ABSTRACT
This chapter describes various types of lenses that will be of greatest interest to view camera users, namely, normal, telephoto, wide-angle, specialized, supplementary, convertible, variable focal length and zoom, closeup and macro, process, enlarger, soft-focus, and magnifying lenses. The differences in the quality of the images produced with zoom and fixed-focus lenses have gradually decreased over the years, which has resulted in increased use of zoom lenses on projectors, 35-mm still cameras, 120-size cameras, and more recently, enlargers. The chapter considers lens shortcomings that affect five attributes of the photographic image: image definition, image shape, uniformity of illumination, image contrast, and image color. Photographers who inquire about testing a lens are commonly advised to perform such tests by making photographs of the same type that they expect to be making with the lens in the future and to leave analytical testing to lens designers, manufacturers, and others who have the training and sophisticated equipment necessary for the task.
