--- Robbi Pengelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear Incredibly Knowledgeable List Users,
>
> I'm thinking about buying one or more EOS wide-angle
> prime lenses <snip>
>
> First of all, I find there to be too much distortion
> on the wide-angle zooms. Will I eliminate this
> problem, either completely or partially,
> with a prime lense? I should say that I'll be using
> these lenses to take > pictures mostly of people
> and that's why the distortion problem is an
> important one for me. People's heads look as though
> they're being sucked sideways into another
dimension.
I think you'll find that this is not an issue of lens
quality, but one of rectilinear wide angle perspective
being viewed as distortion. Typically the appearance
of being "sucked sideways into another dimension"
occurs at the corners of a wide angle photo and is
more extreme the shorter the focal length becomes.
With a 24mm lens it can be seen, but go to a 20 or 17,
and it's much more pronounced - it's one of the trade
offs of a rectilinear lens as opposed to a fisheye
(which has other tradeoffs). As far as zoom or prime,
I don't beleive it'll make any difference - I've owned
a 17mm prime and 17-35 zoom - both exhibited the same
(expected) characteristic.
>
> Secondly, how do the optics compare between Canon's
> "consumer" or "non-L" (which is correct?) 24 f2.8,
> 20 f2.8 USM and the "L" 24 f1.4? Is > there that
> much difference between these lenses?
> What are those differnces specifically? The extra
> stop would be wonderful for my uses,
> but I'm not sure I can afford it at the moment.
F2.8 -> f1.4 is 2 stops and about a 500% price
increase. Don't know about quality - never used one of
these - they're waaaay out of my price range -
although I'd looovve one!
> What is the difference between having a USM
> lense and a non-USM wide-angle lens?
IMO, not a lot - I have a 35mm f2 prime which is not
USM. It focuses just fine, and I would imagine on a
wider lens like a 24mm it would make even less
difference.
Regards
Gart Fisher
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products.
http://shopping.yahoo.com/
*
****
*******
***********************************************************
* For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see:
* http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm
***********************************************************
