A fisheye lens is one of the available distortion lenses.
One of the elements of photography is the variety of lenses available. While a specific camera does affect an image, the lens actually produces 80 percent of the image quality and style. One lens may be appropriate for most of your photography needs, but having one or two extra lenses can add some variety to your collection. Basic consumer point-and-shoot cameras don't have the ability interchange lenses. The different lens types can only be used on dedicated Singe Lens Reflex cameras.
Adjustable Zoom Lens
An adjustable zoom lens comes with most cameras and is capable of zoom, typically between a wide angle focal length like 18 mm and a semi-telephoto length like 85 mm. This lens is sufficient for most casual photographers due to its versatility. It provides only a "standard" image sharpness and is a good walk-around lens. In addition, these lenses are generally cheap at around $100.
Prime Lens
A "prime" lens is a lens that isn't capable of zooming in or out. While this sounds like a disadvantage, prime lenses provide a much sharper image quality and shallower depth of field than zoom lenses. These lenses are available in as many angles as zoom lenses, from the ultra-wide 10 mm to the extremely telephoto 300 mm. Professional photographers typically carry at least two prime lenses with them to a shoot to allow for different types of shots. The lenses' ability to have shallow depth of field is useful for night time shots as well.
Telephoto Lenses
Telephoto lenses are capable of ultra-high magnification and are most often used for sports or nature photography. Basically, when you can't get acceptably close to your subject, mount the telephoto lens. When using one, a tripod is strongly recommended to reduce accidental camera shake, and some even have a tripod mount to reduce strain to the camera body. While fun to use, the longest and fastest telephoto lenses are used mainly by professionals who need the extra visual reach.
Specialty Lenses
You can immediately identify a fisheye lens by its round appearance and you can use it to show a wide scene, or even a 180-degree angle. Your photo collection would appear extremely bizarre if you had only a fisheye, but this lens makes a counterpart to a normal range lens. Another specialty lens is a Lens Baby, which produces a special visual fringe around the edge of a photo that you would otherwise need add digitally. Like the fisheye, a Lens Baby makes a distinct accessory addition to your lens kit.
Macro Lenses
Macro lenses are used to take photos of close-ups. Most normal lenses aren't capable of focusing on objects that closer than a foot from the lens, but many macro lenses can focus on objects that are merely centimeters away. These are most often used to show texture or close details and to photograph very small objects.
Tags: depth field, image quality, length like, Lens Baby, lenses available, lenses used
