I just got two new lenses for my Nikon SLR. A Tokina 12-24mm f4 and a Nikkor 50mm f1.8. For those of you who know nothing about these figures and really only just a little less than me - let me impart my meagre knowledge. Perhaps an exercise in the blind leading the blind.

So lets take the kit lens that I received with my camera as a kind of norm. It has has a focal length of 18-70mm and an aperture of f3.5-4.5 The focal length determines the amount of zoom and the aperture determines the size of the hole that allows light into the camera to take a shot. Small mm indicates a wide angle and small f number indicates a large aperture. Using this lens I can take a wide variety of happy snap photos. Nice and easy.

So what does my Tokina 12-24mm f4 offer? Well I went for this lens because of it’s wide angle. 12mm allows me to take a photo’s that “see” very broadly. For instance, standing in front of the Sydney Opera House, using my kit lens I am unable to get the entire building in frame (unless of course I walk back an extra 150m). The 12mm wide lens allows me to do this.

I bought the 50mm f1.8 because of it’s very wide aperture. It’s worth mentioning shutter speed here. When taking a photograph of a moving target, fast shutter speed will allow clear photographs without motion blur. But the faster the shutter speed, the less light that can get into the shot. In this instance, a larger aperture counteracts the fast shutter speed.

On Sunday, I walked from Ultimo to Broadway then through Sydney Uni, Newtown, Camperdown, Glebe and then back to Ultimo. It took ages. But Sunday was a nice day. I took photos along the way, most of them are boring… but here a couple of my favourites.

You can also see the photos from my partner in crime. He uses a Canon EOS350D.