A compact, inexpensive and rugged fiber collimating lens and lens array achieve large beam diameters and provide long working distances. A special single-mode fiber is inserted between a standard single-mode input fiber and a GRIN fiber lens, typically quarter-pitch or slightly longer. The specialty fiber condenses the mode field diameter (MFD) of the beam in the input fiber into its smaller MFD. As a result, the fiber collimating lens provides greater beam expansion due to the larger divergence angle of the specialty fiber, which in turn provides longer working distances.