A photographic lens is an assembly of lenses which when used with a camera creates and stores images in digital format or on 35mm film. The main objective of the lens assembly is to correct as many optical aberrations as possible. Some aberrations will be visible in any lens setup, but the lens should minimize this as much as possible. Telephoto lenses and wide angle lenses available on digital and 35mm cameras help the photographer take a variety of shots from landscapes to macro close-ups all with the same camera, just by interchanging the lenses mass produced by companies like Nikon, Olympus, Canon, and Minolta. These lenses may be fixed to the camera, or interchangeable with different focal lengths, apertures, and other properties.

Complex photographic lenses on cameras may have one or many lenses in each set up, and each lens may be made up of several lenses as well. In most photographic lens setups you buy in the store, the front lens is coated to reduce glare and prevent scratches. Glass is the most common lens material for photographic camera lenses.

A photographic lens on a camera will often have an aperture adjustment mechanism, or zoom.

The two primary optical parameters of a photographic lens purchased in a store are the aperture and focal length. The lens aperture determines the amount of light allowed to pass through the camera and ultimately the brightness of the picture. The focal length of the photographic lens determines the angle of view and the relative size of an image to another in the digital or 35mm photo.

Here is where we find the main difference between wide angle and telephoto lens. A wide angle lens is defined as a photographic lens with an angle of view greater than 60 degrees and a shorter than normal lens focal length; while a telephoto lens has a narrower angle of view and a longer focal length than normal photographic camera lenses that came attached to your camera from the store.

Some well-known lens manufacturers that produce both digital and 35mm telephoto and wide angle lenses are Canon, Cosina, Danubia, Leica, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Rodenstock, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, and Zeiss. Of these, the most popular are probably Canon, Minolta, Nikon, and Olympus.