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What makes one lens faster than another?

April 26, 2017faster Lens

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10 Posted

What makes one lens faster than another?

2 Answers

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10 Posted

A fast (or bright) lens admits lots of light through a big maximum aperture. This allows you to use a faster shutter speed than you can with a small-aperture (slow or dim) lens. The f-number designation on a lens tells you the biggest aperture you can set, with lower numbers signifying wider apertures: An f/1.4 lens is very fast, f/2.8 is pretty fast, and f/5.6 is slow. Keep in mind that speed of the lens increases exponentially with speed. A Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II sells for about $100, the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 sells for about $375, and the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L sells for about $1,600 (prices on Amazon.

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Posted

A fast (or bright) lens admits lots of light through a big maximum aperture. This allows you to use a faster shutter speed than you can with a small-aperture (slow or dim) lens. The f-number designation on a lens tells you the biggest aperture you can set, with lower numbers signifying wider apertures: An f/1.4 lens is very fast, f/2.8 is pretty fast, and f/5.6 is slow. Keep in mind that speed of the lens increases exponentially with speed.