Professional photographers rely on telephoto lenses at a variety of different events, such as weddings.
Professional photographers typically utilize an interchangeable lens SLR system for their photography work. Different lenses can be used to tackle a variety of different photographic situations. For subjects in the distance, photographers use telephoto lenses, which come in two forms zoom lenses and prime lenses with fixed focal length. Telephoto lenses generally fall into three focal length categories: short, mid-range and super telephoto.
Primary Telephoto Uses
Professional photographers rely on telephoto lenses for a wide range of photographic situations. Their ability to bring the photographer closer to the subject makes them well suited to photographing sports, weddings, fashion and wild animals in nature. Wide aperture professional lenses -- F/1.4 to F/2.8 -- are often used for indoor situations when photographing in low light situations, while F/4 aperture lenses are used outdoors, when there is enough available light.
Short Telephoto Lenses
Short telephoto lenses are roughly in the focal range of 85mm to 105mm. They are called short telephoto lenses because they are longer than the normal focal range, which is 50mm. Professional photographers typically use this focal range for portraits because the head and shoulders of the subject are usually the only part of the body that is in view. Lenses that are typically selected by professional photographers have an aperture of F/2.8 or wider usually F/1.8, F/1.4 or F/1.2, to create bokeh in the photograph. Some examples of lenses used are Canon EF 85mm F1.2L II USM, Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS USM, Nikon AF-S 85mm F1.4G FX and the Nikon AF-S 105mm F2.8G VR IF-ED.
Mid-Telephoto Lenses
Mid-telephoto lenses generally fall into the category of 135mm to 300mm. Professional photographers rely on both prime and zoom lenses within this range to capture distant details in landscapes and to photograph people in the distance. Many of the lenses have large apertures in the range of F/2.0 to F/2.8, which help to create bokeh in portraits and to isolate subjects. Some common lens choices in this range are the Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8 L IS II USM, Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F2.8 G ED VR II, Nikon AF DC-NIKKOR 135mm f/2 D and the Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS II L.
Super Telephoto Lenses
Super telephoto lenses are used to describe lenses with a focal length over 300mm. Lenses over 300mm are used by professional nature photographers to capture wild life in their natural habitat, such as safari animals or birds. These lenses are quite large in size and require the use of a monopod or tripod to help stabilize the lens. Super telephoto lenses have apertures of either F/2.8 or f/4. A few examples of professional lenses within this category are the Nikon Nikkor 400mm f/2.8D AF-S ED-IF II, Nikon AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4G ED VR, Canon 500mm f/4 L IS II and the Canon 600mm f/4 L IS II.
Tags: Professional photographers, lenses used, Nikon AF-S, focal length, focal range