Camera Lenses

Popular lens mounts can hundreds or thousands of choices.

If you have a mirrorless digital camera, you can cheaply adapt lenses from more than a dozen systems.

I like small, light, and cheap. My view is that small kits are more fun to carry around.

I’m slowly filling in telephoto zooms among other types.

I’ve ordered the mounts by used value for photography.

Micro Four Thirds

It’s an open mount. Anyone can make lenses for it.

Options range from cheap plastic toys to professional quality. There’s options for whatever you consider fun.

It’s my favorite lens mount. I like the cheap, small, lightweight entry level primes. They pass my “good enough” image quality threshold.

Pancake lenses are a great choice for street photography. There are impressively small kits that can be put together.

The lens selection is larger than Nikon DX or Canon EF-S.

It’s managed to stick around, while Nikon 1, Pentax Q, and Samsung NX have been discontinued.

Nikon F (DX)

Nikon made 21 DX lenses. There are 16 different focal lengths/ranges.

Watch out, AF-P lenses are not fully compatible with all the DX bodies. Nikon has a PDF compatibility chart. You may need to upgrade your cameras firmware.

Full AF-P compatibility: D3300, D3400, D3500, D5500, D5600, D7500, D500 Limited AF-P compatibility: D5200, D5300, D7100, D7200, D750, D810, D810A, D850, D5, Df

If the camera model wasn’t listed, AF-P lenses will not work with it.

Used Lenses Under $100:

• Nikon Nikkor AF-S 35mm f1.8G DX
• Nikon Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G DX
• Nikon Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm f4-5.6G DX
• Nikon Nikkor AF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6

Canon EF-S

Canon did not support their APS-C cameras with a full lineup of lenses. That’s because EF lenses can also be used on cameras with an EF-S mount.

Keep in mind that EF-S lenses can not be used on full frame Canon DSLRs. The lenses can not be mounted.

As a result, there are some really good deals. Such as the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f2.8.

The last Canon APS-C DSLR was released in 2020, the Canon EOS Rebel T8i/850D/Kiss X10i. It’s no longer being sold.

The Canon T7 (2000D) is still being sold, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I think a used Canon T4i (650D) would be a better value.

Used Lenses Under $100:

• Canon EF-S 24mm f2.8 STM (pancake lens)
• Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
• Canon EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS

Canon EF

Canon EF probably has the second largest selection of lenses behind Nikon F.

The selection is going to be the largest for autofocus film and DSLRs. Canon became the industry leader off the back of the EF mount.

There’s so many great lenses to choose from. However, there aren’t tons of budget options. The EF-S or Nikon DX mounts are better for that.

The mount is discontinued, but Canon is still selling the 5D mark IV.

The RF mount doesn’t have all the specialty lenses, like tilt/shift. Photographers use them with an EF to RF adapter. So, they have not dropped as far in price as other lenses.

Around $600-700 is where professional lenses start to show up. Lenses like the 85mm f1.2L, 135mm f2L, 28-70mm f2.8L, and the 70-200mm f2.8L are great values right now.

Used lenses under $100:

• Canon EF 50mm f1.8 STM
• Canon EF 20-35mm f3.5-4.5
• Canon EF 75-300mm f4-5.6 (Canon’s worst lens.)
• Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM
• Canon EF 35-80mm f4-5.6 II
• Canon EF 28-80mm f3.5-5.6 II
• Tamron 28-300mm f3.5-6.3
• Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6

Nikon F (FX)

Arguably the best lens mount ever.

Nikon F-mount lens compatibility can be complicated. If you are using vintage 35mm film camera lenses, make sure you can identify “non-Ai” lenses. Nikon has an article about lens compatibility.

Used Lenses Under $100:

• Nikon 50mm f1.8D (Requires a motor drive for AF)
• Nikon 50mm f1.8G (No aperture ring)
• Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f4-5.6G (Requires a motor drive for AF)
• Nikon Nikkor AF 24-120mm f3.5-5.6D

Fujifilm X

Great lenses at not great prices.

There is a premium to pay because popularity is outpacing production.

Used Lenses Under $100:

• Fujifilm Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6
• 7artisans 35mm f1.2
• 7artisans 7.5mm f2.8
• TTartisan 35mm f1.4

Canon RF

There are no RF lenses available for less than $100. The least expensive lens would be the Canon RF 24-50mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM.

Canon does not allow third party manufacturers to produce lenses for the RF mount. This limits the options and makes lenses from Canon more expensive compared to open mounts.

Canon RF-S

These lenses are designed for cameras with APS-C sized sensors. I don’t understand why Canon bothered with the EF-M mount, which was also designed for APS-C sensors.

All 4 Lenses:

• Canon RF-S 10-18mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM
• Canon RF-S 55-210mm f5-7.1 IS STM
• Canon RF-S 18-45mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM
• Canon RF-S 18-150mm f3.5-6.3 IS STM

Canon EF-M

Canon produced 8 lenses for the mount. They use 43mm, 49mm, 52mm, or 55mm diameter filters.

No surprise, it was a short lived system with that kind of planning.

The crop factor is similar to the 1.6x of EF-S lenses.

The 18-150mm has the same specs as the RF-S version.

Nikon 1

The lens aperture gear fails in lenses. It’s a flawed design.

There is a repair part available from Taiwan. Or, you can ship and lens to them and they will do the repair.

The system only lasted 7 years with 11 camera bodies and 13 lenses. Cameras and desirable lenses are hard to find.

I would not recommend this system. Leave it for collectors. Micro Four Thirds is a better value.

Lenses

• 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8
• 1 Nikkor AW 10mm f/2.8
• 1 Nikkor 18.5mm f/1.8
• 1 Nikkor 32mm f/1.2
• 1 Nikkor VR 6.7-13mm f/3.5-5.6
• 1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6
• 1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom
• 1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 PD-Zoom
• 1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm f/4.0-5.6
• 1 Nikkor 11–27.5mm f/3.5-5.6
• 1 Nikkor AW 11–27.5mm f/3.5-5.6
• 1 Nikkor VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6
• 1 Nikkor VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6