The common dilemma facing young amateur photographers these days is choosing the right DSLR that would suit their needs. Little do they realize is that it’s the lens that they are going to choose with their DSLR that is going to make the most difference.

The body of the DSLR just makes it more convenient to take pictures. Though higher-end DSLR’s do provide a better clearer picture in certain conditions but still it all comes down to choosing the right kind of lens.

DSLR lenses come in all sorts of sizes and majorly vary in price. Some lenses are better suited for one particular type of photography which is better suited to a professional photographer and caters to his needs, and others are more general purpose lenses suited for the everyday photographer. It’s a tough challenge to choose the right kind of SLR but the question that arises is, but here is a simple guide on how to choose the right kind of lens.

One needs to follow 7 basic steps which will make the choice a little easier and will give a better understanding of what kind of lens would be suitable. Each step helps reduce the number of choices by half, thus resulting in an easier choice. It is important that one follows these steps in the right order to make the work easier. By the end of it one would end up with just 2 or 3 lenses to choose from instead of the 30 that one started with.

1. Step 1. Decide the focal length that you would need: focal length governs what kind of photographs the user wishes to take. For example, one who likes to take portraits would like to use a 50mm lens, or one who likes to do a bit of wildlife photography would prefer to use a zoom lens with a range from 100mm to 400mm.
2. Step 2. One should be sure if he needs a zoom lens or a prime lens. The difference between the two is that the zoom lens would give him some range from a minimum focal length to a maximum focal length. For example, most DSLRs come fitted with an 18-55 zoom lens which provides the user about 4 x optical zoom. But a prime lens has a fixed focal length. Most portrait photographers or macro photographers prefer to use a prime lens as it improves the framing of the picture.
3. Step 3. It's important to know the maximum amount of aperture one would need. The bigger the aperture the more depth of field one has. This helps keep focus on the subject while blurring the background out. This is good if there is something in the background that might take attention away from the actual subject. Most portrait and macro lenses come with fairly large apertures. The bigger the aperture, the higher the price.
4. Step 4. Now what comes next is the brand of lens one wishes to pick up. One may choose to pick up a first party lens that is manufactured by the same company as the camera body or he may pick up a third party lens that is manufactured by a company that makes lenses for various brands. The optics in the third party lenses may not always be up to the same mark as a first party lens but the price is considerably less, and for a beginner, it may be wiser to invest less by picking up a third party lens.
5. Step 6. Some lenses offer extra features like an electronic image stabilizer or lens locking. So the user should evaluate the kind of extra features offered by these lenses too and how they would help him.
6. Step 7.  Now that one has narrowed down the choices to find the kind of lenses one need, it’s time to find out how other users of these lenses find their experience. How the final outcome of the photographs are. Whether the experts find the lens value for money or not. This will further narrow down your search for the lens that would perfectly suit you.