Since my friend asked me this question, I thought it would be helpful to just post up my answer and other curious minds will be able to understand it.
Kingston Liu March 2 at 12:37pm
Dear Mr D**** Lim,
80-200 is the focal length of the zoom range.
Don’t think so much of the millimeter coz I don’t even know why its called mm and all that.
Just know that 80-200mm is the range of the lens.
The more range it is the more zoom you’ll get. Standard range is around 12-200, thats the standard range of zoom.
Anything above 200mm is if u want to take paparazzi zoom shot or a bird bird on a tree or on a guy from far away.
12mm-50 is like wide angle, so you see more and everything looks further.
50-100 is around standard eye view.
100-20o is zoom in to see further, more close up and compressed
The Fxx-Fxx is the aperture of the lens.
Aperture is how much light can get thru your lens to the sensor on your camera.
Pro lens that cost thousands will have 1.2/1.4/1.8/2.8. (the lower the number the bigger the hole the more light it gets)
Aperture Diagram (see the lower the bigger it gets)
Which means it opens up big to get more light in.
For consumer standard lens it ranges from f3.2-5.6.
Like for a lens thats 24-120 f/3.5-5.6.
The f will gradually increase as it zooms in more so at 24mm at f3.5 and at 120mm its at 5.6…
Coz as u zoom in it will reduce more light so f5.6.
Read more about it HERE!
But for pro lens such as 70-200mm f2.8, no matter 70 or at 200mm you’ll get a constant f2.8.
Hence the price you pay.
Example!
Example
Lets Dissect the Lens info:
- Nikkor – Its a Nikon lens
- 24-120mm – Range from 24-120mm
- f/3.5-5.6 – Lowest f range from 3.5 – 5.6
- G – Means no Aperture ring on lens, change f/ from camera
- ED – Extra-low Dispersion glass – with superior sharpness and color correction by minimizing chromatic aberration. (pretty much standard on new Nikkor lens)
- IF – Internal Focusing (quite standard too)
- Af-s – Auto focus and is pretty silent (another one that I don’t notice much)
- VR – Vibration Reduction (less blur on your photos due to this feature on your lens, important in a way)
- Wide-angle coz its 24 -50ish and kinda telephoto zoom from 70-120.
- Grey Market – Not authorized to sell in the country, so its imported from another country, so might have local warranty problems.
Hope this is Helpful! Mail me if you need help!