Ever notice how something we take for granted, assume to be the natural way or
order of things, was really a result of
things in the past that aren't necessarily true today?
There's certainly a lot of that going on with photo equipment recently. Used to
be we had two basic lens models, fixed
and interchangeable and a few different viewfinder models, primarily variations
of view camera (Liveview!), TLR, SLR
and optical finder, with or without rangefinder.
The model since the beginning of photography has been that to change image
magnification and/or perspective, you changed
subject distance and/or focal length, either by changing lenses or adjusting a
zoom lens.
µ4/3, with LCD only or EVF, Sony SLTs and the Ricoh GXR with interchangeable
lens/sensor modules have all challenged
things as they were.
The Ricoh GXR mostly follows the paradigm of interchangeable lenses. By
replacing much of what has traditionally been
part of the camera when changing lenses, it hints at something different.
So what about taking the next step, switching cameras, instead of lenses? I'm
not ready to try that with big cameras -
yet. But what about compacts?
My odyssey with compact, fixed lens cameras, started with a 1.9 MP camera with
a fabulous zoom range of 35-70 mm eq
(shades of the first Zuiko zoom), ran up through 3x, then to 6x, 35-210 mm
zoom, and now the G11, 28-140 mm. I love the
G11. All cameras are compromises of one sort or another, and the G11 is a great
one.
Still, I've always had a bit of a 'tele eye'. I reveled in the multiplier
effect of the APS size sensor of my first
DSLR. The 300 mm long end of my zoom was like a 480 mm zoom on 35 mm film, but
without the size, weight and cost
penalties. Even the 210 mm eq. of the A650 sometimes left me wishing for more
reach. I'd see potential images, but not
be able to realize them.
While the 28 mm short end of the G11 is a wonderful improvement, the 140 mm
long end leaves me feeling constrained on
enough occasions to be irritating. I've toyed with auxiliary lenses on my Canon
compacts with means to attach them. but
they are really awkward to carry and use and big and heavy enough that I really
haven't used them.
So why not try a different kind of trade-off, carrying a second camera that's
smaller and lighter than aux. lenses, yet
has a much longer zoom? The big trade-off will be IQ, but how bad will it be,
really. Better I bet than a crop of the
same AOV from the G11, with or without aux. lens.
On 7/2/2010 4:03 PM, Moose wrote:
> ... Today, I have a Samsung HZ35w in a shopping cart while I contemplate
> further how and how much I might really use it.
When I finally went to pull the trigger, the HZ35w seemed to have already come
and gone, not in stock anywhere. However,
that's just the North America name, and the same rose by the name WB650 is
still available, with world-wide warranty.
And I now have one. I haven't yet gone out with a camera on each hip, but have
done some fairly extensive practical
testing of the WB650.
24-360 mm in one small package! More in the next post.
--
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