Lessons
Class Introduction
07:11 2Canon Lens Basics
14:12 3Focal Length: Angle of View
11:31 4Focal Length: Normal Lenses
09:43 5Focal Length: Wide Angle Lenses
18:15 6Focal Length: Telephoto Lens
21:27 7Focal Length Rule of Thumb
15:36 8Field of View
10:14Aperture Basics
04:41 10Aperture: Maximum Aperture
18:44 11Aperture: Equivalent Focal Length
07:48 12Aperture: Depth of Field
06:23 13Aperture: Maximum Sharpness
08:33 14Aperture: Starburst Effect
05:18 15Aperture: Flare
06:48 16Aperture: Hyperfocal Distance
19:32 17Camera Mount System
14:57 18Canon Lens Compatibility
14:26 19Canon Lens Design
12:29 20Canon Lens Composition
04:30 21Canon Lens Shape
05:50 22Canon Lens Coating
06:53 23Canon Lens Focusing
14:10 24Lens Autofocus
08:17 25Canon Lens Image Stabilization
06:57 26Canon L Lenses
10:18 27Image Quality
09:46 28Canon Zoom Lenses: Standard
17:50 29Canon Super Zooms
05:20 30Canon Wide Zooms
09:48 31Canon Telephoto Zooms
16:09 32Prime Lens: Normal Lenses
09:19 33Prime Lens: Moderate Wide
07:01 34Prime Lens: Wide Angle
05:33 35Prime Lens: Ultra-Wide
09:23 36Prime Lens: Short Telephoto
09:03 37Prime Lens: Medium Telephoto
08:59 38Prime Lens: Super Telephoto
13:59 393rd Party Lenses Overview
06:01 403rd Party Prime Lenses
15:25 413rd Party Zoom Lenses
26:28 42Lens Accessories: Filters
33:42 43Lens Accessories: Lens Hoods
09:58 44Lens Accessories: Tripod Mount
04:51 45Lens Accessories: Extension Tubes
04:30 46Lens Accessories: Extenders
13:11 47Macro Lens: Reproduction Ratio
18:59 48Macro Lens: Technique and Choices
25:59 49Fisheye: Technique and Choices
18:49 50Tilt Shift: Techniques and Choices
27:08 51Make a Lens System Choice
05:37 52Choosing A Portrait Lens
17:21 53Choosing A Sports Lens
17:31 54Choosing A Landscape Lens
10:39 55Best Lenses for You
08:46 56Lens Maintenance
11:19 57Buying and Selling Lens
11:15 58What is John Greengo's Favorite Lens?
08:37Lesson Info
Prime Lens: Moderate Wide
all right, let's work our way into a group I call the moderate wides. So this is a 35 and they also have a 40 millimeter lens in here. And this is what I think of is a good documentary lands. So this is something a photojournalist might like who's just documenting the scene and wanting to be really, really faithful to the way it it's. They see it with their own eyes. So environmental Portrait's good for event and street photography as well. And so these air for the E F system. So full frame sensors. But if you have a crop frame sensor, I'm gonna throw in this new E f S 24 which is very equivalent and focal length to the 40. And so in this area we've got a collection of 30 fives and a 40 which is a pancake lens. So if you're looking for something super compact, you know you want to take your camera with you to dinner as you're traveling, and you just don't want a big heavy lands, and you just want something simple to put on there. That's gonna be a really nice one for that. So let's tak...
e a close look at these three. So here we are little pancake lands. I think it actually looks more like a cookie than a pancake, cause it's much smaller in size, so I I would prefer a cookie lens. Now this is using their stepper motor fly by wire system on it, So manual focusing has a slightly different fields. So if you are aficionado of manual focusing, it's gonna have that different feel. But this is so small. If you're looking for something to be really discreet, this would be a nice lands and have the 40 millimeter lens. It's kind of interesting, because when this came out, there was a lot of people in the forums going 40. I don't know what to do with the 40. It's an awkward folk away, and we have these kind of traditional focal links like 50 35 28 24. And every once in a while, one of the manufacturers puts out a lens that's Ah, 42.5 or 45 or 32 people that kind of don't know what to do, and it's it's just a angle of you. People just figure out what it works with, and it's good for that. So the 40 if you recall back when we're talking about the way the human eye sees which waas 38 millimeters, depending on the human eye, this is as close as you're going to find to the way we see with our own eyes as faras perspective. And so, for a simple basic lens, this would be a great lens toe. Learn photography on and it's not much money. It's really cheap. It's about 100 50 bucks. Now we're talking about the full frame or excuse me crop frame E F s. So if you have a rebel or a 70 d type camera with the 1.6 crop sensor, you can get that 40 equivalent in the 24. And so this is gonna have that same angle of you in that same size type package. And so everything I said about the previous lens applies here for the crop frame users, very small lands, lightweight, inexpensive lands and kind of a nice bonus lens. I don't know that this would be my main lens for most photography, but it be nice little bonus lens when I want to trim down and simplify things okay, back into the e f category. The 35 too, is a relatively new lands, and it was part of a collection of wide angle lenses that were the first that were brought out by any manufacturer that our prime focal length that have image stabilization. And so they had a 35 F two around for quite some time. But they added image stabilization onto this, which is really nice for somebody doing travel photography or just kind of walking around under low light situations. Remember, image stabilization does not help stop fast action people. Moving around doesn't help you with shut faster shutter speeds. It helps you in holding the camera in low light, static situations. This is a really nice, fairly compact lands. It's got a very good feel to it. It's a direct, nice manual focus feel. So manual focus folks will really enjoy that great for documentary work. This also has a really good close up capability. If you were a foodie, somebody here a foodie, you can get really close to your food with this and maybe still show that the table setting around it and so very nice because you can focus down. I forget the exact distance on this, but you can focus down to about one foot on this on the canon lenses. Someone's has come with hoods. Generally, the L lenses were gonna come with hoods and other lenses. Do not. And Canon. They should come with hoods. You pay good money for this. It has a little hood mount here. Canon. They would want to make a little extra money by making you buy hoods and the hoods that they sell. So expensive. It's like $65 for this piece of plastic, in fact, yeah, so? So this is the hood. And this little piece of plastic can range anywhere from 40 to $70. And it's ridiculous. We're gonna talk about these in a later section on the accessories, and so I'm gonna complain about that on a number of other lenses. All right. The 35 14 This is a favorite of wedding photographers photojournalists who like that very natural, slightly wide perspective, but who really need that 1.4 for shooting under low light, with people in action moving around and so l series lands top quality glass. Very good construction. Look at the size of this manual focusing ring. I love that. That's awesome. All right. And this land's look down here, remember, I give you the dates I tell you when these were made 1998. So this lens is a little bit older, and the rumor sites are constantly flaring up. They're going to replace the lens. They're gonna replace lens. Everybody get excited, save your money, and then it doesn't happen. At some point, they'll replace it with the version two. It is getting a little bit older in the lineup. It's Ah very, very good Quality lands. It does have some chromatic aberration when you're shooting at 1.4 enough to, and that is something that you may need to address in light room or in post processing. So there's our collection of moderate wides. I think these are very valuable lenses, just like the 50 I think. For most people, you probably need to make a choice. If you want to have a bonus Fast lands probably choosing something in the 50 or 35 rage. If you're just gonna have one, I'd probably go with the 50. If you're thinking well, maybe I'm gonna have to bonus lenses, maybe a 35 and then in 85 on the other side of 50 that would be nice. And so I would recommend all of these things. I think they're all very good. They all have something weak about him, but I think they're all very nice. And you can see in the price the 35 14 You are paying an extreme premium to get down to that 1.4 aperture. And those who are photographing people in action are going to find that of greatest value for a general user. I think the 35 f two, it's actually still a little spending for what it is, in my opinion, and so that 42.8 is a really good value for somebody looking for a lower price lens.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
user-b3a96c
I so appreciate what a good teacher John is. I wish I would have known this much about lenses when I first started out buying my lenses. It was hard finding information about lenses. I didn't want to spend money on a lens I wouldn't use. The better understanding we have about our gear the better photographers we will be. I have never seen a class like this. Invaluable...yes I bought the class! I am really impressed with the high quality photography classes available on Creative Live!
Tami Miller
Have loved the other John Greengo classes I've watched & purchased - and this is another winner! Having been a high school/college science teacher, it is refreshing to take a course with someone who not only is extremely experienced, seems to be a computer having stored so much knowledge, but is equally concerned about making the information truly understandable to different levels. And he shares the information using every tool he can: slides, video, interactive presentations, and great quizzes. I learned so much about my Canon lenses - and lenses in general with their many components. I am excited about testing each of mine to see what macro ratio they handle, and especially appreciated the tutorial on testing each for their specific quirk that affects super sharpness. This class is great whether you own Canon lenses or not. Thanks John Greengo!
Abbeylynne
This was a great class not just about the lenses that Canon offers but also how each lens works. As usual, John's slides are alway informative and entertaining. There is a phrase: John has a slide for that! I am not even a Canon user and found this class to have great information for the use of each specific lens. Great work John! Thank you Creative Live for another great class!
Student Work
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Fundamentals