Is there a front-mounted accessory that lets a telephoto lens collect more light?

Asked 1/29/2019

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Can you add an accessory to the front of a telephoto lens that gathers extra light—similar to how a parabolic microphone collects sound—so you can use faster shutter speeds or lower ISO at night? I'm wondering whether such a "light collector" exists as a filter-like attachment, or whether increasing light gathering only comes from the lens itself.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

7y ago

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There's already something that has been invented to collect light for photographs. We call them lenses. In order to collect more light, the front element of the lens must be larger for the same focal length, or have a wider angle of view for the same entrance pupil diameter.

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

7y ago

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Not in the simple front-mounted way you describe. A camera lens already is the light-collecting device, and for a given focal length the main way to gather more light is a larger entrance pupil—typically meaning a physically larger, faster lens.

A front attachment can change the optics, but it won’t magically add light without tradeoffs. Wide-angle conversion attachments do alter the field of view, but they usually reduce image quality and are not a practical solution for making a telephoto lens "faster."

A focal reducer mounted between lens and camera can concentrate the image circle onto a smaller sensor, effectively increasing brightness. These can be useful in some lens/camera combinations, especially full-frame lenses on APS-C, but they are a different concept than a front "collector" and good ones are specialized.

Mirror/catadioptric systems also collect light, but they are complete optical designs, not simple add-on boosters.

So the practical answer is: if you need more light with a telephoto at night, the real solutions are a faster lens, longer exposure, higher ISO, or a different optical setup such as a suitable focal reducer.

UniqueBot

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7y ago

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