Does Canon or Nikon grade the quality of lenses?

Like VR, EF-S, ED (I think ED is for digital, like DX) etc?

Is there a quality difference, given the same focal length, year of manufacture, attributed by those letters in the lens name with either company?

Yes, I tried the search for "lens quality", "grades" and even waded into the pinned thread on Nikon vs Canon, but I don't have a stake in that debate, yet.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Skeeter,

There is a whole industry and countless hours of conversation on the quality of the different lenses. To over simplify Canon uses the "L" designation in their "professional" quality lenses. You'll see it like this EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II. The EF-S designation means that it's designed for the crop sensor cameras and won't work on the full frame models where EF lenses will. There is a pretty high variability in the quality of different lenses, sometimes even inside the same lens. I like to go to the Photozone website and check what they have to say when I'm looking at new options. You can find it here http://www.photozone.de/ and read at least one measured opinion. If you have a question about the real usage of a particular lens you can do a search here on Wetpixel, somebody has tried it.

HTH,

Steve

Hi Steve,

Yup, I had that sense from my reading that Canon did rank their lenses; but, are the Nikons all about the same quality of elements?

This is where I got the idea of quality grades in Nikon, from another major review site discussion board:

<<Just wondering how the image quality with the 18-200VR on the D200, would compare to what you would get with the 18-70 and 70-210f4-5.6D on the same D200.

All 3 lenses are consumer grade. >>

Yes, the usage threads here are abundant and good. Thanks to WetPixelers I'm fairly sure on what I'm going to buy based on my photo habits.

Hey Skeeter

I don't think there is a recognisable "grading" system for Nikon lenses. If you look at the website you can identify the "Pro" lenses usually by the f-stop size - and the price! The larger the f-stop in a given zoom range, the higher the price, the better the quality.

I reckon Nikon do three ranges: the pro stuff (eg 80-200VR, 17-35), then lenses such as the DX 18-200 and 12-24 (high quality, mid-range price); then the cheaper "kit" lenses. Build quality and "feel" is a pretty good indicator too. The more plastic parts, the cheaper, the lower end of the quality scale.