Explain camera lenses please?

I'm going to be buying a nikon d60 and it comes with a 18-55mm VR lens. I'm of course a beginner and this will be my first camera, what does that lens mean and what will it do the the photograph?

The 18-55 mm lens covers just about most of what beginning photographers shoot

Landscapes (at 18 mm), group shots (18-24 mm range) and head and shoulder portrait shots (55 mm)

Later you can explore other focal lengths, longer (55-300 mm) if you want to shoot wildlife or shorter (10-24 mm) if you like shooting dramatic landscapes

Enjoy your new camera

18-55mm is the focal length. You can think of it as the angle of view the lens is going to give you. The shorter the focal length, the wider angle of view you're going to get, and the longer the focal length, the narrower the field of view.

The 18-55mm lens is a zoom lens, meaning you can zoom from the 18mm focal length all the way to the 55mm focal length. This range is useful for many subjects, including landscape, architecture, macro, and portraits. However, since 55mm is relatively short, don't expect to zoom in far to capture photos from far away. To find the zoom of any zoom lens, divide the largest number by the smallest; so in this case here its 55/18, which is roughly a 3x zoom.

VR stands for vibration reduction. It's what Nikon calls their optical stabalisation system. It helps by reducing camera shake in lower light settings, helping you get sharper pictures in these situations (provided that the subject itself isn't moving around).

While there are lots of letters and numbers associated with a lens, the three that a beginner needs to learn first are: aperture, focal length, and VR. What you didn't include was the aperture of your lens, assuming that it is the kit lens, the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens.

18-55mm are the focal lengths of this zoom lens. 18mm (zoom out) will give you a wide view of your subject. When you zoom in, 55mm, it will give a narrower view but at a distance.

f/3.5-f.6 are the widest apertures at the respective focal lengths.f/3.5 at 18mm, f/5.6 at 55mm. This is the widest that the aperture will go at the respective focal lengths. You will be able to adjust them smaller, e.g., f/22, if so desired. Aperture controls the amount of light that goes to your sensor and also varies the depth of field.

VR stands for Vibration Reduction. There are sensors in the lens that detect the movement of the lens, like when your hands shake. The VR system then counters the movement to give you a sharp picture.

You might want to read the aperture and focal length sections of this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...amera_lens

The rest of the letters might be of interest in the future.

That's a standard lens that comes with most Digital SLR cameras; Canon and Nikon. Set the camera to "automatic mode". Be sure the slide switch on the lens is set to Auto (AF=auto focus, MF=Manual Focus). Push the shutter release half way down. The lens will focus. Push it all the way down to take the pic. Press gently, and continuously, until you take the pic. This way you avoid moving the camera, and causing a blurred pictured.

Get use to the lens. Take some ppl standing, sitting. Get close to a flower (it may move). Experiment and find out what the lens will do.

a 50 or 55mm lens is considered standard.a 150 would bring subjects 3 time closer than the standard. A 75-300mm zoom would bring it 1.5 to 6 times closer depending on where you set the lens. Lenses will vary in price, depending on the quality of the glass, the number of elements in the lense, whether it IS (Image stabilized).

Grab a magazine or book in Barnes & Noble and sit and read. If you're fortuanate enough to know an experienced photographer, ask him to sit and talk with you for a short while. Have a topic in mind. Lenses.

All the answers so far are correct. But, since one picture says more than a thousand words This tool: http://imaging.nikon.com/...simulator/ helps to visualize what that lens does. The d60 is a dx body