tele and wide?

[patthebaker17]

ok im looking for a good lens to get when i get a camera and i see this one EOS (SLR) Camera Systems - Standard Zoom - Standard Zoom Lens - EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS USM - Canon USA Consumer Products

it was wide and tele on the bottom, what does that mean?

 

[Overread14 2]

The wide description is refering to its performance at 17mm - the wide end of the lenses zoom range
The tele part is refering to the longer end of the lens - the 55mm end.

Because of the nature of many zoom lenses the performance at different ends can vary - on the high end ones its not by very much at all - on low end ones its more noticable (often the tele end is the weaker). I have no experience of the lens though so can't comment on that specifically

 

[Big Mike]

Don't pay much attention to the catch words in a lens description. Look at the numbers.

That is a very high quality lens, by the way.