Everyone, of course, knows thai the lens of a fine camera is "taste than the lens of an inexpensive model. But the question sometimes arises: Just how much faster. and What is the main value of this extra speed Such a question is timely now—for we are at the season of shorter days and duller weather, when a fast lens is most desirable. and absolutely necessary for some shots!
"Here, then, are the major advantages of a fast lens. First, it helps insure clear, fully-exposed snapshots when light is poor—on dull days, cloudy-bright days, in the rain or snow. Second, in conjunction with a fast shutter, it enables you to get sharp, properly-exposed action shots, Third, it enables you to take snapshots at night with less light—sometimes just by ordinary home lighting.
Those advantages simply mean that, when you have a fast lens, you're better equipped to cope with any picture opportunity—whether conditions are good or bad. In winter or summer, day or night, fast lenses "get the picture"——often in situations where slower lenses would mean failure.
How fast is a "fast lens?" That can be answered only by comparisons. For example, an f/77 anastigmat lens is four times as fast as the meniscus lens of an inexpensive box camera, An f/63 lens is six times as fast as the box-camera lens; an f/45 eleven times as fast, and an 1/35, eighteen times as fast, Anl a fine 1/2 lens, such as on certain de-luxe miniature cameras, is fifty-six times as speedy as the box camera lens!
In practical terms, this means that the £/7.7 lens will get good snapshots on days when box-camera snaps would be seriously underexposed. It means that with the 1/63 you're equipped for snapshots on dull days; the 1/45 or 1/35, action shots under adverse conditions; with the 1/2, almost anything, day or night.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.