question about lenses

[carbonfibre]

Hi,

I heard from a friend that nikon 18-55 mm lense has a smaller 'opening' then a 18-70mm lense. Thus, the light that goes in is less and it might affect the picture taken.

Is this a fact or myth?

[noobie]

Just look at the F number of the lenses lor. The smaller the F number the bigger the aperture or your so call "opening".

[zac08]

Originally Posted by carbonfibre Hi, I heard from a friend that nikon 18-55 mm lense has a smaller 'opening' then a 18-70mm lense. Thus, the light that goes in is less and it might affect the picture taken. Is this a fact or myth?

Not a myth.

18-55 has a f3.5 - f5.6 maximum aperture
18-70 has a f3.5 - f4.5 maximum aperture

[carbonfibre]

Thanks for the reply.

Am I right to say that both have max aperture of f3.5? and 18-55mm lens has a min aperture of f5.6?

Thanks!

[scenar]

Originally Posted by carbonfibre Hi, I heard from a friend that nikon 18-55 mm lense has a smaller 'opening' then a 18-70mm lense. Thus, the light that goes in is less and it might affect the picture taken. Is this a fact or myth?

Try browsing thru wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture

pretty much explains it!

[carbonfibre]

Originally Posted by scenar Try browsing thru wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture pretty much explains it!

Thanks, just read thru it

[Scaglietti]

Originally Posted by carbonfibre Thanks for the reply. Am I right to say that both have max aperture of f3.5? and 18-55mm lens has a min aperture of f5.6? Thanks!

No. When you have f/3.5-5.6, it means the maximum aperture varies across the zoom range. The maximum aperture will be f/3.5 at the wide end and f/5.6 at the telephoto end.

BC

[Witness]

your friend is quite right...that's why lenses with larger openings such as f2.8 constants tend to fetch a high premium

[lkkang]

Originally Posted by carbonfibre Hi, I heard from a friend that nikon 18-55 mm lense has a smaller 'opening' then a 18-70mm lense. Thus, the light that goes in is less and it might affect the picture taken. Is this a fact or myth?

Besides aperture ( opening ), there are lots of other factors that could also "affect the picture taken", for example.. sharpness, color tone, camera handling, composition and many many more...

If you are taking a picture of a wide landscape, and you are using small aperture say F11 , so that you get the entire picture sharp. Then , weather the len is able to open wide or not does not matter any more..right.

On the other hand, if you are shooting portrait, then a wider opening would enable you to throw a more blur background. In this case, the wider opening the better.

My point is... every lens is designed to catered for different usage, application or situation. And , there are so much more things that will affect the picture taken other than aperture.

enjoy shooting !

[carbonfibre]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the reply!