Our website is a catalog of photographic systems. A system is a collection of cameras, interchangeable lenses, flashes and other accessories designed for them. Each system, camera or lens has its own page on our website.
For example:
There are currently 88 autofocus and popular manual focus systems in the database, so you have plenty to choose from. Please do not perceive our website as specializing only in vintage manual focus lenses - we pay equal attention to both vintage and modern photographic systems.
The item "LENSES" of the website's main menu contains various options related to the choice of system:
Just like any other website, we have a search bar. However, the search is carried out only among lenses and only by their names, focal length and speed. Don't try to search for any phrases from lens descriptions - nothing will be found.
Like any website, lens-db.com has a number of advantages and disadvantages. We tried to honestly list the main ones:
ADVANTAGES:
DISADVANTAGES:
On our website, lens names are recorded in the database as they appear on the lens barrel. The only exception we make is for focal length (range) and speed. In whatever form they appear on the lens barrel, we always bring them to the following format: XXmm F/x.x, where "XX" is the focal length in mm, and "x.x" is the speed. For example, 50mm F/1.4 or 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6. Wherein we always omit trailing zeros after the decimal point. For example, Canon Lens EF 50mm 1:1.0 L Ultrasonic is recorded in our database as Canon EF 50mm F/1L USM (also note that there is no space between 1 and L).
For autofocus lenses, we do not include the anti-reflective coating marking in the name. For example, Fujinon lens Super EBC XF 90mm 1:2 R LM WR is recorded as Fujifilm Fujinon XF 90mm F/2 R LM WR in our database. The only exception we make is for Pentax autofocus lenses: the smc or HD marking is always present in their names, because it has developed historically. For example: smc Pentax-D FA 100mm F/2.8 Macro WR, HD Pentax-FA 31mm F/1.8 Limited.
We also reserve the right to exclude words that have no significant meaning when recording lenses in the database. For example, Sigma High-Speed Wide 28mm 1:1.8 Multi-Coated Aspherical is recorded as Sigma 28mm F/1.8 Aspherical ZEN in our database: the words "High-Speed" and "Wide" are excluded as redundant, the words "Multi-Coated" are excluded, since all autofocus lenses are multi-coated, and the acronym "ZEN" is included because it was used with this lens in Sigma catalogs.
Other names by which the lens was known are indicated in parentheses. For example, Carl Zeiss Planar [HFT] 50mm F/1.8 (IFBAGON, OPTON, Rollei-HFT, Voigtlander COLOR-ULTRON) means that this Carl Zeiss [HFT] Planar 50mm F/1.8 lens was also branded as IFBAGON, OPTON, Rollei-HFT and Voigtlander COLOR-ULTRON.
On our website, lenses are divided into the following types based on their Focal Lengths:
Prime lenses | Condition for the 35mm format | Standard focal lengths |
Ultra-wide angle prime lens | F.L. < 24mm | 14mm(*), 15mm(*), 18mm, 20mm, 21mm (Leica, ZEISS) |
Wide-angle prime lens | F.L. >= 24mm but < 43mm | 24mm, 25mm (ZEISS), 28mm, 35mm |
Standard prime lens | F.L. >= 43mm but < 60mm | 50mm, 55mm(*), 58mm(*) |
Short telephoto prime lens | F.L. >= 60mm but < 135mm | 75mm (Leica), 85mm, 90mm (Leica), 100mm, 105mm |
Medium telephoto prime lens | F.L. >= 135mm but < 300mm | 135mm, 180mm, 200mm |
Super telephoto prime lens | F.L. >= 300mm | 300mm, 400mm, 500mm, 600mm, 800mm, 1000mm, 1200mm, 1600mm, 2000mm |
Zoom lenses | Condition for the 35mm format | Typical focal lengths |
Wide-angle zoom lens | F.L.2 < 43mm | 16-35mm, 17-35mm(*), 18-35mm(*), 19-35mm(*), 20-35mm(*) |
Standard zoom lens | F.L.1 < 43mm and Zoom ratio < 5.7X | 24-70mm, 24-105mm, 24-120mm, 28-70mm(*), 28-80mm(*), 28-105mm(*), 35-70mm(*), 35-80mm(*), 35-105mm(*), 35-135mm(*) |
Telephoto zoom lens | F.L.1 >= 43mm | 70-200mm, 70-210mm(*), 70-300mm, 75-300mm(*), 80-200mm(*), 100-300mm(*) |
Superzoom lens | F.L.1 < 43mm and Zoom ratio >= 5.7X | 28-200mm, 28-300mm |
Specialized tools | Condition for the 35mm format | Typical focal lengths |
Fisheye lens | Ultra-wide angle prime or zoom lens with strong uncorrected barrel distortion and extreme 180-degree or wider angle of view | 8mm, 15mm(*), 16mm |
Macro lens | Prime lens with a maximum magnification ratio of at least 1:2 and F.L. > 28mm but <= 200mm | 50mm, 55mm(*), 60mm(*), 90mm, 100mm, 105mm, 180mm, 200mm |
Shift lens | Prime lens with shift capability | 24mm, 28mm, 35mm |
(*) - film era.
This classification is generally accepted by all lens manufacturers including but not limited to such major brands as Canon, Cosina, Fujifilm, Hasselblad, Leica, Nikon, Panasonic, Pentax, Sigma, Schneider-Kreuznach, Sony, Tamron, Tokina, ZEISS.
As you visit the website, you will have to deal with lists of lenses. Here is a short description of them.
In the "Model history" list, lenses are displayed in chronological order: the lower a lens is in the list, the later it was released. The lens you are at is highlighted in blue. Special limited editions are indented. A change in the background hue indicates a change in the optical design. For example:
■Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm F/1.8D | A | 6 - 5 | 0.45m | ⌀52 | 2002 ● | |
■Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm F/1.8G | A | 7 - 6 | 0.45m | ⌀58 | 2011 ● | |
■Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm F/1.8G Special Edition | A | 7 - 6 | 0.45m | ⌀58 | 2013 ● | |
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm F/1.8G Special Gold Edition (1000 units) | 2014 ● |
Immediately after the column with the lens name, there is a column that indicates the type of diaphragm, then the optical formula (number of elements - number of groups), the closest focusing distance in meters, the type and size of filters, and, finally, the year when the lens was announced.
Diaphragm types:
M | Manual | P | Preset |
S | Semi-automatic | A | Automatic |
-- | Fixed |
Filter types (where xx is a filter size):
Exx | Screw-type | (Exx) | Rear screw-type |
Bxx | Bayonet-type | (Bxx) | Rear/internal bayonet-type |
Axx | Clip-on | (xx) | Rear drop-in |
Sxx | Series | (G) | Rear gelatin |
Built-in | Built-in | -- | Not available |
Lenses in this list are always sorted by focal length and speed. A comparison feature is available for autofocus lenses: click on the "Compare" link and the website will display a list of advantages and disadvantages of a lens compared to the lens you are at. The comparison is done automatically and based on the lens specification. Next to "Compare" are columns with the number of advantages (green) and disadvantages (red).
This list mainly contains third party lenses that do not belong to any system, so the lenses in the list are always sorted by manufacturer name. As in the previous list, a comparison feature is available for autofocus lenses.
Production status:
Recently announced | ● | In production | ● | Discontinued | ● |
The "Pro" mark indicates that the lens is a professional model.
Sony FE 400mm F/2.8 GM OSS [SEL400F28GM] | Pro | 2018 ● |
Lenses from manufacturers who do not provide adequate quality control are crossed out. We do not recommend purchasing such lenses. However, they are recorded in the database, so you can get information about them in the same way as about any other lenses.
Samyang AF 35mm F/1.8 FE (Rokinon) • ⌀58 | 2020 ● | |
Irix 45mm F/1.4 • ⌀77 | 2020 ● |
The ones that are highlighted in blue in the lists (except for the "Model history" list) are the lenses recommended by the website.
Sony FE 50mm F/2.5 G [SEL50F25G] • ⌀49 | 2021 ● |
Copyright © 2012-2023 Evgenii Artemov. All rights reserved. Translation and/or reproduction of website materials in any form, including the Internet, is prohibited without the express written permission of the website owner.
Missing Nikon 16-35 f4 G ED VR AF-S
It’s not a new or discontinued model.
https://www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-products/product/camera-lenses/af-s-nikkor-16-35mm-f%252f4g-ed-vr.html
Well, 16-35 is here but did not show up in comparison — want to compare 16-35, 17-35, 18-35 but 16-35 was not listed for comparison.
To be more specific, 16-35 did not show up in comparison when looking at the older 20-35 lens. So many ways of looking at things…
In addition to 16-35, lenses with a focal length range of 15-30 are also not displayed (Sigma and Tamron zooms in particular). To be honest, I am not sure if it is a mistake. After all, a focal length of 15 or 16mm provides a much wider angle of view than 20mm. Do you think it is worth displaying similar lenses with any focal length range specifically for wide-angle zooms (and for ultra-wide angle primes also)?
Well, I can’t say just yet if it is a “mistake” because I’m still getting to know your site. There are just different places to draw the line between super-wide and wide. Seems the line is somewhere between 20mm and 24mm in the Nikon primes. Zeiss has a 21/2.8 ZF.2 — is it super-wide or just wide? I can say I’m enjoying your site and grateful that it’s here. There’s always more to learn. Thanks!
On our website, wide is 24 up to but not including 43 (diagonal of a 35mm full-frame sensor), and ultra-wide is everything below 24, excluding fisheye lenses which are of course ultra-wide but at the same time also specialized lenses so we place them in a separate class.
But I must say that this classification is common for all manufacturers, including but not limited to Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sigma, Sony, Tamron, Tokina, ZEISS etc.
The only exception is maybe the Canon EF 40/2.8 STM which Canon calls a standard prime lens but we classify it as a wide-angle prime lens because its focal length is less than a diagonal of a 35mm full-frame sensor. Here we disagree with Canon. However, the optical formula of that lens is based on a double Gauss design which is typically used for standard prime lenses.