, cloth diapers for when someone pees on you (let’s hope it’s the baby), any clothing you plan to use and back-ups of every possible thing. I prefer minimal clothing on newborns, but this is just personal preference. Amble natural light is important because even if you do usually shoot flash, it’s often disruptive enough to wake a newborn and rule number one in photography, parenting, and life is: Never wake a sleeping baby. If there is anything I’ve learned, it’s that.

Be prepared to work fast because babies can be ticking time bombs, but slowly because they are delicate ticking time bombs. You are methodical. You are confident. You are patient. You are the baby whisperer. Because we are speaking in ideals. And if you’re me and we are still speaking in ideals, you also have on your cute jeans and are having a great hair day. Because, why not?

Find the Purpose

Photographing newborns is one of the few times I make a point of asking clients what they are planning on doing with the end result. Often it’s for use in a baby announcement or just as “baby pictures” documenting this time. But if it’s going to end-up as a 24″x36″ canvas above a fireplace, I want to know beforehand. Or if I’m going to need negative space to create an announcement card, I’d rather shoot with that in mind then trying to backtrack later in post.

Another thing to think about is the ratio of images of the baby alone and the baby with parents or siblings; there is no right or wrong answer here but knowing what you or your client is wanting in advance is key. Newborn shoots are not (usually) guided by a free-spirited toddler and therefore require more of a plan from you than shoots with older children. And you never know when a baby will decide that pictures are just not what he wants to do today and let’s you know this in a very unsubtle and loud way.

It’s all about the Baby

The only thing I always bring to a newborn shoot is a large piece of black cloth. I have had it for nearly a decade and more babies have peed on it than I wish to think about. I have hung it on walls and used it on floors and beds as a back-drop. I use it every single time because it simplifies everything and allows the focus to be completely on the baby. Lots of photographers do a version of a black background of some sort and I’ve found that there is no need to get fancy.

Many photographers use a velvet, but mine is about 2 yards of a stretchy thick cloth that I bought at a fabric store for ten dollars. It washes well (luckily) and the light sheen of it makes editing out any wrinkles in post extremely easy. I carry thumbtacks and painters tape to hang it with if I need to and it’s thick enough to hang over about anything and not have backlight shine through. I cannot stress having a way to simplify a newborn shoot enough. If a black background isn’t your style, find what is that will clean-up everything and let the newborn to be the focus, and allow it to become your key piece for baby photography.

It’s in the Details

And why shouldn’t it be? Baby details are sorta amazing. I mean have you seen a baby toe recently? Talk about something I’d like to dip in butter and call a snack. We have all seen baby parts photographed in the same boring ways: wedding rings on toes, close-ups of belly buttons and umbilical cords (ew), tops of bald heads in big grown-up hands. I am guilty of doing every one of these, multiple times over. I now see that the shots that will stand the test of time will be very simple close-ups that highlight just how small newborns are: tiny hands holding a parent’s finger, brand new feet that have yet to see wear, yawns and other adorable expressions that only look adorable on a baby.

As Cute as they are Awkward

Oh sure, we all know they are adorable, but what are you supposed to do with them? They are flimsy and tiny and often naked. This is where I think we get into trouble and put them in baskets and stockpots. Because we can. Instead of creating scenes, it’s better to just think of “positions”. Babies can only do about two positions unassisted—laying down this way or that way. Work with that.

They may just lay there, but the beauty in this is that they often let you adjust them however you want. Tuck legs up under bodies, pull flailing arms into blankets, curl them up into someone’s hands. The baby is the star of this show and is plenty cute to pull off this role without a big supporting cast of props. A key to getting the position you want and having it stay that way long enough to get the shot you want is to keep your hands on the baby longer than needed after positioning them.

Think of it as long hug—you don’t need that extra ten seconds at the end, but it feels nice. Get the baby settled and then stay there for a bit longer. The warmth of your hands and the consistency and reassurance is often exactly what the baby needs to “hold” the position you are seeking.

Got Extra Arms? Use them

I like to include siblings as often as I can, no matter the age. This gets tricky because the very definition of tricky is a two year old holding a newborn while exhausted parents watch the situation go down. Enough pillows and promises of lollipops though will get you a shot or two and a little variation in the final images. Interaction is the name of the game here—look for whatever the emotion is that’s happening and play on it. If it’s pride, comment on it to instill confidence and document a sweet moment in sibling history. If it’s indifference, engage the older child so they forget there is even a new addition in the photograph and are happy to be your star for a moment.

Stop Worrying

I love a good worry and consider myself to be quite good at it. But as jobs go, photographing newborns is about as close to shooting fish in a barrel as you are likely to get. It’s easy to feel the pressure given that babies are so fragile and grow every single second. The truth is any picture you take of a newborn is a gift. Just as any time spent getting to photograph a newborn. I don’t get sappy often, but newborn babies are pretty special. Enjoy it.

Especially if the newborn belongs to someone else and you get to walk out of there without a crying baby and go home to a bed where you’re permitted to sleep through the night.

Check out more of Lynsey Peterson’s work on her website.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

7 Tips for Photographing Newborns without Becoming Clichéd, Derivative or Boring

Digital Photography School

June 11, 2013
15 Tips for Successful Fireworks Photography

With the summer coming up and different celebrations you may have the opportunity to photograph some fireworks. If you’re in the USA you have the 4th of July, in Canada July 1st. In many other places you can find fireworks festivals or competitions even, or special occasions when fireworks may be set off including weddings, New Years Day or course and of course at Disneyland!

So here’s a few tips to help you photograph fireworks. The biggest thing to remember is that it’s all about practice, experimentation, and the following mantra (say it with me!)

SHOOT – REVIEW – ADJUST – REPEAT

Please remember that if you’ve never tried fireworks before it’s all trial and error and I’ve made a lot of mistakes myself before I got any images that I was happy to show anyone. Each time I photograph fireworks there’s always some element that’s unpredictable so you have to learn to adapt and learn from your own mistakes, correct for next time and do it again. So take these tips to help you get started.

15 tips for fireworks photography

#1 Use the right equipment: use a sturdy tripod and remote to fire the camera and bring an extra battery as long exposures tend to use them up quickly. I say STURDY tripod because it needs to hold your camera steady for several seconds without sinking, tipping, or wobbling. I wrote an article on my site on Tips for buying a tripod of you need more info on what to get.

This image was actually purchased by the company that put on the fireworks show in Portland.

#2 Set your ISO low like 100 or 200, for a couple reasons. First the higher the ISO you use the more noise you’ll introduce into your images, so keep it low to prevent that. Noise also lives in blue areas of images and nighttime has a lot of blue so that compounds the issue. Long exposures also tend to increase noise so if you add it all up you get a lot of noise so keep the ISO low to eliminate that variable.

#3 Turn OFF long exposure noise reduction. This setting, while it does a really good job of noise reduction, adds an extra complication you don’t need when doing photography of fireworks. The way it works is that if you take say a 10 second exposure, it takes a second one of equal length but just black (the shutter doesn’t open). Then it merges the two together and blends the blank one into the shadow areas of the first one which is where noise typically shows the most. The problem is that fireworks happen so fast you don’t want to have to wait 10 seconds to be able to see your image, make any adjustments and shoot again. I did this once my accident and it was very frustrating and I missed most of the show and did not get the results I wanted because I couldn’t review and correct.

#4 Do NOT use live view if your camera has it. This will eat up your battery really fast. Live view is really for shooting video and using the display screen so much uses a lot of power, as does making long exposures. Save your battery for actually shooting and set up your shot using the eyecup viewfinder.
#5 set your camera on Manual mode for exposure and set your aperture to f5.6 or f8. Those apertures are pretty optimal for fireworks as the light streaks are controlled by the size of the aperture. Closing down more will make the light trails thinner, opening up more will make them wider and possible too over exposed. Do some tests but all the times I’ve done fireworks I keep coming back to f8 as my preference.

#6 Set your shutter speed to between two and ten seconds. Do a test shot before the show starts and see if the sky is too dark or too bright and adjust the exposure time accordingly. As long as you’re under 30 seconds you can let the camera time the shots for you. Or you can switch to Bulb and just open and close manually when you feel you’ve captured enough bursts in one image.

#7 Focus your lens ahead of time, and then turn off AF otherwise the camera will keep trying to refocus every shot and you may end up with missed images or blurry fireworks if the camera misses. Assuming you’re a fair distance away from the fireworks you shouldn’t have to refocus at all unless you change your angle of view or want to focus somewhere else, like the people in front of you.

#8 Use a neutral density filter to get a longer exposure if need be. If it’s not 100% dark out yet it (the sky still has some light) this will allow you to get a longer exposure and make sure the fireworks bursts have a nice arch. If your exposure is too short you’ll end up with short stubby looking bursts, not the nice umbrella shaped ones. If yours are too short, just make the exposure time longer. If you are getting too many bursts in one shot and it’s coming out over exposed, shorten the exposure time. Using the ND filter if it IS dark will also allow you to shoot longer exposures and capture more bursts per image. Play with that and try it with and without the filter if you have one. A polarizing filter will work to a lesser degree also.

ISO 100, f/10, 1 second – notice the bursts don’t really make a nice arch? A longer exposure will make your trails longer. You choose how you want them to appear and adjust accordingly.

#9 Shoot most of your shots at the start of the show to avoid the smoke/haze that appears a bit later. Eventually the sky will be filled with smoke and it’s not as pretty looking. That’s when I’ll try some close ups or abstracts (keep reading for more on that later)

#10 Scout your location ahead of time and get there early to get a good spot, think about background (what’s behind the show) and if you want the people around and in front of you as part of the shot. In general the good viewing areas fill up sometimes 1-2 hours prior to the fireworks show. If you want a good spot with enough room for you and your tripod, go early and take a good book or something to entertain you while you wait.

Notice I’ve included the crowd to show perspective.

#11 Make sure you leave enough room in your frame to anticipate the height of the opened bursts. Adjust as necessary if you miss on the first shot – it’s a lot of trial and error and correcting. It’s often hard to tell where the highest fireworks will end up in the sky, you may want to try both horizontal and vertical compositions.

Try a vertical composition for an added sense of power, especially if you can get a reflection like this.

#12 It takes a bit of practice to time your shots when you hear the fireworks being released, so ideally you capture a few bursts. Do some testing to see how many bursts is just right for your taste. Try some with more, and some with less. Having too many may overexpose the overall image, so keep that in mind.

#13 Shoot into the eastern sky not facing west, if you want a darker sky. Here in Edmonton we are quite far north and even by 10:30pm in the summer the sky is not fully dark yet. I’ve found that when I shoot into the sunset my sky gets too blown out and the lights of the fireworks don’t show up as well as they do against a darker sky. So try and find a vantage point that has you facing east when possible if that’s an issue for you as well.

#14 Try some telephoto shots as well as the usual wide, try some close ups zoomed in tighter for something a bit more abstract. For this you will need to aim basically into thin air and try to anticipate where the bursts will open

Abstracted using a longer lens, I think they look like palm trees.

#15 if you have a zoom lens try zooming during the exposure and see what you get! If you’re going to try this make sure you have focused at the most zoomed in point of the lens. Try different technique including counting 1/2 the exposure before you zoom, or zooming right away and the last 1/2 is zoomed out. Try zooming fast, then slow. Try more bursts, or less. Get some city lights in the shot too.

ISO 100, f/6.3, 6 seconds – lens zoomed during the exposure.

Summary

The biggest tip I can give you overal is experiment with your settings to get the look you want. Use my settings above as a starting point, adapt to your situation and your camera equipment until you’re happy with the results.

Have a great time this summer trying these out and don’t forget to share your images of fireworks, and any additional tips you’d like to add.

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

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

15 Tips for Successful Fireworks Photography

Digital Photography School

June 10, 2013
On Assignment: Dahlia Flute Duo

Whenever possible, I scout not only location but also time of day when planning an outdoor shoot. Especially if that shoot is in the evening.

When does the sun set? Where does the sun set? When is golden light? Where will it come from?

So in this case, the I knew the ideal pop of tree-filtered backlight would happen at about 7:22pm. And at that time we were ready and in place, waiting for the light.

Shame about the sun not showing up.

Read more »
Strobist

June 10, 2013
The Worst Forms of Abuse Your Camera Wants You to Stop Doing

All photographers are some of the most well-intentioned people on the face of the entire planet. They like to think of themselves as never, ever doing anything to their precious cameras that would ever result in damage coming to them or in their misuse. However, in spite of their sense of being well-intentioned, the reality paints quite a different story. Continue Reading

The post The Worst Forms of Abuse Your Camera Wants You to Stop Doing appeared first on Photodoto.

Photodoto

June 10, 2013
What the Numbers on your Lens Mean
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.

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.

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.

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**)

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.

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:

Photo by Alvin Trusty

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).

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

Digital Photography School
June 10, 2013