Well, your list of photo credits is certainly impressive to me. I'm just a guy in medical school who enjoys photography as a hobby. I've never sold a photograph, nor do I intend to. However, the point I was trying to get across is that optics is a field of diminishing returns (quality vs. money and size), and oftentimes we will attempt to judge a product by asking it to perform a task which it clearly wasn't designed to do. It's pretty well known (even to such neophytes as myself) that even the best of zooms cannot perform as well at their minimum/maximum focal lengths and aperatures as they will in their middle ranges. It's also pretty well known that a quality zoom can't approach the quality of a prime lens. But, zooms are convenient and require less of an effort than changing lenses or carrying enormous amounts of gear around. Conlusion? Don't expect a zoom to perform like a prime and don't expect any lens to be perfect in every situation. Do expect Nikon's engineering staff to make compromises in a 2x zoom, and expect those compromises at the limits of the lens. This is why Nikon continues to make primes. A Final Thought - Posting your resume to backup your blue-sky lens test and attempt to denigrate another list-member's comments (mine) was tactless and out of place. Eric Edelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.edelmans.org Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 11:48:11 -0500 From: William Cornett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Eric wrote that in response to my testing procedure for the 80-200 f 2.8, and he brings up a very good point, albeit not the one he may have intended. One should always consider the source when judging advice, and I haven't been on the list long enough for people to have a handle on my qualifications, so this it may be a good time. Now, I am far from being the world's greatest expert on photography, but I have been in the business a little. Here are just a few of the things in my background that might be relevant: (Long, impressive list of photography credentials deleted for brevity.) I'm also a volunteer emergency medical technician, Eric, if you need any help with that bullet hole in your foot... - -BC-
