According to the American colour standard ANSI, the colour restoration of photographic lenses is discussed in this paper. The effect of light absorption of lens glasses on the eolour balance is pointed out and the function of anti-reflection coating to the improvement of colour restoration characteristics of lenses is analysed in detail. The colour contribution of various kinds of anti-reflection coating is calculated also. The design, calculation and results of anti-reflection coatings for a 10 x zoom lens have been given. The result shows that if the anti-reflection coatings is chosen reasonably, the transmittance and colour restoration characteristics of lenses both can be improved greatly.