What is the difference between a telephoto lens and a zoom lens?

Question

Which is better suited for taking a picture of my my crush from a distance?

Which is better for taking a portrait shot from a distance?

Answer 1

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Very simply, telephoto means a lens made to magnify an image so it appears closer than it is.

Zoom lenses are adjustable to "zoom" across a range of settings between telephoto and wide-angle.

SLR cameras can also attach a lens with a fixed amount of telephoto.

Zoom lenses offer more flexibility because they are adjustable.

However, it is illegal to take pics of people without their permission when they are at home or on other private property. It also may be considered "stalking", even if they are in public.

A telephoto lens does not give you special permission. Don't use one to take secret pics of your "crush".

Good Luck

Answer 2

Zoom lens is like having a whole kitbag full of telephoto lenses. The tradeoff is the Zoom Lens has a limited field of focus and usually more limited f-stops. Telephotos offer photography in lower light situations with a larger angle of view. Also, because the lens is permanently fixed, the focus should be every so much more sharper than the Zoom. Both lenses shoot through the wire mesh fence at the zoo without leaving much trace of the fence in the photo.

For portrait, the Zoom is recommended. It softens blemishes and from a distance with a low f-stop it offers a shot with a blurred background so the eye is drawn to the subject.

Answer 3

telephoto are basically fixed focal length lenses. the telephoto zoom lenses have variable focal length so zooms give you different magnifications. Normally they are both just called telephoto because they both are.The telephoto lens, being farther away when shooting, reduces distortion in the features of faces in portraits. Shorter focal length lenses make peoples noses look to big from the front.
With a telephoto zoom you get the effect of having several lenses to use The normal zoom ranges for these are from about 80 mm to about 200 mm. In the old days the extra parts inside to make this magic happened meant mechanical problems with worse optics. Modern Zooms perform every bit as good as fixed focal length lenses. Except for truly telescopic shots the zoom would be my choice.
Focal length is related to magnification and field of view. Another advantage of telephoto (zoom or straight) is that they can focus on a face and leave the background out of focus so that it does not distract from the face. A very good thing in portrait work.
I hope this helps.

Answer 4

A telephoto lens sorta of explains its self, telescope. The zoom will adjust from a shorter distance to a longer distance. The length of the lens is not as important as the quality of the lens. Since you're already on line, check out those lens made by Carl Zeiss, they are made for many different camera mounts.

Answer 5

Well, they CAN be the same thing is some cases. Like the 70-200mm is a zoom telephoto lens. Telephoto lenses give a more narrower perspective of a scene. Zoom lenses allow you to change the focal length without changing lenses. A telephoto zoom lens is a telephoto lens that has different focal lengths, ie 70-200mm. A fixed or prime telephoto only has one focal length, ie 400mm. I dont know why you want to take pictures of your crush from a distance, seems a little freaky. The lenses arent going to come cheap. I would say at least a $1000 minium for just a 200mm lens and youll probably need a 400mm lens. Thats expensive.