This is pretty much how I use zooms. I think of them as primes that I can switch quickly. So the two best uses for me are when I am unable to move around (theatre, concert, some portions of weddings) or when I don't have time to switch lenses (some sports, some wedding stuff). They are also handy when trying to take a small kit and cover the ranges you need.
That being said, I am picky about my zooms - they have to have excellent optical quality. I originally picked up the DA 16-45 because my FA*24/2 wasn't good enough on the D for shooting family portraits. I haven't seen a prime 24 that is any better than the 16-45 at that focal length available in Pentax mount. -- Best regards, Bruce Thursday, March 24, 2005, 5:08:17 AM, you wrote: PS> My experience with the DA 16-45 suggests that the distortion of a good PS> zoom is comparable to that of a prime. I had very little previous PS> experience with zooms in thirty years of photography, but I'm beginning PS> to appreciate them for certain situations. To me, the question of PS> whether to zoom or move in or out depends on the perspective I want to PS> achieve. If I'm doing a walkaround and hoping for an undistorted people PS> pic, I'll usually go right to 45mm and position myself for the framing PS> I want. If I'm sitting in a restauratnt and merely want to capture more PS> of a room, I'll go wider as necessary. Shooting up at a skyscraper, I PS> might want to achieve wide angle perspective, so I'd position myself PS> accordingly. In other words, zooms should be used, the same way primes PS> are used. Decide what you want to shoot, pick the right focal length PS> for the job, and choose your camera position. The order of those PS> choices may vary for different subjects and circumstances. PS> Paul PS> On Mar 24, 2005, at 7:13 AM, Shel Belinkoff wrote: >> OK, with all the discussion about zooms here these past months, I got >> to >> thinking about how such a lens is used. >> >> It seems that if you are standing at a certain spot and want to fill >> the >> frame with the subject, you'd use the zoom feature to do so. But, is >> the >> perspective the same as if you used a shorter focal length prime lens >> and >> moved closer to the subject, assuming that in both cases the subject >> fills >> the frame to the same degree. >> >> Zooms (from my limited experience) seem to have more distortion at the >> wider and longer ends of their focal range compared to primes of a >> similar >> focal length. Is that a generally fair statement? >> >> >> Shel >> >>
