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#11
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Eugene wrote:
I don't think it has anything to do with the internet really. They've been called prime lenses for as long as I can remember, and yes I do pre-date the Internet ;-) 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. ;-) |
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