Everything You Need To Know About Telephoto Lens

Today,We would be talking about TELEPHOTO lenses, most flagship smartphones come with lots of camera packages and we do see the telephoto lens in one of the cameras, so today we doing a brief cool fact on telephoto lenses, without wasting must time, let’s get deeper into photography with telephoto lens

Now, the question arises ‘What is a Telephoto lens?’

Telephoto lenses have longer focal lengths and are great for bringing distant scenes and subjects closer. Like wide-angle lenses, they come in both prime (fixed focal length) and zoom varieties.

Many people confuse telephoto lenses with zoom lenses but they are actually different things. A telephoto lens can be—but does not necessarily have to be—a zoom lens. Telephotos come in a variety of focal lengths from “medium telephoto” (generally 70-200mm) and “super telephoto” (longer than 300mm) and they can be either zoom or prime lenses. It doesn’t matter whether the lens zooms—what matters is how long the focal length is.

Let’s have a deeper insight of the same

1. Telephotos Make Subjects Appear Closer to the Camera.

This is the most obvious reason to use a telephoto lens and why most beginners consider getting one. A telephoto lens will allow you to take photos of subjects that are farther away. This comes in handy when you are taking photos of things that you can’t, or don’t want to, get close to. Having more distance between you and your subject can help some people feel more at ease in front of the camera. Telephotos also help improve the visual relationship between a subject and its environment by creating the appearance of a kind of compression effect that is similar to how our brains see object-to-background relationships. Mountain ranges that appear to be sitting practically right on top of a cityscape are better visually translated with telephotos than with wide angles.

2. Telephotos Help Emphasize Blurred Backgrounds

If you’ve ever seen a photo where the subject is in focus but the background is blurred and wondered how that effect was achieved, the answer is often with a telephoto lens. This use is especially common in portrait photography. The way to achieve this look is to shoot with a long lens and the widest aperture available. For example, a 70-200mm telephoto lens shot at 200m with an aperture of f/2.8 will isolate your subject against a beautiful, creamy background.

3. Telephotos are Excellent at Creating Flattering Portraits

One of the benefits of telephoto lenses for portrait work is that these lenses often have the effect of creating very flattering portraits of people. The distance between the camera and the subject impacts how close objects will appear in the frame and how they will look in comparison to each other. When it comes to deciding which focal length is best for you, it will depend largely on how you plan to use it.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Telephoto Lens on basis of focal length

Below we’ll discuss some common telephoto lens lengths (as they work on a full frame camera) and how and when to use them.

Focal Length	Common Uses
70-200mm	Portraits, Weddings, Sports, Wildlife
85mm	Portrait, Wedding
100-400mm	Sports, Wildlife
135mm	Sports, Wedding
600+mm	Wildlife, Sports

1. 70-200mm

70-200mm lenses are very popular due to their versatility and the stunning images they produce. 70mm is short enough to let you shoot not too terribly far from your subject while 200mm gives you enough reach to shoot things that are a good distance away and lets you shoot things that are quickly moving between being relatively close and relatively far (like kids and animals) with ease. Using a wide aperture in this focal range, such as f/2.8, will give you a beautifully blurred background and nicely isolate your subjects. If you like shooting with longer lenses, you can’t beat the beauty and versatility of a good 70-200mm. This is an ideal telephoto focal range for portrait and wedding work.

2. 85mm Prime

These prime lenses are very popular among portrait photographers because they produce beautifully blurred backgrounds and a compression illusion that is flattering to your subject while still letting you work relatively close to them. The benefit of an 85mm prime over a 70-200mm zoom is that typically the prime will allow you to shoot at a wider aperture, which is better for low light situations. Primes also tend to be sharper and lighter than zoom lenses.

3. 100-400mm

These lenses are just a bit longer on the short end but give you a lot more reach for things that are farther away. These lenses are ideal for sports, wildlife, and anytime you can’t, or don’t, want to be too close to. The downside of these lenses is that they are big, heavy, and often don’t have as wide of a maximum aperture as some of their shorter counterparts. Some people, therefore, choose to use these lenses only in well-lit environments. These lenses are great for shooting subjects that are far away but have a tendency to move around a lot. For example, if you’re taking pictures of a moose at 400mm and it starts to walk toward you, you will be able to zoom out a good amount while still taking photos of the moose. Zoom lenses in this focal range give you a lot of flexibility.

4. 135mm Prime

135mm is another very popular telephoto prime lens for portrait and wedding photographers. This lens gives you a little more reach than the 85mm, better compression illusions, and even more magnificent bokeh. These lenses are really good for making subjects appear closer together in a photo. If you want to take a portrait that clearly shows the size of whatever is in the background (for example, a subject in front of a cityscape), this is a great choice.

5. 600mm (and Above) Prime

These lenses are ideal for professional sports and wildlife photographers who like to shoot subjects that are very far away with very wide apertures. The images these lenses can capture and the effects they create can be stunning! The downside of these lenses is that their very long fixed focal length means that their uses are fairly limited. They also tend to be very heavy and very expensive.