daemon@decwrl.UUCP (10/05/83)
From: Ed Featherston HL01-1/P06 225-5241 <roll::featherston>
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Newsgroup : net.rec.photo
>From : TURTLE::BENNISON
Organization : Digital Equipment Corp.
Subject: Wide angle zooms
I bought a KIRON 28-85 f2.8/4.0 sight unseen from a New York mail order
store. I bought it because it seemed to fare better than its competition
in a Popular Photography (or was it Modern Photography?) test of most
available wide angle zooms (a year or two ago). I like it a whole lot!
The movement on it is very smooth, it looks sharp on my NIKON FG, and
I can't find anything to complain about in the optics (I'm a rank amateur
of course). It is vari-focal, but even on my uni-focal telephoto zoom I
always refocus after zooming anyway (can't seem to pull that ring in a
straight line), so it doesn't make any difference to me. In contrast,
I'm not too fond of my Vivitar Series-1 70-210. Its movement is coarse
and tinny compared to the KIRON, and its appearance is a little plastic.
Optically it's fine, or I'd get rid of it.
Nice thing about the KIRON, (and I think the VIVITAR 28-80 also), is that
it has a lip at the business end that keeps my lens-keeper elastic from
falling off.
On my trip to England last Spring, the KIRON was about the only thing I
used. I put on the telephoto for zoo's and some beach scenes, but that's
about all, and I never touched the standard lens. Got some great shots.
One word of caution though. I was using a filter system, one of the one-
size-almost-fits-all-lenses types with the square plastic holders. Mostly
I had a polarizer in it (great effect). But on the wider angle shots, I
got vignetting due to the holder getting into the four corners of the scene.
I could not see it through the finder, as the finder only shows 93% of the
picture. I'm getting a custom polarizer for the wide angle zoom, it's
worth the money.
One last tip while I've got your attention. As my camera was new, I shot
a couple of practice rolls before I left for my trip. Every nice day I
would go out and shoot some. Well, when you're traveling, you can't wait
for a nice day, you shoot in whatever weather mother nature provides.
And overcast days are trickier then clear days, believe me. My FG, on
automatic, was fooled into a few bad shots that I could have compensated
for if I had realized there was a problem.
- Vick Bennison
Mail address : ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!turtle!bennison
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