"Martin Francis" wrote in message ...
"Karl Winkler" wrote in message
om...
Maybe I'm looking for a ghost... but it seems that Canon does not
really make a "normal" length zoom lens. Here's the quandry:
For a 4-lens setup along with two bodies (EOS 3 and EOS 10D), I have
been considering the following:
17-40mm f/4 L USM (very wide to normal)
??? (normal to short tele)
100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS USM (long tele)
100 f/2.8 Macro USM (macro and portrait)
In looking at reviews of the two potential choices for the "midrange"
zoom, neither seem to be all that great:
28-105 f/3.5-4.5 II USM
28-135 f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
I'd be willing to pay more if they had a really well-corrected L
series slightly faster zoom, say 28-105 f/2.8-4 L USM or even a
constant aperture 28-105 f/4 L USM...
Any idea why they don't? I know, most of you don't work for Canon and
can't speak for them. And the other option, a set of 2 or 3 prime
lenses is I suppose another possibility but seems counter-intuitive
for the setup I'm contemplating.
What part of having high quality optics at reasonable price and actually
moving instead of zooming is counterintuitive?
Perspective. Moving does not replace the ability to control
perspective.
Doesn't having overlapping
f/l range zooms seem counterintuitive to you?
The only overlap in my proposed setup is the 40mm upper limit and 28mm
lower limit for the "wide" and "normal" zooms. That's not much of an
overlap.
Pretty much the only thing missing from your setup is a 50mm.
I've owned 50mm lenses and although they are (or at least can be)
optically superior to zooms, I often feel like I need something just a
bit shorter or longer.
An 85mm might
be worth considering too, but not knowing what you want to shoot (other than
that you clearly wish to cover as many focal lengths as possible) or for
what application makes things difficult.
I'm a huge fan of the 85-90mm focal length and one of my favorite
lenses is the Zuiko 85mm f/2. However, if I can cover this with either
a good zoom or the 100mm f/2.8 in my lineup (for portrait work) I
don't see the need for another fixed lens at 85mm.
-Karl
http://www.karlwinkler.com