Need Education On Lenses

[Lukka'sma]

I now have an SLR camera and I have a question about zoom lenses.
My compact digitals have a 3X zoom and the other is a 10X zoom. I don't quite understand how to judge the zoom on a SLR lense. Take a 28 - 300mm lenses for example and tell me how that would convert to the zoom if it were in a compact digital. Would it be 10X zoom, 20X zoom or more?
If I take 300mm. and convert it to inches I would end up with 11. something inches, so does that mean I can use a 300mm lense and bring the picture in to be as close as 11 inches? That seems so unlikely I'am confused.

[Jim Hall]

the number 28 300 etc is a measure of the focal length

your digital has a focal lentgh too, usually printed near the lens
so if your digital is 28 mm a 10x would be 280 mm

A normal perspective for a 35 mm is 50mm of focal length

i dont thimk you can convert focal lentgh to apprant close ness
well maybe you can but i have no idea

WHy do you need to know this? Not being a wiseguy it sounds like you are trying to do somethig trickey

[marko]

Jim is correct - we would need to know the focal length of the point and shoot because the 10X is 10 times that focal length.


For a 28-300mm lens the 28 side widens the view and the 300 side brings things closer. How close you can focus depends on how the lens is constructed. Best way to learn is to play though....but that 28-300mm lens should be very versatile.

hope that helped a bit...

What camera did you buy?

[Lukka'sma]

My reason for asking Jim isn't to try and confuse either myself or members, you just have to be patient with me as I am not in any way a photographer or even experienced with all these terms. Focal length even has me a bit miffed.
What I'm trying to get at is I want a far better zoom lense for the SLR than what I get with the Panasonic point and shoot. The Panasonic has the numbers 28mm wide written on the lense, so what would I buy for the SLR to get far more zoom than the 10X zoom I get with the Panasonic. Keeping in mind I don't alway want to carry a tripod.
I bought the Nikon D40, just an entry level but will do what I need it to do, also from everything I have read about it, the weight won't be a problem after two or three hours of wearing it on a hike. That was an important issue for me and the deciding factor as to what to buy.

[Lukka'sma]

Maybe I should add that this zoom lense will be used mainly for birding and wildlife, and as you probably know getting close to either can be somewhat of a challenge so most photographs will be taken from a considerable distance.

[Winston]

Lukkasmom! There is a women who shoots pictures of Falcons down in Buffalo....She used to post the most wonderful shots of the Peregrine's...anyway one day someone asked her what camera she was using and she said the NikonD40...and I dont really know if she had a special lens or not?? they were great pics...I used those pics into trying to talk my hubby into buying the Nikon...we have not yet...so let me know what you think of it...

Cindy

[CearaQC]

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/bes...life-lens.html

Did some Googling, and found that.

Wow the prices have come down on the digital SLRs a lot.

[Lukka'sma]

Originally Posted by Winston

Lukkasmom! There is a women who shoots pictures of Falcons down in Buffalo....She used to post the most wonderful shots of the Peregrine's...anyway one day someone asked her what camera she was using and she said the NikonD40...and I dont really know if she had a special lens or not?? they were great pics...I used those pics into trying to talk my hubby into buying the Nikon...we have not yet...so let me know what you think of it...
Cindy

Cindy so far I absolutely LOVE everything about it. I love the light weight of it, don't want to have to load up a pack mule just to carry all the equipment. Depends I guess on how seasoned you are in the photography world, me being on the not so seasoned side of things, this camera is perfect.

[Lukka'sma]

Originally Posted by CearaQC

http://www.digital-slr-guide.com/bes...life-lens.html

Did some Googling, and found that.

Wow the prices have come down on the digital SLRs a lot.

Thanks for that link, it was great

[Rick C]

Originally Posted by Lukka'sma

My reason for asking Jim isn't to try and confuse either myself or members, you just have to be patient with me as I am not in any way a photographer or even experienced with all these terms. Focal length even has me a bit miffed.
What I'm trying to get at is I want a far better zoom lense for the SLR than what I get with the Panasonic point and shoot. The Panasonic has the numbers 28mm wide written on the lense, so what would I buy for the SLR to get far more zoom than the 10X zoom I get with the Panasonic. Keeping in mind I don't alway want to carry a tripod.
I bought the Nikon D40, just an entry level but will do what I need it to do, also from everything I have read about it, the weight won't be a problem after two or three hours of wearing it on a hike. That was an important issue for me and the deciding factor as to what to buy.

If you have the Panasonic I think you have, then you probably have the focal length equivalent of 420 mm. The end of that focal length, however, can be fairly distorted and somewhat useless. Othewise a great camera if its the digital DMC Z20-FZ50 range of Panasonic.

The Nikor 300 mm probably has a real focal length of 450 mm.

The best lenses, and the most expensive, will have LESS glass in them AND a lower f-stop (IE: 2.8 as an example on a higher end long telephoto that might cost you up into the $1,500 area). As such, don't assume that just because a lense has 300 mm stapled on it that it's a good one.

Also, vibration reduction technology and auto focus technology are something you want.

The NIKON can be packaged with a 28-70 mm telephoto and a 70-300 mm (3.5 f-stop) telephoto, both with vibration reduction and auto focus. Those aren't the highest end lenses from NIKON but they're good enough probably for most things and of a decent enough quality to get started. Later, when you win the lottery, start adding some high-end stuff.

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

[Lukka'sma]

Thanks for the replies, I so appreciate all the help