Lenses for winter shooting | Articles | Photo, video, optics

If you’re a pho­tog­ra­ph­er, you prob­a­bly know that win­ter cre­ates spe­cial rules for pho­tog­ra­phers. And we’re not just talk­ing about how cold weath­er affects equip­ment. Win­ter presents both inter­est for pho­tog­ra­phers and addi­tion­al dif­fi­cul­ties. Shoot­ing is sig­nif­i­cant­ly dif­fer­ent from those to which we are accus­tomed and the snow is to blame.

Snow has the abil­i­ty to reflect light, and that’s not all, because due to the posi­tion of the sun in win­ter, the light is reflect­ed even longer. Because of this, the pho­to turns out a cold bluish tint. The shad­ows become less sat­u­rat­ed and clear. But, for­tu­nate­ly, there are lens­es that do an excel­lent job with win­ter para­me­ters. We will look at them today.

Source: Juza­Pho­to

Canon EF‑S 55–250mm f/4–5.6 IS II

If you plan to get the most out of win­ter, that is, pay atten­tion not only to clas­sic win­ter por­traits and land­scapes, but also, for exam­ple, win­ter sports or wildlife, then you will need a spe­cial lens. And the best option in this regard is a tele­pho­to lens. Canon 55–250mm is just such an option. The lens is not the newest, but its price is very afford­able. At the same time, he copes with pho­tog­ra­phy of dynam­ic shots. In addi­tion, the lens has a very strong body, it is hardy and, most impor­tant­ly, it weighs a lit­tle. Thanks to the sta­bi­liz­er, you can hold the cam­era in your hands with­out wor­ry­ing about the pres­ence of a tri­pod. Pic­tures will be clear even on a gray snowy day and even in low light. The Canon EF‑S 55–250mm f/4–5.6 IS II is a great hob­by­ist option that also allows you to shoot from a dis­tance, great for sport­ing events. The main thing is not to for­get that the lens was cho­sen specif­i­cal­ly for win­ter shoot­ing.

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Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF‑S Nikkor

Nikon also has great lens­es in its col­lec­tion that are suit­able for win­ter pho­tog­ra­phy. But this time we will talk about the most pop­u­lar genre, espe­cial­ly in win­ter, about por­trait pho­tog­ra­phy. Here you need high-qual­i­ty glass that can with­stand harsh tem­per­a­ture changes and at the same time, make per­fect shots. The Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF‑S Nikkor is up to the chal­lenge. The lens is an ultra fast lens that incor­po­rates Nikon’s inter­nal focus­ing sys­tem. This is a mid-range lens, which explains its price cat­e­go­ry. Because the Nikon 85mm f/1.8G AF‑S Nikkor is a prime, mean­ing it has a fixed focal length, it will pro­vide sharp­ness to the frame that you can’t get with zoom lens­es. At the same time, its focal length, in fact, allows you to shoot in oth­er gen­res, but we con­sid­er it ide­al­ly suit­ed for win­ter por­trait pho­tog­ra­phy. Plus, a spe­cial lens hood is includ­ed with the lens, which is designed to reduce reflec­tions from snow. That’s not all, since the lens was cre­at­ed not only for pho­tos, but also for video, the man­u­fac­tur­er has pro­vid­ed a spe­cial coat­ing that allows the lens to more suc­cess­ful­ly endure tem­per­a­ture extremes and weath­er con­di­tions. The silent motor allows you to get the most out of the shoot­ing process and avoid vibra­tions. And of course, the weight of this fix allows you to car­ry it with you.

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Tamron SP AF 17–50mm f/2.8 XR DI-II LD

If you turn not only to the “orig­i­nal” lens­es, but also to third par­ties, it turns out that they also have inter­est­ing offers for win­ter pho­tog­ra­phy. Tam­ron is ready to offer a great option — Tam­ron SP AF 17–50mm f/2.8 XR DI-II LD. This lens can eas­i­ly han­dle a vari­ety of gen­res of pho­tog­ra­phy, but is best suit­ed for shoot­ing on the move. More­over, not only the sub­ject of the shoot­ing, but also the pho­tog­ra­ph­er can be in motion. The lens has an afford­able price, which, by the way, is a plus for many lens­es from Tam­ron and Sig­ma.

With this lens, you will be the best at cap­tur­ing those very snowy land­scapes that lovers of win­ter pho­tog­ra­phy hunt for. Why is this lens so good? Its inter­nal coat­ing, which reduces the amount of reflec­tions and glare that hit the matrix due to the reflec­tive prop­er­ties of snow. Anoth­er plus is that this lens has a very small weight, thanks to which you can take it with you on the road and shoot what­ev­er you want. Due to the high aper­ture of the lens, it is ver­sa­tile. And of course, since this is Tam­ron, an ana­logue of the lens mod­el can be found for both Canon and Nikon cam­eras. And this is very good news for pho­tog­ra­phers who pre­fer both brands.

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Canon EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

Anoth­er tele­pho­to zoom option that allows you to reach any dis­tance is the Canon EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS II USM. Its par­tic­u­lar advan­tage lies in the abil­i­ty to shoot action scenes, that is, you can eas­i­ly catch any object that is in motion. Anoth­er ben­e­fit that applies to all Canon L‑series lens­es is that they are water and dust resis­tant. Man­u­fac­tur­ers promise 100% pro­tec­tion, which makes this lens a par­tic­u­lar­ly advan­ta­geous option for win­ter shoot­ing, because one of the dan­gers is the occur­rence of con­den­sa­tion in the lens struc­ture. So with the Canon EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, you can com­plete­ly for­get about this prob­lem.

By itself, this lens belongs to the pre­mi­um mod­els, this is evi­denced by its uni­ver­sal focal length of 70–200mm, which will give the user the oppor­tu­ni­ty to shoot from afar, and get clear por­traits or oth­er shots. Such a lens, of course, weighs a lot, and this is the only draw­back, but it applies to any tele­pho­to, so it all depends on whether you are ready to arm your­self with such a device and go shoot­ing.

Win­ter pho­tog­ra­phy is incred­i­bly excit­ing, but it requires the pho­tog­ra­ph­er to pay atten­tion not only to the frame, but also to the tech­nique. Remem­ber that chang­ing lens­es out­doors is not rec­om­mend­ed, and you should always car­ry a lens clean­ing kit with you, as even snowflakes that fall on the sur­face of the lens can leave marks when they dry. The Pro­like CL-P1 Lens Clean­ing Pen is always ready to go, easy to car­ry, yet gives you the abil­i­ty to keep your glass clean.

Also, for high-qual­i­ty and long-term work, the cam­era must be at the opti­mum tem­per­a­ture, so when you are not shoot­ing, it is bet­ter to keep it in a pro­tec­tive case or pho­to bag. The Man­frot­to MA2-HM is a handy cam­era hol­ster bag with a lens. It is equipped with addi­tion­al pock­ets for acces­sories, and the coat­ing inside will pro­tect the con­tents from mechan­i­cal dam­age. Plus, the kit includes a pro­tec­tive rain cov­er that will keep the device from mois­ture and snow.