Specification question

[Ex-Biker]

Non SLR digi camera's quote zoom in x2, x3 etc

SLR quote lens sizes.

Firstly, how do you compare them?

Next I see this in the spec for a Canon 300D.

Lens System / Optical Zoom 3
Lens System / Type Zoom lens
Optical Sensor / Optical Sensor Size 15.1 x 22.7mm

Does this mean a 22.7mm lens is equivellent to x3 zoom?

I have a few more questions but will post them later.

[simpo two]

Ex-Biker said:

Non SLR digi camera's quote zoom in x2, x3 etc SLR quote lens sizes.

All 'x2/x3' means is that the doubles/triples in focal length; it doesn't specify what that length is.

By contrast in SLR-land you are given the actual focal length in mm.

As a guide, the typical compact with 3x zoom is equivalent to 35-105mm on an SLR. However the actual focal length is different as the CCD is much smaller

Ex-Biker said:

Lens System / Optical Zoom 3 Lens System / Type Zoom lens Optical Sensor / Optical Sensor Size 15.1 x 22.7mm Does this mean a 22.7mm lens is equivellent to x3 zoom?

No, a 22.7mm lens would not be a zoom at all, it would be a 'prime' (non-zooming) lens, and on an SLR it would be a wide-angle due to the CCD size.

15.1 x 22.7mm is the physical size of the CCD, but whatever lens you choose to strap on the front of it is another matter. If by 'optical zoom 3' they mean '3x', they are referring to the lens supplied in that package. However it's rather meaningless, as it could be a 28-84mm, 50-150mm or 100-300mm!!

[Ex-biker]

So my S1 iS has a x10 optical zoom.

If I were to look at an SLR, to get that sort of versitility, what size lens would I look at?

[Ex-biker]

I looked in Jessops catalogue.

They reckon my x10 optical zoom is equivelant to 380mm lens (35mm)

How does that convert to digi lenses? I notice these and 35mm are not the same.

[simpo two]

Ex-biker said:

So my S1 iS has a x10 optical zoom. If I were to look at an SLR, to get that sort of versitility, what size lens would I look at?

I don't think you can get a x10 zoom for an SLR. Normally x3 is typical and x5 is pushing it. The more you try to get out of one lens, the less light you get through it. That's why most SLR users have a number of different lenses to cover the range they use most.

Ex-biker said:

They reckon my x10 optical zoom is equivelant to 380mm lens (35mm) How does that convert to digi lenses? I notice these and 35mm are not the same.

Most DSLRs have a smaller imaging area compared to 35mm film cameras, and this has the effect of cropping the picture. This gives a magnifcation - generally 1.5x for Nikon and 1.6x for Canon. So *in effect* a 380mm lens will be a 570mm+ lens.
In short, I don't think you'll do everything you want with one lens. 'One size fits all' lenses are compromise solutions from Compactville. They can be great as far as they go, but you are moving up a league from that. It may seem odd that replacing one lens with two or three is progress, but trust me, it is!
If you consider that a 'standard' lens on a DLSR is 35mm, less than that is wide angle and more than that is telephoto. I have a 18-70mm and a 70-300mm and that covers most of what I need to do. Basically you need to think what kind of work you want to do, and choose the lens/es to suit. And of course your SLR system can expand as you learn and want to do more

Simpo Two would now like to apologise for posting too much and will let somebody else have a go!

>> Edited by simpo two on Saturday 27th November 20:40

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Ah the good old X zoom question....

You have to remember that a 10X zoom is the ratio of wide to telephoto, not the absolute max magnification value.

If you think at max zoom your view is like a 380mm SLR picture then the equivilant SLR lense is a 38-380mm.

10X ratio lenses in SLR land are rarely good (although the Sigma 50-500mm is ok).

So, think max and min zoom, not the absolute value.

[Ex-biker]

So I would need to buy a 500mm digi lens to get the same zoom as my Canon?

By the sound of it, this is not that practical a solution.

I realise with an SLR you will need a few lenses. I was looking at 18-50mm and 55-200mm. But from what is being said, this will only give me about 3/4 of the range I already have.

Possibly a different approach?

By buying a 6mp SLR compared to my 3.2mp S1 iS, it would be possible to take larger pics and crop / zoom in using Photoshop. Is this a good idea to get better results than I can get now?

Sorry if these questions are basic, but so is my knowledge of photography.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Ex-biker said:

So I would need to buy a 500mm digi lens to get the same zoom as my Canon?

No, not really. Your 10X range is likely to be wide angle to zoom so the max magnification is probably as you said, around 300-400mm tops.

Ex-biker said:

I realise with an SLR you will need a few lenses. I was looking at 18-50mm and 55-200mm. But from what is being said, this will only give me about 3/4 of the range I already have.

Don't worry about full coverage. Have something wide (remembering as Simpo said that you multiply the mm by 1.6 with most DSLRs) and something with a bit of range 200-300mm. You're correct about the cropping and it works.

My 100-400mm is really a 160-560mm with the 1.6 factor. Even with image stabilization it's hard to hand hold it @ 400mm.

My? Canon system with a 15-30mm 28-135mm 100-400mm. Yes a complete range but I don't use it. If I had to loose one it'd be the 15-30mm (I mainly got it for pictures of the inside of buildings which I don't take many of now).

>> Edited by ThatPhilBrettGuy on Sunday 28th November 11:09

[murph7355]

If you were told that your x10 longest is equivalent to a 380mm film SLR lens, then on a 300D/10D/20D you'd be looking at a 200mm-300mm lens to get a similar effect.

But as has been mentioned above, it's never that straight forward and you'd need to compare some shots of the sort of photography you normally do.

Typically, to get similar range to your S1 on an SLR, you'd be looking at kitting yourself out with two lenses. If in the Canon stable, it'd be something like their 28-135mm IS lens, and the 70-200L IS lens. Not cheap in comparison to the camera you have, but...

...I would be surprised if a decent 200mm lens on a digital SLR didn't give hugely more satisfying pictures than your Canon at its longest (as good as the Canon S1 is).