No matter how many lenses a photographer has, there are often lenses that we still wish for and lenses after which we lust. There are so many options out there that choosing your next lens can be a dizzying cavalcade of manufacturers, focal lengths, prime or zoom functionality, auto or manual focusing, and price. Here, we offer up some thoughts on what your next lens might be based on your needs. We won’t get too specific, but feel free to use the comments section at the bottom of the article for specific questions on what lens might work best for you. Also, check out a parallel article—Why You Should Go Beyond the Kit Lens— that offers a similar perspective.

The first question you have to ask yourself is, “What do I need that my current lens doesn’t give me?” Your answer is most likely going to fall into one of two categories: speed (aperture) or focal length/zoom. Let’s look at the first problem and figure out what lenses can help increase your “speed."

When it comes to lenses, the term “speed” is used to describe how much light the aperture diaphragm allows into the lens, relative to its size. For an in-depth discussion on aperture, please refer to the B&H Explora article, Understanding Aperture.

Most kit lenses have variable apertures that start at f/3.5 and close down to f/5.6 as you zoom in to a longer focal length. This is not problematic if you’re shooting outdoors on a sunny day, or indoors with a flash or bright lights, but low-light situations will cause issues like blur from camera shake, and small aperture openings limit your ability to get that desirable out-of-focus background blur known popularly as “bokeh.” For low-light shooting and banging bokeh, you’ll want a “faster” lens.

So, what is a “fast” lens? Fast lenses generally have an aperture of f/2.8 or larger (indicated by a smaller f/-number). The larger the aperture, the more light the lens allows in. Fast lenses are great for low-light conditions.

Now let’s talk about focal length and zooms. The focal length of a lens determines, more or less, the utility and purpose of a lens. In general, wide-angle lenses are known for landscape images, “normal” focal length (around 50mm on a full-frame 35mm camera) are known for street shooting and general photos, popular portrait lenses run around 85mm to 105mm, and telephotos past that range are known for sports. Of course, you can shoot portraits with a wide-angle lens and landscapes with a telephoto, but they are stereotyped into the categories I mentioned.

A prime lens has a fixed focal length and a zoom lens has a variable focal length. In general, getting back to “speed,” prime lenses usually have larger apertures than their zoom counterparts, but zoom lenses top prime lenses for their versatility.

The first next lens I recommend to every photographer is the “nifty fifty.” I wax poetically about it in this article: The One Lens Every Photographer Should Have and Use: the 50mm. If you want the summary, just know that there are inexpensive 50mm lenses (or lenses with a 50mm equivalent focal length) available for whatever type of camera you own that will likely be optically sharper, lighter, smaller, and have larger apertures than any zoom you can buy.

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 STM Lens

Other photographers argue that the 35mm lens is the one lens that should be in everyone’s bag, but I will stick with my 50mm (or equivalent) recommendation. But, if you want to read fan mail on the 35mm lens, check out this article: The Lens Every Photographer Should Have and Use: the 35mm.

Many new photographers are keen on capturing portraits with nice blurry backgrounds. A nifty fifty can fill the bill for that need, but you might want a fast lens that has a slightly longer focal length for portraits or shooting objects farther away. The 85mm f/1.8 lens is a (usually) economic way to enter the world of portrait photography. Longer lenses, like the 85mm, are great for portraits because they create less distortion and allow you to be at a greater distance from your subject.

Sony FE 85mm f/1.8 Lens

Telephoto Zoom Lenses

Telephoto lenses are ideal for photographing birds, sports, theater, or any other subject located at a distance from your camera. If you find that you’re missing out on shots because you can’t zoom in close enough to your subject, you should probably choose a telephoto or telephoto zoom as your next lens. You might have a kit lens that reaches 200mm, but at f/5.6, your shutter speed will be too slow to freeze the movement of your subject. In this case, you need a faster telephoto lens. The most common “pro” telephoto zoom lenses are the 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses. They are fast enough to stop action and give you nice bokeh, while keeping your subject sharp. If you have a 1.5x APS-C crop-sensor camera, this will provide about a 105-300mm equivalent on a full-frame camera.

If you don’t need the speed that an f/2.8 lens offers, some other great choices would be a 70-200mm f/4, or if you need the extra reach, an 18-300mm or 70-300mm variable-aperture lens might be your answer.

Another point to consider, especially with telephoto lenses, is whether or not you need a built-in image stabilizing system. Nikon calls this VR (vibration reduction), Canon calls it IS (image stabilization), Tamron has VC (vibration compensation), and Sigma refers to it as OS (optical stabilization). Whatever you call it, the benefit of having a lens with image stabilization is that you can effectively use a longer shutter speed when shooting without a tripod, giving you sharper images, and making the lens more effective in low-light situations.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens

Wide Zoom Lenses

If your response to the “What do I need that my current lens doesn’t give me?” question is that you need to squeeze more people or beautiful scenery into your frame, then a wide-angle lens should be your next choice.

The 28mm and 24mm focal lengths are solid prime lenses, but often times you might want more versatility with a second lens, such as that found in wide zoom lenses. There are many different zoom lengths available, not only from the main manufacturers, but from Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron, as well. One thing that most photographers will tell you is that when shooting with a zoom lens, most of their shots are made at one of the extremes, either the widest or the longest end of the zoom. While we think the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 (available in Nikon, Canon, and Sony mounts) is one of the sharpest super-wide lenses, it doesn’t offer as much of a range as the 12-24mm, 16-35mm, 17-50mm, or 24-70mm zooms. This is where you have to decide exactly why you will need this lens. If you’re not exactly sure, the 24-70mm is a good choice, because it will let you shoot full-length body and headshots. If you don’t need that much range, and just want a very wide lens, then the 11-16mm might be your best option.

Tokina opera 16-28mm f/2.8 FF Lens for Nikon F

Macro Lenses

Perhaps you’ve seen some really close-up photos of insects or flowers, and you’ve tried to take them yourself with your kit lens but found that it couldn’t focus. This is because you need a special type of lens called a macro lens, with a very small minimum focusing distance. These lenses usually focus at a foot or less, all the way to infinity, so you can use them for shooting macro photography, as well as everyday shots of people, landscapes, or other subjects at any distance. The same choices apply here, whether you need a fast lens or not, and whether you need a wider-angle or telephoto lens.

Pentax smc Pentax-D FA 100mm f/2.8 WR Macro Lens

There are a couple of important things to consider when choosing a macro lens. First, the wider your lens, the closer you’ll need to get to your subject. If you’re shooting flowers, and you want to focus on one flower but also want other flowers to be out of focus in the background, then a wider lens like a 40 or 50mm would work best. On the other hand, if you’re trying to shoot moving insects like bumble bees or butterflies, chances are you won’t be able to get close enough to them with a wide lens, so something like an 85mm or longer would be better for you. Also, when you’re shooting with your camera and lens very close to your subject, you often cast a shadow, meaning less light, and requiring a faster lens or special ring lights for your camera. If you don’t want to worry about shadows or purchasing flashes, consider a longer macro lens for your camera.

Canon MR-14EX II Macro Ring Lite

Pick Our Brains

So, we’ve covered a lot of ground here. We’ve discussed choosing the lens based on what focal length you need, whether you want a prime or a zoom lens, and whether you need a fast lens with a constant aperture, or if you can deal with a slower variable aperture.

Once you figure out exactly what will satisfy your photographic requirements that are as yet unfulfilled, you should be able to make an informed decision confidently, to ensure that your next lens purchase will be the right one for you.