Choosing your first lens: try it yourself
This is the practical for the lesson. Work through it in order. Nothing here is a test of memory. Keep the lesson open if you need it and check the instructions as often as you like.
Aim
You should finish with a requirement, not a shopping list: for example, 'I need something longer than 55 mm for birds in the garden.'
What you need
Your own camera or phone, enough battery power to complete the exercise, and a memory card or free storage space where your equipment requires it. You do not need to buy anything specially for this practical.
Do this step by step
- Look through twenty photographs you have already made.
- Note the focal lengths if the files show them.
- Write down three situations where your present lens genuinely limited you.
- For each limitation, write the feature that would solve it: wider, longer, brighter aperture, closer focus or smaller/lighter size.
- Only then make a shortlist of lens types. This exercise does not require you to buy anything.
What should happen
You should finish with a requirement, not a shopping list: for example, 'I need something longer than 55 mm for birds in the garden.'
If it does not work
Stop rather than changing lots of things at once. Check that the camera is switched on, the battery has charge and the card or storage is available. Then return to the last step that definitely worked. If a named control is missing, your camera may use a different name or menu location. Check the manual for your exact model. Never force a card, battery, lens, door or control.
Before you finish
Explain out loud, or in one sentence on paper, what you changed and what happened. If you can explain the result in your own words, you have understood the exercise. If you cannot, repeat the part that was unclear.