Steam rises from the image, so evocative in its mystery that you swear you can smell the rich aromas of the dish. That’s the yummy pic we all aspire to. How can you find the best lenses for food photography that have your audience ready to order more?
The answer is – it depends. Who hasn’t snapped off a quick cellphone shot to share with friends, only to find the image appearing flat and nowhere as terrific as it was in person? That’s in part due to the limited capabilities of cellphone camera technology, but mostly, it is the lens.
Today we’ll concentrate on Canon and Nikon DSLR camera lenses. Read on to find out what lens focal ranges and styles guarantee your food images will be drool-worthy. Then pick up some tips to consider on your next foodie photo shoot.
What are the Best Lenses for Food Photography?
It’s hard to limit this, since it’s more about the focal range than any other important feature. For this reason, we’re categorizing these lenses by reach, and giving you options within each of the major brands. Five major categories of focal length ranges rise to the top when assessing for food photography.
Keep in mind that the focal ranges listed are for full frame cameras; you’ll need to adjust the equivalence for crop sensor bodies. Canon APS-C body owners, you can use Canon EF mounting system lenses, though your field of capture will be smaller. Nikon FX and DX body owners can use both types of lenses, though the field of capture will be different in each combination; FX bodies and lenses are full frames.
14 Best DSLR Lenses for Food Photography
In the 50mm Nifty Fifty Range
Many food photogs consider this the best focal range because it most closely mimics the human eye, and therefore makes the food appear the most pleasing. While deemed most appropriate for multiple subject or table shots, it works well for anything that requires a wider scene. APS-C owners, you’ll want a focal length of 30-35mm to achieve the same results.
Reviewers’ Likes:
If you’re going to own one prime lens, make it a 50mm. Reviewers cite many uses for this standard lens, with food photography being perhaps the icing on the cake (so to speak). Each manufacturer makes a consumer model and a professional grade, and generally, you can’t go wrong either way.
Considerations:
Be aware that the minimum focal distance on some of these lenses can vary, and you won’t always be able to shoot as close as you’d like in some tighter spaces. It is considered midrange, and that’s where your depth of field and focal plane will fall. Nonetheless, it’s the go-to lens of most major food photographers across the spectrum of possible shooting situations.
#1. Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
For camera body: Canon EF and EF-S
Mounting system: Canon EF
Focal length: 50mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.5 feet
Aperture: f/1.2
Weight: 1.3 lbs.
This fast lens is professional grade with a hefty weight and price tag to match. Ring type ultrasonic autofocusing couples well with the full time manual focusing capability. If you’re looking for a serious nifty fifty and are equally serious about upgrading your EF-S system to an EF someday soon, this should be the lens you consider.
#2. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G
For camera body: Nikon FX and DX
Mounting system: Nikon F (FX)
Focal length: 58mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.9 feet
Aperture: f/1.4
Weight: 0.9 lbs.
A professional grade lens that falls as close to nifty fifty as you can for Nikon, this lens is for the serious enthusiast who plans on sticking with Nikon for the foreseeable future. It’s a fast lens with full time manual focus and ultrasonic autofocus. Yes, the focusing distance is a bit longer, due to the slightly higher focal length, but still great for general food photo work.
#3. Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM
For camera body: Canon EF and EF-S
Mounting system: Canon EF
Focal length: 50mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.9 feet
Aperture: f/1.8
Weight: 0.4 pounds
Light in the gear bag and on the budget, this is a workhorse of Canon nifty fifty options. Autofocus is courtesy of a stepper motor resident in the lens, with added full time manual focus capability. This is a great fast prime to add to both full frame and crop sensor kits.
#4. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G
For camera body: Nikon FX and DX
Mounting system: Nikon F (FX)
Focal length: 50mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.5 feet
Aperture: f/1.4
Weight: 0.6 lbs.
This affordable option for Nikon users is another fast lens that gets the job done without a lot of bells and whistles. The autofocus ring ultrasonic system pairs well with full time manual focusing. If a pro grade is outside your investment potential, buy this lens instead to meet your standard prime needs.
In the 100mm Macro Range
Macro shots make the food bigger than life, allowing you to make your audience’s mouth’s water by emphasizing tasty characteristics and textures. These lenses perform best at an angle, bringing in an attractive blur to the objects around the primary subject. For APS-C sensors, it’s more difficult to find the equivalent 65mm lens to compensate, so look for 60mm Macro options.
Reviewers’ Likes:
Versatility is the main reason why many reviewers love this lens. It allows you to transport the audience in a close-up of the food. If you want to capture people enjoying the meal or the chef beaming in delight, it works for that too. This focal range eliminates distortion in both full frame and crop sensor shooting. Angle shots also stay in perspective without sacrificing details and accuracy.
Considerations:
Keep a tripod handy because handheld shooting at higher focal lengths contributes to image shake. Distortion can be limited by increasing your shooting angle. Increasing to the higher effective apertures adds to the depth of field while contributing to an attractive bokeh effect.
#5. Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8L IS USM
For camera body: Canon EF and EF-S
Mounting system: Canon EF
Focal length: 100mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.0 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 1.4 lbs.
Three things set this professional grade lens apart – image stabilization, weather sealing (not easy to find in this category), and both autofocus and full time manual focusing. Its focus distance limiter ensures it will focus faster and with greater accuracy than typical macro lenses. This makes it behave more like a standard 100mm lens in non-macro conditions, expanding your shooting capability.
#6. Nikon AF-S Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR
For camera body: Nikon FX and DX
Mounting system: Nikon F (FX)
Focal length: 105mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.1 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 1.6 lbs.
This professional grade lens has a feature not found in many others on our list, image stabilization. This makes it even more valuable at slower settings and compensates for its heavier weight. As a macro lens with a close-in focusing range, it allows you to make your subject look larger than life without losing important details and textures.
#7. Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro (Nikon mount, Canon mount)
For camera body: Canon EF; Nikon FX
Mounting system: buy specific for body
Focal length: 105mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.1 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 1.0 lbs.
Another third party player, Sigma comes with the same caution, buy the lens specific to your camera’s mounting system. It does come with a focus distance limiter and micromotor autofocusing but does not have full time manual focusing. Its lower price point can be explained by the lack of IS and other features in our other category choices but serves well as another affordable option for macro prime lenses.
#8. Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Macro (Nikon mount, Canon mount)
For camera body: Canon EF; Nikon FX
Mounting system: buy specific for body
Focal length: 90mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.0 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 1.3 lbs.
This third party lens comes in various mounting systems specific to each major manufacturer of camera bodies, so make your buy selection accordingly. It includes image stabilization, weather sealing, and autofocus (ring type ultrasonic) and full time manual focusing. It’s a fast lens as are others in this category, with a slightly more affordable price point than the big brands.
In the 24-70mm Standard Zoom Range
If you need a lens that meets a range of conditions, the standard zoom will be your best bet. Note that you won’t be able to get as close under all shooting situations, but you can compensate with enough space. This lens range would be a 15-50mm for APS-C committed users.
Reviewers’ Likes:
The zoom capability of this group of lenses provides you with more flexibility in framing food photos taken from a distance overhead. Since it’s always better to capture the shot you want rather than fool around with it in post-production, this is a bonus. This zoom range does well in handheld shooting situations as well as tripod shots.
Considerations:
Be careful at the wide angle end. Shooting from too close to your subject can produce unwanted distortions at the corners. In the versatility department, do feel free to check the zoom at various points in its range, exploring other angles and artsy shots you might have otherwise overlooked with a prime.
#9. Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
For camera body: Canon EF and EF-S
Mounting system: Canon EF
Focal length: 24-70mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.3 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 1.8 lbs.
Professional grade, this zoom offers a lot to the photog, including zoom lock (to avoid a shift in your framing while shooting) and weather sealing. It is considered fast and bright at both the wide end and the tele, giving you plenty of range for your food photos. Its only downsides are its overall weight, expected in high quality glass, and its higher price tag, ditto.
#10. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
For camera body: Nikon FX and DX
Mounting system: Nikon F (FX)
Focal length: 24-70mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.3 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 2.0 lbs.
This weather sealed professional lens weighs down your gear bag and your wallet, but it’s worth it. The only lens with this focal range in Nikon’s arsenal, it is fast and bright at both tele and wide angles. It offers ultrasonic autofocus and full time manual focusing.
#11.Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art (Nikon mount, Canon mount)
For camera body: Canon EF; Nikon FX
Mounting system: buy specific for body
Focal length: 24-70mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.2 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 2.3 lbs.
Sigma’s Art lenses are the equivalent of professional grade in the big brands without the comparable price tag (though still not cheap). It is the heaviest in this category, which makes the lack of IS or a tripod collar unfortunate. It is fast and bright at both the wide and tele ends and has the added advantage of a slightly shorter minimum focusing distance to recommend it.
#12. Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD (Nikon mount, Canon mount)
For camera body: Canon EF; Nikon FX
Mounting system: buy specific for body
Focal length: 24-70mm
Minimum focusing distance: 1.3 feet
Aperture: f/2.8
Weight: 1.8 lbs.
Tamron’s contribution to this category is available for all major big brands. Image stabilization and weather sealing set it apart, without the significantly higher price tag to match. You also benefit from the lesser weight at a minimum focusing distance on par with the big brands on our list.
In the Wide Angle Range
If you want to shoot the ingredients for a cookbook or the spread for a holiday dinner, wide angle will be the lens you need. Yes, you can shoot at the wide end of your zoom range, but you won’t be able to get as close to the food (the primary advantage for using a wide angle prime), important if you want to capture the texture of ingredients. Wide angles have many other uses too, so this lens won’t be hiding in your bag under other circumstances.
Reviewers’ Likes:
There are wide angle lenses, and there are ultra wides, and generally reviewers like something more along the wide range without going crazy. If you have other needs for an ultra wide, it can still accomplish the food photo job. Adjust your framing accordingly and watch out for distortions.
Considerations:
While the lenses suggested here are all primes, if you need to have greater versatility, consider a wide angle zoom. It might fill in focal range holes in your repertoire. Fewer people shoot their food masterpieces with wide angles, but that doesn’t mean this has to be you.
#13. Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM
For camera body: Canon EF and EF-S
Mounting system: Canon EF
Focal length: 24mm
Minimum focusing distance: 0.8 feet
Aperture: f/1.4
Weight: 1.4 lbs.
This super-fast pro lens has a big advantage in the closeness of its minimum focusing distance. Because it’s so fast and can get so close to the action, it’s a nice choice for bright settings like spontaneous kitchen shots and well-lit studio compositions. It is still versatile enough to meet your other wide angle needs under other settings too.
#14. Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED
For camera body: Nikon FX and DX
Mounting system: Nikon F (FX)
Focal length: 24mm
Minimum focusing distance: 0.8 feet
Aperture: f/1.4
Weight: 1.4 lbs.
Professional grade with a price tag to match, this super-fast lens has the added value of weather sealing in case you’re shooting your food under harsh sunlight on a dusty day. The close-in minimum focusing distance you’d expect with a wide angle gives it an advantage over the wide angle end of the zoom listed earlier. Its ultrasonic autofocus pairs well with full time manual to give you a range of shooting possibilities.
What to Consider for Food Photography Lenses
Great images of food owe a lot to careful composition. A component of that composition is understanding how different lenses and their effects change the appearance of the details in your results. A good lens for portraits might work in some staged shots, but a standard zoom would be more important for restaurant kitchen action or exhibiting the full spread of a table.
Food comes in many different presentation styles and formats, from candid to staged. Because of this, we may need different lenses for specific features or situations depending on how we’re photographing it. In some cases, this means you need more than one lens to get a job done.
What kind of food are you shooting?
We create food images in isolation, such as a single serving of a small item. We also look at mass, in an array of plates ready for service in a kitchen. We even shoot the steps in a preparation process, each emphasizing a technique or result we want our audience to understand.
It’s reasonable to expect that each style requires different shooting arrangements. A small item might be shot from above, meaning you and your camera need to be able to draw close through distance or lens adjustments from some close or distant height. Other effects might be depth of field on a vertical plane, with the focus of the shot being on an item in the foreground, middle ground, or background.
Those variances in food items and shooting arrangements translate into different lens needs. Don’t be fooled by those who tell you one lens alone will meet all your food photography needs. If you shoot only one style, maybe, but most of us don’t limit ourselves in that way.
Best Food Lens for Canon Bodies | Food Lens Category | Focal length | Aperture |
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM | Nifty Fifty | 50mm | f/1.2 |
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM | Nifty Fifty | 50mm | f/1.8 |
Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8L IS USM | Standard Macro | 100mm | f/2.8 |
Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro | Standard Macro | 105mm | f/2.8 |
Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Macro | Standard Macro | 90mm | f/2.8 |
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM | Standard Zoom | 24-70mm | f/2.8 |
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art | Standard Zoom | 24-70mm | f/2.8 |
Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD | Standard Zoom | 24-70mm | f/2.8 |
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM | Wide Angle | 24mm | f/1.4 |
What background is this food against?
A dark background swallows light, meaning you may need a wider aperture or longer exposure. The same composition shot against white can bleed out color without the correct lens and exposure settings. You might also need a short or longer depth of field, depending on what details in the background you also want to draw attention to.
This again makes the case for a versatile lens, if you can only afford one, or a range of lenses with distinctly different features. As in selecting any lens for a specific purpose, it’s important to understand why you want it and the types of shooting situations you’ll probably face to pick the best equipment.
Which details of the food are you attempting to emphasize?
Let’s say, for example, you want to capture the Mise en Place (ingredients already portioned to go into a recipe). You may have a line of small dishes with seasonings, plus larger ones with cut vegetables or meat. Bringing all of those into the frame of your shot requires you to be further from the food, which means a midrange standard lens works best.
On the other hand, if you’re trying to show how perfectly symmetrical the chef was able to plate thin slices of octopus in concentric circles, you’ll be shooting from above and probably close in. Wide angle with minimal distortion brings you an effect you wouldn’t get from a longer focal length. If you want to blur the wine glass sitting next to a completed dish of steaming stew, though, a portrait lens would be the way to go.
What story are you supporting?
I recently took a dedicated train ride to a tequila hacienda (town where the primary business is the distillation of the beverage). On this train, the bar made specialty cocktails (way beyond margaritas) to highlight the many uses of this spirit. As they were preparing to serve a round, I photographed a table of full glasses lined up like soldiers ready to do battle.
That’s a bit different from showing the primary steps in a complex dish preparation process for use in a cookbook, where each highlighted ingredient and technique needed to stand out in contrast to the rest of what was happening. The focus needed to be on the correct color of a perfectly browned beef roast, even while the roast nestled in a Dutch oven full of raw vegetables. On the train, I fought movement (image stabilization required), while in the cooking process, the lighting was not necessarily ideal (aperture adjustments).
Take a few minutes to consider how best to display the attributes of the food for the final audience. Focusing on one plate at a banquet table means you’ll need a lens with more flexible settings than shooting a single piece of exquisite sushi on its own unique stone plate.
Best Food Lens for Nikon Bodies | Food Lens Category | Focal length | Aperture |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G | Nifty Fifty | 58mm | f/1.4 |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G | Nifty Fifty | 50 mm | f/1.4 |
Nikon AF-S Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR | Standard Macro | 105mm | f/2.8 |
Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro | Standard Macro | 105mm | f/2.8 |
Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Macro | Standard Macro | 90mm | f/2.8 |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED | Standard Zoom | 24-70mm | f/2.8 |
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art | Standard Zoom | 24-70mm | f/2.8 |
Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD | Standard Zoom | 24-70mm | f/2.8 |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED | Wide Angle | 24mm | f/1.4 |
How wide and deep does your viewpoint need to be?
We’ve all seen the magazine photos of the holiday gathering, the table nearly groaning under the weight of a dozen appealing dishes waiting for the hungry horde. Take a closer look, and you might notice the table is in focus from end to end, no small feat, and the decorations on the surrounding walls and expressions on people’s faces are also crystal clear. This would be a vastly different shot if only the turkey, for example, was in focus, and you couldn’t discern the green beans from the peas in their green blurs.
If you can only afford one lens, make it a good midrange zoom to capture both effects. A wide angle lens could bring the entire room into sharp contrast. The typical portrait range around 85mm suits the focus on a single item to the exclusion of others.
What viewpoint are you shooting from?
You’ve probably picked up on this already. Sometimes you’ll want to be directly above your food, shooting down from a tripod or handheld position. You might want to bounce light off a shiny subject at an angle to control lighting effects.
The direction also tells you something about how close you can be to the subject. Yes, you can climb a ladder and shoot down at the dish, and you can come in at a close angle to play with shine too. I find it easier to think about my most common shooting situation, handheld, and consider what kind of lens I’ll need since this allows me the greatest flexibility.
What special effects do you need to employ?
If you recall the steam rising from the photo in this article’s opening paragraph, you have an idea of what special effects to bring in. A static shot of the food item is easy to produce. Inviting movement of the steam by slowing down your shutter speed takes a bit more skill.
Similarly, depending on the use for your food shot, intentional distortion might be the visual image you want to achieve. A nice bokeh in your background means you’ll want that portrait focal length to cast the right part of your shot into blurry relief. Keeping the edges a little wavy means you’ll want a lens that allows some vignetting.
Are you shooting under staged or spontaneous conditions?
This brings us back to versatility and flexibility. If you’re shooting what you enjoyed at that trendy new restaurant for a food blog, you won’t have the chance to stage the shot past moving distractions out of the way. A studio setup with time for multiple settings and effects is a different story.
What is the sensor in your camera body?
Now we enter the realm of equipment technology. Keep in mind that the difference between sensor size changes the effective focal length of your lens. A full frame sensor shoots at the equivalent of the lens’s listing, meaning a 50mm prime shoots as a traditional nifty-fifty.
An APS-C shoots at 1.5 to 1.6 times the listed focal length, so that 50mm lens is now shooting as 75-80mm. Nifty-fifty changes to portrait length.
Does the lens need to be a prime?
Prime lenses with their fixed focal length are wonderful for static shooting situations, or for those cases where you’re only shooting in one style. If the range isn’t quite what you need, you can opt to include more background or surroundings in the frame and eliminate what you don’t need in post-production. Primes are generally thought to be the highest quality glass with the best overall ratings.
However, zoom lenses have advanced to a point where a good photographer would find it difficult to tell if the same shot was achieved with a prime or a zoom at the same focal length. Zooms have the advantage of giving you versatility in the shooting situation, minimizing the doodling you’ll need to do in post-production to capture the same effects.
What are your lighting conditions?
Under fully staged shooting conditions, you can control the amount of light hitting your subject. You can enhance it through various flash and reflector settings. However, if you’re shooting in low light, how long your shutter can remain open to capture the shot becomes important.
Some prime lenses have an aperture range, and some zooms come with a fixed aperture. The general sweet spot is said to be f/1.8 to f/2.8 for most conditions, but that too is fluid based on the environment.
How much time do you have?
Ice cream and other tender preparations melt. Fish that looks glossy and fresh dries out under hot lights after sitting out for too long. Even hot food becomes dull as it cools.
Yes, there are techniques you can use to trick the camera into believing this just came out of the kitchen. Wouldn’t it be better, though, to have the right equipment to shoot the dish as it was meant to be enjoyed? If you need to work fast, you’ll narrow the lens options down to match more closely what the shot needs.
Selection Criteria for Food Photo Lenses
You probably can already tell there is a range of focal length appropriate for categories of food shots. The more control you have over the environment and conditions surrounding your image capture, the more precise you can be in lens selection. Happily, you’ll be able to find lenses in the appropriate focal ranges for all major camera body manufacturers for DSLR full frame and DSLR APS-C sensors.
Lens | Food Lens Category | For camera body | Mounting system | Focal length | Minimum focusing distance | Aperture | Weight |
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM | Nifty Fifty | Canon EF and EF-S | Canon EF | 50mm | 1.5 feet | f/1.2 | 1.3 lbs. |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 58mm f/1.4G | Nifty Fifty | Nikon FX and DX | Nikon F (FX) | 58mm | 1.9 feet | f/1.4 | 0.9 lbs. |
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM | Nifty Fifty | Canon EF and EF-S | Canon EF | 50mm | 1.9 feet | f/1.8 | 0.4 lbs. |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G | Nifty Fifty | Nikon FX and DX | Nikon F (FX) | 50 mm | 1.5 feet | f/1.4 | 0.6 lbs. |
Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8L IS USM | Standard Macro | Canon EF and EF-S | Canon EF | 100mm | 1.0 feet | f/2.8 | 1.4 lbs. |
Nikon AF-S Micro-NIKKOR 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR | Standard Macro | Nikon FX and DX | Nikon F (FX) | 105mm | 1.1 feet | f/2.8 | 1.6 lbs. |
Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro | Standard Macro | Canon EF; Nikon FX | buy specific for body | 105mm | 1.1 feet | f/2.8 | 1.0 lbs. |
Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di VC USD Macro | Standard Macro | Canon EF; Nikon FX | buy specific for body | 90mm | 1.0 feet | f/2.8 | 1.3 lbs. |
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM | Standard Zoom | Canon EF and EF-S | Canon EF | 24-70mm | 1.3 feet | f/2.8 | 1.8 lbs. |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED | Standard Zoom | Nikon FX and DX | Nikon F (FX) | 24-70mm | 1.3 feet | f/2.8 | 2.0 lbs. |
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art | Standard Zoom | Canon EF; Nikon FX | buy specific for body | 24-70mm | 1.2 feet | f/2.8 | 2.3 lbs. |
Tamron SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD | Standard Zoom | Canon EF; Nikon FX | buy specific for body | 24-70mm | 1.3 feet | f/2.8 | 1.8 lbs. |
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM | Wide Angle | Canon EF and EF-S | Canon EF | 24mm | 0.8 feet | f/1.4 | 1.4 lbs. |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24mm f/1.4G ED | Wide Angle | Nikon FX and DX | Nikon F (FX) | 24mm | 0.8 feet | f/1.4 | 1.4 lbs. |
For camera body
The first notation you’ll see for each lens is which manufacturer and sensor size camera bodies the lens will fit. In the case of third party lenses, they may fit more than one. Canon lenses may fit both full frame and crop sensor bodies, but with a different equivalent focal length (noted in parentheses).
Mounting system
Not all lenses can be mounted on all cameras, even within a manufacturer’s line. Third party lenses are good options today, with high manufacturing standards and quality like the big names. We’ve noted the mounting system, so you can match it to your camera body’s requirements.
Focal length
Focal length controls how close you need to get to your subject while keeping the background blurry and unassuming, or sharp and precise. Based on your sensor, you may be converting the stated lens focal length to accommodate an APS-C sensor. If you believe you’ll upgrade your APS-C sensor camera in the future, buy lenses with that in mind and adjust your shooting style for the time being.
Minimum focusing distance
Depending on your lens’s other features, you might be able to focus on the food from a close distance, such as a foot away. That is an advantage when you’re working in tight quarters, or when you want to emphasize the macro features of a dish’s details. Longer focal length zooms, even with a broad range tending toward wide angle, don’t work, because you’ll never be able to get close enough to make the shot count.
Aperture
Recall that the higher the aperture number, the smaller the opening, and the less light it can allow to hit your DSLR’s electronic plate. That sweet spot of a bright f/1.8 to f/2.8 lens gives you light to work with, even under unusual interior conditions. There are times, though, such as shooting outdoors or under bright banquet lights, when you might want to dial that down to a darker aperture.
Weight
Minimizing the added weight of the lens becomes more important for framing in tight and handheld shooting. The lighter the lens, the easier it will be to handle once it’s attached to your camera body. No, heavier does not equate to higher quality, and sometimes its bulk alone might be enough to change your buying decision.
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