What are the best camera lenses to buy? Here's everything you need to know

Best camera lens
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Choosing the best camera lenses becomes easier when you've been taking pictures for a while and you know what you're interested in, but if you're just starting out, the sheer number of different lenses, brands and types can be bewildering, so that's where this guide can help!

We reckon choosing the best lens usually boils down to three things: 

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Rod Lawton
Contributor

Rod is an independent photography journalist and editor, and a long-standing Digital Camera World contributor, having previously worked as DCW's Group Reviews editor. Before that he has been technique editor on N-Photo, Head of Testing for the photography division and Camera Channel editor on TechRadar, as well as contributing to many other publications. He has been writing about photography technique, photo editing and digital cameras since they first appeared, and before that began his career writing about film photography. He has used and reviewed practically every interchangeable lens camera launched in the past 20 years, from entry-level DSLRs to medium format cameras, together with lenses, tripods, gimbals, light meters, camera bags and more. Rod has his own camera gear blog at fotovolo.com but also writes about photo-editing applications and techniques at lifeafterphotoshop.com