Numerous number off-the-shelf optical lenses and lens components are available for use in the design of new optical systems. But there isn’t a clear methodology on how effective there are in a real optical instrument. The reason for this is that the most common way to use off-the-shelf optical components is in metrology test stands. There is no volume restriction and off-the-shelf lenses work with low numerical apertures, field angles, and small field sizes. For this working condition, image quality is good due to small aberration. The other case is if those components will be used in real manufactured optical systems. Here lens effectiveness plays a more important role and an optimal optical system structure need to be found. In this article new method of evaluation of any lens optical components will be introduced. In other words, this method will provide a measure of the effectiveness of lens components. This method was developed for single lenses, cemented doublets, and triplets. For this approach, the new optical parameter which simultaneously includes the glass refraction index and Abbe number will be proposed. The combination of refractive index and Abbe number allow evaluation level of mono and chromatic lens aberration thru one parameter. Comparisons of wave aberration (optical path difference-OPD) for different off-the-shelf lenses and lens components will be present for all cases. In conclusion, OPD results for various optical lenses and components will be discussed.