Sites I like - Lenshero.com

I wanted to talk about and review a site that I ran across called Lenshero.com. Since I am a big fan of sites that keep things simple and to the point I wanted to share this little gem with everyone. The three main things that I took away from this site were simplicity, usability and info, info, info!!!

Lets talk about the simplicity of the site real quick. I say real quick since the very term "simplicity" speaks for its self. The site does one thing... help find and compare lenses. Thats it! There is a ton of info on the site, but it is not bogged down with flash animations, random ads, or any other distracting fluff. Heck there is only 2 steps involved in the process of finding lenses. So, of all the features that I am going to talk about simplicity is just that.. straight up simplicity.

At the bottom of the main page you are also provided a ton of other option for searching and finding lenses.

Next is usability. Partnering with the simplicity factor the usability keeps the "finding" part easy and fast. Enter your camera body and budget then pick the lens type you are after. Once that base information is entered you will be presented with a list of lenses and loads of info. At a glance you are given an image of the lens, a price, and features of that lens. Clicking on the lens name will take you to a page with more in-depth coverage of the lens including reviews, compatibility, pros & cons, and a more info rich description of the features. Talk about having everything in one place. Back on the page with all the lenses listed you can also change your search info quickly using the sidebar on the left. Remember the theme here is simple, but effective.

One of the best little features on the site is the info panes. Next to all lens features is a little "i" icon. Clicking on that little icon will load up a window that offers a definition of what that feature is and also, in some cases like vibration control, offers the different meanings from the different lens manufacturers.

The last topic that needs to be covered is the information provided by this site. I can speak from experience that lens shopping is daunting and you want to make sure that your hard earned money is being invested wisely into a lens that does what you need. It can be hard justifying the price of a lens when you don't have anything else to compare it to or even know what other lenses or manufactures exist. On top of that, each manufacturer has different names and abbreviations for features in their product that generally do not match up with other manufacturers. In the image above you can see there are 7 different ways of saying image stabilization for a lens.

Another handy feature of the site are the graphics provided that show the angle of view for a lens and how it compares between a full frame camera and one with a crop sensor. I have had to explain why you get a different crop from a Nikon D200 and D700 numerous times and it generally take 5-10 minutes to make sense out of the whole thing. Now I can simply load up the lens, click to see the more detailed info page, and point to the screen like a monkey and watch as they understand the concept without me even speaking a word.

Having all the information for each lens provided to you in a organized layout, and having the ability to decode the language of the lens manufacturers all packaged up nicely in one place is definitely a WIN in my book. Before I finish up let me offer a coupe real world examples at why this site is going to save a lot of time and effort.

First off, I am part of a photo group. We have 100+ members and we have a varying range of camera brands and models. Since we get together and shoot a lot, one of the questions that always comes up is "how'd ya get that shot?" I explain how I got it, but then the discussion turns to "OOH, so I want a lens like that.. I'll add it to my list of lens.. how much did it cost?" The cost of the lens then causes either a moment of silence or a "deer in headlight" effect. This is the point where I will explain that you don't have to have my exact lens to create a similar effect and that many other lenses can offer similar results. This is where sending the person to lenshero.com will save a lot of headache for everyone involved.

The other use for this site will be more of a time saving one. Rather then wasting time digging through the manufacturers site or online retail sites to find a snippit of info on a lens I can now go to or suggest others go to lenshero.com right away.

So there you have it. I can't wait to see how the site grows and what other features they might add. I could see the usefulness of a wish list option for saving lenses that you find and might want to purchase in the future. I also think an iPhone app might make some sense as well. Being able to have all this info at your beck and call is a very useful thing.