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  #32  
Old September 29th 05, 10:08 AM
Eugene
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OK, I stand corrected. This does make sense. Actually now that I think
about it I don't tend to use the terms "prime" and "zoom" much anyway.
I'd nearly always just refer to the specific lens type. Like I'd just
say 50mm f1.4 rather than 50mm prime. Adding "prime" is kind of
redundant. If only one focal length lens is given then it's obvious I'm
not talking about variable focal length.

Also I think there would be very few situations where lumping everything
into 2 distinct groups would make sense. For example "zoom" could
equally refer to an EF-S 18-55, as it could to an EF 70-200 f2.8 L.
Aside from the fact that both lenses can change focal lengths, they
really have nothing much else in common. They serve entirely different
purposes and an entirely different market. Likewise "prime" (meaning
FFL) could equally refer to a 7mm circular fisheye, or a 1200mm
super-telephoto.

Grouping lenses by focal length ranges makes more sense, ultra-wide,
wide-angle, medium-telephoto, super-telephoto etc. FFL and VFL, while
correct and non-ambiguous are also I think too broad to be generally useful.

OK, well I wont use the term "prime" or "zoom" anymore as I can see that
they really don't add a lot of value.


If only it was as simple as referring to all fixed focal length lenses
as "prime" lenses. Most subscribers to this newsgroup probably aren't
old enough to recall that some manufacturers used the term "prime" to
refer to a high quality subset of their fixed focal length lenses.

What made a particular fixed focal length lens design a "prime" lens
was not clear. Why other fixed focal length lenses were not described
as "prime" lenses was even less clear. But what is clear is that
assuming all fixed focal length lenses were referred to as "prime"
lenses is wrong. It was marketing, pure and simple.

Since there is no accepted definition of a "prime" lens we should just
drop the term, as it serves only to confuse.

I like the idea of FFL and VFL, especially as so many VFL optics are
not true zooms because they do not hold focus when zoomed. They are
often termed vari-focal lenses (also "VFL"), which term could be
extended to include the true zooms.

FFL and VFL has my vote.

;-)