What distance is a 300mm lens good for? (2024)

FAQs

What is 300mm lens good for? ›

This lens is most commonly used by sports and wildlife photographers, but is short enough to be use for extreme close-up portraits. Because of its rather high native magnification, it can be used for some macro type photography.

Here is an example: For a 300mm lens, divide 300 by 50 to get 6x magnification.

This 4x telephoto zoom lens is ideal for the budget-conscious photographer with an interest in shooting sports, wildlife or portraiture. In common with other telephoto lenses, the EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III compresses perspective and allows the photographer to restrict depth of field.

To get a shot of the moon like the one below, you'll need a telephoto lens. An option with a focal length between 100 to 300mm is enough to get the moon look as big as this.

It's hard to get close to most wild subjects, so wildlife photographers generally use long lenses: at least 300mm for an APS-C DSLR, or 400mm for a full-frame DSLR or 35mm SLR. If you can get fairly close to larger animals, a 70-200mm zoom can work.

This 300mm lens is a great length for outdoor sports, at which it can be hard to be as close to the action as you would like, so having the reach of a 300 is great. On a crop body this 300mm acts like a 480mm which is a little long in some cases, but still a very good length for outdoor sports.

300mm is perfect fine for portraits. I'm partial to my 70-200 VRII and 85mm lenses, but the 300mm F4 or 2.8 are also quite good. If someone has a rule saying 300mm is not good for portraits, then that's fine for them, but I could care less.

Are you asking the minimum focusing distance of that 600mm lens? If so the answer is about 15ft. If you mean how far away can it shoot distant objects then that depends on how big they are and how big you want them to be in the final image. It also depends on whether you are using a Full Frame or APS-C camera.

These shots will not be winning any photo contests, but, with a 70-300mm kit lens, you, too, can grab images of Jupiter and its four large moons, as well as Saturn and its spectacular rings.

This is typically the zoom range of a lens. For example, a Canon 100-400mm lens would have a 4X zoom range (400mm divided by 100mm) and a magnification of 2X at 100m and 8X at 400mm.

What mm lens is most flattering? ›

Most photographers tend to use a moderate telephoto lens—70mm to 200mm—as that range generally produces the most flattering angle of view for most people's features.

If you're interested in portrait photography, the best lenses are between 45mm and 85mm. At these focal lengths, the proportions of the face and body are true to life and flattering. In most cases, wildlife and nature photography requires long focal lengths in the 300mm to 600mm range.

"The 70-300mm is both practical and high quality with excellent reach," says John. "The lightweight nature of this lens makes it a good choice for those who like to explore, especially hikers."

What is the rule of thirds? The rule of thirds is a composition guideline that places your subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open. While there are other forms of composition, the rule of thirds generally leads to compelling and well-composed shots.

The 35mm lens is probably the most common lens used by street photographers, and this is because it has a lot of advantages in this fast-moving genre. It is wide enough to capture multiple subjects in the frame easily or a subject and a background.

The lens trinity is traditionally what photographers call the combination of wide, standard and telephoto zoom lenses. It's usually something like a 14-24mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm. This group of lenses let photographers — specifically those that photograph events — capture all of the different angles of a scene.

You can take good images of the Moon with just a single lens reflex (SLR) camera and a 250 mm telephoto lens. To get the best detail, you need a telephoto lens of at least 500 to 600 mm and ideally a long focal length telescope.

This lens has a minimum focusing distance (how close I can be to my subject and still get my subject in focus) of 1.4 meters (4.6 feet).

For a medium power eyepiece (approximately 150X) a 13mm or 14mm eyepiece would do. For a low power eyepiece (about 75X), which are great for finding and centering or observing very large and close objects like the Moon or Sun, an eyepiece between 25mm and 30mm would work well.

In my opinion a 300mm is a good lens for bird photography, although a bird photographer always wants more focal length. I use a 300mm f/2.8 as a hip shooter or hiking lens. I almost always have it. Even when I have my 600mm f/4 on the tripod.

Is 300mm enough for birding? ›

300mm seems to be the beginning of the useful FL range for general birding, and short for small perched songbirds and such, which often demand 500mm and up for uncropped final images. The 40-150+MC20 is a pretty good combination provided it's stopped down a bit, at which point you're somewhere between f:5.8 and 8.

On a full frame camera, 300mm might be fine for birds in flight, but is likely too short for perched songbirds. Yet, if you shoot with an APS-C or Micro Four Thirds camera, then 300-400mm could be more than enough. (A 300mm on an APS-C camera equals 450mm, and 600mm on MFT).

A focal length is a property of a lens, expressed in millimeters. Wide-angle lenses have small focal lengths, such as 10mm or 20mm. The smaller the number, the wider the lens. Telephoto lenses have large focal length. such as 200mm or 300mm.

As a rule of thumb, sports photography calls for telephoto lenses with wider maximum apertures, which can utilize faster shutter speeds and, therefore, freeze moving action.

50mm Lenses

The 50mm lens is one of the best lens sizes for portraits. Many portrait photographers praise 50mm lenses for their versatility and it's not hard to see why – they strike a balanced “middle-area” focal length.

A 50 mm lens is best for full-body portraits at waist level, both in the studio and on location. But, if you want to take a head or shoulder portrait, getting too close to your model can cause distortion because the facial features become too small, the face is too thin, and the nose looks bigger than it actually is.

The Canon EF 75-300mm F/4-5.6 III lens is a budget telephoto zoom lens (4x) that can be used for astrophotography. This lens is often bundled as a kit with an entry-level Canon EOS Rebel DSLR camera.

Range is not a way to compare lenses as it is the field of view that gives the perception of magnification. Any 800mm lens on a full frame camera has a field of view of about 2.58 x 1.72 degrees. At 30 feet away, an area of 1 ft 4 in x 10 in will fill the frame, say a squirrel will fill the frame.

Magnification varies directly with focal length, so an 800mm lens would give you twice the magnification and cover 1.7°x2. 6°, or 3x4. 5 feet at a distance of 100 feet.

If you want to look at the planet alone with higher resolution, you will need a magnification of about 380. So one idea would be to get a 17 mm and a 13 mm eyepieces, along with a 2x Barlow lens.

What lens is best for planets? ›

Ultra-short focal length (2-4mm) eyepieces provide very high power magnifications and are best for observing the planets and the moon on shorter focal length telescopes.

Viewing Saturn's Rings

The rings of Saturn should be visible in even the smallest telescope at 25x. A good 3-inch scope at 50x can show them as a separate structure detached on all sides from the ball of the planet.

If you need a camera lens for far away shots, you need a telephoto or superzoom lens. Telephoto lenses have a fixed focal length starting at around 70mm. Superzooms---as the name implies---are zoom lenses that cover a range of focal lengths. A popular second lens choice for many is a 55-200mm superzoom.

Yes, 400mm is enough for bird photography. Don't just take our word for it either, have a quick look at the Canon 400mm lens group on Flickr to see an impressive assortment of bird photography images shot at this focal length.

MTF and Sharpness

The closer the 10-lines/mm curve is to 1, the higher the contrast and the better the ability of the lens to separate the line pairs. The closer the 30-lines/mm curve is to 1, the better the resolving power and sharpness of the lens.

Kate used a Canon 5D Mark IV, with a 50mm f/1.2 lens attached. PetaPixel discovered that she shoots her images in RAW and is “handy” on Photoshop.

Telephoto lenses between 70 – 200mm are very popular lenses for portraiture and product photography as well as nature and wildlife imagery. They allow the photographer to produce close crops on the subject.

Focal Length

In reality, the actual focal lengths chosen by manufacturers tend to be slightly longer than this. For a 35mm sensor, 50mm is the most common standard lens, although some companies do sell lenses which are closer to 43mm focal length.

Polycarbonate lenses are the most durable and impact-resistant lenses in our catalog, and come with a 100% UV- protective coating. If you are looking for glasses for children, or tend to spend your time outdoors, we strongly recommend these lenses.

An average temple width is 135-140mm, average bridge width is 18-20mm, and average lens width is 54 mm.

What can you do with a 70-300mm lens? ›

The 70-300mm is ideal for wildlife, nature, and sports photographers who're looking for a budget zoom lens that can help improve their photography level. Since it is versatile, the Nikon 70-300mm functions well in different environments.

Point your camera at the moon. Zoom right in, as much as your lens will allow. Make sure you switch to manual focus (M as opposed to A) and focus as best you can. You'll see the moon on the screen of your camera.

This 300mm lens is a great length for outdoor sports, at which it can be hard to be as close to the action as you would like, so having the reach of a 300 is great. On a crop body this 300mm acts like a 480mm which is a little long in some cases, but still a very good length for outdoor sports.

On a full-frame camera, at focal length 200mm, the diagonal angle-of-view is about 12 degrees. At 300mm, it is about 8 degrees. In other words, at 300mm, the image captures a narrower part of the scene compared to at 200mm.

Telephoto Lens

Telephoto lenses between 70 – 200mm are very popular lenses for portraiture and product photography as well as nature and wildlife imagery. They allow the photographer to produce close crops on the subject.

Small focal lengths such as 10mm or 15mm represent a very wide view, such as taking a photo of a large room. Focal lengths such as 300mm or 400mm would be a large, heavy telephoto lens for taking photos of birds or airplanes. Just remember - a small number is wide, a large number is telephoto.

"The 70-300mm is both practical and high quality with excellent reach," says John. "The lightweight nature of this lens makes it a good choice for those who like to explore, especially hikers."

24-70mm is a great range for full body portraits. If you have the room, you can zoom into 70mm and get that “compression” look that works great for portraits.

4×6 photos are the standard picture frame size and the most common for 35mm photography. 4×6 photos are good for a range of subjects, from family photos to abstract art.