[rollei_list] Re: OT / prove it !
- From: Marc James Small <msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 15:15:39 -0500
At 08:15 AM 3/31/05 -0800, Peter K. wrote:
>Marc,
>
>Tell that to the thousands of PJs and Pros who are using zooms. And
>for the record, the new zooms are every bit as good as many fixed
>focal lengths.
>Again, YOU may feel otherwise, but you do not use your cameras
>professionally now do you? So the 50mm may suit your needs.
Hmm.
Most professional photographers are either photo-journalists, for whom zoom
lenses are now the norm, or wedding photographers. PJ's are not interested
in producing more than a small image for inclusion in a newspaper or
magazine, for the most part, so the loss of quality in a zoom lens is not
an issue. And I have yet to meet a wedding photographer who uses a zoom
lens regularly, though I do know a few who own them. Again, horses for
courses: if you know the quality of picture you need to produce, then a
zoom lens might well be a capable tool for restricted images. Technical and
product photographers do not use zooms regularly, and architectural and
landscape photographers do not, as well. (For that matter, Rollei still
produces photogrammetric versions of its SL 3003 and Rollei 35 cameras --
but not a zoom is offered with the 3003.)
Despite the many claims to the contrary, no zoom lens ever built truly
equals the optical ability of a prime lens, though many now come VERY
close. (For instance, when you cut through the advertising goobledegook
Zeiss spews forth and read their technical literature, this difference in
quality is pretty clear.)
And, yes, I do an occasional professional shoot. I have produced a couple
of CD covers and a bunch of jazz shots. I have even shot some weddings
professionally, once with a Leica IIIc and once with a Rolleiflex 3.5E,
though I have used either Leica M's or Hasselblads for the others.
In the end, zooms are perfectly acceptable for average-quality prints of a
limited size: I have one on my Rollei d41com, for instance, but I have
never tried to get a print larger than about 16" by 20" (actually, an 8" by
10" priont with a cropped portion of the entire image.) And I do own one
of those magnificent Zoomar 4/50-125 zooms, a truly capable 35mm lens.
Marc
msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx=20
Cha robh b=E0s fir gun ghr=E0s fir!
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