[pete-tarmigan]

This can be a bit out of topic, anyway... is there any difference between the terms lens and objective in common english? Or objective is used only as a technical word?

On binoculars, microscopes, or refractor telescopes the "objective lens" is the lens through which the image enters the device. The "ocular lens" is the one you bring to your eye in order to see the image.

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Last edited by pete-tarmigan; 02-05-2015 at 09:00 AM. Reason: additional information

Lenss = incorrect
Lens's = incorrect
Lenses or Lens' = correct

(Just in case anyone's tempted to try these )

Actually you are wrong in regard to lens's

Lens's and lens' are optional singular possessive forms. Which one you choose is a matter of style rather than grammar. Likewise, in German, a language far more rigorous than English in terms of grammar, you can choose between -s or -es in the case of most masculine and neuter singular possessive forms.

[hjoseph7]

I was on this site that would not let someone post if they had typos or misspellings. I kept getting caught for using the word "lenses" the correct British plural word is "lens" ?

[vonBaloney]

I was on this site that would not let someone post if they had typos or misspellings. I kept getting caught for using the word "lenses" the correct British plural word is "lens" ?

No way! "Lenses" is the plural, period!

[Dr Orloff]

It depends on which part of the country you come from. Some people have lens some lenses and some lens's. Just as some farmers have sheep, some sheeps and some sheepses. Isn't English wonderful.

No way! "Lenses" is the plural, period!

Maybe he used it as singular possessive, in which case it would be an error.

[Scintilla]

"Objective" isn't common at all, and I usually only see that on German-language sourced stuff or from German speakers. I hear optical nerds say that in technical discussions, but not photographers. Many would have no idea what it means.

So that's why my joke in the Australian newspaper thread fell flat.

[tim60]

Isn't there a scene in Hamlet where he's complaining about getting out "these damned spots" on his sensor or something?

Thou quoteth Lady Macbeth. "Who would have thought the old man had so much blood in him?"

[clackers]

At the dinner scene, Macbeth could see a dagger no one else could by stopping down to f22.

[Digitalis]

is this a dust bunny I see before me?

[jamarley]

opened this in a tab yesterday, but never got to it until today
my first thought was "cool, that's something that has annoyed my brain for ages, perhaps a kindred spirit lurks within!"
read it today - LOL funny
youz guyz are the best! (don't forget where I'm from )

All I can add is that's it just too bad Victor Borge isn't around to comment here. I just know he'd have been a Pentaxian, all the best people are!

[clackers]

All I can add is that's it just too bad Victor Borge isn't around to comment here. I just know he'd have been a Pentaxian, all the best people are!

And I think Shakespeare would have been a Pentaxian, too, Jamarley. Hamlet is such a morose self-flagellator.

He'd call himself DJ Will Shakes in this day and age.

[filoxophy]

I'm not a grammar Nazi (usually...), but seeing "lense" just makes me grate my teeth! (I'm not talking about non-native speakers; I would never criticize their grammar.) However, I see "lense" on craigslist as much as I see "lens". It drives me insane!

[RobA_Oz]

OK, OK. I read everything up to the point where it re-iterates lens's could be used. Just don't tell me that's the possessive form! Please?

All right, we won't, but you're bound to find out sometime or other…

[tim60]

So I checked in Nesfield and Wood and conclude:
Nominative, Singular, = lens
Vocative, Singular, = lens
Accusative, Singular, = lens
Dative, Singular, = lens
Genitive, Singular, = lens's
Nominative, Plural, = lenses
Vocative, Plural, = lenses
Accusative, Plural, = lenses
Dative, Plural, = lenses
Genitive, Plural, = lenses'


I am not a pedant. I went to school in the days of the start of the collapse of English teaching. I was taught about things like "two word verbs" because the teachers were not able/willing to name the proper terms, such as 'perfect tense'. I also remember one of my teachers at high school who said he foresaw a coming day of illiteracy which made him sad. He could recite large slabs of works such as Paradise Lost. Incidentally, his wife was a teacher at my primary school, and was the most feared of the teachers, she was strict and forced children to learn stuff. My English grammar improved noticeably when I had to learn Ancient Greek.