Universal lens

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As a universal lens is referred to in the photograph for any fixed or interchangeable lens that can be used for as many shooting conditions and is not designed for a specific purpose; the term is in contrast to the various special lenses .

Typical universal lenses are the so-called standard or normal lens and lightweight wide-angle lenses with focal lengths from 35 mm to 55 mm in the 35 mm format as universal fixed focal lengths as well as zoom lenses that cover the range from slight wide-angle to slight telephoto.

Universal lenses are often sold in a package with a camera body ; These lenses are relatively inexpensive because of the very high number of pieces, but this does not necessarily have to go hand in hand with poor image quality. While the typically supplied zoom lenses for 35mm cameras usually have a relatively low light intensity (typically around 1: 3.5 to 1: 5.6) and often only have an image quality that meets simple requirements, the fixed focal lengths have very fast models with mostly excellent results Imaging properties. Considerably more expensive are high-quality universal zooms, which have a higher and often constant light intensity over the focal length range (typically around 1: 2.8) and offer better processing and image quality.

In order to expand the area of ​​application even more, many universal zoom lenses have setting options for close-up or macro shots . In particular with compact digital cameras , however, all sorts of serious image errors are to be expected, so that these macro functions are completely unsuitable for simple reproductions and cannot replace special macro lenses .

A separate category among the universal lenses are the so-called superzooms (also known as travel zoom ), which cover a very large focal length range, for example from 28 mm to over 200 mm for small picture cameras. The small sensors of digital cameras allow tenfold and larger zoom factors . Macro functions are also standard here. In the case of superzooms, the designers have to make considerable compromises, which often results in poor image quality compared to fixed focal lengths or high-quality zooms with a smaller adjustment range. In particular, one often finds strong distortions and vignetting in the wide-angle range and weak contrasts in the telephoto range, which has given this lens type the joking name of soup zoom .