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List of Lenses Under $Y

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Lists of lenses for different mounts broken down by price and type of photography. This makes it easier to compare similar kits between different cameras.

Lens mounts can have hundreds of compatible lenses. Price lists allow you to quickly narrow down your search.

Comparable lenses tend to have similar uses prices. Specialty/niche use cases can have large differences in price to performance between systems.

Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO Telephoto Zoom Lens
Only $20,000 used!
  • Most Expensive: Sigma 200-500mm f/2.8 APO, $25,995.
  • Highest Macro Magnification: 5x, Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro

My favorite because of the quantity of inexpensive quality glass available. Great for the majority of budgets under $750 when considering a complete kit.

Lenses are smaller than APS-C lenses. The difference in size is larger than between APS-C and full frame lenses.

The availability of many pancake and third party lenses makes MFT cameras great for street and travel.

22 MFT lenses under $100

Used Lenses Under $100:

  • Panasonic 14mm f2.5 (Pancake)
  • Panasonic 25mm f1.7
  • Panasonic 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 (Pancake)
  • Panasonic 14-45mm f3.5-5.6
  • Panasonic 14-42mm f3.5-5.6
  • Panasonic PZ 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 (Power Zoom)
  • Panasonic 45-150mm f4-5.6
  • Olympus 17mm f2.8
  • Olympus 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 II R
  • Olympus 40-150mm f4-5.6
  • Olympus 9mm f8 Body Cap Fisheye
  • Olympus 15mm f8 Body Cap
  • Meike 6.5mm f2 Circular Fisheye
  • Meike 35mm f1.4
  • 7artisans 7.5mm f2.8 Fisheye
  • 7artisans 18mm f6.3 (Pancake)
  • 7artisans 55mm f1.4 II
  • 7artisans 50mm f1.8
  • TTartisan 25mm f2
  • Rokinon 7.5mm f3.5 Fisheye
  • Rokinon 300mm f6.3 Mirror Lens
Canon EOS EF 50mm f/1.8 camera lens.
The not completely plastic fantastic. (2nd version)

Not the best system for low end options. Around $600-700 is where the world class glass starts to show up.

If you have specialty needs, there will be multiple options.

The price to performance of L lenses like the 85mm f1.2, 135mm f2, 28-70mm f2.8, and 70-200mm f2.8 are possibly the best available.

Lenses are easy to adapt to mirrorless camera systems. Lots of value if you don’t need blazing fast auto focus.

Canon EF (full frame) lenses under $100

Used lenses under $100:

  • Canon EF 50mm f1.8 STM
  • Canon EF 20-35mm f3.5-4.5
  • Canon EF 75-300mm f4-5.6 (Canon’s worst lens.)
  • Canon EF 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM
  • Canon EF 35-80mm f4-5.6 II
  • Canon EF 28-80mm f3.5-5.6 II
  • Tamron 28-300mm f3.5-6.3
  • Tamron 70-300mm f4-5.6

Canon did not support their APS-C cameras with a full lineup of lenses. The expectation was that people would buy full frame EF lenses.

The last Canon APS-C DSLR, the Canon EOS Rebel T8i/850D/Kiss X10i, was released in 2020.

Used Lenses Under $100:

  • Canon EF-S 24mm f2.8 STM (pancake lens)
  • Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6
  • Canon EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS

Arguably the best lens mount ever.

Nikon F-mount lens compatibility can be complicated. If you are using vintage 35mm film camera lenses, make sure you can identify “non-Ai” lenses. Nikon has an article about lens compatibility.

Used Lenses Under $100:

  • Nikon 50mm f1.8D (Requires a motor drive for AF)
  • Nikon 50mm f1.8G (No aperture ring)
  • Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f4-5.6G (Requires a motor drive for AF)
  • Nikon Nikkor AF 24-120mm f3.5-5.6D

Nikon made 21 DX lenses. There are 16 different focal lengths/ranges.

Full frame lenses can be used, but then why not use a full frame camera?

AF-P versions are not fully compatible with a bunch of bodies. Don’t worry, Nikon has a PDF compatibility chart.

Used Lenses Under $100:

  • Nikon Nikkor AF-S 35mm f1.8G DX
  • Nikon Nikkor AF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6G DX
  • Nikon Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm f4-5.6G DX
  • Nikon Nikkor AF-S 18-135mm f3.5-5.6

Great lenses at not great prices. There is a premium to pay because popularity is outpacing production.

Used Lenses Under $100:

  • Fujifilm Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6
  • 7artisans 35mm f1.2
  • 7artisans 7.5mm f2.8
  • TTartisan 35mm f1.4

There are no RF lenses available for less than $100. The least expensive lens would be the Canon RF 24-50mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM.

Canon does not allow third party manufacturers to produce lenses for the RF mount. This limits the options and makes lenses from Canon more expensive compared to open mounts.

These lenses are designed for cameras with APS-C sized sensors. I don’t understand why Canon bothered with the EF-M mount, which was also designed for APS-C sensors.

All 4 Lenses:

  • Canon RF-S 10-18mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM
  • Canon RF-S 55-210mm f5-7.1 IS STM
  • Canon RF-S 18-45mm f4.5-6.3 IS STM
  • Canon RF-S 18-150mm f3.5-6.3 IS STM

Canon produced 8 lenses for the mount. They use 43mm, 49mm, 52mm, or 55mm diameter filters.

No surprise, it was a short lived system with that kind of planning.

The crop factor is similar to the 1.6x of EF-S lenses.

All 8 Canon EF-M Lenses
Focal length Aperture range Introduced IS Filter size Weight
11–22 mm f4–5.6 2013 Yes 55 mm 220g
15–45 mm f3.5–6.3 2015 Yes 49 mm 130g
18–55 mm f3.5–5.6 2012 Yes 52 mm 210g
18–150 mm f3.5–6.3 2016 Yes 55 mm 300g
55–200 mm f4.5–6.3 2014 Yes 52 mm 260g
22 mm f2 2012 No 43 mm 105g
28 mm f3.5 2016 Yes 43 mm 130g
32 mm f1.4 2018 No 43 mm 235g

The system only lasted 7 years with 11 camera bodies and 13 lenses. There are more MFT lenses under $100 than that.

I view this as an enthusiast system. Work is going to have to be put in to find the more desirable lenses due to their limited supply.

All 13 Nikon 1 Lenses
Lens Price
1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 $100
1 Nikkor AW 10mm f/2.8 $250
1 Nikkor 18.5mm f/1.8 $125
1 Nikkor 32mm f/1.2 $500
1 Nikkor VR 6.7-13mm f/3.5-5.6 $350
1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 $100
1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom $100
1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 PD-Zoom $300
1 Nikkor VR 10-100mm f/4.0-5.6 $200
1 Nikkor 11–27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 $125
1 Nikkor AW 11–27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 $200
1 Nikkor VR 30-110mm f/3.8-5.6 $100
1 Nikkor VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 $600
Updated on 2024-10-24
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