Buying a new camera lens can be tricky. You’ll be confronted with camera jargons, letters, and numbers when choosing your set of lenses for your photography. As a result, you end up getting the wrong lens if you don’t know some of the camera glossary terms or acronyms found on the camera lens. I have compiled a list of camera lenses out there and decoded the acronyms and meanings behind it.
AD
Tamron anomalous dispersion elements
AF-DC
Nikon defocus feature
AF-S
Nikon lenses with Silent Wave Motor
APO
Sigma apochromatic Lenses
AS
Tokina lenses featuring aspherical elements
ASL
Tamron lenses featuring aspherical elements
ASP
Sigma lenses featuring aspherical elements
AT-X
Tokina’s Advanced Technology Extra Pro range of lenses
AL
Pentax lenses with Aspherical element
CONV
Sigma lenses compatible with teleconverters
CRC
Nikon’s Close Range Correction system
D
Nikon lenses that can be used on manual focus cameras
DA
Pentax lenses optimized for APS-C sized sensors
DC
Sigma’s designation for digital lenses
DF
Sigma lenses with dual focus facility
DG
Sigma’s designation for digital and full-frame lenses
Di
Tamron lenses designed for full-frame sensors
Di-II
Tamron lenses designed for APS-C sized sensors
DO
Canon lenses with a diffractive optical element
DS
Tokina lenses with super low dispersion glass
DT
Sony lenses optimized for APS-C sized sensors
DX
Nikon’s designation for digital lenses
ED
Nikon lenses featuring extra low-dispersion elements and Olympus and Leica (Panasonic) Lenses with low-dispersion elements
EF
Canon’s designation for full-frame lenses
EF-S
Canon lenses designed for APS-C sized sensors
EX
Sigma’s Excellent range
FA
Pentax lenses optimized for full frame camera
F&R
Tokina lenses featuring aspherical elements
FC
Tokina’s focus clutch mechanism
FE
Canon’s fisheye lenses
FE
Tokina lenses featuring a floating element
FX
Nikon lenses designed for full-frame cameras
G
Nikon lenses without a manual aperture ring
HF
Sigma’s designation for helical focusing
HID
Tamron’s high-index dispersion glass
HLD
Tokina’s high-refractive / Low-dispersion glass
HSM
Sigma’s lenses with a Hypersonic Motor
IF
Sigma / Tamron / Nikon / Tokina internal focusing
IRF
Tokina’s internal rear focusing lenses
IS
Canon lenses with Image Stabilizer
L
Canon’s Luxury range of lenses
LD
Tamron lenses featuring low-dispersion glass
MC
Tokina lenses that have been multi-coated
M-OIS
Panasonic’s Mega Optical Image Stabilization
N
Nikon’s Nano Crystal Coat
OS
Sigma lenses with Optical Stabilization
OSS
Sony lenses compatible with mirrorless Sony NEX system
PRO
Tokina’s Professional range of lenses
RF
Sigma and Nikon lenses with rear focusing
SD
Tokina’s super low-dispersion element
SDM
Pentax’s Supersonic Direct-drive Motor
SF
Canon lenses with soft-focus feature
SHM
Tamron’s super hybrid mount
SIC
Nikon’s Super Integrated Coating
SLD
Sigma lenses with super low-dispersion elements
SP
Tamron’s Super Performance range
SSM
Sony / Minolta Supersonic Motor lenses
SWD
Olympus lenses with Supersonic Wave Drive
SWM
Nikon lenses with a Silent Wave Motor
TS-E
Canon lenses with tilt-and-shift function
UD
Canon lenses with ultra low-dispersion glass
USM
Canon lenses with an Ultrasonic Motor
VC
Tamron’s Vibration Compensation feature
VR
Nikon’s Vibration Reduction feature
WR
Tokina lenses with Water Repellent
XR
Tamron lenses with extra-refractive index glass
ZL
Tamron’s zoom lock feature
II / III
Denotes version of lens
For a comprehensive list of camera lens, you can buy and choose your camera lens via Adorama.
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Aurora Gatbonton and the rest of the WPD Blog Team wants you to get hitched with creativity, style, and technology.