What Is a Kit Lens? 5 Amazing Things You Can Shoot With It
When you think of amazing photos, the kit lens is not something that comes to mind. We equate long, heavy, and expensive lenses with great-quality images. But many beginner photographers don’t realize that kit lenses are fantastic tools for learning photography and taking some stunning photos.
Want to know what you can do with your kit lens? Let’s find out.
What Is a Kit Lens?
As the name implies, a kit lens is a lens you get when buying an interchangeable lens camera like DSLR, mirrorless, or micro four-thirds camera. Sometimes, you can get more than one kit lens with your camera. The aim of adding a kit lens is to give you a versatile lens suitable for everyday photography.
Some popular kit lenses are 18-55mm, 18-135mm, 70-300mm, and 24-120mm. The exact focal length range will depend on your camera type.
The kit lenses meant for beginner photographers are inexpensive and have a lot of compromises in their build quality. They are made of plastic with no weather protection. The higher-quality lenses have weather sealing and are made of metal and glass.
As soon as you get comfortable with your camera, it is usually recommended to upgrade to a better lens like the50mm prime lens. But there is a lot more you can do with your kit lens. If you’re tight on budget or want to avoid adding new items to your camera bag, you can learn how to use your kit lens effectively for different types of photos.
What Can You Shoot With a Kit Lens?
The kit lens you get with a higher-end full-frame camera may have afixed aperture rather than a closed one. It can open wide, like f/4 or f/2.8. For instance, the Nikon D850 comes with a 24-120mm f/4 kit lens, which costs over a thousand dollars.
Although those lenses are still called kit lenses, we will focus on cheaper lenses with variable apertures like the basic 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6. Of course, the pricey lenses will perform better in similar conditions, as expected. But we are more interested in making the most of the basic lenses.
Here’s what it’s possible to shoot with your kit lens.
1. Sweeping Landscapes
The shortest focal length in your kit lens is almost in the wide-angle range. For crop sensor cameras, the wide-angle range is between 10 and 18mm. This makes it a perfect candidate for shooting gorgeous landscape scenes. You cannot compare the sharpness from the kit lens to an expensive, dedicated landscape lens, but you can use some tricks to make your images pop.
First, shoot in good light. You want to aim for the warm light early in the morning or late in the evening. You need a tripod because the light is insufficient for faster shutter speeds during these times. Also, filters are a must to have in hand. Some options areUV, ND, and polarizing filters.
When you shoot at closed apertures like f/11 and above for landscapes, diffraction can be problematic. You can quickly fix this by taking photos at different focus points at f/8 andfocus-stacking them in Lightroom and Photoshop.
2. Beautiful Architecture
Your kit lens is also great for taking pictures of architecture and buildings. It can especially be helpful when shooting indoors. You can zoom out and capture the entire scene with its shortest focal length—and zoom in to photograph the details too.
The kit lens is also small and doesn’t attract attention when shooting in crowded places. If you’re traveling to historical sites to capture the ruins, the kit lens is small enough that it won’t break your back.
Use a tripod head with a bubble level to keep the lines straight in your scene. For real estate photos, consider adding some artificial lighting.
3. Natural-Looking Portraits
The longest focal length, 55mm, is ideal for portraits. 50mm is the standard focal length, which looks similar to the human eye. So shooting portraits between 50 and 120mm gives you the most flattering images.
At 55mm, f/5.6 is the maximum aperture, and the blurred background is not as smooth as you would get from an exclusive portrait lens. But you can achieve a decent-looking bokeh with some workaround.
Three major things affect bokeh—aperture, focal length, and the distance between the subject and background. So, toget smooth bokeh, you should shoot at your longest focal length and move your model away from the background to create separation.
4. Out-of-This-World Astrophotos
It is easy to assume you need a wide-angle f/1.4 lens for astrophotography, but you’re able to get started just with your kit lens. At 18mm, you get f/3.5, which can let in a decent amount of light.
it’s possible to’t expect NASA-quality images, but the lengthy editing process can give surprising results. You can take night-sky landscapes, Milky Way photography, and even try deep-sky objects like nebulae. Remember, you need a tripod and a shutter release.
The key thing in astrophotography is shooting in a place with dark skies. Also, you should take multiple photos and stack them with special astronomy software. In addition,take calibration framesto get a clean image. A star tracker can also be handy for sharp stars, and a Bahtinov mask can help with focus.
5. Otherworldly Macro Photos
Again, you expect that only thousands of dollars worth of macro lenses can get up close to flowers and bugs. But you can do wonders with inexpensive accessories like close-up filters, extension tubes, and reversal rings for your kit lens. Do some research and pick the right option for you.
Each type has its advantages and shortcomings. For instance, extension tubes can reduce the amount of light, and you must use a slower shutter speed or increase the ISO. Pick a good quality close-up filter like Raynox DCR 150 or NiSi Close Up Lens to avoid artifacts in your images. Using a macro focus rail and a speedlight is also highly recommended.
Experiment With Your Kit Lens to Improve Your Photography
It is not the best and exorbitantly priced lenses that take photos, but you—the photographer. So no matter what tool you decide to use, knowing the ins and outs of your gear will help you push your creative limits and take breathtaking photos in different genres.
Are you thinking about getting a macro lens for your photography? Here’s everything you need to know about them.
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