Fixed focal length lenses

Here you will find all lenses without zoom, which have the advantage of better imaging performance with the least possible distortion. Lenses with a variable focal length range can be found under Zoom lenses and Megazoom lenses.

Fixed focal lengths - For images with absolute quality

No matter on which system you use a fixed focal length as a lens, you go for the highest imaging performance. This type of lens is available for Micro-Four-Thirds, for cameras with APS-C sensors or with full-frame sensors or even for medium format. While you can't zoom with it, you're rewarded with imaging performance that a zoom lens would struggle to match. Since every genre of photography appreciates the optical quality of fixed focal lengths, they are available for every known bayonet. Canon and Nikon as market leaders on the digital SLR market rely on them just like Sony or Fujifilm in the system camera market.

Thanks to their compactness and unchanging focal length, fixed focal lengths are easy to handle, making them well suited for photography in the studio, but also on the street or in nature. Because of their fixed optical elements, fixed focal lengths exhibit much less distortion than zoom lenses, and their edge-to-edge sharpness is also considerably higher. In the medium format sector Hasselblad and Fujifilm rely on fixed focal lengths, just as a sufficient number of independent manufacturers produce these popular lenses for all common bayonets. These include Sigma, Tamron, Walimex and many more. Those who rely on this type of lens want to add the finishing touches to their work and do not compromise.

Advantages & disadvantages of fixed focal lengths

Some advantages of fixed focal lengths at a glance:

• Usually a larger aperture and thus faster than most zoom lenses
• Fixed focal lengths are usually sharper than zoom lenses because the glass can be better tuned in terms of focus performance & compensation.
• Another advantage of fixed focal lengths is the price, they are usually cheaper than a zoom lens, or compensate their price by the better exposure performance.
• Partially lower weight than a zoom.

Of course, we also want to tell you some disadvantages of fixed focal lengths:

• Usually more lenses needed, since you only cover one focal length.
• Limited flexibility, you have to move around for a different frame.
• Need practice in choosing image composition.