We are continuing the series – I didn’t know I could that – with 50mm lens.
50 mm f/1.8 lens is a cheap good quality prime lens. I use it for taking portraits and headshots. There are many aspects of a 50mm lens that goes unnoticed. We will start with the obvious ones.
Focusing Ring
As the name suggests, the focusing ring helps to change the focusing of the lens. If camera is on AF (Auto Focus) mode, the focusing is done by the camera. If set to M (Manual) mode, the ring has to worked by the photographer.
Alignment Mark
The white dot helps the lens to be mounted on to the camera body. All lens comes with this mark. To insert the lens, align this mark to that on the camera body and turn counter-clockwise.
Aperture Ring
Aperture size can be controlled by using the Aperture Ring. When you buy the lens from the manufacturer, it will be put in “auto” mode so that the camera controls the aperture size. The two orange dots aligned indicates that the aperture ring is locked and can only be controlled by the camera.
To control the aperture ring manually, you have the push the button (shown inside the white circle) up. Now the aperture ring will be free running.
Reference
I found this image at pixiq that explains the outer shell of a lens.
