How to tell a quality lens for new comers

[Tannin]

One thing to watch out for, Carly, is that the document you linked to is pretty old now - indeed, a real trip down memory lane, with quite a few now-discontinued models and missing quite a few of the nhewer ones. But for your purpose - getting to know the overall categories - it's just fine. After all, and ultra-wide is atill and ultra-wide, an portrait lens is still a portrait lens, and so on.

Edit: at Tannin's typing is still Tannin's typing. Or possibly worse. Sigh

Edit edit: And Tannin's typing is .... (etc.)