# How are expensive camera lenses better?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-expensive-camera-lenses-better/565889>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 30, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-expensive-camera-lenses-better/565889 "2010-12-30T23:36:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-expensive-camera-lenses-better/565889/21 "2011-01-03T14:48:30Z")

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Not quite camera lenses - but my outdoor shop (Lauche & Maas) has the habit of writing nice little essays to explain why the three-star item costs thrice as much as the one-star item, but gives so much better value, and they explain why a good telescope costs several hundred Euros instead of 20 with sharpness and low-light: looking at a fence-post in twilight, a good lens will show a sharp line and lots of light, the cheap glass will show a blurry line in low light.

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