Question about SLR and zoom lenses - alt.photography

Message from discussion Question about SLR and zoom lenses
Path: g2news2.google.com!news3.google.com!feeder.news-service.com!cyclone01.ams2.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!pe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk!blueyonder!text.news.virginmedia.com!53ab2750!not-for-mail
From: the Omrud <usenet.om...@gEXPUNGEmail.com>
User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (Windows/20071031)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: alt.photography
Subject: Re: Question about SLR and zoom lenses
References: <Cl64m.13448$zU6.5671@newsfe04.ams2>
In-Reply-To: <Cl64m.13448$zU6.5671@newsfe04.ams2>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Lines: 46
Message-ID: <s974m.52038$OO7.34571@text.news.virginmedia.com>
Date: Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:28:24 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: 81.99.32.225
X-Complaints-To: http://netreport.virginmedia.com
X-Trace: text.news.virginmedia.com 1246822104 81.99.32.225 (Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:28:24 BST)
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:28:24 BST

Mentalguy2k8 wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm looking to buy a mid-range SLR digital camera, are there any 
> pitfalls I should be aware of?

Many, I'm afraid.  It's not easy to know where to start.

> Also, I'm looking at zoom lenses to go with it, how do I work out what 
> magnification they are, eg 5x, 10x etc? For instance, this lens:
> http://shop.panasonic.co.uk/invt/hfs045200e
> 
> says "90 to 400 mm (35 mm equivalent)" and "Maximum magnification: 
> Approx. 0.19x / 0.38x (35mm film camera equivalent)".

SLR users don't tend to talk about 5x, etc, especially those of us who 
have been taking photos since the 1950s.  What's interesting are the two 
numbers of the zoom, e.g. 35 to 135, 90 to 400, etc.

50/55mm  is 1:1 real-life size.  So your lens above is a zoom, from 
medium long to very long, a little more than 4x zoom range.  To confuse 
matters, many mid-range digital SLR cameras have sensors smaller than an 
original 35mm film frame, so the magnification of any lens is different 
from when you use it on a "full frame sensor" camera.  If you need to 
know why, you should read up on focal length, e.g.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_length.

Why did you choose this lens?  Would you never want to use a wide-angle 
lens, as if you only have one like this, you wouldn't be able to.

> Can anyone tell me what this equates to? I'd preferably prefer to buy 
> a camera package with a separate zoom lens, any recommendations for 
> decent UK-based sites or shops? I'm currently looking at the Pixmania site.

Pixmania will deliver at a good price, but I have heard that they are 
not as friendly as some if anything happens to go wrong.  I tend to use 
Amazon if they have what I want.  Here's your lens:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-H-fs045200e-Lumix-45-200mm-F4-5-6/dp/B001KVE6TE/

Jessops is well established, but the shops have gone right downhill 
since the 80s, unless you happen to live near one of their large stores 
such as the one in Manchester.

-- 
David