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Message from discussion Question about SLR and zoom lenses

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From: "Mentalguy2k8" <Mentalguy...@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: alt.photography
References: <Cl64m.13448$zU6.5671@newsfe04.ams2> <s974m.52038$OO7.34571@text.news.virginmedia.com>
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Subject: Re: Question about SLR and zoom lenses
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"the Omrud" <usenet.om...@gEXPUNGEmail.com> wrote in message 
news:s974m.52038$OO7.34571@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> 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.

It was really just an example, as one of the cameras I was looking at came 
as a package with this lens as a 2nd lens here:

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/2895441/art/panasonic/lumix-dmc-g1-in-black-h-f.html

the standard lens also supplied is 14-45mm

>
>> 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:

Thanks for the advice, I'm just browsing at the moment, I usually do a 
Google on a particular model to see if I can get it cheaper elsewhere. I've 
decided to take photography more seriously as a hobby, I already have a digi 
camera with a 10x zoom, I'd be using a new one for scenery, wildlife etc., 
so I was interested to see how the SLR zoom factors compared to what I 
already have. If I wanted, say, better than 10x zoom, is there a rough way 
to find out which lens would offer this?

One last question, can I use a remote shutter release with all SLR's or is 
it model-specific? 


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