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Lens Difference

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 6:45 pm
by beej
Hi all,

Sorry for the stupid question, but is there any difference between a Telephoto Lens and a Zoom Lens?

Cheers

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 7:04 pm
by AlistairF
Hi beej, No question is ever too stupid, just that you have the courage to ask it.

A telephoto lens has a fixed magnification while a zoom lens can be adjusted in and out to vary its magnification.

Alistair

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 7:17 pm
by beej
Makes sense,

Thanks Alistair.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:43 pm
by sirhc55
AlistairF wrote:Hi beej, No question is ever too stupid, just that you have the courage to ask it.

A telephoto lens has a fixed magnification while a zoom lens can be adjusted in and out to vary its magnification.

Alistair


Alistair is absolutely right beej but you will also notice that you can have wide angle zooms because, for example, the zoom might be 12-24. Conversley you can have telephoto zooms such as 200-400VR.

Chris

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:01 pm
by skippy
sirhc55 wrote:Conversley you can have telephoto zooms such as 200-400VR.

Chris

Can I? My birthday's soon! :D

Was just having a look at Maxwell's for the RRP of the VR lenses. Lucky I wasn't drinking at the time or I would have sprayed my monitor with some very fine Scotch. No, not wine - who wants to drink grape juice that's gone off? Much better to have some carefully prepared and well purified essence of barley, flavoured to perfection with a fine peat!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:08 pm
by sirhc55
skippy wrote:
sirhc55 wrote:Conversley you can have telephoto zooms such as 200-400VR.

Chris

Can I? My birthday's soon! :D

Was just having a look at Maxwell's for the RRP of the VR lenses. Lucky I wasn't drinking at the time or I would have sprayed my monitor with some very fine Scotch. No, not wine - who wants to drink grape juice that's gone off? Much better to have some carefully prepared and well purified essence of barley, flavoured to perfection with a fine peat!


Isle of Islay single malt I hope

Chris

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:19 pm
by skippy
Mindreader!

A friend at work had someone come back from the UK with a special edition Lagavulin that I get to sample. Will be added to my collection of 'normal' Lagavulin, Laphroig and Ardbeg.

The Speysides have a certain charm though. Tried the Aberlour a'bunadh?

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:34 pm
by sirhc55
skippy wrote:Mindreader!

A friend at work had someone come back from the UK with a special edition Lagavulin that I get to sample. Will be added to my collection of 'normal' Lagavulin, Laphroig and Ardbeg.

The Speysides have a certain charm though. Tried the Aberlour a'bunadh?


Skippy - no I have not tried the Aberlour a'bunadh. I just love the peat taste of the Islay malts. I made Laphroig my favourite for about 15 years - I even bought a couple of cut crystal glasses especially for my own use. In fact those glasses were so special that when my last lady came to live with me I said everything I had was hers except for the glasses! She left me.

Chris

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:56 pm
by skippy
sirhc55 wrote:In fact those glasses were so special that when my last lady came to live with me I said everything I had was hers except for the glasses! She left me.

Chris

What on earth for? :shock: Just shows she had a tenuous hold on reality!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:42 pm
by wile_E
Do those whiskeys go well with Coke??

:twisted:

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:49 pm
by skippy
Aahhh!

Sorry, but heresy on the forum should get you blacklisted. Moderator? :P :twisted:

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:16 pm
by MHD
It is all really a matter of definition and is based on the 35mm film standard (so is slightly off for the 2/3 of 35mm standard for the D70)

Standard, Aprox equal to 50mm: This lens, when put on a 35mm SLR camera has about the same angular view as the human eye.

Wide angle, less than 50mm: Has a wider angle of view than the human eye, when you look through the view finder the image apears smaller than when viewed with the unaided eye. Wide angle lenses are usefull for landscapes, crowds etc...

Telephoto, greater than 50mm: Has a narrower angle of view than the human eye, when you look through the view finder the image apeares magnified when compared to what is seen with the unaided eye... Good for shoulder and head portraits, Birds, sports, getting a safe distance away from action ;)

Now a zoom lens can cover a range of categories, or might only cover one (ie be a very specific lens)

For example, suprise suprise, the kit lens goes from wide angle, at 18mm, through normal at 50mm, out to telephoto at 80mm. Another example would be the very large telephoto zoom the birddog owns which goes from 200-400mm (telephoto to super telephoto)

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:28 pm
by lejazzcat
MHD wrote:Standard, Aprox equal to 50mm: This lens, when put on a 35mm SLR camera has about the same angular view as the human eye.


Apparently women have a much wider angle of focus than men .
Men, notoriously have a tunnel vision, and hence have to eye a women up and down to "check her out".
Women can hold your gaze, and still be checking out your package! :)

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:37 pm
by skippy
Naahhh, we just concentrate more on what we're doing. :D

PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 11:46 pm
by beej
Thanks MHD. That helped.

Now i just need to get my hands on one of those 200-400VR zooms or a fine bottle of scotch.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 6:30 am
by gstark
skippy wrote:Aahhh!

Sorry, but heresy on the forum should get you blacklisted. Moderator? :P :twisted:


Isn't whiskey spelled with that "e" in there anyway? :)

PostPosted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 6:32 am
by gstark
beej wrote:Thanks MHD. That helped.

Now i just need to get my hands on one of those 200-400VR zooms or a fine bottle of scotch.


Come down to Birddog's this morning, and you can do both.

Welcome to the forums, Beej.