Professional zooms may have a ‘constant’ maximum aperture of f/2.8 at any zoom setting (a handful have even wider apertures), but more affordable ‘consumer’ zooms are more likely to have a ...

Lenses with a very wide maximum aperture are often called 'fast' lenses – wide apertures allow faster shutter speeds. Aperture and ‘depth of field’ It’s not just about exposure, though.

And widening my aperture to f/1.8 was a sure-fire way of keeping my ISO in check. But shooting wide open presents a string of other potential problems. Firstly, every lens has a sweet spot, an ...

A wider aperture will benefit low-light photography, thus improving night modes and low-light conditions. It could also let users manually add shallow depth-of-field effects to photos, like portraits.