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From: keesan@bbncca.ARPA (Morris M. Keesan)
Newsgroups: net.rec.photo
Subject: Re: Wide-Angle Zoom lenses
Message-ID: <1284@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 23-Jan-85 18:43:06 EST
Article-I.D.: bbncca.1284
Posted: Wed Jan 23 18:43:06 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Jan-85 08:26:41 EST
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Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
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From: prophet@umcp-cs.UUCP (Dennis Gibbs)
Subject: Wide-Angle Zoom lenses

>Recently in this newsgroup I posted a request for information about the Canon
>28mm f2.0 wide-angle lens.  I have received several replies on this lens, all
>of them positive.  Recently, however, I became aware that Canon  also  has  a
>wide-angle zoom lens that zooms from 24mm to 35mm, and it is  an  'L'  series
>lens, f3.5.  . . .  So it
>seems I must make a decision as to whether to get the 28mm lens or the  24-35
>mm zoom.  Are there any other tradeoffs other than a possible loss of  sharp-
>ness?  I am willing to make that tradeoff for the convenience of a zoom. Does
>anyone have any other suggestions for wide-angle lenses?

    Well, the obvious tradeoff is the difference in speed.  The decision
depends on how you plan to use the lens.  I have a Minolta 24-35mm zoom (f3.5)
that I've been using, and I'm about to buy a 28mm f2.0 [haven't decided among
the Minolta, Vivitar, and Kiron -- I suspect I'll probably buy the Kiron, since
their quality seems to be a little better than Vivitar, generally, and both are
a LOT cheaper than the Minolta] because the zoom doesn't fill the requirements
I have for my major use of a wide angle.  I do a lot of indoor available light
shooting in what could better be described as "available darkness", and even
with the recent collection of superfast films, f3.5 isn't fast enough, and the
zoom feature itself is actually a drawback to convenience, since I have that
much more to keep track of.  I'll probably keep the zoom for use as an outdoor
lens, but it just doesn't hack it for indoor work.  If most of your shooting is
outdoors, then go with the zoom.  If you do a lot of indoor work with flash,
you'll probably want the zoom, too, but try it in the store in typical dark
conditions, and make sure you can see okay through the viewfinder.

    One good thing about the zoom -- I bought mine because I knew I wanted a
fast fixed-focal-length wide angle lens, but wasn't sure what focal length.  I
got the zoom in order to play with focal lengths, and thereby discovered that
I was mostly using it at around 28mm, which helped me to decide that's what I
should get.  If you're similarly undecided, you might consider getting the zoom
and then possibly trading it in on a fixed-length lens.
-- 
			    Morris M. Keesan
			    {decvax,linus,ihnp4,wivax,wjh12,ima}!bbncca!keesan
			    keesan @ BBN-UNIX.ARPA