• Determine Your Camera Lens Needs

• Select the Right Camera Lens Features

• Ensure Camera Lens Compatibility

• Find Camera Lenses on eBay

• Buy Camera Lenses With Confidence

Determine Your Camera Lens Needs

Determine Your Camera Lens Needs

By using an interchangeable camera lens, you'll be able to exert more control and creativity over the picture-taking process. What's more, your photos will look better, more vivid, and more professional.

Camera lenses for both digital and film cameras can be categorized into three types: standard camera lenses, wide-angle camera lenses, and telephoto camera lenses. Choosing the right camera lens depends of what type of pictures you want to take.

Standard camera lenses

Think of a standard camera lens as replicating a perspective similar to the human eye. For the most part, a standard, or normal, camera lens will suffice for general, everyday picture-taking situations such as snapshots, travel photos, individual photos, and group photos.

Wide-angle camera lenses

A wide-angle camera lens gives you a wide angle of view, offering a larger, sweeping perspective and better depth of field and reproduction than a standard camera lens. They’re best for covering large subject areas. Look for a wide-angle camera lens if you want to take pictures of landscapes and nature, outdoor scenes, buildings, or large groups. Because a wide-angle lens enhances the depth of the image, it’s good for photos with a strong foreground, too. Moreover, you can use a wide-angle lens to capture indoor scenes and close-ups.

Telephoto camera lenses

As opposed to the wide-angle camera lens, the telephoto camera lens is a narrow angle lens. It appears to narrow the image, which is important when you are not able to get close to your subject. Appropriate for long-distance situations, a telephoto camera lens is essential for photographing sporting events, animals in nature, and distant landscape features.

Macro camera lenses

If you’re interested in extreme close-up photography, consider a macro camera lens that allows for extremely sharp focusing at short distances. Generally macro camera lenses are used for science and nature photography, but can also be used for taking pictures of collectibles, such as coins and stamps.

Fish-eye camera lenses

A fish-eye camera lens is an extremely wide-angle lens. It creates a distorted image that appears convex.

Select the Right Camera Lens Features

Select the Right Camera Lens Features

When shopping for a camera lens, there are some key features and technical considerations you’ll want to keep in mind.

Focal length

Measured in millimeters, this represents the distance between the optical center of a lens and its focal plane. The lower the focal length, the wider your angle of view; the higher the focal length, the narrower the angle of view.

The focal length for the three lens types generally breaks down as follows:

• Standard lens: Standard camera lenses typically have a 50mm to 55mm focal length   

• Wide-angle lens: Wide-angle camera lenses have a 18mm to 35mm focal length. Fish-eye lenses range from 6mm to 16mm.   

• Telephoto lens: Telephoto camera lenses have a 80mm to 500mm focal length.

Zoom lens

Lenses have either fixed focal length lenses (35mm, 50mm) or zoom lenses, where focal length changes. For example, the Canon EF zoom lens offers a zoom from 75mm–300mm. Zoom allows you to get closer to your subject by magnifying the image; you move a ring to alter the focal length and zoom in or out.

Auto focus and manual focus

Auto focus (AF) lenses do the focusing for you automatically. Manual focus (MF), on the other hand, allows you to manually focus the camera lens. The former obviously provides ease and simplicity, while the latter is good for focusing in low light and when you need to focus in very precise increments.

Some camera lenses offer both types of focus functionality. Auto focus can be turned off or on, letting you manually focus whenever you want.

Aperture

Latin for “opening,” aperture indicates how much light a camera lens lets through to the focal plane. The smaller the aperture number (f/2.8, for example), the more light a lens will let in, thus better controlling the brightness of the exposure. And the more light a lens allows through, the faster the shutter speed.

Most important in low-light, outdoor picture-taking situations, a lens’s aperture will usually increase along with the focal length of a zoom lens. Both aperture and focal length will usually appear on the barrel of the lens.

Ensure Camera Lens Compatibility

Ensure Camera Lens Compatibility

When considering a new camera lens, you’ll want to make sure you select on that is compatible with your camera type, brand, and film format.

Come together: digital meets film

Many people both own a film camera and digital camera. So, for photographers who use interchangeable lenses, the question inevitably arises: can I use a digital camera lens on my film camera, and can I use a film camera lens on my digital camera?

New digital SLR cameras are designed with camera lens interchangeability in mind, adding to the camera’s lure. Therefore, it’s becoming easier to use film camera lenses on digital cameras. The Nikon SLR, Fuji SLR, Minolta SLR, and Olympus SLR all accept preexisting lenses, including 35mm film lenses. Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel, for instance, accepts all Canon EF lenses.

Fit your camera brand

Camera manufacturers such as Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Leica, Sony, Pentax, and Fuji all produce their own lenses. Most often, you’ll need to match your lens with your camera brand.

It’s also possible to purchase a lens from a specialized lens manufacturer. Lenses from Tamron, Sigma, and Vivitar are compatible with different camera brands.

Regardless of the brand, be sure to protect your lenses with lens caps and lens hoods.

Film lens formats

Film cameras and film camera lenses come in three formats: 35mm SLR lenses, medium-format lenses, and large-format lenses. Lenses for one format do not typically work on the other formats, so make sure you find a lens that works with your specific type of film camera.

With larger negatives and more weight than 35mm SLRs, medium format cameras and large format cameras are a consideration if you want large prints of your photos. You’d go with a large format, for example, if you plan to use a film camera for studio or architectural purposes.

Find Camera Lenses on eBay

Find Camera Lenses on eBay

Once you know what type of lens you want, go to the Cameras & Photo portal, click Lenses & Filters, and start searching for item listings on eBay.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down your listings by item type. You'll find links for Digital Camera Lenses, Film Camera Lenses, and more. As you dig deeper into the site you'll also be able to narrow down your choice to locate a lens that matches your camera brand.     

• Keyword search: Search eBay title listings for specific words. For example, if you want to find a digital camera lens, type "digital camera lens" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay's Search Tips page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, tell the eBay Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Camera Lenses With Confidence

Buy Camera Lenses With Confidence

Before making your purchase, make sure you know exactly what you're buying, research your seller, and understand how eBay and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Carefully read the details in item listings.

• Figure delivery costs into your final price. If you spend a lot of money, make sure the seller will insure the item when it ships.

• If you want more information, ask by clicking the "Ask seller a question" link under the seller's profile.

• Always make sure to complete your transaction on eBay (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay are not covered by eBay protection programs.

• Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash wire transfer services through Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know.

Know your seller

Research your seller so you feel positive and secure about every transaction.

• What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have?

• What do buyers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Most top eBay sellers operate like retail stores and have return policies. Do they offer a money-back guarantee? What are the terms and conditions?

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event that a problem arises during your transaction, eBay and PayPal are there for you.

• Pay safely with PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. In fact, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts. Plus, with PayPal Buyer Protection, your purchase can be covered up to $1,000.

• eBay Security & Resolution Center: Visit the Security & Resolution Center to learn how to protect your account and use eBay's quick and efficient resolution tools.