I just bought a 50-200mm lens for my camera. What exactly did I get? What does the 50-200mm mean?

Here is a mini-tutorial I made myself to compare focal lengths. This is NOT a lens test or a camera test! It is merely intended to show the difference between various focal lengths. The camera was a Nikon D200 and the lens was the Nikon 18-200 VR lens. There is further explanation on the image itself. It would help if you click on "All Sizes" above the image.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7189769@N04...

Your lens will zoom from the size shown in the 50 mm frame to the 200 mm frame. Assuming (dangerous) that you have a digital camera, look at the ACTUAL focal length (the number on the left of each frame) and not the "equivalent" focal length.

There's your answer. :-)

If you have a digital camera, this lens will give you a moderate telephoto look (50mm) to a telephoto look (200mm). That means that the larger the focal length the closer the scene will seem to you when you look at it through the viewfinder. And as the scene appears closer, you will see less of it in the viewfinder. This might sound complicated, but just put on the lens and dial through the zoom range and you'll immediately see what I'm talking about.

I hope you enjoy your new lens!

Since you bought the lens I'm guessing that you have a SLR. The 50-200mm is the focal length that you get.
at 50mm it's about a 2x zoom and at 200mm it is at about 8x zoom.
I could give more details but all you put was that you got a 50-200mm lens.