Varifocals
by refracting light
Contact lenses work very similarly to glasses in terms of repairing vision. They are magnified lenses that enlarge everything in sight. Lenses are shaped to conform to the shape of your eyes. Once patients who wear them get comfortable wearing them, they shouldn't even notice they are in. Special lenses are made for those with irregularly shaped eyes (astigmatisms, toric lenses). These are supposed to fit better and not fall out or get irritated as often.
It just works!
It just works!
Concave lenses work by refraction of light.
Photochromatic lenses are commonly called transition lenses. The lens is clear, but when exposed to the sun's UV rays, they will darken like sunglasses.
No they do not. Transitions cannot be tinted because it will not be effective. However, Polarized lenses can be tinted darker.
The AF 'A' Mount Minolta lenses work on the Sony, also sigma and tamron do a range of lenses to fit Sony Alpha models.
Yes but older AF lenses that do not have an autofocus motor in them will not autofocus with the D5000.
A varifocal lens is a non-fixed focal length lens where the focus changes with focal length. This is in contrast to true zoom lenses, which retain correct focus throughout their focal length range. True zooms have a constant maximum aperture at all focal lengths (as in a 28-70mm f/2.8 lens), while varifocals have maximum apertures that increase (in number, but decrease is size!) as the focal length increases (as in a 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, which has a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at 28mm, that becomes smaller in size as the focal length increases until it reaches a value of f/5.6 at 70mm). Varifocals are easier to design and build than true zooms which explains their ubiquity in the camera market. Note that they are commonly, but erroneously, referred to as zoom lenses by users and manufacturers alike.
Information on how camera lenses work is available from many websites. Among them are Wikipedia, eHow, How Stuff Works, YouTube, Photo Technique, and ePhotozine.