You can use most SLR cameras, whether beginning or advanced, with a variety of lenses. You can purchase the camera body by itself and then buy one or more lenses according to your needs. This flexibility allows you to use the same camera body to accomplish a wide variety of goals.
Getting Used to Your Camera
If you are a beginning photographer, familiarize yourself with your camera by using just one lens at first. A standard zoom lens works well as a beginning lens, because it does not have the extreme perspective or focal length of a wide-angle or telephoto lens. This zoom lens, rather than a fixed focal length lens, will allow you to experiment with slightly different focal lengths. Try a standard zoom lens with a range of 40mm to 100mm, for example. Shoot a certain number of pictures with the lens at its shortest focal length, and then a certain number with the lens at its longest focal length. Compare the two groups and familiarize yourself with their distinctions.
The Right Lens for Each Situation
Zoom lenses with large ranges allow maximum flexibility with a single lens. Some telephoto or super-telephoto lenses have ranges as great as 55mm to 200mm, 80mm to 400mm, or even more. However, these lenses can be cumbersome, and you might not want to carry a telephoto lens to all your shooting locations.
If you'll be shooting different kinds of subjects, you'll need to invest in multiple lenses. Wide-angle lenses work well for landscapes and cityscapes. Their perspective is wider than that of the human eye and includes more of your subject in an image. Their short focal length also gives them greater depth of field, meaning more of your image will be in focus. Telephoto lenses, on the other hand, have a much narrower perspective and lower depth of field, but they are essential if you will be shooting sports, nature or wildlife.
Switching Lenses on Location
If you're not sure what you'll be shooting on a given day, be prepared by bringing all of your lenses in a sturdy camera bag. You don't want to be caught without the right lens. To switch between lenses, hold your camera firmly in your non-dominant hand and use your dominant hand to twist the lens off the camera while pressing the lens-release button. Depending on the camera body you own, you will have to rotate the lens in different directions to remove it. Hold the lens firmly and be careful not to drop it. Place that lens securely in your camera bag and mount a new lens on your camera, rotating the lens in the direction opposite that used to remove the previous lens.
Tags: focal length, camera body, zoom lens, certain number, depth field