When I buy a camera I usealy get the lens the sales guy recomends, not the cheapo, but nothing fancy. But now I need a 2/3 inch lens for an old dxc camera we use for IMAG gigs. I need a lens that is just a little longer than the one we have( i think it is a 18x), but I have no idea what YJ20x8.5BKRS means. Can some one explain me what all the numbers and lettes mean so I can compare lenses?

I am thinking about these lens

http://cgi.ebay.com/Canon-J13X9B4-13X-Professional-Broadcast-Lens-w-2X-Ext_W0QQitemZ190196958379QQihZ009QQcategoryZ3319QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fujinon-AT-2x-with-Sony-bayonet-mount_W0QQitemZ260211179982QQihZ016QQcategoryZ21165QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

There's a table for all the characters in the model numbers on the canon site:
http://www.canon.com/bctv/products/lens_no.html

So, the YJ20x8.5BKRS is a Pro-Video Lens for 2/3", 20x zoom, 8.5mm-170mm, with optical adjustment, no extender, zoom:servo, focus:manual, iris servo control. However I'm not sure if the "B" really stands for the optical adjustment thing because it's named YJ20x8.5B KRS (with a space between B and KRS), and I have no idea what exactly "optical adjustment" would stand for

You don't know how long your 18x lens is unless you know where it starts. If it's a 10mm then it's 180mm in full zoom and therefore it's longer than the 8.5mm 20x. Standard lenses are usually 9mm, but there are 10mm and even 8.5mm that can still be called "standard". The trend for most modern eng lenses is a wide-angled 7.5mm because eng usually needs every millimeter of wide-angle. I never used a 7.5mm, but a friend of mine has a 7mm and it's a very sweet wide angle (you can't call that "standard" anymore)