Fast Lenses?

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PhoenixF2B

Member
Hi all,

I know this must be a VERY novice question, but I am wondering what is meant by a lens being "fast". These are not video lenses, but what makes a lens fast?

Also I just purchased the Letus35 Extreme and am looking for some recommendations for some good lenses.

Thank you.
 
The term fast refers to the aperture of a lens. The lower the number the more light (faster) is alllowed in. That higher the number the less light (slower) is allowed in.

These aperture size is measured in a term called f-stops.

There are alot more experienced persons on this forum who can help you with such a question, but I believe the answer I provided should point you into the right direction.

Try a search for this topic and you'll be surprized by the amount of existing threads on the subject.

I recommend Nikkon between a 1.2 and a 1.8 fstop.
 
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oh ok, I think I understand what you are saying. I wasn't sure if it was something like that or a physical moving part or some other element of the lens. That makes sense though. Thank you for the response :)
 
this is as good a place as any to clear something up that I've been wondering:

I know that a 'fast' lens has a wider aperture, but does this mean that prime lenses don't have a variable aperture at all? That doesn't make much sense to me. I was never big into still photography, so am I right in assuming that a 'fast' lens has a small range of low fstops? And then would a slow lens have a higher range fo fstops? Sorry for the noobie question / thread hijack.
 
No, this is referring to the maximum aperture size, the lenses can always be stopped down to reduce the amount of light entering.

Prime lenses are simply lenses with a fixed focal length.
 
ok, I knew about fixed focal length but thanks for clearing everything else up for me! I'll get a hang of this yet.
 
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