As in most cases, Shel, I agree with your analysis. However, I'm not sure that I understand your reasoning as to why a prime should be deemed better for street shooting than a zoom other than perhaps its size and weight could give it some advantage over a larger zoom. On my MZ-S the AF zooms I use are extremely easy to use and, in my opinion, add to street shooting since they allow me to approach some subjects even closer than I could with a prime without getting into their personal space. I will admit, however, that that big, 77mm "eye" pointed at someone can be somewhat intimidating and hard to disguise. I'm heading to Italy in two weeks and plan on taking nothing by my 28-70 and 20-35. I'll see what happens.
As to enlargement size, I regularly go to 11x14 and frequently 16x20 and am very pleased with what I get in return. Poster size or larger? That's when I start thinking view camera and then, of course, primes are the only way to go (unless I've missed the fact that Rodenstock now makes a great zoom with a Copal shutter). Photo manipulation? Don't do it, never have, never will. (Oops! Never say never. I'm real interested in that new Canon FS4000US scanner B&H is selling for $874 right now). As to the varifocal issue, with today's AF capabilities even on the most basic cameras, the time it takes to compose, focus, zoom, re-focus with a zoom lens generally should always be far faster than compose, focus, CHANGE LENS, re-compose, re-focus with a prime. However, since speed isn't the real issue here, you are correct in your definition of a true zoom lens and the accompanying issue of having to re-focus at varying focal lengths. I can't speak for others but with my various Tokina's this hasn't been a problem since they respond extremely fast, especially on the MZ-S. WELL, since it appears that I'm the only one on this end of the pool, I guess it's time for me and my zooms to slink off into the corner and play another game of FreeCell. Dave BTW, Shel - I don't care what anybody says, I don't think you look anything like Hannibal Lecter. I was thinking more along the lines of Abby Hoffman, but, of course, that's just my opinion! -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Shel Belinkoff Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 4:40 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Only using my prime lenses - I promise Well, all this prime v zoom stuff is useless without consideration of the type of photography that's involved. For fast street shooting, a prime wins. For static subjects it can be argued that either is fine. For portraits a zoom can be a wonderful tool. And then we have to consider how the final photo ends up. Will it be a smallish family snap sitting in a 5x7 frame on someone's desk, or will the photo be used in an exhibition at a size large enough to make any small error or quality difference quite noticeable, or will the photographer manipulate the hell out of the negative with photo editing software. Unlike David, I do not believe that a zoom will match a prime in quality except, perhaps, at certain focal lengths or apertures, but certainly not over the entire range. And then, let's define what a "zoom" lens is. My understanding is that when focused one can use the full range of focal lengths without having to refocus. That's a true zoom. Most "zoom" lenses on the market these days are variable focal length lenses, and are extremely slow to use because when moving from one focal length to another, the lens must be refocused in order to maintain critical sharpness. Maintaining sharpness and critical focus with a heavy, slow lens is, for most people, a difficult task - certainly not as easy as with a smaller, lighter, faster, prime lens. So, whether one is better than the other really depends on many variables. David Hatfield wrote: > You may be right on the B&W issue. I don't shoot that much 35mm B&W though > I do shoot some and haven't noticed any particularly glaring problems with > the various 400 speed B&W films I shoot with my zooms. -- Shel Belinkoff mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/pow/enter_pow.html - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
