A very real issue I think. The focal lengths necessary to get a 21 to
24mm equivalent with a small sensor crop gets into what was
previously exotic lens territory. The extra effort to make them
relatively free of distortion and color aberration with digital
sensors at those focal lengths makes them either slow and big like
the wide zooms, or fast and huge like the single focal lengths. All
with exotic lens prices.
On the other side of the argument is that most of us are satisfied
with one good wide angle beyond the usual 25 to 28mm equiv. of the
zooms and the crop factor might serve to save you much money making a
fast, modest telephoto into an almost fast telephoto previously
unobtainable. Consider what happens to a modest 180/2.8. 360/2.8 on
an Oly or 288/2.8 on a Canon. Last time I checked a 300/2.8 was
nearly $5000. At the other end a 14/2.8 which is a 21 mm equivalent
on the more popular sensor size is about $1400, expensive but way
cheaper than an exotic telephoto if you ever think you will want one..
I don't think viewfinders are a big issue any more. There are plenty
of cameras with good ones and they are AF cameras after all.
Virtually all of them can have a screen with focusing aids installed
if you have a special need manual focusing in difficult situations
like macro. If you do frequently shoot with wide angle, I think you
will be pleasantly surprised with autofocus.
As for batteries, it is easy to carry a spare. Even back packers just
package up several spares that will last through their trip without a
charger. It is no worse, better in fact, that having to carry rolls
of film like we used too. And cameras vary. I would not have needed a
spare battery for a one week back packing trip with my D100. Probably
could do with 2 spares with the D200 for the same time period. Big
color LCDs and high MP use lots of battery power.
One thing you might consider is a camera with two LCDs. The black and
white one which holds the camera settings you need while you are
shooting uses hardly any battery power at all, and the color one can
just be turned on when you need the menu for something or to check an
exposure in a difficult situation. Just like shooting with a film
camera then. No chimping.
Winsor
Long Beach, California, USA
On Oct 12, 2006, at 4:22 PM, Jim Couch wrote:
> For me one other issue is the availability of wider angle lenses. I
> routinely shoot with wide angles, particularly in the 21 and 24mm
> range
> so it complicates life when contemplating the switch to digital.
> (unless
> one has the bucks for a full frame DSLR - which I don't!) The
> amount of
> choices of wide angle lenses with a 24-21mm equivalent are pretty
> limited. With the typical 'multiplication' factor of most DSLRs
> telephoto lenses are not a huge issue, but wide angles are. For me
> this
> has been one of the driving factors when contemplating digital. (the
> other two are viewfinders & battery life.)
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