This lens selection tool is designed to help you find the right lens for your camera, as well as guide you to the different options available, highlighting the best lenses available for your budget, subject choices or favourite brand. 

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Our guide is designed to help you find the right lens and to do this, it's split into sections so you can choose a lens by subject (landscape, portraits, sport etc.), brand (Nikon, Tamron, Samyang etc.) or price (you may have a few hundred quid to spend or thousands so we have top lists for all budgets!). 

Of course, you might not need to follow the guide all the way to the end so when you find a lens type that sounds right for you, click the links to take you to our top lists where you'll find the lenses, we think, are the best you can buy right now. 

As mentioned, our guide is split into pages so it's easy to read and it also means you can jump to a specific section if you have a rough idea on what lens, you think, might be right for you. 

If you're looking for a guide to cameras, we also have that and it covers various brands, camera types and price options. Plus, we have a guide to buying smartphones for photography which you can find over in our smartphone guide section of the site. 

Side Note - Prime vs Zoom: Lenses either have a fixed focal length (prime) or will have the ability to zoom. Which you use and how many of each you purchase is really down to personal preference but we do have a guide that covers the pros and cons of both types of lenses that's well worth taking a look. For those with less time on their hands, here's a round-up of the main plus/minus points of using a zoom or prime lens. 

Prime Vs Zoom Summary

• Zooms include various focal lengths in one lens body while primes have a fixed focal length which means they only have one focal length.
• Zoom lenses save space in your camera bag and also weight, making them great for travel.
• Zooms tend to be less expensive than primes.
• Prime lenses are faster which means they offer wider apertures. 
• You get beautiful bokeh with prime lenses. 

Navigating Our Lens Guide 

Each page of this lens guide looks at something specific such as photography subjects and price with quick explanations on what lenses are available and links to the lenses, we think, we'll be the best choice for you. 

The first page looks at subjects so if you know what you're going to be photographing, head here where the following subjects, and lens choices are given: 

• Macro photography
• Portraits
• Low-light
• Bokeh
• Wide-Angle Landscapes
• Travel 
• Sport
• Wildlife
• Action
• Distant Subjects

After subjects, brands are our focus so if you already own a camera and want a lens that is compatible with it, have a look at this page. The following brands are covered: 

• Tamron
• Sigma
• Samyang
• Tokina
• Canon
• Nikon
• Olympus
• Panasonic
• Sony
• Pentax
• Fujifilm
• Samsung
• ZEISS

Side Note - Lens Mounts: If you know what lens mount your camera uses, then you can widen your choices further, and it will help you ensure you have the right lens for your camera. For example, Canon DSLRs use EF and EF-S lens mount while Nikon DSLRs use Nikon F with DX or FX lenses. Olympus and Panasonic use Micro Four Thirds while Sony use E/FE mount and A mount (previously Minolta). Pentax use K-mount, for Fujifilm it's X-mount and Samsung use NX-mount. 

The final section of the guide looks at lenses based on price so if you're on a budget, or at the opposite end of the scale, money is no object, have a look here.

Let's begin with 'finding a lens by subject'...